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65th Shogakukan Manga Awards' Nominees Announced

The judging committee of the 65th Shogakukan Manga Awards revealed the nominees for this year's awards. Each winning title will be honored with a bronze statuette and a prize of 1 million yen (about US$9,000). The winners will be announced in late January.

Best Children's Manga

Neko, Hajimemashita
Konomi Wagata
Serialized in Ciao (Shogakukan)
The manga's story centers on Nao Kazushiro, a carefree high school boy who dies in a traffic accident, and suddenly inhabits the body of a nearby cat. He ends up being picked up off the streets by a girl named Chika. The manga depicts the everyday life of Chika and Nao, now named Nyao.

Wagata launched the manga in Ciao magazine in October 2015. Shogakukan published the manga's sixth volume on October 1.

Super Mario-kun
Yukio Sawada
Serialized in Coro Coro Comics (Shogakukan)
Super Mario-kun is a children's manga that retells the stories of various games in the Mario franchise. In 2013, the manga beat out fellow Coro Coro manga Doraemon as the publication's longest manga.

Sawada launched the manga in Coro Coro Comics magazine in 1991. Shogakukan published the manga's 54th volume in December 2018.

Best Shōnen Manga

Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san
Aiko Koyama
Serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday (Shogakukan)
The story is set in Kyoto's "hanamachi" geisha quarter. Here, after geisha finish their work late at night, they spend the night resting at a lodge to prepare for the next day. The story centers on Kiyo, an Aomori native who works as a cook in a geisha lodge in Kyoto. She also has a friend named Sumire who is a maiko, or apprentice geisha.

Koyama launched the manga in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine in December 2016. Shogakukan published the manga's 11th compiled book volume on September 12.

How much heavy dumbbells can you lift? (Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?)
Yabako Sandrovich, MAAM
Serialized in Ura Sunday/Manga One (Shogakukan)
Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga and it describes the story:

Sakura is a teenage girl who loves to eat, but when she notices her waistline expanding, she decides to check out the local gym. The gym is full of buff dudes...and Akemi, the student council president?! When Akemi tries to convince Sakura to take up weight training, Sakura resists--until she meets pretty-boy trainer Machio. Now, Sakura is willing to do whatever it takes to bulk up!

Sandrovich and MAAM, a relatively new manga artist, launched the manga on Shogakukan's web manga site Ura Sunday and on Shogakukan's Manga One app in 2016. Shogakukan published the eighth volume on August 8. Doga Kobo adapted the manga into a television anime which premiered on July 3.

Jujutsu Kaisen
Gege Akutami
Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump (Shueisha)
Viz Media published the manga's first three chapters in English simultaneously with Japan as part of its Jump Start initiative. When the company then switched to its new Shonen Jump model, it began publishing new chapters of the manga digitally. Viz Media will begin releasing the manga in print this winter. Shueisha is also publishing the manga on its Manga Plus website, and it describes the manga:

For some strange reason, Yuji Itadori, despite his insane athleticism would rather just hang out with the Occult Club. However, her soon finds out that the occult is as real as it gets when his fellow club members are attacked! Meanwhile, the mysterious Megumi Fushiguro is tracking down a special-grade cursed object, and his search leads him to Itadori...

Akutami launched the manga in Weekly Shonen Jump magzine in March 2018. Shueisha published the manga's seventh volume on October 4.

Best Shōjo Manga

Koi to Dangan
Nozomi Mino
Serialized in Cheese! (Shogakukan)
The manga's story begins when Yuri, a high school girl, is drugged in a party, but is saved by Toshiomi Ōya, the young head of the Ōya yakuza group. When Yuri visits Toshiomi again to thank him, they begin falling for each other, even if Yuri knows that Toshiomi might die any day.

Mino launched the manga in Cheese! magazine in 2018. Shogakukan published the manga's third volume on September 26.

Seirou Opera
Kanoko Sakurakoji
Serialized in Betsucomi (Shogakukan)
The manga takes place in the Edo period in the Yoshiwara red light district, and follows Akane, who comes from a samurai family. She has lost her family, and is sold to a brothel in the district. There, Akane learns how to be a courtesan, and becomes entangled with a mysterious man.

Sakurakoji launched the manga in Betsucomi magazine in January 2015, and ended it on November 13. Shogakukan will publish the manga's 12th volume on February 26.

Nagi no Oitoma
Misato Konari
Serialized in Champion Tap! (Akita Shoten)
The story centers on Nagi Ōshima, a girl who is too conscious of everyone's mood and can't really get close to anyone. One day, she collapses from hyperventilation. After talking to her ex-boyfriend, she quits work, moves, and runs away from everything to start anew.

Konari launched the manga in Champion Tap! magazine in June 2016. Akita Shoten published the manga's sixth volume on September 13.

Best General Manga

Aoashi
Yūgo Kobayashi, Naohiko Ueno
Serialized in Big Comic Spirits (Shogakukan)
The manga's story centers on Ashita Aoi, a self-proclaimed soccer genius. While he is affiliated with a junior team in his native Ehime prefecture, a violent incident on field ends his career in middle school. In the depths of his sorrow, he meets a man by the beach.

Kobayashi and Ueno launched the manga in Big Comic Spirits magazine in January 2015. Shogakukan published the manga's 18th volume on October 30.

Mystery to Iu Nakare (Do not say mystery)
Yumi Tamura
Serialized in Monthly Flowers (Shogakukan)
The manga follows mystery-solving college student Totonō Kunō. At the beginning of the story, the police bring him in for questioning on suspicion of the murder of his classmate.

Tamura first published the manga as a one-shot manga in Monthly Flowers magazine in 2016 before launching it as a full series in in November 2017. Shogakukan published the manga's fifth volume on September 10.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunōsen)
Aka Akasaka
Serialized in Miracle Jump (Shueisha)
Viz Media is publishing the manga in English, and it describes the story:

All's fair when love is war!

Two geniuses. Two brains. Two hearts. One battle. Who will confess their love first…?!

Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane are two geniuses who stand atop their prestigious academy's student council, making them the elite among elite. But it's lonely at the top and each has fallen for the other. There's just one huge problem standing in the way of lovey-dovey bliss—they're both too prideful to be the first to confess their romantic feelings and thus become the “loser” in the competition of love! And so begins their daily schemes to force the other to confess first!

Akasaka began the series in Shueisha's Miracle Jump magazine in May 2015 but moved it to Young Jump in March 2016. The 13th volume shipped on January 18.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered on January 12, as well as a live-action film on September 6. The anime will have a second season.

Shogakukan has been awarding this prize since 1956 (for works published in 1955). Last year's winners included Age 12, Dr. Stone, Hibiki: Shōsetsuka ni Naru Hōhō, and Kenkō de Bunkateki na Saitei Gendo no Seikatsu.

Source: Shogakukan's website