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Shinichi Ishizuka Wins First Ever Manga Taisho for Gaku
posted on by Egan Loo
Artist Shinichi Ishizuka received this year's Manga Taisho (Cartoon Grand Prize) for his Gaku - Minna no Yama work in a March 28 ceremony in Tokyo. The story deals with the human drama of a climber on a mountain rescue team. The manga, which runs in Shogakuan's Big Comic Spirits magazine, garnered 68 points in the vote. Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba& placed second with 49 points, and Akimi Yoshida's Umimachi Diary 1: Semishigure no Yamugoro earned 42 points for third place.
Unlike many other manga prizes which are chosen by the editors of the manga publishers themselves, the Manga Taisho nominating committee is dominated by the bookstore staffers who are in charge of their respective stores' manga. The awards are also limited to works to published last year with eight or less volumes to promote relatively newer works. The committee intended to nominate only 10 works, but nominated 12 works this year because several titles had the same number of votes. ADV publishes Yotsuba& in North America, while Digital Manga Publishing publishes one of Fumi Yoshinaga's three nominated works, Flower of Life.
Source: animeanime.jp
