“I think the overall level of the entries have improved, so it was difficult to pick something that stands out. In this round the artists are younger in general, so I believe they can learn and absorb more about making manga.”
Creator of: ‘Cat’s ♥ Eye’, ‘City Hunter’, ‘Angel Heart’, etc.
“I was really impressed by some young talents in this round. I personally want to encourage them to keep developing their skills. If they learn how to work with an editor, I believe their talent will thrive.”
Creator of: ‘Fist of the North Star’ , ‘Keiji’, ‘Ikusa no Ko’, etc.
“I will say that some of the entries are very good and well directed as a whole; while others appear to be still developing their skills so the end results still felt relatively rough. For those I hope to see more of their improvement next time.”
Creator of: ‘Yoroshiku Mecha-Doc’, ‘Restore Garage 251’, ‘Shonen Readom’, etc.
“By reading the entries, I can tell the artists enjoyed drawing their manga. They understood the themes well. Some entries have characters that look too similar to one another and creates confusion, would like to see more variety next time.”
Creator of: ‘Commander Zero’, ‘Kigyō Senshi Yamazaki’, ‘Koroshiya Menkichi’, etc.
“I am grateful for receiving many entries from newcomers to the SMA. In recent rounds we have been more discerning. The page limit was 17 this time, and it appeared as a challenge, to make a well-structured, short story with good artistic direction that has a striking grip from beggining to end.”
CEO, Coamix Inc. (Former Chief Editor of ‘Weekly Shonen Jump’ and ‘Monthly Comic Zenon’)
GRAND PRIX RUNNER-UP
300,000 JPY
TITLE Blossom
CREATOR Enewald
COUNTRY Finland
Read this MANGA
Tomizawa sensei :
“I really enjoyed this work and endorsed it. The younger sisters misunderstood
good will of the elder… a suprisingly deep story from such a young artist.”
TITLE Childhood railway
CREATOR Nalu
COUNTRY Philippines
Read this MANGA
Tsugihara sensei :
“From all the works, this one had the story with the most reading potential.
Although it is short, the feelings of the two characters are portrayed
differently in an entertaining way.”
EXCELLENCE AWARD
100,000 JPY
TITLE Letter To You
CREATOR monotone_ink
COUNTRY Australia
Read this MANGA
Hojo sensei:
“The layout and composition are well done. I can see the potential of this
artist. Though it is intentional excecution, the work should be more “complete”,
not to look like name. ”
TITLE Wistful nap
CREATOR Marika Mangaka DZ
COUNTRY Algeria
Read this MANGA
Tomizawa sensei:
“The artist has a great sense of cinematography just like a movie. I wish the
characters had distinguishable faces so that the reader do not get confused with
one another. ”
EXCELLENCE AWARD RUNNER-UP
30,000 JPY
SMAC! Award
For more amazing manga, check out the sma15 Nominees and Candidates!
View Nominees and Candidates!
A message from SMAC! Editor-in-chief, Shuichi “Mocchi” Mochida
Shuichi “Mocchi” Mochida
Coamix Inc. Board of Directors Chairman, The SILENT MANGA AUDITION® Committee. Chief Editor, SMAC! The WEB/MANGA Magazine
Congratulations to all the winners and participants of SMA15!
With 607 incredible entries from 69 countries and regions, the judges and myself were overwhelmed by the outstanding participation of everyone in this round.
This time, we decided to set the page limit to 17, there is a proper explanation for this. An artist has to be able to create an entertaining story between the pages provided. For non professionals, it is common when the more pages are given, the greater the risk of a story becomes too big and unfocused. Silent manga is not an exception.
The artist has to show the core moments that makes the story an entertaining experience for the reader. Once mastered the 17 pages, it becomes a much easier task for the artist to tackle anything longer. This is a method manga publishers and Coamix has applied for a period of time with emerging talents who aim for the professional mangaka debut.
SMA has picked two Grand Prix Runner-Ups for this round. We could really feel the drive and efforts of everyone! We definitely saw the seed of potential of many, so for the next time I would like to give some advice.
Most of the works focused on showing a story that gets to a “Moment of Crying, Smiling or Love”, without bringing depth to the story. Manga is entertainment; the artist has to entertain the reader by showing a drama interesting enough to make her/him turn the page.
I recommend reading manga to learn: to question the structure, the layouts, the dialogues, etc. I guarantee that you will improve.
We look forward to seeing everyone’s evolution until next time!
Shuuichi “Mocchi” Mochida