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| © Jiro Taniguchi 1998 |
Excellence Prize
HARUKANA MACHI E
Youth / General Manga
Jiro Taniguchi
(Japan)
Jiro Taniguchi
Born in 1947 in Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture.
Moved to Tokyo after graduating high school.
Worked as a manga artist's assistant until 1972 when he made his debut with "Kareta Heya (Husky Room)".
Worked on many "hard-boiled" and animal works.
Won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1992 for "Inu wo Kau (Feed the Dog)".
Gained notice in 1986 when he collaborated with Natsuo Sekikawa on the intermittently published "Bochan no Jidai (Young Boy's Days)". Received the Second Tezuka Osamu Culture Award 1998 for this work.
His most important works are "Ao no Senshi (Blue Soldier)", "jiken Ya Kagyo (The Family Detective Business)", "K", "Aruku Hito (Walking Man)" and "Chichi no Koyomi (My Father's Calendar)".
His latest work is "Sosakusha (The Investigator)".
To be honest, I am totally surprised that I won this award. Kurayoshi City, which is the stage for this story, is in the same prefecture that I grew up in.
I am indebted to the people of Kurayoshi City who helped me with this project.
I am truly happy to receive this award for "Harukana Machi E".
I am now as old as my father was when I was boy.
In "Harukana Machi E", I go back and meet the family that I knew as boy, but this time from my father's eyes.
A world that I'm sure we all dream about visiting.
With this work, I tried to do the impossible and re-experience my childhood firsthand.
I hope that winning this award will give more people a chance to enjoy this story.
Thank you very much.
On his way back from a business trip,the protagonist decides on a whim to take atrain back to his old hometown.
The moment he pays respects to his mother's gravein the transformed town,he is transported back to a summer when he was still in junior high school,only with all his middle-age consciousness,knowledge and abilities intact.On this journey across time,he understands for the first time the burdens born by his father, and his mother's tears.
This is the kind of fantasy manga were made for,executed by an artist of great talent.
This is a serious,delicate,and ultimately moving time travel variation.
