The nominees for the Manga Taisho 2026 award were announced today, revealing the 12 manga titles that will compete for the top manga that people want to recommend to friends. A group of 94 judges, which includes bookshop employees and other manga professionals who aren’t involved with the creation process, Unlike most awards, the Manga Taisho is chosen by mostly Japanese booksellers based on what they would recommend to readers. The nominees are selected by 94 judges, who pick up to five books to put forward; of those, 12 series out of 249 proposed works were nominated. Only manga published in 2025 with fewer than 8 volumes that haven’t won before are eligible to be nominated. Manga Taisho 2026 nominees include: Imoto wa Shitte Iru by Mari Gangi Home at the Horizon by Taiyo Watabe Kaiju wo Kaibo Suru by Mado Saito Strikeout Pitch by Kyu Sumiyoshi The Devil's in the Lunch Deals by Ishiko Danmitsu by Toru Seino Tomodachi Datta Hito by Miya Kinuta Maison and the Man-Eating Apartment written by Ku Tanaka and illustrated by Akima Honnara Uruhodo by Ao Kojima Ichi the Witch written by Osamu Nishi and illustrated by Shiro Usazaki RIOT by Yuta Tsukada Robo no Fujii by Kurao Nabe RELATED: Alice, Doko made mo Wins 2025 Manga Taisho Award The winner will be picked by the mostly bookseller judges after they have read all the nominees, selecting their top three favorites from the list and scoring each series. Once the results are tallied, the top book becomes the 2026 winner, of which will be announced in late March. Source: Comic Natalie
