Berserk Ending Notes: Did Miura Leave Them? What Mori Knows

Did Kentaro Miura leave notes for the Berserk ending? The short answer is yes, but not the kind most fans imagine. When Hakusensha brought the series back in 2022, its editors confirmed they had found Miura’s idea memos and character designs. The ending itself, though, was never written down as a script. It lives in the memory of one man: Kouji Mori, Miura’s friend since their student days, who says Miura told him the whole story to the very last chapter.

Here is what is actually confirmed, what is fan rumor, and where the Berserk manga stands in October 2026.

Why the Berserk ending became a question

Kentaro Miura died on May 6, 2021, of an acute aortic dissection. He was 54. Hakusensha shared the news two weeks later, and for a while it looked like Berserk, one of the most influential dark fantasy manga ever made, would simply stop in the middle of the Fantasia arc.

Studio Gaga, the team of assistants who had drawn alongside Miura for years, finished the chapter he was working on. That chapter ran in Young Animal later in 2021. After that came silence, and then a very loud question from readers everywhere: did anyone know how Guts’s story was supposed to end?

Did Miura leave Berserk ending notes?

On June 7, 2022, the Young Animal editorial department answered it. Berserk would continue, with Studio Gaga drawing the manga and Kouji Mori supervising the story. The credits now read Kentaro Miura for the original work, Studio Gaga for the manga, and Kouji Mori for supervision. Serialization resumed on June 24, 2022.

However, the editors were careful about what Miura left behind. They said they had found memos of his ideas and character designs he had drawn. They also said plainly that he left no rough drafts, which means nobody can produce a chapter exactly as Miura would have drawn it. So the honest version is this: there are notes, but there is no written Berserk ending sitting in a drawer.

What Kouji Mori says Miura told him

Mori’s knowledge is what makes a real continuation possible. Nearly 30 years ago, Miura called him to talk through his rough plan for the Eclipse, and then spent about a week walking him through the entire story. Mori says the plot was already set back then and has barely changed since. Miura reportedly told him he had not shared the full story with anyone else.

At the same time, Mori drew a firm line around his own role. He said he would only write the episodes Miura talked to him about, that he would not expand them, and that he would not write anything he does not clearly remember. He admitted the result will not be perfect, and that only Miura could write a masterpiece like Berserk. His goal, in his words, is to tell almost the story Miura wanted to tell.

Who is Kouji Mori?

A lot of articles call Mori Miura’s assistant. He was not. Mori is a manga author in his own right, best known for Holyland and Suicide Island, both serialized in Young Animal, the same magazine as Berserk. He and Miura met as students, tried to break into manga together, and stayed close for the rest of Miura’s life. Miura even said their friendship helped inspire the bond between Guts and Griffith.

That background matters, because Mori is not guessing from the outside. He is the one person Miura chose to tell the whole plan to.

Does the Berserk ending have to be dark?

You will often see a claim online that Miura said he did not want a gory ending. That is not quite what he said. In an interview from around 2000, he was asked whether a happy ending was possible. He said it was possible, that he preferred to decide as he went, and that he did not think he could let such a long, grim story end on a grim note.

In other words, that is not a promise of a happy ending for Guts and Casca, and it says nothing about gore. Nothing in the Berserk ending notes the editors described settles it either. It tells you Miura did not want a bleak, shock ending after everything his readers had been through. Twenty years passed between that interview and his death, so treat it as a hint, not a guarantee.

Where the Berserk manga stands in 2026

Whatever sits in the Berserk ending notes and in Mori’s memory still has to reach the page, and so far progress under Mori and Studio Gaga has been slow and irregular. Volume 42, the first collected volume of the continuation, came out in Japan on September 29, 2023, and volume 43 followed on August 29, 2025.

In 2026, Berserk returned after a long gap with three chapters in a row in Young Animal: chapter 384 on June 12, chapter 385 on June 26, and chapter 386 on July 10. Unfortunately, that run is now over, and no date for Berserk chapter 387 has been announced as of October 11, 2026. If you see a specific 387 date online, check it against Young Animal before believing it.

For the latest chapters, our breakdown of Berserk chapter 384 covers where Guts is now, and our Fantasia arc explainer covers Griffith’s plans.

Where to read the Berserk manga

• Japanese chapters: Young Animal magazine from Hakusensha, which runs new chapters when they are scheduled
• English volumes: Dark Horse Manga, in print and digital volumes. Dark Horse does not publish new chapters weekly online. As a result, English readers wait for the collected books.
• Next English volume: Berserk Volume 43 is listed by Dark Horse for November 24, 2026, after a delay from October. It includes an afterword by Kouji Mori.
• Finished the Deluxe Edition? See what to read after Berserk Deluxe 14.

New to the series? Start with our guide to where to start with the Berserk manga, and use our Berserk timeline to keep the story straight.

Berserk ending FAQ

Did Kentaro Miura leave notes for the Berserk ending?

He left idea memos and character designs, according to the Young Animal editors. He did not leave rough drafts or a written ending. The ending comes from what Miura told Kouji Mori in conversation.

Does anyone know how Berserk ends?

Kouji Mori says Miura told him the full story up to the final chapter almost 30 years ago, and that he has not shared it publicly. He supervises the manga so that it reaches that ending.

Was Kouji Mori Miura’s assistant?

No. Mori is a separate manga author, known for Holyland, and was Miura’s close friend since their student days. Miura’s assistants work under the name Studio Gaga and draw the series now.

When is Berserk chapter 387?

No date has been announced. Chapter 386 came out on July 10, 2026.

My take: The fact that the ending is not on paper is the uncomfortable part, and I think fans should sit with it instead of pretending otherwise. A memo and a sketch can tell you what happens. They cannot tell you how Miura would have paced it, framed it, or made you feel it, and that was always the real magic of Berserk. Still, I trust Mori more than I would trust any written outline. He has known this story for almost 30 years, he heard it straight from the source, and his promise is the right one: write only what he was told, and leave the gaps as gaps. That restraint is rare in posthumous continuations, and it is why this version deserves a chance. My worry is not quality. It is time. Three chapters in all of 2026 so far, with nothing announced after July, is a pace that could take many more years to reach the ending Mori is carrying. My hope is that Young Animal finds a steadier rhythm, because the best way to honor Miura is to actually finish the story he trusted his friend with.