Four manga have been announced as the recipients of the 69th Shogakukan Manga Award. Among them is the fantasy manga Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, which has a currently airing TV anime adaptation from Madhouse and Bocchi the Rock! director Keiichirou Saitou.
The other Shogakukan Manga Award winners are The Elusive Samurai, Suuji de Asobo (Play With Numbers), and Trillion Game. The former and latter have upcoming anime adaptations.
Frieren: Journey’s End (written by Kanehito Yamada, drawn by Tsukasa Abe) depicts the journey of an exceedingly long-lived elf after the death of a former party companion of 10 years inspires change in her. The manga began serialization in Weekly Shonen Sunday in 2020 and was the grand prize winner of Manga Taisho 2021. Viz Media has the English license.
The Elusive Samurai (Yusei Matsui) is set in feudal Japan and follows the boy Hojo Tokiyuki, who is forced to flee and seeks revenge after the overthrow of the Kamakura shogunate by Ashikaga Takauji. It started serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2021 and is also licensed by Viz.
Murako Kinuta‘s Suuji de Asobo debuted in Monthly flowers in 2018 and is about the struggles of a young man with university-level math. Finally, Trillion Game (written by Riichirou Inagaki and drawn by Ryouichi Ikegami) sees two friends joining forces with the aim of gaining one trillion dollars. It started serialization in Big Comics Superior in 2020 and has inspired a live-action drama.
Shogakukan previously revealed the 12 finalists of the 69th Shogakukan Manga Award in December 2023. The other finalists are:
• Unmei no Makimodoshi by Fuuta Kimura (Corocoro Comic)
• Kyou kara Papa wa Kamisama desu. by Mitsuki Teramoto (Ciao)
• Black Girls Talk by Nomaki Makino (Manga One)
• Shujinkou Nikki by Yuu Yoshinaga (Betsucomi)
• Koori no Jouheki by Koucha Agasawa (Margaret)
• Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead by Haro Aso and Koutaro Takata (Sunday GX)
• Shoujiki Fudousan by Akira Ootani, Takeshi Natsuhara, and Mitsuhiro Mizuno (Big Comics)
• Ya Boy Kongming! by Yuuto Yotsuba and Ryou Ogawa (Young Magazine)
Source: Shogakukan