In a town called INOATAMA-CHO, strange things are happening, and two high school girls, Shiori and Shimiko, fight against ghosts and monsters. A strange world populated by weird people and mysterious events make for a fascinating story.

Thank you for awarding me this wonderful prize. It is more than 30 years since I entered this field, and for all that time I have just been drawing what I wanted to, so receiving such an honor is somewhat embarrassing for me. This is especially true, because I approached drawing SHIORI TO SHIMIKO in an easy and relaxed manner, so I was also a little surprised. Thank you very much anyway.

The ayakashi (ghosts or specters) that the artist draws are totally fascinating. It is as though they have always existed there, naturally and from time immemorial. Although it cannot be said that each line drawn is individually elegant, the pictures that they form bring those ayakashi out of fantasy and into the real world. The artist does not limit himself to drawing only ayakashi, but also depicts many other fantastical things, such as dreams, delusions, and the uncanny. The power of his illustrations creates a feeling of indescribable reality in the whole of his work. The setting for all this strangeness is not a foreign country nor a time long time ago, but a contemporary town where the main characters, two ordinary high school girls named Shiori and Shimiko, are living. The strangeness is sharpened for the reader by the contrast, and when the ayakashi begin roaming about the town, the border between here and there becomes increasingly ambiguous. The artist’s work is attracting more young readers.