Kenta Shinohara's Astra Lost in Space Wins 12th Manga Taisho Awards

The executive committee for the 12th Manga Taisho awards announced during the awards ceremony on Tuesday that Kenta Shinohara's Astra Lost in Space (Kanata no Astra) won this year's award.

The manga was also nominated for the 23rd Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in February, and also ranked at #3 on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! male readers list in December.

Shinohara (Sket Dance) launched the manga in May 2016 on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ app. The manga ended in December 2017, and Shueisha published five compiled book volumes for the manga. Viz Media began publishing the chapters online for free in August 2016, and published the fifth and final volume in print last December. The manga has an upcoming television anime adaptation that will premiere this year.

Viz Media publishes the manga in English, and it describes the story:

Itʼs the first day of Planet Camp, and Aries Spring couldnʼt be more excited! She, along with eight other strangers, leave for Planet McPa for a weeklong excursion. Soon after they arrive, however, a mysterious orb appears and transports them into the depths of space, where they find an empty floating spaceship…

Previous winners of the Manga Taisho award include:

2018 – BEASTARS by Paru Itagaki
2017 – Hibiki: Shōsetsuka ni Naru Hōhō by Mitsuharu Yanamoto
2016 – Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda
2015 – Kakukaku Shikajika by Akiko Higashimura
2014 – A Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori
2013 – Umimachi Diary by Akimi Yoshida
2012 – Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa
2011 – March comes in like a lion by Chika Umino
2010 – Thermae Romae by Mari Yamazaki
2009 – Chihayafuru by Yuki Suetsugu
2008 – Gaku – Minna no Yama by Shinichi Ishizuka

Unlike many other manga prizes which are chosen by the editors of the manga publishers themselves, the Manga Taisho nominating committee is mostly composed of the bookstore staffers who are in charge of their respective stores' manga sections. (The official English name of the awards is the "Cartoon Grand Prize.") The awards are also limited to works published last year with eight or fewer volumes to promote relatively newer works. The committee nominated 13 works this year.