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Tsubasa Yamaguchi's The Blue Period. Manga Wins 13th Manga Taisho Awards

The executive committee for the 13th Manga Taisho awards announced on Monday that Tsubasa Yamaguchi's The Blue Period. manga won this year's award.

The manga was also nominated for the awards last year. The series was also nominated for the 24th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in February, and also ranked at #14 on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! male readers list in December.

Yamaguchi launched the manga in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine in June 2017. Kodansha published the manga's sixth compiled book volume last November. Kodansha Comics licensed the manga, and will begin releasing it this fall. Kodansha Comics describes the manga:

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!

Yamaguchi drew an illustration to commemorate the award.

Previous winners of the Manga Taisho award include:

• 2019 - Astra Lost in Space by Kenta Shinohara
• 2018 - BEASTARS by Paru Itagaki
• 2017 - Hibiki: Shōsetsuka ni Naru Hōhō by Mitsuharu Yanamoto
• 2016 - Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda
• 2015 - Kakukaku Shikajika by Akiko Higashimura
• 2014 - A Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori
• 2013 - Umimachi Diary by Akimi Yoshida
• 2012 - Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa
• 2011 - March comes in like a lion by Chika Umino
• 2010 - Thermae Romae by Mari Yamazaki
• 2009 - Chihayafuru by Yuki Suetsugu
• 2008 - Gaku - Minna no Yama by Shinichi Ishizuka

Unlike many other manga prizes which are chosen by the editors of the manga publishers themselves, the Manga Taisho nominating committee is mostly composed of the bookstore staffers who are in charge of their respective stores' manga sections. (The official English name of the awards is the "Cartoon Grand Prize.") The awards are also limited to works published last year with eight or fewer volumes to promote relatively newer works. The committee nominated 12 works this year.

Manga Taisho 2020 Final Results

The Blue Period.
Tsubasa Yamaguchi
69 points

SPY×FAMILY
Tatsuya Endō
63 points

Skip to Loafer
Misaki Takamatsu
58 points

Wave, Listen to Me! (Nami yo Kiite Kure)
Hiroaki Samura
57 points

Mizu wa Umi ni Mukatte Nagareru
Rettō Tajima
56 ponts

Mystery to Iu Nakare (Do not say mystery)
Rui Morita
54 points

Muchū sa, Kimi ni.
Yama Wayama
50 points

Chainsaw Man
Tatsuki Fujimoto
40 points

Maku Musubi
Shin Hotani
36 points

Ikoku Nikki
Tomoko Yamashita
31 points

Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu
Norio Sakurai
24 points

Ashita Shinu ni wa
Sumako Kari
20 points

Sources: Manga Taisho, Comic Natalie