The Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs announced the winners of the 74th “Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Recommendation Award for Fine Arts” on Wednesday. . Manga creators Takehiko Inoue (Slam Dunk) and Yumi Tamura (7SEEDS, Don’t Call It Mystery) won in the Media Arts category and animator Atsushi Wada (animated short film Ikimono-san ) won the Newcomer Award in the same category.
The awards ceremony will be held in Tokyo on March 12.
Winners of the Cabinet Secretary Awards in 12 categories will each receive a certificate and 1.2 million yen (about 7,994 USD) and Newcomers Each winner will receive a certificate and 800,000 yen yen (about 5,329 USD).
©ITPLANNING,INC. ©2022 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Film Partners
Inoue was one of the first winners in the Media Arts category when it was first introduced in 2009.
The First Slam Dunk, a new anime film about Inoue manga’s Slam Dunk basketball, premiered in Japan in December 2022 and ranked No. 1 in its opening weekend. GKIDS released the film in the United States and Canada with both an English dub, Japanese audio, and English subtitles on July 28, 2023.
The film is currently the 13th highest-grossing film of all time in Japan after surpassing Hayao Miyazaki’s 2008 animated film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, with a domestic gross of 15.5 billion yen (about 105.8 million USD). The First Slam Dunk is also currently the seventh highest-grossing anime film in Japan.
Inoue (REAL, Vagabond) personally directed the film at Toei Animation and wrote the script.
© Yumi Tamura, Shogakukan
Yumi Tamura’s ongoing Don’t Tell Mysteries (Mystery to Iu Nakare) series was first published as a one-volume manga in Shogakukan’s Monthly Flowers magazine in November 2016 and later launched in serialized form. serialized in the magazine a year later in November 2017. Kodansha awarded the manga in the 44th Annual Manga Awards in April 2020. The manga was also nominated for the 13th Manga Taisho Award in January 2020. The manga has inspired a live-action film series and a live-action.-action film.
Tamura launched the 35-volume 7SEEDS series in 2001 in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic magazine, before transferring it to Monthly Flowers magazine. The manga ended in July 2017. The manga won the Shōjo category of the 52nd Annual Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2007. The manga inspired two anime series that premiered on Netflix in June 2019 and June 2020.
Tamura’s 27th Basara manga volume ran in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic from 1990-1998. Viz Media published the manga in English in 2003-2008. The manga inspired the 13-episode Legend of Basara television anime series in 1998. Viz Media also published Tamura’s two-volume Chicago manga in 2002-2003 and Tamura’s one-volume Wild Com manga her in 2004.
by Tamura Tomoe ga Yuku! manga inspired the original video anime (OVA) series in 1991-1992.
© Jun Wada, New Dire/Toei Animation
Atsushi Wada’s short anime series Ikimono-san begins streaming on YouTube in July 2023.
The short series based on Wada’s My Fitness game follows a curious boy who exercises with a dog. The boy meets many different creatures and tries to imitate them, with the brave help of his dog. Wada personally directed the short films.
The anime’s short film “Turtle” competed in the Grand Competition – Short Film category at the World Animation Film Festival – Animafest Zagreb 2023 event in Croatia. The same short film was also screened in the Narrative category at the Ottawa International Film Festival (OIAF) in Ottawa, Canada in 2023.
Wada’s short film “Hantō no Tori” (“Bird in the Peninsula”) was briefly screened at the 2022 Annecy International Animation Festival Film Festival. The short film won a special award in the short film category at the 2022 Film Festival. Berlin international film festival also in 2022.
Source: Cultural Affairs Agency via Crunchyroll