Kodansha's 45th Manga Awards Winners Revealed

Winners for Kodansha’s 45th Manga Awards have been revealed on May 13th. Yuria-sensei no Akai Ito won the Best General Manga category, while Blue Lock won in Best Shonen. A Condition Called Love won in the Best Shojo category.

In addition to a cash prize of 100 million yen (around 900 USD), each winner won a certificate and a bronze statue.

Best Shounen Manga – Blue Lock

Author: Mineyuki Kanashiro / Artist: Yusuke Nomura

Winner of the Kodansha’s 45th Manga Awards for the Best Shonen Manga, Blue Lock started serialization in Weekly Shounen Magazine in 2018, and as of today it has 130 chapters. Kodansha describes the plot as:

After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan’s team struggles to regroup. But what’s missing? An absolute Ace Striker, who can guide them to the win. The Football Association is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, and who can be the decisive instrument in turning around a losing match…and to do so, they’ve gathered 300 of Japan’s best and brightest youth players. Who will emerge to lead the team…and will they be able to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in their way?

Other nominees in this category were Fire Force, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.

Best Shojo Manga – A Condition Called Love

Author: Megumi Morino

A Condition Called Love is currently on its 30th chapter, having started serialization in 2017. Kodansha website describes the plot as:

Hotaru is a 16-year-old high school first-year who has always been ambivalent about love, preferring instead to have a lively life with her family and friends. So when she sees her schoolmate, Hananoi-kun, sitting in the snow after a messy, public breakup, she thinks nothing of offering to share her umbrella. But when he asks her out in the middle of her classroom the next day, she can’t help but feel that her life is about to change in a big way…

Other nominees in the category were: Honey Lemon Soda, A Sign of Affection and Defying Kurosaki-kun.

Best General Manga – Yuria-sensei no Akai Ito (Yuria’s Red String)

Author and Artist: Kiwa Irie

Yuria-sensei no Akai Ito, or Yuria’s Red String, started serialization in Be-Love magazine in 2018. As of today, it has 37 chapters. Sadly, the manga hasn’t been licensed in English yet. The story follows Yuria, a normal housewife who lives with her husband and his mother. One day, her husband ends up in the hospital and Yuria rushes to be by his side. However, once she arrives there, she meets a young man who proclaims that he is her husband’s lover.

Other nominees in this category included Sweat and Soap, Hakozume: Koban Joshi no Gyakushu, Futari Solo Camp and I Want to Hold Aono-kun so Badly I Could Die.

Among the members of the committee for the 45th Kodansha Manga Awards were popular Japanese writers Etsushi Ogawa (True Cooking Master Boy), Tsumami Umino (The Full-Time Wife Escapist), and Koji Kumeta (Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei). In addition, Akiko Higashimura, Norifusa Mita, Waki Yamato, and Makoto Yukimura were also on the awards committee.

Last year’s winners for the Manga Awards were Tokyo Revengers (Ken Wakui), Our Precious Conversations (Robico) and The Blue Period (Tsubasa Yamaguchi).

Source: NatalieMU, Kodansha US