Indonesian comics publisher Elex Media has announced the winners of Elex Readers’ Choice 2018 on Wednesday (28/2) through Elex Media’s forum and social media. The awards are given to comics that Elex Media and its adult comics label Level Comics published throughout 2017 based on readers’ votes on Elex Media’s forum. The manga adaptation of the science fiction light novel All You Need is Kill won awards for Most Favorite Newly Published Manga in 2017 as well as Most Favorite Completed Manga in 2017 from Level Comics, along with Horimiya for the former category and Handa-kun in the latter category from Elex Media. The following is the complete list of the awards winners.
Most Favorite Newly Published Manga
- Winner: Horimiya by HERO & Daisuke Hagiwara (Elex Media) and All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka & Takeshi Obata (Level Comics)
- 2nd place: Fullmetal Alchemist Premium edition by Hiromu Arakawa (Elex Media) and Friends Game by Mikoto Yamaguchi (Level Comics)
- 3rd place: Handa-kun by Satsuki Yoshino (Elex Media) and Attack on Titan Lost Girls by Ryousuke Fuji (Level Comics)
Most Favorite Completed Manga
- Winner: Handa-kun by Satsuki Yoshino (Elex Media) and All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka & Takeshi Obata
- 2nd place: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s by Masahiro Hikokubo & Masashi Satou (Elex Media) and Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki (Level Comics)
- 3rd place: The World God Only Knows by Tamiki Wakaki (Elex Media) and Attack on Titan Lost Girls by Ryousuke Fuji (Level Comics)
Most Favorite Comic Artist
- Winner: Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)
- 2nd place: Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball)
- 3rd place: Yusuke Murata (One-Punch Man)
Best Underrated Manga
- Winner: Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa
- 2nd place: Raja Setan, Ambilin Itu, Dong! (Maou-sama Chotto Sore Totte!) by Tomoya Haruno
- 3rd place: Miss Otomurai ~ of the Funeral Service ~ by Noriko Ohtani
Horimiya is a manga series that was adapted from the 2008 webcomic by HERO, Hori-san to Miyamura-kun. It is currently being serialized on Monthly G Fantasy and published by Square Enix. It had also been adapted into OVA by the title Hori-san to Miyamura-kun -Shingakki- in 2012.
The story revolves upon the meeting of two characters, Hori, who seems to be a popular high school girl yet a hard-working girl who do the chores at home, and Miyamura, who looks like a bookworm, but in reality, a friendly boy who is actually incompetent in studies with the addition of having tattoos and piercings in his body. The two may look different yet quite similar at some points.
All You Need is Kill tells the story of Keiji Kiriya, a soldier who mysteriously encountered a time loop while fighting against aliens called “Mimics” in Kotoiushi island, located south of Japan. Rookie Keiji Kiriya and Rita “Battlefield Bitch” Vrataski enters the battle, hoping to see another day.
The novel had also been adapted into a Hollywood film, titled Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.
Handa-kun is a prequel to the manga Barakamon also by Satsuki Yoshino. The manga follows the life of calligrapher Sei Handa during his high school days. The manga has been adapted into an anime series airing in July 2016. The Barakamon manga has also been published by Elex Media.
Silver Spoon is a manga by Hiromu Arakawa that has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday since April 2011. The story follows Yugo Hachiken the youngest son of an ordinary family from Sapporo as he studies at Ooezo Agricultural High School in Hokkaido. The manga has been adapted into anime airing in summer 2013 and winter 2014, as well as a live action feature film released in March 2014.
Elex Media is an Indonesian publisher under the Gramedia group. For comics, it mainly publishes Japanese comics, but also publishes Korean and European comics. Level Comics is a label under Elex Media that releases only adult-rated comics.
The Indonesian Anime Times
