Won 2015 Mandō Kobayashi Award

Kōhei Horikoshi is the winner of this year's Mandō Kobayashi Manga Grand Prize for his manga My Hero Academia. The prize is the creation of comedian and manga enthusiast Kendō Kobayashi, who discusses manga on his Fuji TV One show Mandō Kobayashi. He chooses the prize each year based on his personal taste. 2013's winner was Yasuhisa Hara (Kingdom), while Shohei Manabe (Ushijima the Loan Shark) took the prize in 2014.





Kobayashi has already given the award to Horikoshi and interviewed him about his work. The interview, which covers secret anecdotes about the manga's genesis and future developments, will air at midnight on January 19. This will be the first TV appearance of Horikoshi, who will show his face for the first time. Until then, his pictures have been censored. Nonetheless, a picture purporting to show him has circulated online (for instance, on the curation site Naver Matome).

Kobayashi has previously interviewed Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball. Horikoshi frequently draws fan art, including for Splatoon.

[Via Comic Natalie and Mandō Kobayashi official site; Image from Naver Matome]