Manga Taishō

The Manga Taishō (マンガ大賞, transl. Cartoon Grand Prize) is a Japanese comics award recognizing achievement in manga. It is awarded annually to a manga series published in the previous calendar year of eight or fewer collected volumes in length.^[1] The Manga Taishō was founded with the aim of recognizing new and relatively unestablished manga, and to provide a platform to promote these works to new readers. To this end, the prize utilizes a judging criteria of recognizing manga one would "want to recommend to friends", rather than a strictly meritocratic evaluation of artistic excellence.^[2]

Manga Taishō
Awarded for	Manga of eight or fewer volumes in length
Country	Japan
Presented by	Manga Taishō Executive Committee
First award	March 28, 2008; 17 years ago (2008-03-28)
Most recent winner	Alice, Doko Made mo by Kiko Urino [ja]
Most nominations	Akiko Higashimura and Yama Wayama (7)
Website	mangataisho.com

The prize is presented by the Manga Taishō Executive Committee, a volunteer group of roughly one hundred "manga lovers from all walks of life",^[3] primarily bookstore workers who manage in-store manga sections.^[1][2] Individuals directly involved with the manga industry, such as manga artists, authors, book designers, and editors, are barred from sitting on the committee;^[4] this distinguishes the Manga Taishō from the majority of the other major manga industry awards, which are typically organized by a specific publishing company and voted on by the company's editors.^[2] The Manga Taishō was established by Nippon Broadcasting System news announcer Hisanori Yoshida [ja], who sought to create a prize as a manga equivalent of the Japan Booksellers' Award, a similarly structured award which recognizes literature.^[2]

The voting system, also based on that of the Japan Booksellers' Award, is divided into two rounds.^[2] In the first round, each committee member nominates five titles, and the top ten titles are shortlisted for the prize. In the event of a tie, both titles are nominated and the shortlist is lengthened;^[1] the largest shortlist was in 2012, with fifteen nominees.^[5] The second round is a ranked vote, where each member reads each nominated work at their own expense, and selects their top three choices in order of preference. Points are assigned based on rank (three points for first preference, two for second, one for third), the rankings are aggregated, and the title with the most points wins.^[4] Winning titles cannot be re-nominated in subsequent years.^[3] The Manga Taishō does not award a cash prize, though winning titles are promoted heavily in bookstores across Japan; the prize is thus recognized as being a significant sales driver for manga,^[2] and winning titles are frequently adapted into anime or television dramas.^[6]

The inaugural Manga Taishō was awarded on March 28, 2008,^[7] to Gaku: Minna no Yama by Shinichi Ishizuka, and in 2025 to Alice, Doko Made mo by Kiko Urino [ja]. Since its inception, the Manga Taishō has been awarded annually, with eighteen winners as of 2025. Akiko Higashimura and Yama Wayama are the most-nominated authors, with seven nominations each including Higashimura's win for Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey in 2015. Chihayafuru by Yuki Suetsugu, Kore Kaite Shine by Minoru Toyoda [ja], and Alice, Doko Made mo are the highest-scoring series in the prize's history, winning the Manga Taishō with 102 points in 2009, 2023 and 2025 respectively; 2023's runner-up, Akane-banashi by Yūki Suenaga [ja] and Takamasa Moue [ja], is the highest-scoring series in the prize's history to not win the Manga Taishō, with 100 points. The most-nominated series are Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoko Kui and Onna no Sono no Hoshi by Yama Wayama, each with four. No author has won the award multiple times.

Winners and nominees

Table key

‡	Indicates the winner

2000s winners and nominees

Award year	Title	Author(s)	Points	Ref(s).
2008 (1st)	Gaku: Minna no Yama ‡	Shinichi Ishizuka	68	[7]
	Yotsuba&!	Kiyohiko Azuma	49
	Umimachi Diary	Akimi Yoshida	43
	Flower of Life	Fumi Yoshinaga	43
	Kimi ni Todoke	Karuho Shiina	42
	Ōoku: The Inner Chambers	Fumi Yoshinaga	40
	Imperial Guards [ja]	Daisuke Satō and Yū Itō [ja]	35
	Tomehane! Suzuri Kōkō Shodōbu	Katsutoshi Kawai [ja]	27
	Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture	Masayuki Ishikawa	26
	Natsume's Book of Friends	Yuki Midorikawa	23
	Himawari: Kenichi Legend	Akiko Higashimura	20
	What Did You Eat Yesterday?	Fumi Yoshinaga	19
2009 (2nd)	Chihayafuru ‡	Yuki Suetsugu	102	[8][9]
	Space Brothers	Chūya Koyama	94
	March Comes In like a Lion	Chica Umino	65
	Shin'ya Shokudō	Yarō Abe [ja]	47
	Seishun Shōnen Magazine 1978-1983 [ja]	Makoto Kobayashi	46
	Saint Young Men	Hikaru Nakamura	45
	Tomehane! Suzuri Kōkō Shodōbu	Katsutoshi Kawai [ja]	43
	Mama wa Tenparist [ja]	Akiko Higashimura	36
	Toriko	Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro	25
	You're Being Summoned, Azazel	Yasuhisa Kubo [ja]	15
2010 (3rd)	Thermae Romae ‡	Mari Yamazaki	94	[10][11]
	Space Brothers	Chūya Koyama	89
	Bakuman	Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata	60
	I Am a Hero	Kengo Hanazawa	55
	Otoko no Isshō	Keiko Nishi	48
	Mushi to Uta: Ichikawa Haruko Sakuhin-Shū	Haruko Ichikawa [ja]	47
	Princess Jellyfish	Akiko Higashimura	46
	Moteki	Mitsurou Kubo	44
	Kōkō Kyūji Zawa-san [ja]	Eriko Mishima [ja]	25
	Aoi Honō	Kazuhiko Shimamoto	23
2011 (4th)	March Comes In like a Lion ‡	Chica Umino	75	[12][13]
	A Bride's Story	Kaoru Mori	55
	I Am a Hero	Kengo Hanazawa	51
	Hana no Zubora-Meshi	Masayuki Kusumi [ja] and Etsuko Mizusawa [ja]	50
	Shitsuren Chocolatier	Setona Mizushiro	47
	Sayonara Mo Iwazu Ni	Kentarō Ueno [ja]	42
	Attack on Titan	Hajime Isayama	41
	Kokkoku: Moment by Moment	Seita Horio [ja]	38
	Those Snow White Notes	Marimo Ragawa	36
	Drifters	Kouta Hirano	35
	Don't Cry, Girl	Tomoko Yamashita	35
	Omo ni Naitemasu [ja]	Akiko Higashimura	27
	Saru	Daisuke Igarashi	21
2012 (5th)	Silver Spoon ‡	Hiromu Arakawa	76	[5][14]
	Giga Tokyo Toy Box [ja]	Ume [ja]	61
	Nobunaga Concerto	Ayumi Ishii [ja]	57
	Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju	Haruko Kumota [ja]	49
	25-ji no Bakansu [ja]	Haruko Ichikawa [ja]	46
	Drifters	Kouta Hirano	43
	Gurazeni	Yūji Moritaka [ja] and Keiji Adachi [ja]	41
	I Am a Hero	Kengo Hanazawa	40
	Skygrazer	Masakazu Ishiguro	37
	Takasugi-san's Obento	Nozomi Yanahara [ja]	37
	Hibi Rock	Katsumasa Enokiya [ja]	32
	The Flowers of Evil	Shūzō Oshimi	28
	Your Lie in April	Naoshi Arakawa	27
	Hozuki's Coolheadedness	Natsumi Eguchi [ja]	24
	My Neighbor Seki	Takuma Morishige [ja]	12
2013 (6th)	Umimachi Diary ‡	Akimi Yoshida	89	[15][16]
	A Bride's Story	Kaoru Mori	78
	Welcome to the Ballroom	Tomo Takeuchi [ja]	78
	Hi Score Girl	Rensuke Oshikiri [ja]	62
	My Love Story!!	Kazune Kawahara and Aruko	58
	Assassination Classroom	Yusei Matsui	40
	Seven Little Sons of the Dragon: A Collection of Seven Stories	Ryoko Kui	36
	Ningen Karimenchū	Taeko Uzuki [ja]	35
	Terra Formars	Yū Sasuga [ja] and Kenichi Tachibana [ja]	30
	Sanzoku Diary	Kentarō Okamoto [ja]	29
	Bokura no Funka-sai	Keigo Shinzō [ja]	29
2014 (7th)	A Bride's Story ‡	Kaoru Mori	94	[17][18]
	Erased	Kei Sanbe	82
	Sayonara, Tama-chan	Kazuyoshi Takeda [ja]	66
	The Seven Deadly Sins	Nakaba Suzuki	59
	Hikidashi ni Terrarium	Ryoko Kui	54
	Jūhan Shuttai!	Naoko Matsuda [ja]	46
	One-Punch Man	One	43
	Ajin: Demi-Human	Gamon Sakurai [ja]	32
	Ashizuri Suizokukan	Panpanya	31
	Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto	Nami Sano	9
2015 (8th)	Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey ‡	Akiko Higashimura	80	[19][20]
	Kodomo wa Wakatte Agenai [ja]	Rettō Tajima [ja]	66
	A Silent Voice	Yoshitoki Ōima	65
	Erased	Kei Sanbe	57
	Blue Giant	Shinichi Ishizuka	49
	Welcome to the Ballroom	Tomo Takeuchi [ja]	40
	Innocent	Shin-ichi Sakamoto	38
	My Hero Academia	Kōhei Horikoshi	36
	Ōsama-tachi no Viking	Sadayasu [ja] and Makoto Fukami	35
	Kasane	Daruma Matsuura [ja]	30
	Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun	Izumi Tsubaki	28
	The Ancient Magus' Bride	Kore Yamazaki	28
	Land of the Lustrous	Haruko Ichikawa [ja]	18
	Dimitri Tomkins	Fumiko Takano	8
2016 (9th)	Golden Kamuy ‡	Satoru Noda	91	[21]
	Delicious in Dungeon	Ryoko Kui	78
	Blue Giant	Shinichi Ishizuka	68
	Erased	Kei Sanbe	55
	Hyakumanjō Labyrinth	Takamichi [ja]	49
	Wave, Listen to Me!	Hiroaki Samura	43
	After the Rain	Jun Mayuzuki	42
	Machida-kun no Sekai	Yuki Andō [ja]	38
	Tokyo Tarareba Girls	Akiko Higashimura	29
	Okazaki ni Sasagu [ja]	Saho Yamamoto [ja]	28
	Tonkatsu DJ Agetarō	Ipyao and Yujiro Koyama [ja]	25
2017 (10th)	Hibiki: Shōsetsuka ni Naru Hōhō ‡	Mitsuharu Yanamoto [ja]	67	[22]
	Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom	Nao Iwamoto [ja]	64
	Delicious in Dungeon	Ryoko Kui	63
	Aoashi	Yugo Kobayashi [ja] and Naohiko Ueno [ja]	60
	Wave, Listen to Me!	Hiroaki Samura	48
	The Promised Neverland	Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu	43
	Golden Gold	Seita Horio [ja]	42
	Fire Punch	Tatsuki Fujimoto	37
	Hi Score Girl	Rensuke Oshikiri [ja]	33
	Teasing Master Takagi-san	Sōichirō Yamamoto	30
	My Boy	Hitomi Takano [ja]	20
	Tokyo Tarareba Girls	Akiko Higashimura	18
	Drifting Dragons	Taku Kuwabara [ja]	9
2018 (11th)	Beastars ‡	Paru Itagaki	78	[23][24]
	Warera Contactee [ja]	Rui Morita [ja]	68
	Nagi no Oitoma	Misato Konari [ja]	56
	Delicious in Dungeon	Ryoko Kui	52
	To Your Eternity	Yoshitoki Ōima	47
	Smile Down the Runway	Kotoba Inoya [ja]	46
	Witch Hat Atelier	Kamome Shirahama	42
	Made in Abyss	Akihito Tsukushi	40
	Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!	Sumito Ōwara [ja]	38
	Pompo: The Cinéphile	Shogo Sugitani	28
	The Promised Neverland	Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu	26
	Golden Gold	Seita Horio [ja]	13
2019 (12th)	Astra Lost in Space ‡	Kenta Shinohara	94	[25][26]
	Don't Call It Mystery	Yumi Tamura	78
	Blue Period	Tsubasa Yamaguchi	73
	Ikoku Nikki	Tomoko Yamashita	45
	Sazan to Suisei no Shōjo	Yuriko Akase	41
	Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest	Aki Irie	40
	Kongōji-san wa Mendōkusai	Minoru Toyoda [ja]	39
	BL Metamorphosis	Kaori Tsurutani [ja]	38
	Hakumei and Mikochi	Takuto Kashiki [ja]	33
	Nagi no Oitoma	Misato Konari [ja]	25
	Delicious in Dungeon	Ryoko Kui	23
	Golden Gold	Seita Horio [ja]	22
	1122: For a Happy Marriage	Peko Watanabe [ja]	19
2020 (13th)	Blue Period ‡	Tsubasa Yamaguchi	69	[27][28]
	Spy × Family	Tatsuya Endo	63
	Skip and Loafer	Misaki Takamatsu [ja]	58
	Wave, Listen to Me!	Hiroaki Samura	57
	Mizu wa Umi ni Mukatte Nagareru	Rettō Tajima [ja]	56
	Don't Call It Mystery	Yumi Tamura	54
	Captivated, by You	Yama Wayama	50
	Chainsaw Man	Tatsuki Fujimoto	40
	Maku Musubi [ja]	Shin Hotani [ja]	36
	Ikoku Nikki	Tomoko Yamashita	31
	The Dangers in My Heart	Norio Sakurai	24
	Since I Could Die Tomorrow	Kari Sumako [ja]	20
2021 (14th)	Frieren: Beyond Journey's End ‡	Kanehito Yamada [ja] and Tsukasa Abe [ja]	91	[29]
	Orb: On the Movements of the Earth	Uoto	67
	Let's Go Karaoke!	Yama Wayama	64
	Mizu wa Umi ni Mukatte Nagareru	Rettō Tajima [ja]	60
	Oshi no Ko	Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari	59
	Kaiju No. 8	Naoya Matsumoto	58
	Onna no Sono no Hoshi	Yama Wayama	57
	BL Metamorphosis	Kaori Tsurutani [ja]	48
	Kowloon Generic Romance	Jun Mayuzuki	46
	Spy × Family	Tatsuya Endo	38
2022 (15th)	The Darwin Incident ‡	Shun Umezawa [ja]	74	[30][31]
	Look Back	Tatsuki Fujimoto	68
	Hirayasumi	Keigo Shinzō [ja]	66
	Onna no Sono no Hoshi	Yama Wayama	63
	Orb: On the Movements of the Earth	Uoto	59
	Trillion Game	Riichiro Inagaki and Ryoichi Ikegami	55
	Dandadan	Yukinobu Tatsu [ja]	53
	Oshi no Ko	Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari	49
	Umi ga Hashiru Endroll	John Tarachine	45
	Takahashi from the Bike Shop	Arare Matsumushi	32
2023 (16th)	Kore Kaite Shine ‡	Minoru Toyoda [ja]	102	[32][33]
	Akane-banashi	Yūki Suenaga [ja] and Takamasa Moue [ja]	100
	Onna no Sono no Hoshi	Yama Wayama	65
	You and I Are Polar Opposites	Kōcha Agasawa	65
	Nippon Sangoku	Ikka Matsuki [ja]	59
	A Witch's Life in Mongol	Tomato Soup [ja]	59
	Goodbye, Eri	Tatsuki Fujimoto	44
	Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You	Jinushi	34
	Gekiko Kamen	Takayuki Yamaguchi	32
	Takopi's Original Sin	Taizan 5 [ja]	29
	The Summer Hikaru Died	Mokumokuren	22
2024 (17th)	Spacewalking with You ‡	Inuhiko Doronoda	96	[34][35]
	Daemons of the Shadow Realm	Hiromu Arakawa	73
	Kanda Gokura-chō Shokunin-Banashi	Akihito Sakaue	72
	Shimazaki in the Land of Peace	Gōden Hamada and Takeshi Seshimo	59
	The Days of Diamond	Ōhashi Hirai	56
	A Witch's Life in Mongol	Tomato Soup [ja]	56
	You and I Are Polar Opposites	Kōcha Agasawa	50
	Hirayasumi	Keigo Shinzō [ja]	49
	Tamaki & Amane	Fumi Yoshinaga	49
	Fami-res Iko	Yama Wayama	28
2025 (18th)	Alice, Doko Made mo ‡	Kiko Urino [ja]	102	[36][37]
	Robō no Fujii	Kurao Nabe	79
	Girl Meets Rock!	Kuwahali and Tetsuo Ideuchi	75
	Magus of the Library	Mitsu Izumi	69
	When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom	Shiho Kido	51
	Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn't Remember Me	Eiko Mutsuhana, Gin Shirakawa, and Yugiri Aika	45
	Onna no Sono no Hoshi	Yama Wayama	44
	Cosmos	Ryuhei Tamura	38
	Konoyo wa Tatakau Kachi ga Aru	Hatsumi Kodama	37
	Dokagui Daisuki! Mochizuki-san	Kamome Maruyono	24

Multiple nominations

Works

The following works have been nominated for the Manga Taishō multiple times; winning titles are indicated with ‡.

Nominations	Title
4	Delicious in Dungeon
	Onna no Sono no Hoshi
3	A Bride's Story ‡
	Erased
	Golden Gold
	I Am a Hero
	Wave, Listen to Me!
2	BL Metamorphosis
	Blue Giant
	Blue Period ‡
	Chi: On the Movements of the Earth
	Don't Call It Mystery
	Drifters
	Hi Score Girl
	Hirayasumi
	Ikoku Nikki
	March Comes In like a Lion ‡
	Mizu wa Umi ni Mukatte Nagareru
	Nagi no Oitoma
	Oshi no Ko
	The Promised Neverland
	Space Brothers
	Spy × Family
	Tokyo Tarareba Girls
	Tomehane! Suzuri Kōkō Shodōbu
	Umimachi Diary ‡
	Welcome to the Ballroom
	A Witch's Life in Mongol
	You and I Are Polar Opposites

Authors

The following authors have received multiple Manga Taishō nominations for their manga; winning authors are indicated with ‡.

Nominations	Author
7	Akiko Higashimura ‡
	Yama Wayama
6	Ryoko Kui
4	Tatsuki Fujimoto
	Seita Horio [ja]
	Haruko Ichikawa [ja]
	Fumi Yoshinaga
3	Kengo Hanazawa
	Shinichi Ishizuka ‡
	Kaoru Mori ‡
	Hiroaki Samura
	Kei Sanbe
	Keigo Shinzō [ja]
	Rettō Tajima [ja]
	Tomoko Yamashita
2	Kōcha Agasawa
	Aka Akasaka
	Hiromu Arakawa
	Posuka Demizu
	Tatsuya Endo
	Kouta Hirano
	Katsutoshi Kawai [ja]
	Misato Konari [ja]
	Chūya Koyama
	Kamome Maruyono
	Jun Mayuzuki
	Yoshitoki Ōima
	Rensuke Oshikiri [ja]
	Kaiu Shirai
	Tomo Takeuchi [ja]
	Yumi Tamura
	Tomato Soup [ja]
	Minoru Toyoda [ja]
	Kaori Tsurutani [ja]
	Chica Umino ‡
	Uoto
	Tsubasa Yamaguchi ‡
	Mengo Yokoyari
	Akimi Yoshida ‡