Excellence Prize
TAKEMITUZAMURAI
Story Manga
Artist: MATSUMOTO Taiyou / EIFUKU Issei
(Japan)
A mysterious masterless samurai, SENOU Soichiro, turned up in a tenemen in the city of Edo one day. Deliberately wearing only a bamboo sword, he lived his days in idleness, however, his sword and background invited evil spirits.

MATSUMOTO Taiyou
Born in Tokyo, 1967. Debuted in serial work with STRAIGHT in 1988. Major works: Ping-Pong, Tekkonkinkureet, Hanaotoko, among others.

EIFUKU Issei
Born in Tokyo, 1965. Made his debut with Colored Blue in 1991. Major works: Child ★ Planet and others. Challenged to offer a story for the manga artist to illustrate the first time with TAKEMITUZAMURAI.
It is really a greater honor than I deserve as a greenhorn story writer. I am making a great effort so that old and trusted Mr. Taiyo can draw “as he pleases.” I took up the challenge of a historical drama based on “universality rather than synchronicity.” (EIFUKU)
This is my first period drama and I wrestle with materials to draw on the Edo Period every day. I recognized from this award that there are people who are waiting to read our manga and it made me happy and doubled my motivation. TAKEMITUZAMURAI continues in the future, so I hope everyone will enjoy it. (MATSUMOTO)
This is my first period drama and I wrestle with materials to draw on the Edo Period every day. I recognized from this award that there are people who are waiting to read our manga and it made me happy and doubled my motivation. TAKEMITUZAMURAI continues in the future, so I hope everyone will enjoy it. (MATSUMOTO)
First of all, the reader will be fascinated by the cover picture, then he will be drawn to turn the pages, allured by the flowing frame work and absorbed in reading beside himself. Admittedly, I have fallen in love with this manga, but it is my opinion that it is a work produced by a manga artist who is well-versed in the medium and skilled at producing work for a knowledgeable audience. Manga is the “art of frame works.” I am not sure how much care the artist took in calculating the frames for this work, but the result is that the montage of frames fully illustrates the vivacious lives and lifestyles of each character. It is also excellent that this work is taking on the nature of entertainment, one of the essential factors of manga, in such a casual way. It reminds me of FUJISAWA Shuhei’s famous historical novels and it leaves us anticipating the possibility that the artist could adapt those novels to manga.






