@robbybedfart:
sigh I get so tired of people getting upset every single time this series takes a PUBLISHING HIATUS, when its really like clockwork.
It's not a damn vacation/idolmaster break. It takes Muira 3 or 4 weeks to produce a chapter, (and probably 5 in some extreme cases where he has like, a thousand unique soldiers fighting a thousand unique monsters, all with crosshatching) and the magazine publishes every 2 weeks. So the magazine waits until there are 3 chapters ready to go, and starts running them while Muira works on the fourth, and then they are all published in a clump, 4 chapters in two months.
He does not take four months to draw one chapter and then crack out another 3 chapters in a week apiece. Its been this cycle with Berserk since it started in 1990, its just how it is, he produces a volume worth of material on average every 6-8 months, and its been the case for 20 years. (He's on what, volume 34?)
If it were a MONTHLY magazine, there probably wouldn't ever be hiatuses except maybe once a year. Its only because the magazine itself is bi-weekly that the magazine schedules it the way it does.
Also, 10 years is a better approximation of when the series will be done. Muira has stated in interviews he weels that he's about 60-70% done, and he's been at it for 20 years.
Similarly, Oda isn't taking a vacation from One Piece once a month, and Togashi isn't taking a 9 month vacation from Hunter X Hunter. Oda is involved with movie stuff, (and fatherhood) and Togashi is doing 10 chapters during his "hiatuses". If Hunter were a monthly instead of a weekly, it probably wouldn't miss a beat either, but the anthology format Japan lives by just doesn't allow for a once a month pacing in a more-than-monthly book.
Now, while you are correct about the publishing cycle of Berserk, it's an undeniable fact that Berserk publishing has gotten slower and slower as the years went by.
Here, have a chart.
1992 86.7%
1993 91.7%
1994 87.5%
1995 91.7%
1996 91.7%
1997 75.0%
1998 91.7%
1999 83.3%
2000 83.3%
2001 83.3%
2002 83.3%
2003 83.3%
2004 70.8%
2005 66.6%
2006 58.3%
2007 54.2%
2008 37.5%
2009 33.3%
These are percentages of how frequently Berserk was published in YA.
For example, in 1998, Berserk was published 22 issues out of 24 annual release, and thus was 91%.
However, in 2009, Berserk was published only 8 issues out of the 24 issues, dropping down to 33%.
It has been a steady decline in frequency for the past 20 years.
And as you can see from the chart, it's the past 5 years that suffered the strongest dip in serialization percentage.
It literally went to half the publishing in 5 years between 2005~2010.
BTW, you don't even want to see Togashi's chart.
He went from 92% (1998) to 4% (2009). That dude's got serious problems.