Kouji Mori did what many thought would be impossible to honor his good friend Kentaro Miura, following his tragic passing: he continued the story of Berserk. Teaming up with the artists of Studio Gaga, Mori has looked to honor his deceased comrade by finishing Guts’ tale, but this fact hasn’t stopped him from creating new works of his own. In a recent interview, the manga writer discussed how Miura had influenced the creation of one of his latest manga, which clearly took some major influence from the Black Swordman’s world.
Mori noted that he got the inspiration for D. Diver directly from Kentaro Miura himself, breaking down, “I’d been drawing manga with my late friend, manga artist Kentaro Miura, since our teens, and we’d always consulted on everything. Miura kept telling me, “You should create a transforming hero who defeats evil. You should definitely draw that.” While I was struggling to come up with any ideas, I started browsing the internet and found a lot of frustration about crime… Why do people suffer like this? Why do they commit such crimes and then get released from prison after only a few years?”
Berserk’s Influence Spreads
Mori continued to break down how the Band of the Hawk influenced his recent manga, “I started to wonder what that was all about. So I thought, “I want to defeat these guys.” But the idea of a revenge-seeking hero has been depicted in many different ways up until now. Then, Miura saw a protagonist I had in mind for another manga who travels through dreams, and he said, “Let’s use this ‘dream-diving ability’,” and that’s how “D. Diver” came about. The original manga that inspired that idea was a lighter, school-themed story. So, Miura’s advice and my original idea mixed to create a manga about a character who travels through dreams and pursues evil. Because it’s a dream, it makes sense that he could transform.”
If you haven’t checked out D. Diverhere’s how Young Animal describes the manga from writer Kouji Mori, “Kagura, a male university student aspiring to become a lawyer, often experiences dreams so realistic that he cannot distinguish between reality and reality. One day, during a seminar practical, he attends a trial of a murder case and dreams of punishing the perpetrators with his own hands. He begins to have the same dream over and over again, and each time he continues to punish them. Kagura then realizes that the perpetrators are also being hurt in real life in line with the content of his dreams, and so he becomes a “dark hero” who prevents real crime by defeating evildoers in his dreams… In a society where it is difficult to stop evil through physical force in real life, this is a down-to-earth yet passionate story of a kind of “transforming hero” who uses his fists in his dreams.”
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Via Comic Natalie
