The winners of the 45th Annual Kodansha Manga Awards were announced recently. This announcement made ripples across the manga/anime community and the excitement was palpable.
The Kodansha Manga Awards are an annual award ceremony held to give recognition and encouragement to manga serialized the previous year. These awards are awarded in mainly three categories: Shonen, Shojo, and General.
Initially, there used to a Children’s category as well but since 2015, it’s been merged with Shonen and Shojo. These awards are quite prestigious, meaning that the winners get a lot of fame and artistic recognition.
The announcement of the nominees of the 45th Annual Kodansha Manga Awards came around a month back. Since then, the excitement and impatient waiting have occupied many weebs.
So, let’s take a look at who the winners of the 45th Annual Kodansha Manga Awards 2021 are.
Best Shonen Manga
Blue Lock won the Kodansha Manga Award in the Best Shonen Manga category. The announcement of Blue Lock being the winner took everyone by surprise but it was not unexpected.
It beat That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, Fire Force, and Sousou No Frieren, to win the coveted award. The writing and illustrations for the Blue Lock manga were done by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura.
Earning the title of “Dystopian Sports”, this manga does have a unique and interesting plot. The plot follows how the Japanese Football Association puts 300 strikers in a prison-like facility, the Blue Lock, to find a striker for the national team.
Best Shojo Manga
The Kodansha Manga Award for the Shojo category went to A Condition Called Love. This manga was serialized on a regular basis in Dessert, a monthly Shonen magazine under Kodansha.
Written by mangaka Megumi Morino, A Condition Called Love tells the story of a girl whose ambivalence about love is broken when her classmate asks her out. She is tossed into a life of bewildering emotions and romantic angst.
General Category
Yuria-Sensei no Ikai Ito won the Kodansha Manga Award for the General Category. Since the story is mostly about a middle-aged woman, it’s serialized on Be Love, a magazine for adult women. However, the English translation isn’t available yet.
