Entertainment News

Cartoonist Rumiko Takahashi wins top prize at French comics festival

Kyodo

PARIS - Japanese cartoonist Rumiko Takahashi has been awarded the grand prize at the prestigious Angouleme International Comics Festival for her contribution to the development of manga, the organizer of the French event said Wednesday.

The 61-year-old Niigata Prefecture native is best known for comedic works including “Urusei Yatsura,” or “Lum” in its English edition, and “Mezon Ikkoku” (“Maison Ikkoku”). She has produced about 200 volumes over a 40-year career, selling more than 200 million copies worldwide, according to the organizer.

“In a society that does not accept differences … Rumiko Takahashi has always focused on highlighting the outsiders and the eccentrics,” the organizer said in a statement, calling her works “extremely progressive.”

Takahashi is the second Japanese to win the lifetime achievement award after Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of the “Akira” manga series, in 2015. The selection this time was made through a vote by some 1,700 cartoonists.

The festival, which is to be held from Thursday to Sunday in the southwestern French city of Angouleme, also features exhibits of artworks as well as lessons by Japanese manga artists Taiyo Matsumoto and Tsutomu Nihei.

Held every year since 1974, it is the second-largest comics festival in Europe and third-largest in the world.

LATEST ENTERTAINMENT NEWS STORIES

In this frame made from video, Bill Kapri, also known as rapper Kodak Black, covers his face with $100 bills as he walks out of jail after making bail Thursday in Lewiston, New York. Kodak Black was arrested on drug and weapons charges as the rapper tried to cross from Canada into the United States near Niagara Falls, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

Rapper Kodak Black busted at border in upstate New York with drugs, gun: Kodak Black was arrested on drug and weapons charges as the rapper tried to cross from Canada into the United States near Niagara Falls, law enforcement officials said Thursday. Bill Kapri, whos...

Berry Gordy, and Diana Ross speak onstage during "Motown 60: A GRAMMY Celebration" at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Tuesday. Gordy says his historic label brought people from all walks of life through a "legacy of love" at the "Motown 60: A Grammy Celebration" during a taped tribute that will air April 21 on CBS.

'Legacy of love': Berry Gordy fulfills dreams with Motown reaching 60 years: Motown Records founder Berry Gordy looked out at the audience at a 60th anniversary tribute to his groundbreaking record label and saw his dream of making music for "all people" in the world fulfil...

Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek, who played the role of Freddie Mercury in blockbuster movie "Bohemian Rhapsody," joins hands with Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor at the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony held in Beverly Hills, California, in January.

British rock band Queen to bring 2020 Rhapsody Tour to Japan: British rock band Queen will perform in Japan next January as part of their 2020 Rhapsody Tour, which comes in the wake of the biopic film "Bohemian Rhapsody" winning an Academy Award, organizer Cr...