12th Manga Division Critiques

[Critique by work category] Story Manga

It was extremely difficult to choose the Grand Prize winner and Excellence Prize winners, as the candidates were masterful and varied. After long discussions, we awarded the Grand Prize to PIANO NO MORI, which dramatically contrasts the beauty of classical music with the growth of boys who are aiming to become top pianists with rich poetic sentiment. It was chosen as a result of a hot competition with another classical music themed story, MAESTRO.
The Excellence Prize winning-works are; Real Clothes, a tale of intense rivalry in the apparel industry with excellent characterization; Munakata kyouju Ikouroku, an intellectual and intellectually stimulating rationalization of the mysteries of romance, legend, and folklore, by way of bold theories and reasoning; SHIORI TO SHIMIKO, a depiction of a peculiar and amusing supernatural world; MAESTRO, a clever synthesis of several distinct episodes involving various characters into one moving story. Each of these was the equal of the Grand Prize winner in terms of quality and entertainment value. We have seen the great depth and scale of the manga culture afresh through the screening sessions.

Profile

NAGAI Go

Head of the Jury / Manga Artist

Born in Ishikawa prefecture, 1945. After working as an assistant for ISHINOMORI Shotaro, NAGAI Go debuted with Meaka-shi Polikichi (Detective Polikichi) in "Bokura" (published by Kodansha) in 1967. In the following year, he started a series Harenchi Gakuen (Shameless School) in "Shonen Jump", which immediately became a great success. Since then, he has continued to present many works in a wide range of genres. His major works include Harenchi Gakuen, Devilman, Mazinger Z, Violence Jack, Cutie Honey and many others. He became a professor of the Character Creative Arts Department of Osaka University of Arts in 2005.