The award ceremony for the Cartoon Grand Prize 2025—an annual manga award selected by bookstore staff and manga lovers who vote for “the most entertaining manga of the moment”—was held on March 27 in Tokyo. The grand prize was awarded to Alice, To the Universe by Kiko Urino.

Alice, To the Universe
Alice Asahida, a stunningly beautiful and popular middle school student, struggles to keep up with her classes due to a language development delay. One day, she meets Rui Inuboshi, a genius boy who tells her, “I’ll make you smarter.” Inspired by his words, Alice begins working tirelessly to become Japan’s first female astronaut captain.

Upon receiving the award, Urino commented,
“I’m so happy! Part of the reason I started this series was because I really wanted to win the Cartoon Grand Prize, so I’m incredibly relieved and thrilled. Thank you so much. From the beginning, I told my editor and everyone, ‘I’m aiming for first place!’ and I’m glad I could follow through on that.”

What is the Cartoon Grand Prize?

Established in 2008, the Cartoon Grand Prize recognizes manga published during the previous year that have no more than eight volumes in total. The process begins with the first round of voting, where selectors recommend up to five works they would personally recommend to others.

The second round of voting will determine the top three finalists through a points-based system, and the ultimate winner will be announced during the awards ceremony on March 27.

Many past winners and nominees have been adapted into anime, TV dramas, or films.
Gaku (2008 winner) was made into a film starring Shun Oguri
Thermae Romae (2010) was also adapted into a film starring Hiroshi Abe
Silver Spoon (2012) received both an anime and live-action film adaptation
Hibiki: How to Become a Novelist (2017) was adapted into a film starring Yurina Hirate

More recent winners like Blue Period (2020) and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2021) were made into anime series.

Source : ORICON NEWS