Via Comic Natalie: Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe’s “Sousou no FRIEREN” has bagged the Grand Prize at Manga Taisho 2021, announced today 16th March 2021! Uoto’s “Chi. – Chikyu no Undou ni Tsuite -“, Yama Wayama‘s “Karaoke Iko!”, Tajima Retto’s “Mizu wa Umi ni Mukatte Nagareru”, Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari’s “Oshi no Ko”, Naoya Matsumoto’s ” Kaiju No. 8″, Yama Wayama’s “Onna no Sono no Hoshi”, Kaori Tsuruya’s “METAMORPHOSE no Engawa”, Jun Meigetsu’s “Kowloon GENERIC ROMANCE”, and Tatsuya Endo’s “SPY x FAMILY” round out the top ten.

“Sousou no FRIEREN” follows the elf Frieren — who, eighty years prior to the beginning of the story, defeated the demon king with her party-mates Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen. As they all went their separate ways, the long-lived Frieren must come to grips with the mortality of her human friend. Frieren decides to embark on a journey with her new apprentice, Fern — who Heiter entrusted to her before his death.

The Manga Taishou is an annual Japanese manga award with the goal of promoting newer titles. All nominees to the awards must have eight collected volumes or less. The nominating committee, composed of staff members from bookstores, vote in two rounds: the first to determine the twelve final nominees, and the second to determine the winner. Some of the previous winners include hugely popular and highly-rated series such as “Chihayafuru” (2009), “Golden Kamuy” (2016), and “BEASTSTARS” (2018).