The 54th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards has revealed its roster of winners, including a special tribute to late horror manga legend Kazuo Umezu.
The prestigious Japan Cartoonists Association has announced on Monday (14 April, 2025) the winners of the 54th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards. The entire list was posted to the official Nihon Mangaka Kyokai website.
Sakana Sakazuki, the artist behind Planetarium Ghost Travel, received the grand prize for the manga division, with Yuri Sonoda, whose work is titled Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi, winning the Comic division. Masaru Yamaguchi’s The 10 Doctors’ Lunch Break won for the cartoon division.
Additionally, it has been revealed that the late mangaka Kazuo Umezu has been posthumously awarded the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Award.
Kazuo Umezu’s legacy lives on
The Special Award, which will give 200,000 yen and a Certificate of Commendation among others, is awarded to the entirety of Kazuo Umezu’s body of work.
The reasons for the award are as follows:
In eternal tribute to all of his sinister yet beautiful works, which have stood the test of time and continue to attract die-hard fans all over the world.
Kazuo Umezu, or more known through his pen name Kazuo Umezz, was a Japanese manga artist, musician, and actor whose career spanned from the 1950s until his death on 28 October, 2024. Umezu is considered the “god of horror manga” thanks to his numerous contributions to the genre, which are considered vital to its development.
Umezu is known for a number of works that have proven to be influential to many manga artists, which includes The Drifting Classroom, Makoto-chan, My Name Is Shingo, and Reptilia. Umezu retired from drawing manga during the 1990s, and pivoted to television and music.
Umezu was awarded the Prize for Inheritance at the Angouleme International Comics Festival for the French translation of My Name is Shingo in 2018, the second prize he had ever received throughout his entire career. Winning the award motivated Umezu to start working again, and led him to produce a series of 101 paintings based on My Name Is Shingo–his first new work 27 years after his retirement.
Umezu was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer in July 2024, but refused surgery and instead opted to go into hospice care until September. He ultimately passed away on 28 October, with the news of his death being announced by Shogakukan on 5 November. According to reports, Umezu was planning a new work prior to his death.
