Japan Expo 2018: "Under a new sky" (Ed Ki-Oon) Asia Award (…)

"Made in Abyss" by Akihito Tsukushi (Ed. Ototo)

So this is the collection of short stories from Ki-oon's beautiful collection "Latitudes", cut to receive awards, which wins this edition of the Critics Award Asia ACBD. At the end of a vote until the end indecisive leaving only four votes between the first and the last of the five titles in competition.

A record of equal participation and a highly contested election that places the five mangas in competition at neck to shoulder: Under a new sky (Ki-oon), Virginity spent 30 years (Akata), Made in Abyss (Ototo), ] The Sorcerers' Workshop (Pika) and Tokyo, Love and Freedoms (Glénat). The first only taking the lead on the second, himself barely ahead of the third! A result that contrasts with the previous polls, more clearly in the distribution of votes. And all the more interesting as the selection of 2018 had shown a certain eclecticism in its choices.

"Tokyo, Love and Freedom" by Kan Takahama (Ed. Glénat)

The prize was awarded a round table, led by the author of these lines, during which the representatives of the five books in competition were able to present them in their various aspects. Louis-Baptiste Huchez was able to explain how Made in Abyss from Akihito Tsukushi arrived in his catalog and present the abundant imagination of his universe. He also clarified the audience to whom the manga, which marries in a very original manner the roundness of the line and the blackness of the frame, is addressed.

Corinne Quentin agent of Kan Takahama and accompanied by Benoît Huot of the Glénat editions, detailed the career of the author, her links with France and her taste for strong historical frameworks. She then explained the very personal context that presided over the writing of Tokyo, Love and Freedoms since the narrated story borrows directly from her family past. And, amusing detail, clarified that the prepublication magazine of this story was not the usual one of the mangaka, but a title of an erotic collection!

Award of the Asia Prize of the ACBD: Aurélien Pigeat, editor-in-chief ActuaBD deputy for the ACBD, Corinne Quentin (French Copyrights Office in Tokyo), Gregoire Hellot (Glénat ed.), Ahmed Agne (Ed Ki-Oon), Luis-Baptiste Huchez (Ed Ototo), Bruno Pham (Ed Akata) and Mehdi Benrabah (Pika Ed)

Photo: D. Pasamonik (The BD Agency)

"The virginity past 30 years" of Bargain Sakuraichi (Ed Akata)

Bruno Pham has insisted on the work of the draftsman of Virginity spent 30 years Bargain Sakuraichi pseudonym of Toshifumi Sakurai ( Ladyboy VS Yakuzas ). A work oscillating between caricature and benevolence, establishing a bridge between the reader and characters overall pathetic and rather cruelly treated by the subject staged. For the editorial leader, this is one of the strengths of this title to know how to arouse such empathy.

Drawing still for Mehdi Benrabah came to defend The Sorcerers' Workshop . The editorial director of Pika recalled that Kamome Shirahama had also worked in the comic industry, producing covers for very large American series. A way to highlight the exceptional graphic quality of his manga teeming with details and daring remarkable staging effects.

"The Sorcerer's Workshop" by Kamome Shirahama (Ed. Pika)

Finally, Ahmed Agne before receiving the prize, returned to the genesis of Under a Sky considered as a creation Ki-oon. Because if the news that gives its title to the collection had been a huge success in the 2000s in Japan, there was no edition of all these stories, or even the result of this first success. It is indeed a work peculiar to the French publisher to have been able to enhance the production of two Japanese authors who are struggling to obtain real recognition in their own country.

And it is the sense of thanks that the publisher formulated after having received his prize, insisting on the importance that it can take for Cocoro Hirai and Kei Fujii two mangakas relatively in margin of the Japanese production. Here is what we wrote in these columns about this title lately: "Continued news about pbading time," Under a new sky "plays the card of emotion and delicacy. Tender and tragic at the same time, the collection declines fates anchored in the daily and yet absolutely upsetting. By this title, inscribed in his beautiful collection "Latitudes", Ki-oon shows once again all the richness of Japanese production, able to address all audiences and produce stories far from the standards to which we badociate the manga. Full of poetry, but without any sneer, and endowed with a disarming accuracy, this story was quite easily imposed within the final selection.

Ahmed Agne, the happy editor of "Under a New Sky" (Ed. Ki-oon)

Photo: D. Pasamonik (The BD Agency)

"Under a New Sky" by Cocoro Hirai and Kei Fujii (Ed Ki-Oon)

Now he is a laureate! With his drawing crossing the influences of Otomo and European comics, Under a new sky has something to attract a large audience, not necessarily a manga enthusiast, but rather that, adult , a comic book reader as a whole

The book is therefore relatively in line with the previous two winners. A trend that is confirmed in the Asia Award ACBD but that seems to be challenged in the coming years if we rely on the votes won by other finalists less obvious in terms of targeted readership.