KADOKAWA World Manga Contest Winners Include Cry Or The Witch Will Come, Cells Within the Body.

The winners of the KADOKAWA World Manga Contest, which is said to have received 1,959 entries from 118 countries and regions, have been announced. They are split into the Manga With Dialogue and Wordless Manga categories, and of the combined six winners, two are from Vietnam and another two from Taiwan.

The Gold Prize winner of the Manga With Dialogue category is Cry or the witch will come by Vietnam’s Syo.Era. The comment by the Comic Alive Editorial Team praised its “constantly shifting, unpredictable developments” and said that “With its overwhelming uniqueness and its universal appeal that transcends borders, this work achieves a remarkable balance between the two.”

In the Wordless Manga category, Cells Within the Body. by Taiwan’s Eli Lin took the Gold Prize. “Beginning with exquisitely detailed artwork, the story seems at first to depict the quiet daily life of a gentle tailor—until suddenly, a gap opens in the sky and a mysterious liquid comes pouring down… In just six opening pages, the manga completely grabs hold of the reader with its shocking turn of events!” says the the comment by the Comic Regulus Editorial Team.

“What impressed us most was not only the bold creativity behind its attempt to create visuals unlike anything anyone has seen before, but also the creator’s remarkable storytelling ability: the ideas are not merely provocative concepts, but are brought to a satisfying and carefully constructed conclusion,” it added.

The respective Silver Prize and Bronze Prize winners for the Manga With Dialogue category are Deus sniper by Shinamori (France) and START AT NULL by 2AM Productions (Switzerland). Their Wordless Manga counterparts are BOW by Light Comic Studio (Vietnam) and Hitokuji by Murji (Taiwan).

Aside from money, the winning creators will have their submissions published on the KADOCOMI site. They will also be invited to an awards ceremony and a tour of KADOKAWA’s editorial department, and will receive “support” from editors. KADOKAWA’s announcement from last November says that this support “includes remote meetings and email consultations with editors to help creators develop their works toward potential serialization.” The KADOKAWA World Manga Contest website notes that there “is no plan to serialize winning works themselves.”

The full editorial comments and the links to the winners’ KADOCOMI pages can be found here.

Source: KADOKAWA World Manga Contest website