Manga tops 12 other nominations

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:

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.

Manga Taisho 2018 Final Results

Astra Lost in Space ( Kanata no Astra )

Kenta Shinohara

94 points



Mystery to Iu Nakare ( Do not say mystery )

Yumi Tamura

78 points



The Blue Period.

Tsubasa Yamaguchi

73 points



Ikoku Nikki (Foreign Country Diary)

Tomoko Yamashita

45 points



Sazan to Suisei no Shōjo (Sazan and the Comet Girl)

Yuriko Akase

41 points



Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest ( Hokuhokusei ni Kumo to Ike )

Aki Irie

40 points



Kongōji-san wa Mendōkusai (Kongōji-san is Annoying)

Minoru Toyoda

39 points



Metamorphose no Engawa (The Balcony of Metamorphose)

Kaori Tsurutani

38 points



Hakumei & Mikochi - Tiny Little Life in the Woods ( Hakumei to Mikochi )

Takuto Kashiki

33 points



Nagi no Oitoma (Nagi's Long Vacation)

Misato Konari

25 points



Delicious in Dungeon ( Dungeon Meshi )

Ryōko Kui

23 points



Golden Gold

Seita Horio

22 points



1122

Peko Watanabe

19 points



Sources: Manga Taisho, Comic Natalie