Winners of the 69th Shougakukan Manga Awards Announced

The winners of the 69th Shougakukan manga awards were announced on Thursday.

Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End)
The fantasy manga written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe has been serialized in the weekly Shounen Sunday magazine since April 2020. The series' 12th volume was published by Shougakukan in December 2023. American publisher Viz Media licensed the series for physical release in February 2021, under the title Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and has since released nine volumes in English, with the tenth volume to be released on February 20. In September 2022, an anime adaptation by Madhouse was announced to be in the works. The 28-episode television anime began airing the following year and is currently on-going. Sousou no Frieren has since its release won the 14th Manga Taisho Awards as well as the 25th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, under the New Works category. It was also nominated to the 45th and 46th Kodansha Manga Awards, and the Kono Manga ga Sugoi rankings in 2021 and 2022, reaching 2nd and 8th place respectively.

Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi (The Elusive Samurai)
Yuusei Matsui's adventure manga made its debut in the Weekly Shounen Jump magazine in January 2021. Shueisha published the series' 13th volume in November 2023 and is expected to release its 14th volume on February 2. The manga was licensed in English by Viz Media in October 2021 for release in North America. They have since released nine volumes under its English title The Elusive Samurai. Aniplex announced in May 2023 that the series would receive an anime adaptation by CloverWorks, which is currently scheduled for 2024.

Suuji de Asobo.
The manga penned by Murako Kinuta began its serialization in the monthly Flowers magazine in June 2018. Shougakukan released its 10th compiled volume in August 2023.

Trillion Game
The drama manga written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Ryouichi Ikegami has been serialized in the Big Comic Superior magazine since December 2020. The manga currently has eight compiled volumes published by Shougakukan, with the latest one released in November 2023. Kadokawa announced in September 2023 that the series would receive an anime adaptation produced by Madhouse. The series previously received a television drama adaptation by TBS that aired between July 14 and September 15 of last year. Trillion Game ranked 8th in the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2022 rankings and placed 6th in the 15th Manga Taisho Awards.

The nominees for the Shougakukan Manga Awards were previously placed into one of four categories: General, Shounen, Shoujo, and Children. This rule was removed for this year's edition of the awards. Other nominees include Unmei no Makimodoshi, Kyou kara Papa wa Kami-sama desu, Black Girl's Talk, Shujinkou Nikki, Koori no Jouheki, Zom 100: Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto, Shoujiki Fudousan, and Paripi Koumei.

Source: Comic Natalie 1, 2