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Shun Umezawa's Darwin Jihen Manga Wins 15th Manga Taisho Awards

The executive committee for the 15th Manga Taisho awards announced the winner and full points breakdown for the awards on Monday during the award ceremony. (The official English name of the awards is the "Cartoon Grand Prize.")

Shun Umezawa's Darwin Jihen manga won this year's award. The manga also won an Excellence Award in the Manga Division of the Japanese government's Ministry of Cultural Affairs' 25th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards earlier this month. The manga also ranked at #10 for manga for male readers in the 2022 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook.

Umezawa drew an illustration to commemorate the award.

The manga centers on Charlie, a hybrid human-chimpanzee named a "Humanzee." The terrorist organization Animal Liberation Front attacked an animal research center, where a female chimpanzee had given birth to Charlie. Charlie is then raised by human parents, and goes to high school. The manga launched in June 2020 in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine and currently has three volumes.

The nominating committee is composed mainly of bookstore staffers who are in charge of their respective stores' manga. This year's nominating committee consisted of 99 individuals, who selected from 235 titles. Any manga title that was released in 2021 and has eight volumes or less is eligible. The volume cap is intentionally added so that the prize winners would be relatively new works that have not already earned their popularity through sheer longevity.

Manga Taisho 2022 Final Results

Darwin Jihen
Shun Umezawa
74 points

Look Back
Tatsuki Fujimoto
68 points

Hirayasumi
Keigo Shinzō
66 points

Onna no Sono no Hoshi (was also nominated last year)
Yama Wayama
63 points

Chi -Chikyū no Undō ni Tsuite- (was also nominated last year)
Uoto
59 points

Trillion Game
Ryōichi Ikegami, Riichirou Inagaki
55 points

Dandadan
Yukinobu Tatsu
53 points

Oshi no Ko (was also nominated last year)
Aka Akasaka, Mengo Yokoyari
49 points

Umi ga Hashiru Endroll
John Tarachine
45 points

Jitenshaya-san no Takahashi-kun
Arare Matsumushi
32 points

Previous winners of the Manga Taisho award include:

• 2021 - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe
• 2020 - The Blue Period. by Tsubasa Yamaguchi
• 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

Sources: Manga Taisho, Comic Natalie