Kentaro Miura has established himself as one of the heavyweights of the manga industry in a career spanning forty years. His work on the seminal series Berserk made him a household name and launched a franchise that included an anime series, films and video games. Miura has been working on the series since 1989 and apart from two mini-series in 1990 and 1992 has been entirely focused on Berserk. 2013 marked the release of his first all new series since 1992 when he took a short break from Berserk to try something new and that series is now set for an English language release in the following weeks.
100 million years after the Great Destruction, life hangs on in the wastelands with human, demi-humans, and massive creatures fighting for survival. With the Empire of Olympus using colossal beasts to crush their adversaries, only gladiator Delos, mystic Prome, and the titan Gohra they become can hope to stem genocide and heal the shattered Earth!
As a forty year veteran, Miura has honed his artwork to a high level and Giganto Maxia is a great display of the skill he has accumulated over the years. Highlights include the homage to classical sea monsters in the form of the Giganto and the great character designs of protagonists Delos and Prome. Miura’s use of shading and the level of detail he goes into on characters and backgrounds also add to the package and it’s easy to see why he’s considered one of the all-time manga greats. His years of work on Berserk especially come into play in the action and battle scenes which are the some of the best you’ll see in any action manga series (the level of detail and flow of panels in these sequences in particular are extraordinary).
It should be said though that those expecting the high level of violence and intensity that made Berserk famous may be disappointed as this series as it falls more into the traditional shonen adventure than Miura’s previous work. However, this shouldn’t deter anyone as Miura manages to create a great sci-fi/fantasy adventure that is easy to get into and delivers a great showcase of the art style that made him famous.
Giganto Maxia is published 10 March by Dark Horse
Check out our new comics Twitter
Find more manga here
Post by Leo Sutherland