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On March 24, 2015, the Manga Taisho 2015 award ceremony was held in central Tokyo, with Akiko Higashimura’s manga Kakukaku Shikajika chosen as the winner.
The Manga Taisho award this year is its eighth annual event, and was an event originally started by bookshop employees and manga enthusiasts joining together to choose and award a manga that had a release in the previous calendar year (from 1/1 to 12/31). The manga must also be at no more than its 8th ongoing release in the previous year for it to be chosen as a candidate.
This year’s first round of selection saw a total of 92 judges voting for 234 different works, with 14 of the top-voted works being nominated to move on to the next round. The second round required judges to read all nominated works and narrow them down to first, second, and third place finalists before picking one work out of the three to award the “Manga Taisho.”
The winner this year is Kakukaku Shikajika, an autobiographical essay manga about creator Akiko Higashimura and her journey to becoming a well-known mangaka. Another autobiographical manga was also awarded in the past, Manga Michi (1977) 1 by Fujiko A. Fujio, and Akiko Higashimura’s work has been nicknamed as a female mangaka version of Manga Michi.
At the award ceremony, Higashimura commented, “Towards the end of the manga, I and my assistants were all crying while drawing at the same time.” This work filled with the emotions and feelings of its author has pierced the hearts of the judges.
The Most Interesting Manga of This Moment! “Manga Taisho 2015” Ranking
Grand Prize: Kakukaku Shikajika by Akiko Higashimura / Shueisha
2nd Place: Kodomo wa Wakatteagenai by Rettou Tajima / Kodansha
3rd Place: Koe no Katachi by Yoshitoki Oima / Kodansha
4th Place: Boku dake ga Inai Machi by Kei Sanbe / Kadokawa
5th Place: Blue Giant by Shinichi Ishizuka / Shogakukan
6th Place: Ballroom e Yokoso by Tomo Takeuchi / Kodansha
7th Place: Inosan by Shinichi Sakamoto / Shueisha
8th Place: Boku no Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi / Shueisha
9th Place: Ousamatachi no Viking by Sadayasu, Makoto Fukami (story co-writer) / Shogakukan
10th Place: Kasane by Daruma Matsuura / Kodansha
11th Place: Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun by Izumi Tsubaki / Square Enix
12th Place: Mahou Tsukai no Yome by Kore Yamazaki / Mag Garden
13th Place: Houseki no Kuni by Haruko Ichikawa / Kodansha
14th Place: Dormitory Tomokins by Fumiko Takano / Chuokoron-Shinsha
^1^ An autobiographical manga about two-person mangaka unit, Fujiko Fumio. The unit was formed in 1951 and broke up in 1987. The story covers about half of that time period. It started serialization in 1977 and finished in 2013.
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
