For the past three Aprils, I have gathered with seven other judges in a gleaming room in the Tokyo headquarters of the Asahi Newspaper Corp. to choose the winners of the four different awards in the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The panel of judges consists of six men and two women, and I have been the only judge below the age of 40 (and the only non-Japanese judge) on the panel.

As I had expected, Naoki Urasawa's "Pluto" (which I introduced in detail in my Dec. 3 column) took the Manga Grand Prix this year. What I had not expected was the amount of debate that preceded the decision. "Pluto" had seemed like a slam dunk to me, and in fact garnered the most points in the initial round of nominations, but several of the judges were less than enthusiastic about it.

The disagreements that arise tend to follow certain patterns. A few judges recommend works that might be loosely characterized as "artistic." These works are usually by artists who have been working for more than 20 years, are geared at adults, and have small print runs (which is a polite way of saying they don"t sell well). The judges who recommend them tend to be older (in their late 50s and older), scoff at anything that is a popular success, and will not even read a shojo ("girls") manga, such as the enormously popular "Nodame Cantabile," by Tomoko Ninomiya.

Other judges, including me, tend to recommend popular works of high quality that are often geared at teens and young adults, and are created by comparatively younger artists. (Curiously enough, the two women and I always end up on the same side.) And then there are two or three "wild card" judges.

There is no consensus on the panel as to what the function of the award should be. Should we recognize and promote work that is "artistic" and obscure, or should we recognize and promote excellence in the manga mainstream ― Oscar or Cannes?

The Tezuka Prize is one of just four major manga awards in Japan (and I suppose by "major" I mean they offer big cash prizes to the winners). The Kodansha and Shogakukan Awards tend to go to artists working for those respective publishers, and are seen as little more than a form of advertising. The Japan Media Arts Festival is run by the government"s Agency for Cultural Affairs, and though the judges are all manga artists themselves, they seem to experience the same sort of conflicts we on the Tezuka panel do.

Serving as a judge can be exhausting and sometimes frustrating, but it puts me on the front lines of the battle to define what "manga culture" really means, and I always come back from Tokyo with plenty of food for thought. And after the parties that follow the awards ceremony, I come back with a massive hangover, too.

Shukan ST: June 3, 2005
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