11th
Award-winning WorksManga Division

Although the total number of entries to the Manga Division declined this year, we believe that this is mainly because publishers are selecting their recommendations for the Story Manga category more carefully. In the other categories, with the exception of Frame Manga which experienced a slight decline, the number of applications continues to steadily increase. Most noticeably, the number of entries from abroad, which dropped sharply last year, recovered and some have even been selected as Recommended Works this year. As a result, there is an increased diversity of Recommended Works, which can be seen in the variety of forms of manga at the exhibition. This year, the number of Digital manga entries increased remarkably; however, few of them devised original methods of presentation. It was thought that they should have made a clearer difference in their means of presentation from other existing mobile contents, which already have original methods of display.

Of the 283 entries we received this year, 35 works were shortlisted for the final screening sessions. As with previous years, the decisions for the Grand Prize and Excellence Prizes changed many times during the sessions; the entries were all so good that it seemed any could deserve a prize. The opportunity to read such high quality and engrossing manga was one of the chief privileges of being a jury member. Some of the entries, such as the one that contained some particularly brutal images and made the reader want to cover his eyes, or the one that employed an experimental scroll-like drawing style, were noticeable. However, we could not quite be convinced of the necessity of these factors, which was a shame, as it meant the full meaning was not fully conveyed to all of the jury members. Of the self-published manga, which is supposed to be a growing means of manga publication, digital manga, which both employ new media, we found disappointingly few that were remarkable. We have high hopes for them in the future.

"How and what I can choose...." that was my honest feeling during the screening sessions. It seemed the other jury members had a similar feeling, as the discussions were heated; "This work is interesting," "No, the subject of this work is more historical," "This work seems inconspicuous at a glance, but it surely isn't an ordinary work," "The experimental method of this work may have great potential," and so on: It was because the candidates of the Story Manga category were all outstanding. Those diverse opinions were reflecting the variety and high standard of the entries. Above all, what was most impressive for me was that, when we finally finished all the screening process, before I felt relieved, I felt like saying "sorry" to those that missed prizes.