Tammi's Manga Titles Win DesuTalks Prizes

At the recent DesuTalks conference on Japanese culture in Helsinki, two manga titles from Tammi Publishers won awards. The Best Manga Release 2010 award was given to Yotsuba&! and the Best New Manga 2010 title was given to Hopeanuoli (Ginga Nagareboshi Gin in Japanese).

"Yotsuba&! tells the story of a five-year-old girl who sees the world in a naive and overly positive way, " says Antti Grönlund, manga manager for Punaien jättiläinen, one of two manga imprints at Tammi and the imprint that published the two winning titles. "The reward was given to the 9th volume and the jury emphasized the marvellous translation, the exceptional difference of the title compared to other mangas and its loyalty to the original work. The title was translated into Finnish by Juha Mylläri."

As for the other winner, Hopeanuoli/Ginga Nagareboshi Gin is a real classic, Grönlund says. "Readers have been waiting for the series for almost two decades, making publication a cultural event," he says. "In the story a small Akita inu dog, named Gin, fights against the tyranny of the evil Akakabuto bear." The adventures of Gin have been broadcast in Finland as an animated TV series since 1989.

"It feels great to get recognition  for the hard work we have put into this - especially when we got all rewards that were given to manga!" says Grönlund. "I want to thank all my team mates: We are a small team but everyone deserves a piece of this."

Tammi originally brought manga to the Finnish market in 2003 by launching Dragon Ball. Along with Punainen jättiläinen, Tammi's other manga imprint is Sangatsu manga. Tammi's manga titles have won a number of awards over the years including the Otaku award for the best title in 2006 and 2007, as well as the Herra Koipeliini translated comics reward in 2009.