Studio Taka cancels Berserk fan animation project following Hakusensha's comments

Modified Sep 17, 2024 22:54 GMT

Studio Taka cancels Berserk fan animation project following Hakusensha's comments (Image via Hakusensha)

Monday, September 16, 2024, saw fan-run Studio Taka officially announce the cancellation of their Berserk fan animation project following the latest comments from publisher Hakusensha. While Hakusensha’s words mentioned Studio Eclypse’s anime fan project rather than Taka’s animated manga work, Taka has seemingly decided to voluntarily take down their series. As of writing this article, the studio’s X (formerly Twitter) account has also been deactivated.

Taka’s Berserk fan animation project has not been officially acknowledged by Hakusensha in any way, shape, or form. Likewise, it seems the publisher’s warning to Eclypse specifically was enough motivation for the studio to decide to shut down its beloved project. Eclypse is also yet to comment on either Hakusensha’s notice or Studio Taka’s closing in the wake of said notice.

Studio Eclypse’s Berserk fan animation project causes major ripples after Hakusensha’s latest comments

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Taka cited the decision as being motivated by the fact that Hakusnesha’s statement “has implications for all Berserk fan projects,” including their own despite not being mentioned. Taka’s motion comic has also been published via YouTube for nearly six years and has likely been in production for much longer. The Taka YouTube channel also posts various explanatory lore videos and character analyses, with such videos focusing on Casca, Griffith, and others.

Likewise, Taka’s production of their fan animation project was seemingly uninhibited through their latest upload, which came on April 8, 2024, to their YouTube channel. With Hakusensha’s notice also failing to mention them by name, it’s unclear why Taka felt the need to disband as a studio and cease production of their project. However, it is specified that the studio came to this decision “after thoughtful consideration and exploring all possible options.”

It’s possible, likewise, that Taka had merely been operating by toeing a line which Hakusensha was not interested in policing until posting their notice on Eclypse. This would also explain why they themselves are making the decision to end the project rather than waiting for Hakusensha to bring the hammer down on them. However, this is all speculative as of this article’s writing, as Taka’s farewell message is all that fans currently have to go on.

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Studio Eclypse’s Berserk project is an unofficial adaptation of author and illustrator Kentaro Miura’s original, legendary manga series of the same name. As mentioned above, the studio has yet to comment on Hakusensha’s notice as of this article’s writing. The latest update on the project came via an English dub trailer’s release on July 1, 2024, which advertised a Summer 2025 release window.

Miura’s original manga began in Hakusensha’s Monthly Animal House magazine in 1989 and was eventually moved to the publisher’s Young Animal magazine in 1992. The manga is still serialized here even today following Miura’s death in May 2021, at 54 years of age. Miura’s Studio Gaga is producing the manga, with Miura’s childhood friend and fellow mangaka Kouji Mori supervising the series.