Photo/Illutration The latest 42nd volume of “Berserk” from Hakusensha Inc., which is based on Kentaro Miura’s story but painted by Studio Gaga and supervised by Koji Mori (Provided by Hakusensha Inc.)

Manga artist Koji Mori has total recall when it comes to honoring his late friend’s vision for the grand finale of the dark anime fantasy “Berserk.”

But his mind is a blank whenever he tries to recall the day he learned that the creator of the hit manga had died.

However, the 56-year-old Mori does remember the telephone call he received from an editor who was his was long acquaintance and gave him the horrible news and heading to the town where his friend lived. But only barely.

Mori’s wife later told him that he had placed his hands on the road in utter despair, underlining the depth of his shock.

“Berserk,” which features the swordsman Guts battling monsters, proved to be a huge hit both in Japan and overseas. It has sold 60 million copies, in digital as well as other formats, worldwide, according to its publisher Hakusensha Inc.

Miura died suddenly of acute aortic dissection on May 6, 2021, at the age of 54.

From that point on, Mori took on the task of supervising the endeavors of Miura’s team of assistants to complete “Berserk.”

The 42nd volume of “Berserk” hit store shelves on Sept. 29 this year.

In an interview to mark the occasion, Mori reminisced about his long friendship with Miura, whom he got to know during his high school days.

“We spent more time with each other than with our family members,” Mori said.

While Miura was serious and did well at school, Mori was a mischievous student.

Despite their “contrasting personalities,” Mori and Miura hit it off because they shared a love of creating manga.

Even as students, the pair helped each other fine-tune their works.

Mori spoke of the day 30 years ago when Miura urgently summoned him for “your advice on my draft.” Mori went to Miura’s workplace to discuss the envisioned highlight of “Berserk.”

“I had work to do on my own at the time but was put under ‘house arrest’ for a week or so,” said Mori with a grin.

Miura then developed almost the entire story of “Berserk,” including the final episode, according to Mori’s account.

Miura went on to add other characters and elements, but with the ending always in mind.

“The scenario is marked by a spectacular world, abundant foreshadowing and all sorts of other gimmicks to bring a magnificent end to the story,” Mori said. “This title is arranged with an eye particularly toward the last part.”

Miura, however, died before he could depict the grand finale.

“Miura was a manga genius bursting with talent,” Mori said. “He had an eagerness to see things through to the end as well as an outstanding ability to paint, conceive stories and employ narrative devices effectively.”

For this very reason, Mori initially concluded it would be impossible to keep “Berserk” going without Miura.

But then Mori met with the members of Studio Gaga, who had worked under Miura, to perfect the unfinished episode of “Berserk” that Miura had worked on until his last moments.

Although some final pages had been left incomplete with characters not painted in some sections, the team managed to adeptly reproduce Miura’s style.

Inspired by the staff’s enthusiastic effort, Mori changed his mind.

“It might be possible,” Mori recalled thinking. “The thought that Miura would be mad at me doing nothing motivated me to reach a decision.”

Mori was tapped to oversee the revival of “Berserk,” given that he knows all the details up to the ending.

Asked about his taking over from Miura in connection with “Berserk,” Mori still has mixed feelings.

“It may be unforgivable for me to do it, now that Miura is no longer here,” he said.

Mori pledged: “I will never add my own twist. I will simply remember and convey what Miura told me.”

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