Kodansha Manga Awards 2026: Gachiakuta, Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn't Remember Me, and The Darwin Incident Win Big

If you like keeping your reading list aligned with what the industry is spotlighting, you may want to take note: Kodansha has revealed the winners of its 50th annual Manga Awards, and the results land across three main lanes—Shōnen, Shōjo, and General—each with its own winner, finalists, and prize structure that you can track year to year, ya pues, without getting lost in the noise.

Kodansha Manga Awards: 50th anniversary winners

Here are the titles that took the top prize in each category, along with the credited creators, so you can match names to series when you browse a bookstore catalog or your favorite app.

Best Shōnen Manga

• Gachiakuta — Kei Urana, Hideyoshi Ando
• Other nominees: Utsura nai ndesu; The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity; Ichi the Witch

Best Shōjo Manga

• Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn't Remember Me — Eiko Mutsuhana, Yugiri Aika, Gin Shirakawa
• Other nominees: In the Clear Moonlit Dusk; A Star Brighter Than the Sun; Gazing at the Star Next Door

Best General Manga

• The Darwin Incident — Shun Umezawa
• Other nominees: Spacewalking With You; Nezumi's First Love; Heisei Haizan-hei Sumire-chan; Mii-chan and Yamada-san

Which of these winners are you currently reading, and which nominee are you planning to pick up next, boludo—tell me your shortlist so you can get more targeted recommendations afterward.

Prizes, payouts, and how the categories are structured

The winners this year receive a certificate and a bronze statue, and on top of that there is a cash award that varies by category:

• Best Shōnen Manga: 2 million yen (about US$12,730)
• Best Shōjo Manga: 2 million yen (about US$12,730)
• Best General Manga: 1 million yen (about US$6,365)

When you compare this with prior years, it helps to know a small detail that sometimes affects how the money is distributed: in past editions, when a winning manga had two creators, each creator received 1 million yen, and when a manga had three creators, they received a total of 2 million yen.

Also, if you’re wondering about children’s manga as a separate lane, Kodansha previously had a Best Children’s Manga award, but starting in 2015 it integrated those nominees into the Shōnen and Shōjo categories instead—useful context if you track trends across decades.

Selection committee and recent year context

In my experience following award announcements across the calendar, it’s practical to scan the jury list because it tells you what kinds of creative backgrounds are in the room; this year’s selection committee included:

• Seimaru Amagi (Akechi Keibu no Jikenbo)
• Natsumi Ando (Something's Wrong With Us)
• Yuzo Takada (Blue Seed)
• Hikaru Nakamura (Arakawa Under the Bridge)
• Kaoru Hayamine (Mirage Queen novels)
• Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail)
• Hidekichi Matsumoto (Ikimonogatari)

For quick comparison, last year’s winners were:

• Best Shōnen Manga: Versus (ONE, Kyōtarō Azuma, BOSE)
• Best Shōjo Manga: Fall in Love, You False Angels (Coco Uzuki)
• Best General Manga: Historie (Hitoshi Iwaaki)

If you want to make this useful right away, do this: pick one winner and one nominee, add them to your reading queue this week, and then share which one hooked you faster—having that side-by-side is a chévere way to understand why certain titles rise to the top.