There aren’t too many series that can hit the same dark heights as Kentaro Miura’s Berserkand there are even fewer that are a part of Weekly Shonen Jump’s roster. In recent years, however, there has been one major series that many think of as the Shonen iteration of the Band of the Hawk’s story. While said manga series has had a hot streak in Japan, the printed story has yet to make its way to North America to compete with Guts in the West. Luckily, Viz Media has announced when we can finally see the arrival of Century in the United States.
Viz Media made quite a few announcements this week in the manga department, confirming that the publisher will be bringing series like Half Is More, I’m No Angel, Champion of The Roseand Taika’s Reason, to name a few. Of the announcements, Centuria might be the darkest of the bunch, and while manga enthusiasts will have to wait until next year to get a copy in the U.S., Viz did reveal the specific release date. The first volume of Century arrives in North America on February 17th, 2026, and if you’re a fan of the Black Swordsman, this dark series might be one worth your time.
Centuria’s Reign
It was confirmed earlier this year that Century was America-bound, but the specific release date had remained a mystery for months. Viz Media had shared the following description of the early 2026 release as such: “Announcement: A bitter slave. A cruel bargain. A child worth saving. When Julian trades a life to awaken an ancient god, he gains powers he must use to protect an innocent in a brutal world. Centuria, Vol. 1—a dark fantasy series by Tohru Kuramori—releases Spring 2026.”
Century first hit the scene in 2024, which might explain why an anime adaptation has yet to be announced. Thanks to the popularity of the series, it would come as no surprise if Julian were to hit the screen eventually. The reasoning behind why Centuria is often thought of in the same breath as Berserk isn’t just thanks to its dark subject matter, but the creator of the series, Tohru Kuramori, has listed Miura’s brutal franchise as a direct inspiration for their shonen series.
In a previous interview, Kuramori shared, “I got my idea for chapter one of Century from the painting ‘The Slave Ship’ by Joseph Mallord William Turner. I imagined a situation in which the protagonist of the story was aboard that slave ship and built upon the story from there. One thing led to another, and I ended up with the concept of a protagonist who had been granted the lives of one hundred people. I think I’ve been influenced most by Kentaro Miura-sensei’s BerserkTsutomu Nihei-sensei’s works, and the Cthulu mythos.”
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