The anime and manga industry have always been huge in the Western world, but there’s no denying that over the last decade the two mediums have absolutely exploded. While plenty of mainstream fans are familiar with their favorite anime series, and even some of the best-selling manga titles, there’s a vast array of content that tends to be overlooked and under appreciated despite the immense amount of hard work that goes into translating, localizing, and bringing these titles to English-speaking audiences.

That’s where AnimeNYC and the Japan Society come in, uniting to create the American Manga Awards. Aiming to celebrate and acknowledge the dedicated and hard-working individuals making our favorite titles more accessible, the American Manga Awards have finally revealed their nominees for 2024.

Every American Manga Award Nominee

The American Manga Awards are shaping up to be a huge event, and the committee in charge have selected a number of stand-out titles to join the ranks of their nominations for 2024.

Best New Manga:

• The Darwin Incident by Shun Umezawa | Kodansha
• #DRCL Midnight Children by Shin’ichi Sakamoto, based on Dracula by Bram Stoker | Viz Media
• Just Like Mona Lisa by Tsumuji Yoshimura | Square Enix Manga & Books
• Mothers by Kusahara Umi | Glacier Bay Books
• Soara and the House of Monsters by Hidenori Yamaji | Seven Seas Entertainment

Best Continuing Manga Series:

• Blood on the Tracks by Shuzo Oshimi | Kodansha (Vertical)
• Delicious In Dungeon by Ryoko Kui | Yen Press
• Dinosaur Sanctuary by Itaru Kinoshita | Seven Seas Entertainment
• She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat by Sakomi Yuzaki | Yen Press
• The Summer Hikaru Died by mokumokuren | Yen Press

Best New Edition of a Classic Manga Series

• Minami’s Lover by Shungiku Uchida | Fantagraphics
• My Name Is Shingo by Kazuo Umezz | Viz Media
• Okinawa by Susumu Higa | Fantagraphics
• UFO Mushroom Invasion by Marina Shirakawa | Living the Line / Smudge
• Neighborhood Story by Ai Yazawa | Viz Media

Best Translation

• Kevin Steinbach – for Issak by Shinji Makari & DOUBLE-S | Kodansha
• David Evelyn – for Doll-Kara by Kazuyoshi Ishii, Hanamura, and Kei Ryuzoji | J-Novel Club
• Stephen Paul – for Akane Banashi by Yuki Suenaga & Takamasa Moue | Viz Media
• Stephen Kohler – for Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha
• John Neal – for Bocchi the Rock! by Aki Hamaji | Yen Press

Best Lettering

• Vadim K. – lettering for They’ll Make a Man Out of You by Shiwasu no Okina | J18 Publishing
• Rebecca Sze – lettering for Tokyo Interstellar Immigration Volume 3. by Mado Guchimoto | VAST Visual
• Tomoko Saito – for letteing & retouch for Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition Volume 10 by Hiroaki Samura | Dark Horse
• Lys Blakeslee – lettering for Witch Hat Atelier | by Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha
• Phil Christie – lettering & retouch for Search & Destroy Volume 1 by Atsushi Kaneko, based on Dororo by Osamu Tezuka | Fantagraphics

Best Publication Design

• Nicky Lim & Sandy Grayson – box set design for Orange Complete Box Set
• Nicky Lim & Karis Page – cover design, lettering, & interior design for My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness: Special Edition by Nagata Kabi | Seven Seas Entertainment
• Phil Balsman – design for Initial D Omnibus by Shuichi Shinego | Kodansha
• Andrea Miller – cover design for Tokyo Aliens by NAOE | Square Enix Manga & Books
• Adam Grano – design for My Name Is Shingo by Kazuo Umezz | Viz Media

The American Manga Awards Aim To Celebrate the Individuals That Make the Industry What It Is

The Western manga industry – and the manga industry in general – have faced a number of challenges over the last few years due to struggles with AI generated translations and publishers underpaying staff for work on a medium that is nothing short of lucrative. It can be easy to forget that there are very real, very passionate individuals that work on manga in the process of bringing it to English-speaking bookshelves, and that social media echo chambers discussing the industry often lack an ounce of empathy when it comes to understanding the workload.

That’s where the American Manga Awards come in – the committee seem dedicated to celebrating and acknowledging the behind-the-scenes folks that work hard every single day to bring the community’s favorite books to the West. The judging committee are all longtime members of the industry, and have been very vocal for their love of the medium.

Our Favorite Picks From the Nominees List

Obvious favorites from this year’s American Manga Awards are of course big-hitters like Delicious In Dungeon that have recently broken into the mainstream thanks to its impeccable anime adaptation on Netflix. The series is a wonderful high fantasy romp that wears its Dungeons & Dragons influence on its sleeve, as well as pulling from other major fantasy properties.

Something else we’ve loved seeing on this years nominations list is the recognition of smaller publishers, like Glacier Bay Books – which made it onto the list for their work on bringing Mothers to English readers. Mothers by Kusahara Umi is a debut work compiling fifteen years of self-published short stories. As described by the publisher:

“Mothers is Kusahara Umi’s debut English title, collecting and translating 15 years worth of self-published short stories developed on themes of love, family, and loss. Offset printed on a luxury cream paper stock, with a sewn binding. The cover will feature gatefold flaps spot printed with a mix of red and blue inks on uncoated paper, showcasing brand new artwork created by Umi specially for this, their first collected edition. Mothers contains 12 short stories that encapsulate different facets of the human experience.”

There’s also been a return of many iconic classics becoming more accessible for new manga fans, like the gorgeously designed Initial D Omnibus collection. One of the biggest series we’re rooting for is The Summer Hikaru Died, a haunting supernatural mystery that beautifully discusses the nature of loss and its relationship with grief.

While we’re still waiting for final results, in our eyes, this event marks everyone working in the industry as a winner. Those interested in voting for their favorite series and supporting their favorite publishers can find the link through AnimeNYC’s official website, here.

Schedule Rewind: A look back at the Prime Time schedule from seasons past and network decisions impacting sci fi and fantasy shows.

[Updated]

The decade of the 1980s proved to be mostly a wasteland for sci fi and fantasy television on the broadcast networks, but in Fall 1985 there was a brief flirtation with a revival of the anthology format which looked like it might give a boost to the genre. Perhaps the success of Tales from the Darkside in syndication spurred interest from network execs, and three separate anthology entries landed on the schedule as the season began. But their tenure would be brief and before long the networks would once again shy away from programming with genre elements.

ABC

MacGyver (Sundays 9:00 PM EST / Wednesdays 8:00 PM EST)
Shadow Chasers (Thursdays 8:00 PM EST)

ABC did not join in on the anthology revival and had only two offerings of interest to genre fans, both of which debuted that season. MacGyver kicked off its iconic run, and even though it would never be a Top 30 show, it proved to be a solid performer across its seven-year run. Less sci fi and more of a spy/adventure series, the show only had minor genre elements as it offered episodic stories with plenty of action that proved very palatable to the Prime Time audience. Richard Dean Anderson was of course perfect for the part and helped carry the series, and it would start to introduce some more sci fi elements later in its run. But at the time the show debuted, it only just barely counted as a genre entry. It started out competing against ratings juggernaut Murder, She Wrote on CBS (which ranked Number 3 for the season), and was moved to Wednesdays at 8 PM EST mid-year. In its second season, MacGyver would move to Mondays at 8 PM EST where it would remain a staple on the schedule for the rest of its run.

Shadow Chasers was a paranormal investigation drama and ABC’s attempt to capitalize on the success of Ghost Busters which had proven to be a Box Office hit the year prior. It came from Kenneth Johnson who had previously developed The Incredible Hulk for CBS and who had created the V mini-series for NBC. But the show was slotted into the Thursday 8 PM EST hour where it went up against the Number 1 and 2 shows of the year The Cosby Show and Family Ties. Not surprisingly, it failed to find much of an audience and ABC yanked it from the schedule after only nine of its thirteen episodes had aired.

CBS

The Twilight Zone (Fridays 8:00 PM EST)
Airwolf (Saturdays 8:00 PM EST)

With NBC bringing out its big budget and high-profile Amazing Stories anthology series (see below), CBS decided to counterprogram by digging into its vaults and reviving perhaps the great anthology of them all. And it sure seemed like a can’t-miss idea as it reworked some of the original stories while also adding plenty of new tales. But without Rod Serling involved (he had passed away a decade prior), the show lacked a strong guiding force, and it ended up seeming more like a corporate attempt to cash in on a recognized name than an honest attempt to create quality television. And while the revival did manage to produce some good episodes, it was very uneven overall and failed to find much of an audience. The show would disappear from the network’s schedule by the end of the 1986-87 season, though it would continue in syndication for another year (with a young J. Michael Straczynski very much involved with penning episodes).

Airwolf was in its second season and very much indicative of the type of genre entry the networks found palatable in the ’80s. The sci fi elements were linked to high-tech as with MacGyver‘s scientific improvisations on ABC and Knight Rider‘s supercar on NBC (see below). With Airwolf, it was a high-tech helicopter which the heroes used to fight the bad guy of the week and it involved little to nothing in the way of actual sci fi stories. Still, this one had some appeal to genre fans, especially with a dearth of other offerings from the broadcast networks. The show never proved to be a ratings hit and was cancelled by CBS at the end of the year after a two and a half season run. It would jump to syndication for its final year, but it went through some major casting changes at that point.

NBC

Amazing Stories (Sundays 9:00 PM EST)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Sundays 9:30 PM EST)
Knight Rider (Fridays 9:00 PM EST)
Misfits of Science (Fridays 9:00 PM EST)

When NBC secured the deal with Steven Spielberg for Amazing Stories, it must have seemed like a sure thing. The king of the Box Office blockbusters had his name attached to the show and he would bring directors, writers, and actors onboard who usually shunned television work. The show was also given a sizable budget and a guaranteed two-year commitment upfront. Everything was in place for Spielberg to replicate his blockbuster success on the small screen. But then Amazing Stories premiered and proved rather . . . un-amazing. The look and feel of the series definitely delivered a cinematic experience, but for the most part the episodes just felt underdeveloped or flat-out empty (you can read more about the series at this link). The show did deliver a few gems across its run, but for the most part it underwhelmed and the audience started to tune out pretty quickly. NBC stuck with its two-year deal and the show remained on the schedule for the 1986-87 season, but the network bowed out after that.  (It would later get a revival on Apple TV+, though that would last only one season of six episodes.)

Immediately following Amazing Stories on Sundays was the reboot of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. That one drew heavily on stories from the original show and tended to deliver more in the way of mystery/suspense tales, but it was still of interest to genre fans. Apparently there was not enough nostalgia factor, though, and the show also failed to grab the attention of newer viewers. And the fact that it and Amazing Stories aired against top-rated Murder, She Wrote, while also competing for the genre audience with MacGyver, did not help either. Alfred Hitchcock Presents was off NBC’s schedule by the end of the year, though it would stick around a few more years in syndication.

Knight Rider was in its fourth season and that was a genre TV series that network executives could understand. It had a handsome lead as well as a cool car and lots of action, explosions, and car chases. The show never brought in much in the way of sci fi stories, but it still managed to attract the attention of the genre audience. Its popularity with the Prime Time audience was waning by that point though, and it wrapped up its four-year run at the end of the season.

Of more interest to sci fi fans on NBC that season was Misfits of Science. But that proto-superhero series was certainly out of place on the Prime Time schedule in 1985. The Superman movies were no longer drawing many people to the Box Office and Tim Burton’s Batman was still a few years away from taking over the big screen. Misfits of Science was also an original property and therefore lacked any name recognition. The quality of the episodes also varied widely and it had to contend with ratings-powerhouse Dallas on CBS in the Friday 9 PM EST hour. The show never developed more than a cult audience and was gone from the schedule by the end of the year.

Had the anthology reboot proven more successful, the networks might have been willing to consider adding more sci fi entries to the Prime Time schedule. ABC certainly would have been tempted to reboot The Outer Limits had both Amazing Stories and The Twilight Zone proven to be successful in the Nielsens. But neither show ended the season in the Top 30 and both were off the schedule by the end of the 1986-87 season. Just like when the networks flirted with big budget sci fi in the late ’70s (ABC’s Battlestar: Galactica and NBC’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), the viewership proved to be disappointing and both shows disappeared after truncated runs. Genre television would continue to have success in syndication in the ’80s, and Star Trek: The Next Generation would kick that to the next level in 1987 (more on that at this link). But after the failed attempt to reboot the anthology shows, the broadcast networks would once again shy away from sci fi TV.

More Schedule Rewinds At This link

Be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates. And for the latest news and discussions on sci fi and fantasy television, follow r/SciFiTV

Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

The post Schedule Rewind 1985-86: Anthology Shows Make a Brief Return on the Broadcast Networks appeared first on Cancelled Sci Fi.

In what is only the third ever piece of videogame-related media to make me weep at my keyboard, Volgar the Viking devs and retro specialists Digital Eclipse have announced a Power Rangers videogame - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind. It's a 90s-style 2D brawler for up to five players, involves "time twisting", and has mode-7-esque arcade shooter bits together with its own spin on the TV show's climactic mecha transformation sequences.

Read more

Schedule Rewind: A look back at the Prime Time schedule from seasons past and network decisions impacting sci fi and fantasy shows.

In 1977, Star Wars proved a major hit at the Box Office and revived interest in the sci fi and fantasy genre across the entertainment industry. The television networks got into the game and rushed big-budget productions Battlestar: Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century to their schedules in an attempt to ride the Star Wars wave of popularity to big ratings. But by the 1980-81 season, the former series was gone from the airways and the latter was on its way out. The brief flirtation with blockbuster sci fi on television was over and had soured network execs on the genre. That would lead to more than a decade with little to nothing in the way of genre offerings on the broadcast networks and sci fi TV would eventually have to move off-network to re-stake its claim to the airways.

ABC

The Greatest American Hero (Wednesdays 8:00 PM EST)
Mork and Mindy (Thursdays 8:00 PM EST)
Fantasy Island (Saturdays 10:00 PM EST)

Superhero parody The Greatest American Hero had its premiere on ABC midway through the season and it proved rather popular early on, even though it did not end the year ranked in the Top 30. Series creator Stephen J. Cannell battled with network execs throughout the show’s run, trying it make it more of a character-focused series and less of the action romp ABC wanted.  And it would eventually get cancelled after its third season, but the show is well-remembered from its ’80s run and there have been recent attempts to reboot it on ABC.

Mork & Mindy was in its third season on the network, though viewership had dropped notably. ABC had made ill-advised changes to the show after its breakout first season, trying to tone down Robin Williams’ lunacy even though that’s what audiences loved. The third year reversed that to an extent, but the damage was already done and the show would be cancelled by the end of the next season.

Fantasy Island was in its fourth year and still proving popular for the network. But that show barely counts as a genre entry even though it did bring in some fantasy elements to its stories. Another series of note airing on the network that season was Soap. While not a true genre entry, that soap opera parody brought in demon possession and alien abduction to its many storylines and still counts as one of the funniest TV series ever to hit the airways. Sadly, the network gave up on that one and cancelled it at the end of the season on a major cliffhanger.

CBS

The Incredible Hulk (Fridays 8:00 PM EST)

The only genre entry on the CBS schedule was The Incredible Hulk, and this was the last season it would air in a regularly scheduled timeslot. The prior two seasons, the network also had The Amazing Spider-Man and Wonder Woman in its lineup and had aired pilots for Dr. Strange and Captain America. But CBS execs had decided that they did not want to be labeled the superhero network (more on that at this link), and only The Incredible Hulk survived into the 1980-81 season (you can read more about the series at this link). The next year only seven episodes were produced before the show was cancelled, and those were aired sporadically across the year. It ended with no resolution, though NBC later aired three Incredible Hulk revival films at the end of the decade.

NBC

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (Thursdays 8:00 PM EST)

NBC only had Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on its schedule that year, and it would be gone by the end of the season. The show had not proved to be the hit network executives hoped for in its first year, and it only just barely made it into a second season. It went through a major retooling that took it away from the tongue-in-cheek approach of its first year, opting for a more serious tone as it turned into a mash-up of Star Trek and Battlestar: Galactica. The scripts were no better, though, and the change in direction only made that more apparent (you can read more about the series at this link). Not helping matters was the fact that it got off to a late start due to an actors’ strike, which was yet another factor leading to a decline in viewership. It was cancelled by the end of the season, ending the brief attempt by the networks to bring big-budget sci fi to television.

Very little in the way of sci fi and fantasy television offerings would follow on the broadcast networks through the rest of the decade and into the ’90s. There was a brief attempt to revive the anthology format in the 1985-86 season with Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents reboots along with new series Amazing Stories (as I discuss in more detail at this link). But all three would be gone from the broadcast schedule after only a couple of years (though the first two would continue their runs off-network). It would take 1987’s Star Trek: The Next Generation to help spearhead a revival of sci fi and fantasy on television (you can read about that at this link), though that would occur in the syndication market and it would be years before the broadcast nets would show much interest in the genre again.

More Schedule Rewinds At This link

Be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates. And for the latest news and discussions on sci fi and fantasy television, follow r/SciFiTV

Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

The post Schedule Rewind 1980-81: Slim Offerings Mark the Beginning of a Sparse Decade for Sci Fi TV appeared first on Cancelled Sci Fi.