It’s late summer in New York City, and that means two things for local otaku: Anime NYC and the American Manga Awards.
Last year, anime journalists Sean Gaffney and Erica Friedman had the incredible honor of reporting on the American Manga Awards (“the AMAs”) for Anime Herald. We were both very pleased to be able to return once again, to discuss this unique event celebrating the craft of making manga. The American Manga Awards are voted on by industry – peers who help bring the manga we love to the English-speaking market, to honor the work of creators, editors, letterers, production and publishers.
As with the inaugural AMAs, this year’s event was an invitation-only affair held at the Japan Society, one of the founding sponsors of the event, along with the event company behind Anime NYC’s, Left-Field Media. The AMAs have almost immediately become the equivalent to The Oscars for English-language manga published in the United States. Because many publishers come to Anime NYC to sell, to run industry panels and to hobnob, the audience is a veritable Who’s Who of the names on the inside (and outside covers) of our manga.
One of the best things about the second year of the American Manga Awards is that the glee and enthusiasm have not diminished one bit—in fact, it’s even grown. Though there were not quite as many people as the debut year, everyone who attended was passionately responding to all the events on stage—once they got to the seats. As this is an industry awards show, many folks were networking in the lobby until the last minute.
Peter Tatara, the head of Anime NYC, delivered the introductions and thanked the sponsors, before reminding everyone once more that these are not fan awards, but awards voted for by everyone in the industry: editors, translators, letters, etc. He was also happy this was being hosted at the Japan Society, with its storied history. Manga is culture, community, and a way of life, and it is only possible through everyone’s efforts (and sleepless nights).
Deb Aoki was the one doing most of the behind the scenes work, but Matt Alt acted as the emcee for the evening, and gleefully talked about Frederik L. Schodt’s book Manga! Manga! coming to life in front of his eyes. Manga builds bridges and encourages communication and helps find new ways to look at the world, he noted. He also plugged the fact that the awards were being filmed, and will be available to watch later on the official Anime NYC Youtube channel.
Alt went on to say that manga used to be rare, something you had to get in specialist comic shops. Now we see manga collaborating with sports, fashion, and music. The American Manga Awards were created to recognize this. And then, it was time for the awards, themselves. Aoki came out to introduce the first of these, which was The American Award of Distinction.
This is presented to guests of Anime NYC for distinctive, innovative storytelling. This award went to the creator of Kagurabachi, Takeru Hokazono. He was very young-looking and seemingly shy, his acceptance speech being a short and sweet “thank you, I am honored”. He also has an exhibit at the Japan Society through mid-November, so locals should come and see it.
Another winner was here as part of the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Young Magazine, which gave out fully translated copies of an English-language issue that included series that have never been seen in English before. The winner was Minetaro Mochizuki, who has been creating manga since 1986 and may be best known in the US as the creator of Dragon Head. He talked about the fact that he visited New York City right at the start of his career, and that he was at a point where he wondered what to do with his career, and if making manga was really helping society. Now, looking at this award and the audience, he is delighted that he has helped people. Honestly, this was really sweet.
The final winner in this category was Kengo Hanezawa, the creator of I Am a Hero and Under Ninja. He took the stage in a hoodie and face covering, looking very much like a modern ninja. But he uncovered himself for the speech (which shocked everyone, it was a very amusing moment). He talked about being a ninja in New York City, and noted that he wrote his series because he wanted to see ninja in the modern world. And, of course, he added that he hopes we keep supporting manga.
Next up were the professional awards, which focus on the technical end of things: translating, editing, and publication design. The judges, Shigekazu Watanabe and Carina Taylor, discussed what they want from a nominee before delivering the award, before concluding that it was something that complements and enhances the manga, and should feel like it’s of a piece with the manga itself. The winner was Dark Horse’s release of Planetes: Deluxe Edition, a series that has been re-released in English several times, and each time it looks more and more gorgeous – this new edition, just out this month, is stunning.
Carl Gustav Horn accepted the award, and thanked the manga’s creator, who gave the team permission to stretch themselves and be creative. Horn explained how he had ideas, and then Riley VanDyke took those and made them much better. He thanked the printing department, which really had to go above and beyond to make the release look so good.
The next award was for Best Lettering, and was presented by Tom Orzechowski, one of the legends of the field. Aditya Bidikar and Ariana Maher were the judges. Orzechowski talked about how lettering needs to be seamless and organic, and in the case of manga, it also involves doing sound effects and redoing the art. Lettering is creative troubleshooting, and it’s far more difficult for manga than it is for Marvel and DC comics.
The winner was Evan Hayden for the omnibus editions of Kodansha’s Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow. He thanked the team behind the series, and admitted that he loves to letter for old-school manga such as this title. The publisher also read out a message from Takamori’s eldest son, whose name happens to be Joe. He stated that his father thought that this was a series that could work in any era, but had no idea it would be a success in the United States over fifty years after its appearance in Japan. He hopes people continue to find new things in such an old work.
The next award was for best translation. Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda were the judges, and Yoda presented. Translators “work in the shadows,” so this award is a great way of giving them recognition. To judge, they looked at the complexity of the work, how it captured the cultural nuances, and how it handled making distinct character voices. The nominees ran the gamut from fantasy action and slice of life to cutting edge works, and even a 200-year-old story.
The winner was The Otaku Love Connection, translated by minami. The translator could not be there, and so Sarah Tangney, the editor, accepted on her behalf. She is the first woman nominee for this category, and now the first winner. Minami (and Tangney) talked about how their experience with “fandom nonsense” and “fujoshing” made them a natural for a series like this. The characters are off the wall and “cringe”, but also free. Sarah joked that “the real fandom was the friendship we made along the way”. The creator also had a note, saying thanks and that they will continue to strive.
Next up was the Hall of Fame award, presented by Matt Alt and Carl Horn. The winner was Studio Proteus which, like last year’s winner, is one of those where everyone’s reaction should just be “of course, that’s obvious”. Manga was not always a global industry, but back in the 1980s, it was rare to non-existent. The man who helped change that was Toren Smith. He read his first manga in 1982, and by 1986 he had founded Studio Proteus. Japan did not think anyone in the United States would care about manga at this time.
American Manga Awards founder Deb Aoki had this to say about honoring Studio Proteus:
“What touched me a lot about it is when I talked to them, they were all surprised to be honored this way. And they felt like they were forgotten.. And that their work was, you know, disregarded… So for me, the most rewarding thing is making these people —who are the giants that we stand on the shoulders of — feel recognized and acknowledged for their contribution to making manga what it is today.
I feel like the awards are here to ultimately to turn people onto great books, but also to acknowledge that there are humans involved in this whole process.”
Frederik L. Schodt was also part of this team, and a message from him was read out, explaining that people really did not know manga in the 1990s. They didn’t know about flipping vs. unflipped, or that titles had to run in 32-page comic book “floppy” form. Toren knew America was still in the “superhero” world, but still managed to get rights and orient manga correctly – and this was in a pre-digital age! Japan just prints the dialogue, but in America it had to be hand-lettered.
Toren was so passionate about everything. Studio Proteus published Appleseed, Dirty Pair, Ghost in the Shell, Oh My Goddess!. He worked with his wife Tomoko Saito, also a mangaka in her own right. Sadly, Smith died in 2013, but he made our world so much bigger.
Masamune Shirow had a message for the ceremony, where he talked about translation being the key to mutual understanding, and a foundation of shared interests, cultural nuances, and fun. Ghost in the Shell had a lot of “jargon” in it, but he thought the translation was wonderful.
Carl Horn then talked about how Dark Horse Comics has been closely involved with Studio Proteus since its very first manga, Outlanders. Titles like Blade of the Immortal and Gunsmith Cats are still available today. Horn mentioned that Smith also did some work for Eros Comix, and that the influx of cash from the erotic manga helped save Fantagraphics when the company was in dire straits.
Smith’s wife and partner Tomoko Saito, who did the lettering and retouching on Blade of the Immortal, was in San Francisco, but wanted to say how happy and surprised she was, and how wonderful it is to be recognized after all these years. The manga environment is very different now, but she happily remembered the love and care they were able to give to each individual title back in the day.
Dana Lewis and Alan Gleason were in Japan, but they were able to record a video message. Dana also mentioned how wonderful it is that Smith has not been forgotten. Gleason was surprised to be part of this – he feels he did not do as much as Smith or Lewis did. Given that Gleason is the legendary translator of Barefoot Gen, we all felt he 100% deserves to be there.
Adam Warren, who along with Toren wrote and drew the very popular Dirty Pair comic series, was also unable to attend, but Tom Orzechowski was at the awards, and said that Smith’s enthusiasm and confidence were incredibly important. Everyone followed his lead. Orzechowski added that figuring out how to do the sound effects in the flipped manga helped him with the sound effects he did on X-Men, as well. He later quit Marvel Comics, but stayed working for Studio Proteus, and says even though this was forty years ago, it’s still vivid in his mind.
Lois Athena Buhalis, a letterer and retouch artist for Studio Proteus, said that she had found manga in San Francisco, and eventually learned Japanese so that she could read them. Some of the titles she worked on include Appleseed, Dominion Tank Police, and What’s Michael. This is her first award, so she’s absolutely thrilled. The entire ceremony was wonderful, and the presenters reminded everyone that there would be a panel on the history of Studio Proteus the following day at Anime NYC.
It was then time for the rest of the awards, this time for specific manga. The judges for these awards were Ashley Hawkins, CJ Suzuki, Lynzee Loveridge, Katy Castillo, and Varun Gupta.
Varun Gupta of new manga publisher Manga Mavericks, was honored to be an audience member last year, but this year, as a judge said that “being involved in the process, reading all the manga has just been amazing. All the nominees, all winners are so well deserved. I think it’s been a great year for manga, and this is just a great celebration.” Gupta presented the award for Best New Edition Of A Classic Manga.
This was a hotly contested award, with several legendary titles featured as nominees. The winner was possibly the most iconic of the group, Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow, and Kodansha’s publisher returned to accept the award. He called it one of the most significant manga in history, and we can’t disagree. If you’ve watched any anime in the last fifty years, you’ve likely seen a parody of Ashita no Joe‘s boxing at some point. Tetsuya Chiba, the co-creator, was stunned that Ashita no Joe won twice, and added “Joe, Danpei, we did it.”
It was then time for a new category, the Best One Shot manga. Katy Castillo, the owner of anime and manga news site Yatta-tachi, was the presenter. The winner was Tamaki and Amane, a one-shot from popular author Fumi Yoshinaga! Yoshinaga said that she was surprised that a quiet story aimed at middle-aged female readers was so popular in America. She considers herself an “ordinary person”, which means that manga she thinks is fun, can be fun for others.
Best Continuing Series was presented by Ashley Hawkins, the person behind Manga Librarian. Sean liked this category a lot, as he feels that awards for comics and manga can sometimes only focus on new series at the expense of those that are ongoing. The winner was the manga adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries. Tania Biswas was there to accept the award, and had what might have been the most emotional reaction of the entire ceremony, as she hadn’t expected this at all. She thanked all the creators, and added “Maomao is best girl forever!” The creators all offered similar messages, with the compiler Itsuki Nanao talking about the series’ vibrant beauty and chilling atmosphere. Later, Biswas, who came up with the English language title for the series, pointed out, “Being an editor is so much about being in the background. A good edit means they don’t see you. So I’m really happy that the world recognized it.”
“[The AMAs are] celebrating different categories that other awards don’t celebrate, like translation, lettering…most awards only just look at manga as a whole. This gives other manga and all the people who work on them more opportunity. So I think this is just absolutely wonderful.”
– Jacqueline Fung, translator, Best Manga category nominee Wind Breaker:
The final award of the night was Best New Manga, which was presented by Lynzee Loveridge, the executive editor of Anime News Network. She remarked that, in the second year of these awards, they feel a larger responsibility to give room for marginalized voices. Access to stories like these are being blocked in the world that we live in today. Even so, these stories are meant to teach and give hope. And then the winner came, and we were both surprised and pleased. We’ve loved The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy At All since before it was licensed, but we were not expecting it to win. We both whooped. Lynzee talked about this book, affectionately nicknamed “The Green Yuri” after the series’ distinctive coloring, and how two girls grow closer to each other while they bond over their love of Western bands. The author said that it warmed their heart that this series has a worldwide audience and that they hope to continue to create something meaningful.
And that was the end of the awards, apart from taking photos of the winners and thanking everyone in the audience for breathing life into manga in North America and making it a global sensation. We were delighted that the awards felt as vibrant and meaningful this year as the first year.
Katy Castillo of Yatta-tachi, summed up the event:
“This is great way of bringing honor to all the people, especially on the American side of all the hard work, from the editors to freelancers to translators to letterers. I think each one of them deserves a recognition and award for all their efforts. And I think this manga awards is a great starting point. I do think there should be more.”
On that note, the weekend of AnimeNYC, press received an email about The Anime & Manga International Awards. The AMI Awards is a new award show being held in Los Angeles, at Anime Expo, in partnership with the Japan Society and MyAnimeList. They were taking votes for a Special Fan-Voted Award presented in partnership with Anime streaming site RetroCrush. Next year, anime and manga fans will have the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, The American Manga Awards and the The Anime & Manga International Awards to look forward to!
