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Junji Ito's Black Paradox Nominated for 2023 Eisner Award, Looks To Become Ito's Third Win in a Row

Junji Ito’s Black Paradox manga has been nominated for this year’s Eisner Award in the category of “Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia.” This year could mark Ito’s third straight year winning the award in this category, with the previous two wins being Lovesickness: A Junji Ito Collection in 2022 and Remina in 2021.

Other series that are currently up for the award are the following:

  • Look Back, by Tatsuki Fujimoto, translation by Amanda Haley (VIZ Media)
  • The Hellbound vols. 1-2, by Yeon Sang-ho and Choi Gyu-seok, translation by Danny Lim (Dark Horse)
  • PTSD Radio vol. 1, by Masaaki Nakayama, translation by Adam Hirsch (Kodansha)
  • Shuna’s Journey, by Hayao Miyazaki; translation by Alex Dudok de Wit (First Second/Macmillan)
  • Talk to My Back, by Yamada Murasaki, translation by Ryan Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)

Ito is no stranger to the Eisner Awards. This is his fifth nomination in the past six years just in this category alone. He also won the award for “Best Writer/Artist” in 2021 for Remina and was nominated for the same award a year later for Lovesickness as well.

Black Paradox (English translation by Jocelyne Allen (VIZ Media) is a single volume that spans over six chapters bringing about a captivating sci-thriller of a story. The manga was originally released in Japan in 2009, but it wasn’t until 2022 that VIZ Media picked up the license for the manga and released a hardcover edition of the manga. There are currently no circulation numbers for Junji Ito’s Black Paradox.

VIZ Media publishes the Black Paradox manga and describes the story as:
Four people intent on killing themselves meet through the suicide website Black Paradox: Maruso, a nurse who despairs about the future; Taburo, a man who is tortured by his doppelganger; Pii-tan, an engineer with his own robot clone; and Baracchi, a woman who agonizes about the birthmark on her face. They wander together in search of the perfect death, fatefully opening a door that leads them to a rather bizarre destiny…

Source: Official Comic-Con Website
BLACK PARADOX © 2009 JI Inc./SHOGAKUKAN

Eric Himmelheber

I am a Senior Writer for Anime Corner. I love baseball, football, hockey, and basketball. My favorite anime genre is sci-fi. So if you want to talk about anime, my articles, or sports, feel free to DM me on Twitter @erichimmelheber!

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Eric Himmelheber