by On September 11, the official SNS account of the popular manga “Berserk” warned that the trailer for the “Berserk” anime, released online in English-speaking countries, was produced without the copyright holder’s permission.
Even after the death of creator Miura Kentaro in 2021, Berserk continues to be serialized in Young Animal (Hakusensha) by Studio Gaga, whose staff studied under Miura. On September 11, Berserk’s official X (formerly Twitter) account (@berserk_project) posted the following message from Hakusensha: “The animation production of Berserk has been announced on the following X account (https://x.com/studio_eclypse) and website (https://studio-eclypse.com), but the copyright holder, Miura Kentaro (Studio Gaga), has not given permission. Furthermore, the footage used is also unauthorized.”
The unauthorized footage emphasizes that it is a fan-made work.
On May 18, the official account “Studio Eclypse” released a 3-minute, 31-second concept trailer titled “BERSERK: The Black Swordsman,” announcing the release date: “Episode 1 coming out in 2025.”
This post has been reposted over 9,000 times, including some confused comments from Japanese fans, such as “What?! Is this official?” The video on YouTube has been viewed over 4.25 million times. At the end of the video, the “DISCLAIMER” states, “The Black Swordsman is a passion project created with our utmost respect to the original author by fans all over the world.”
“All the characters and canon materials used in this fan animation are property of KENTARO MIURA, Studio GAGA, and Hakusensha.” “Please support the official releases of BERSERK.” (Japanese translation: BuzzFeed editorial department), claiming that the anime is “a derivative work created by fans.” However, it can also be seen that activities are underway to raise funds on the crowdfunding site “Patreon.”
