>The photo is Takamura drawn by Kentaro Miura. I'm pretty sentimental now. Let me tell you a story. Kentaro came to help me when I just started my first manga series and didn’t have enough staff members. He was 18 and I was 19. Kentaro, a student of the art department of a certain university at the time, came after class with a sketchbook in his hand.
>I didn’t know how much he could draw, so I showed him what I drew and asked him to draw something similar. I was amazed at what he drew. It was too good for his age. I was already curious about him after he drew several more, and since we were both still young, we stopped right there and started talked about manga.
>I asked him to show me the sketchbook. When I opened it, I was even more amazed and got goosebumps. A fairy, a stigma, and a swordsman holding a big sword were drawn there with thick pencil. The later Puck and Guts. It was overwhelming. When I asked "What on earth is this?" he said "It's something in my head. I want to get better before I start working on them." I have no idea how long he’s had the idea for, but Berserk was already there.
>After a while, Berserk started, almost at the same time as my series, Hajime no Ippo. I heard that he had some struggles along the way, but I was convinced that an absolute masterpiece of a manga has begun, because it was a serialization that was started by no one else but Kentaro who finally decided that he was good enough. I was convinced that the whole world would be as amazed as I was. And that's what happened. A breathtaking screen with transcendent drawing power. Nothing but respect for each episode.
>This is the end of the story. That’s basically the only time we worked together, but I heard he always cared about me. I am proud of him and will treasure the fact that I have met him.
>I'm sorry Kentaro-kun for sharing this without your permission. I'll go to read your final episode someday.
Holy shit, the feels.
