12th
Award-winning WorksManga Division

Last year, there were two works commercially published as a result of prizes awarded by the Japan Media Arts Festival; they were SHIRAI Yumiko's Tenken-sai (Independent Manga), and KYO Machiko's sen-nen-gahou (Web Manga), the latter of which was selected for a Recommended Work two years in a row. Both of them have been well received, and their success may have been what stimulated an increase in the number of applications to this year's Media Arts Festival Manga Division, a rise of 37% compared with the last year.
However, it was a pity that there was not also an increase in the number of exceptional and innovative entries. Of the works selected this year, One Frame Manga, Cartoon 2008, was praised for the consistent and masterful skill of the artist, which is evident throughout the work. Additionally, the work of a Korean artist, an Web manga advanced county, Yakuzan! Challenge for Healthful Food, was thought to be outstandingly amusing. Considerable appreciation was also voiced for the unique effect of NEKO NO HANGA, which was created using wood block prints, and the humor of KAKINAGURI-MANGA. The key to creating good Web manga is in utilizing the unique aspects of the medium to enhance the entertainment value of the content.

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.

It has been a long time since the manga industry last came to a turning point. With the continuous appearance of new items of interest for young readers, such as personal computers, cellular phones, games, and so on, it is true that the time of the so called bubble era, when any manga magazines or comic books were unconditionally selling well, has long since passed. However, new characters were born and have grown lively in these new media; it was interesting to note many of these new genre works in this year's screening of the Manga Division. Nevertheless, we found that conventional paper printed manga is still very much alive and that their content and expression remains substantial; this year was especially plentiful. The time I spent in the screening sessions has convinced me that beneath the surface the manga industry is about to turn, and that there will be a wide open land, vast and fertile.