Award-Winning Manga 1: General Category

Story and art by Kaori Tsurutani.

Manga Taishō Nominee 2021

Ichinoi, a 75-year-old woman living a peaceful life, unwittingly buys a Boy’s Love manga one day…and is fascinated by what she finds inside. When she returns to the bookstore to buy the next volume, the high school girl working there–Urara, a seasoned BL fan–notices a budding fangirl when she sees one. When Urara offers to help Ichinoi explore this whole new world of fiction, the two dive into BL fandom together, and form an unlikely friendship along the way.

Story and art by Tatsuya Endo ; translation, Casey Loe; touch-up art & lettering, Rina Mapa.

Manga Taishō Nominee 2020

Manga Taishō Nominee 2021

Master spy Twilight is the best at what he does when it comes to going undercover on dangerous missions in the name of a better world. But when he receives the ultimate impossible assignment--get married and have a kid--he may finally be in over his head! Not one to depend on others, Twilight has his work cut out for him procuring both a wife and a child for his mission to infiltrate an elite private school. What he doesn't know is that the wife he's chosen is an assassin and the child he's adopted is a telepath!

By Inio Asano

Shogakukan Manga Award General Category 2020

Three years ago, the aliens invaded Tokyo. Nothing was ever the same again, but after a while, even impending doom starts to feel ordinary. While the Japan Self-Defense Forces are still trying to combat the alien threat, Kadode Koyama and her best friend avidly track the aliens' movements on social media and less enthusiastically study for college entrance exams. When the end of the world looms over your head, you learn to take things one step at a time.

By Tsubasa Yamaguchi; translation, Ajani Oloye; lettering, Lys Blakeslee.

Kodansha Manga Award General Category 2020

Manga Taishō 2020 Winner

Yatora is the perfect high school student, with good grades and lots of friends. It's an effortless performance, and, ultimately...a dull one. But he wanders into the art room one day, and a lone painting captures his eye, awakening him to a kind of beauty he never knew. Compelled and consumed, he dives in headfirst--and he's about to learn how savage and unforgiving art can be...

By Kamome Shirahama; translation: Stephen Kohler; lettering, Lys Blakeslee 2020

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia 2020

In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: She wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch...until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she's never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody "knows" might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem...

By Taiyo Matsumoto ; translation & English adaptation, Michael Arias ; touch-up art & lettering, Deron Bennett.

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia 2020

The world-renowned Louvre museum in Paris contains more than just the most famous works of art in history. At night, within its darkened galleries, an unseen and surreal world comes alive—a world witnessed only by the small family of cats that lives in the attic. Until now…

By Akiko Higashimura ; translation, Steven LeCroy ; lettering, Rina Mapa and Paige Pumphrey.

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia 2019

Rinko has done everything right. She hustled her way through her 20s to make it as a screenwriter, renting her own office in a trendy Tokyo neighborhood. Everything should have gone according to plan... So at 33, she can't help but lament the fact that her career's plateaued, she's still painfully single, and she spends most of her nights drinking with her two best friends in their favorite pub. One night, drunk and delusional, Rinko swears to get married by the time the Tokyo Olympics roll around in 2020. But finding a man—and love—may be a cutthroat, dirty job for a romantic at heart.

Story and art by Aka Akasaka; translation, Emi Louie-Nishikawa; English adaptation, Annette Roman; tough-up art & lettering, Stephen Duro.

Shogakukan Manga Award General Category 2019

Two geniuses. Two brains. Two hearts. One battle. Who will confess their love first…?! As leaders of their prestigious academy’s student council, Kaguya and Miyuki are the elite of the elite! But it’s lonely at the top… Luckily for them, they’ve fallen in love! There’s just one problem—they both have too much pride to admit it. And so begins the daily scheming to get the object of their affection to confess their romantic feelings first… Love is a war you win by losing.

By Fumi Yoshinaga; translation, Maya Rosewood.

Kodansha Manga Award General Category 2019

A hard-working middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo come to enjoy the finer moments of life through food. After long days at work, either in the law firm or the hair salon, Shiro and Kenji will always have down time together by the dinner table, where they can discuss their troubles, hash out their feelings and enjoy delicately prepared home cooked meals!

By Guilherme Petreca

International Manga Award Silver Award 2019

Ye is a curious young man, named after the only sound he knows how to make. His voice must have been stolen by the Colorless King, the source of all the world's sorrows—terrifying, unrelenting, all-taking and never-giving. Now, Ye has no choice but to embark on a long voyage over land and sea, past grizzled pirates, a drunken clown, and more, to find the famous witch who can help him defeat the Colorless King. What he discovers may be a lesson for us all.

By Lorena Alvarez

International Manga Award  Bronze Award 2018

Every night, tiny stars appear out of the darkness in little Sandy's bedroom. She catches them and creates wonderful creatures to play with until she falls asleep, and in the morning brings them back to life in the whimsical drawings that cover her room. One day, Morfie, a mysterious pale girl, appears at school. And she knows all about Sandy's drawings...

By Haruko Kumota ; translator, Matt Alt ; lettering, Hiroko Mizuno.

Tezuka Osamu Cultural New Creator Prize 2017

A hapless young man is released from prison with nothing to his name, but he knows exactly what he wants: to train in the art of rakugo comedic storytelling. After seeing an unforgettable performance from one of Japan's greatest masters, Yakumo Yurakutei VIII, during his time in jail, he will settle for nothing less than to become apprentice to the best. Yakumo, notorious for taking no students, is persuaded to take him on, and nicknames him Yotaro—the fool. Yotaro has no formal training or elegance, but something about his charisma reminds Yakumo of someone from his past.

By Atelier Sentō [Cécile Brun & Olivier Pichard; translated from the French by Marie S. Veld.

International Manga Award Silver Award 2017

Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter follows the adventures of two young foreigners as they travel to a remote and mysterious corner of Japan. Along the way, they purchase an old camera that has the unique ability to capture images of Japan's invisible spirit world. Armed with their magical camera, they explore the countryside and meet people who tell them about the forgotten ghosts, ghouls and demons who lie in wait ready to play tricks on them. These Yokai, or supernatural beings, are sometimes kind, sometimes mischievous, and sometimes downright dangerous!

Story and art by Satoru Noda ; translation, Eiji Yasuda ; touch-up art & lettering, Steve Dutro.

Manga Taishō Winner 2016

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Grand Prize 2018

The Japan Media Arts Festival Grand Prize for Manga-Social Impact Award 2021

In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush in the wilderness of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it. But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it! Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive.

 Story and art by Shinichi Ishizuka; translation, Daniel Komen; lettering and retouch, Ludwig Sacramento.

The Shogakukan Manga Award 2016

The Japan Media Arts Festival Grand Prize for Manga 2017

Dai lived a normal high school life in Sendai: a city of hot summer days and rainy nights. Between basketball, part time jobs, and an uncertain future, something was missing. And that thing was music. With his days in senior year running out, Dai swears a heartfelt vow: “I’m gonna be the best jazz player in the world.”

But what do you need to be the best? Talent? Effort? A lucky break? Or maybe just a deep, pure love for music, and too much stubbornness to know when to quit.

By Boaz Lavie; art by Asaf Hanuka, Tomer Hanuka.

International Manga Award  Gold Award 2015

Mark's out of the military, these days, with his boring, safe civilian job doing explosives consulting. But you never really get away from war. So it feels inevitable when his old army buddy Jason comes calling, with a lucrative military contract for a mining job in an obscure South-East Asian country called Quanlom. They'll have to operate under the radar―Quanlom is being torn apart by civil war, and the US military isn't strictly supposed to be there. With no career prospects and a baby on the way, Mark finds himself making the worst mistake of his life and signing on with Jason. What awaits him in Quanlom is going to change everything. What awaits him in Quanlom is weirdness of the highest order: a civil war led by ten-year-old twins wielding something that looks a lot like magic, leading an army of warriors who look a lot like gods. What awaits him in Quanlom is an actual goddamn dragon.

By Gengoroh Tagame; translated from the Japanese by Anne Ishii.

Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Prize 2015

Japan Cartoonists Association Excellence Award 2018

Will Eisner Comic Industry Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia 2018

Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo; formerly married to Natsuki and father to their young daughter, Kana. Their lives suddenly change with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi’s estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji’s past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented and heartbreaking look at the state of a largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it’s been affected by the West, and how the next generation can change the preconceptions about it and prejudices against it.

By Tsutomu Nihei.

Kodansha Manga Award General Category 2015

A lone seed ship, the Sidonia, plies the void, ten centuries since the obliteration of the solar system. The massive, nearly indestructible, yet barely sentient alien life forms that destroyed humanity's home world continue to pose an existential threat. Nagate Tanikaze has only known life in the vessel's bowels deep below the sparkling strata where humans have achieved photosynthesis and new genders. Not long after he emerges from the Underground, however, the youth is bequeathed a treasured legacy by the spaceship's coolheaded female captain.

Story and art by Taiyo Matsumoto; [translation by Michael Arias; lettering by Deron Bennett; book design by Fawn Lau]

Shogakukan Manga Award General Category 2015

Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize 2016

What is Sunny? Sunny is a car. Sunny is a car you take on a drive with your mind. It takes you to the place of your dreams. Sunny is the story of beating the odds, in the ways that count. It’s the brand-new masterwork from Eisner Award-winner Taiyo Matsumoto, one of Japan’s most innovative and acclaimed manga artists.

By Kelly Sue Deconnick, script; Emma Rios, art & covers; Jordie Bellaire, colors; Sigrid Ellis, edits; Clayton Cowles, letters.

International Manga Award Bronze Award 2014

Death's daughter rides the wind on a horse made of smoke and her face bears the skull marks of her father. Her origin story is a tale of retribution as beautifully lush as it is unflinchingly savage.

By Kengo Hanazawa; translation, Kumar Sivasubramanian; English adaptation, Philip R. Simon; lettering, Steve Dutro.

Shogakukan Manga Award General Category 2012

The zombie apocalypse has never been more surreal! A mentally unhinged manga artist witnesses the beginning of a zombie outbreak in Tokyo, and he's certain of only two things: he's destined to be the city's hero, and he possesses something very rare in Japan--an actual firearm! Kengo Hanazawa's award-winning series comes to Dark Horse, and this realistically-drawn international bestseller takes us from initial small battles for survival to a huge, body-horror epidemic that threatens all of humanity!

Written by Joe Kelly; [art & design by] JM Ken Niimura.

International Manga Award Gold Award 2011

Barbara Thorson is your new hero: A quick-witted, sharp-tongued fifth grader who isn't afraid of anything. Why would she be..? After all, she's the only girl in school who carries a Norse war hammer in her purse and kills giants for a living… At least, that's what she'll tell you…but where does the fantasy end and reality begin in the heart of this troubled girl? And what if she's telling the truth?

By Osamu Tezuka; [translation, Dawn T. Laabs; production, Hiroko Mizuno, Glen Isip].

Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards  Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Japan 2009

A samurai lord has bartered away his newborn's organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet the abandoned infant survives thanks to a medicine man who equips him with prosthetics--lethal ones with which the wronged son will hunt down the multitude of demons to reclaim his body one piece at a time and confront his father. On his journeys the hero encounters an orphan child who claims to be the greatest thief in Japan but who can't seem to steal his heart.

By Makoto Yukimura ; [translation, Stephen Paul ; lettering, Scott O. Brown].

Japan Media Arts Award Grand Prize 2009

Kodansha Manga Award General Category 2012

As a child, Thorfinn sat at the feet of the great Leif Ericson and thrilled to wild tales of a land far to the west. But his youthful fantasies were shattered by a mercenary raid. Raised by the Vikings who murdered his family, Thorfinn became a terrifying warrior, forever seeking to kill the band's leader, Askeladd, and avenge his father. Sustaining Throfinn through his ordeal are his pride in his family and his dreams of a fertile westward land, a land without war or slavery...the land Leif called Vinland.

Story and art by Daisuke Igarashi ; [translation, JN Productions ; touch-up art & lettering, Jose Macasocol].

Japan Cartoonists Association Award 2009 

Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize 2009

When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does.Ruka's dad and the other adults who work at the aquarium are only distantly aware of what the children are experiencing as they get caught up in the mystery of the worldwide disappearance of the oceans' fish.

Story and art by Kosuke Fujishima ; translation by Dana Lewis, Alan Gleason and Toren Smith ; lettering and touchup by Susie Lee and Betty Dong with Tom2K.

Kodansha Manga Award General Category 2009

College student Keiichi Morisato thought it was a prank when a strange, beautiful young woman appeared in his dorm room one night. But his unexpected visitor is literally a goddess from heaven, Belldandy, come to grant him any single wish of his choosing. When Keiichi wishes that Belldandy stay with him forever, it's the beginning of a complicated, cosmic saga of comedy and romance that makes for one of manga's greatest love stories!

By Yoshihiro Tatsumi; [edited, designed, and lettered by Adrian Tomine ; translated by Taro Nettleton]

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Grand Prize 2009

Will Eisner Comic Industry Best U.S. Edition of International Material  Asia 2010

Spanning fifteen years from August 1945 to June 1960, Tatsumi's stand-in protagonist, Hiroshi, faces his father's financial burdens and his parents' failing marriage, his jealous brother's deteriorating health, and the innumerable pitfalls that await him in the competitive manga market of mid-twentieth-century Japan. He dreams of following in the considerable footsteps of his idol, the manga artist Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Apollo's Song, Ode to Kirihito, Buddha)―with whom Tatsumi eventually became a peer and, at times, a stylistic rival. 

By Taiyo Matsumoto

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Japan 2008

Street urchins Black and White have skyscraper-sized chips on their shoulders, but are fiercely loyal to each other. Black is especially quick to avenge any slight against his dim-witted pal. The result? The citizens of Treasure Town are afraid of them, the police are afraid of them—even the local yakuza gangsters are afraid of them! But when the crime boss known as the "Rat" returns to Treasure Town, it looks like there's gonna be a rumble...

By Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka; co-authored with Takashi Nagasaki ; [translation, Jared Cook & Frederick L. Schodt.]

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Grand Prize 2005

Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize 2005

In a distant future where sentient humanoid robots pass for human, someone or some thing is out to destroy the seven great robots of the world. Europol’s top detective Gesicht is assigned to investigate these mysterious robot serial murders—the only catch is that he himself is one of the seven targets.

By Kyoko Okazaki

Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize 2003

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Grand Prize 2004

If you are aware of fashion in Japan you must have seen Liliko's face. For the last few years she has been at the top of the modeling world, with her face and body promoting the biggest brands. But as everyone who is in this world admits, staying on top is a constant and never ending battle. There are always new faces introduced to the public. Younger models and new looks are brought into the fold every season. And keeping that position means learning to adapt and learning to cope with change. To maintain her position Liliko has decided to under the knife. This is not her first go with this service. It is yet another round of plastic surgery, all done to keep herself looking young and vibrant. However in this case just a little nip and tuck was not enough. Liliko is bent on undergoing a full body makeover. From head-to-toe, every inch of her will undergo cosmetic surgery, and thus begins her madness.

By Kentarō Miura ; translation, Jason DeAngelis ; lettering and retouch, Dan Nakrosis.

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award for Excellence 2002

His name is Guts, the Black Swordsman, a feared warrior spoken of only in whispers. Bearer of a gigantic sword, an iron hand, and the scars of countless battles and tortures, his flesh is also indelibly marked with The Brand, an unholy symbol that draws the forces of darkness to him and dooms him as their sacrifice. But Guts won't take his fate lying down; he'll cut a crimson swath of carnage through the ranks of the damned - and anyone else foolish enough to oppose him! Accompanied by Puck the Elf, more an annoyance than a companion, Guts relentlessly follows a dark, bloodstained path that leads only to death...or vengeance.

Story & art by Naoki Urasawa; with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki; [English adaptation, Akemi Wegmller.

Kodansha Manga Award 2001

Shogakukan Manga Award  General Category 2002

Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize 2002

Japan Cartoonists Association Award Grand Prize 2008

Will Eisner Comic Industry Best U.S. Edition of International Material  Asia 2011

Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren’t for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world.

Story by Kazuo Koike; art, Goseki Kojima; translation, Dana Lewis; lettering, Digital Chameleon; [cover art, Frank Miller].

Harvey Award Best American Edition of Foreign Materia 2001-2003

Will Eisner Comic Industry Best U.S. Edition of International Material 2001

Harvey Award Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work 2002

Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto is framed as a traitor by the agents from a rival clan. With his wife murdered and with an infant son to protect, Ogami chooses the path of the ronin, the masterless samurai. The Lone Wolf and Cub wander feudal Japan, Ogami's sword for hire, but all roads will lead them to a single destination: vengeance.

By Takehiko Inoue; [English adaptation by Yuji Oniki ; touch-up and lettering by Steve Dutro].

Kodansha Manga Award 2000

Japan Media Arts Award Grand Prize 2000

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Grand Prize 2002

Striving for enlightenment by way of the sword, Miyamoto Musashi is prepared to cut down anyone who stands in his way. Vagabond is an action-packed portrayal of the life and times of the quintessential warrior-philosopher--the most celebrated samurai of all time!

By Naoki Urasawa; [story co-produced with Takashi Nagasaki; translation & English adaptation, Camellia Nieh; lettering, Steve Dutro; cover & interior design, King Clovis; editor, Mike Montesa]

Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize 1997

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Grand Prize 1999

Shogakukan Manga Award General Category 2000

Everyone faces uncertainty at some point in their lives. Even a brilliant surgeon like Kenzo Tenma is no exception. But there’s no way he could have known that his decision to stop chasing professional success and instead concentrate on his oath to save peoples’ lives would result in the birth of an abomination. The questions of good and evil now take on a terrifyingly real dimension. Years later, in Germany during the tumultuous post-reunification period, middle-aged childless couples are being killed one after another. The serial killer’s identity is known. The reasons why he kills are not. Dr. Tenma sets out on a journey to find the killer’s twin sister, who may hold some clues to solving the enigma of the “Monster.”

Art and story, Hiroaki Samura; translation, Dana Lewis & Toren Smith.

Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Prize 1997 

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia 2000

A cursed, seemingly immortal warrior aids a young girl in her quest for revenge, as the students of a brutal new sword school tear a bloody path across Japan.

Story by Tetsu Kariya ; art by Akira Hanasaki

Shogakukan Manga Award General Category 1986

Follow journalist Yamaoka Shiro on a rich cullinary adventure as he hunts for the "ultimate menu".

By Katsuhiro Otomo

Kodansha Manga Award General Category 1984

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Best Colorist/Coloring 1992

Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material in 1993

Harvey for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work 2002

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Best U.S. Edition of International Material 2002

In Neo-Tokyo, built on the former site of Tokyo after World War III, two teenagers are targeted by agencies after they develop paranormal abilities.

By Kazuo Umezu

Shogakukan Manga Award General Category 1974

In the aftermath of a massive earthquake, a Japanese elementary school is transported into a hostile world where the students and teachers are besieged by terrifying creatures and beset by madness. Out of nowhere, an entire school vanishes, leaving nothing but a hole in the ground. While parents mourn and authorities investigate, the students and teachers find themselves not dead but stranded in a terrifying wasteland where they must fight to survive.