Kentaro Miura was a Japanese manga artist born on July 11, 1966, in Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He began drawing manga at a young age, creating his first series, Miuranger, for a school publication when he was just ten years old. By the time he was in middle school, he was using professional drawing techniques. During high school, he enrolled in an artistic curriculum and befriended fellow future manga artist Kouji Mori. At age eighteen, Miura briefly worked as an assistant to George Morikawa, creator of Hajime no Ippo, who quickly recognized Miura's advanced skills and felt there was nothing left to teach him.

Miura's professional career began in 1985 when he submitted a short project titled Futatabi for his entrance examination to Nihon University's art college. The work earned him admission as well as the 34th Newcomer Manga Award from Weekly Shōnen Magazine. In 1988, while working with writer Buronson on the manga King of Wolves, Miura published a 48-page prototype of what would become his signature work. The full serialization of Berserk began in Hakusensha's Monthly Animal House in 1989, later moving to Young Animal in 1992 when the magazine was renamed.

Berserk stands as Miura's magnum opus and one of the best-selling manga series of all time, with over 60 million copies in circulation worldwide by 2023. The series centers on Guts, a towering warrior known as the Black Swordsman, who wields an immense blade called Dragonslayer while battling both human and supernatural forces in a dark fantasy setting. Miura received the Award for Excellence at the sixth Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002 for his work on Berserk.

Miura's artistic identity was characterized by exceptionally detailed pen-and-ink artwork featuring intricate crosshatching and textural details. His influences included Buronson and Tetsuo Hara's Fist of the North Star, Go Nagai's Violence Jack, the Japanese fantasy novel series Guin Saga, as well as Western artists such as M.C. Escher, Gustave Doré, and Hieronymus Bosch. He also cited anatomy books by Thomas R. Gest as references for accurately depicting the human form.

Beyond Berserk, Miura created several other works. In 2013, he released the short standalone manga Giganto Maxia. In 2019, he produced Duranki, a short manga created by his personal studio, Studio Gaga. Earlier in his career, he collaborated with Buronson on additional projects including a sequel to King of Wolves titled Ōrō Den and the manga Japan.

Miura was directly involved in anime adaptations of his work. In 1997, he supervised the production of a twenty-five episode anime adaptation of Berserk produced by OLM, which aired on NTV. He also supervised the 1999 Dreamcast video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage. The Golden Age arc of Berserk was later adapted into a trilogy of anime films: The Egg of the King, The Battle for Doldrey, and The Advent. A memorial edition revisiting these films was also released.

On May 6, 2021, Miura died due to an acute aortic dissection at the age of fifty-four. His death was publicly announced on May 20, 2021. Following his passing, his longtime friend Kouji Mori and Studio Gaga continued the serialization of Berserk based on detailed plans and notes that Miura had left behind. Mori has stated that he will only write the episodes and dialogue that Miura personally described to him.

Miura's impact on the manga industry and popular culture has been substantial. His work inspired numerous video game creators, including those behind the Dark Souls series, Devil May Cry, and Dragon's Dogma. Many manga authors have cited Miura and Berserk as influences, including Attack on Titan's Hajime Isayama, Black Butler's Yana Toboso, and Black Clover's Yūki Tabata. His legacy as a pioneering force in the dark fantasy genre continues through the ongoing publication of Berserk and the many creators he influenced.