I was perusing Anime News Network recently when I came across an article noting that Rumiko Takahashi had just won the Medal with Purple Ribbon award. I had never heard of this award but, from what I could tell, it was very prestigious and I decided to do some research. What I found proved interesting enough that I decided that it was worth discussing what the Medal with Purple Ribbon award is and, more importantly, the winners that hail from the anime/manga industry.
The Medal with Purple Ribbon award makes up one part of the Medals of Honor awarded by the Japanese government to “those who have excellent deeds in each field of society“. Originally established in 1881, the Japanese Medals of Honor originally consisted of red (for those who risk their lives to save others), green (for morally remarkable individuals) and blue (for those with remarkable achievements in public welfare or public service). Since then, three other categories have been established with yellow in 1887 (for those who become public role models), dark blue in 1919 (for those who make financial contributions for public well-being) and, returning to the topic of the article, purple in 1955 (for those who have made significant contributions in either the fields of academics or the arts).
As far as I can tell, one of the earliest winners of the Medal with Purple Ribbon with connections to the anime/manga industry was Shigeru Mizuki who won the award in 1991. While his series GeGeGe no Kitarō easily remains his most popular work, he has also written many other titles such as Showa: A History of Japan, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and more.
It wouldn’t be until 7 years later in 1998 that another person with ties to the anime/manga industry would win the Medal with Purple Ribbon. Fujio Akatsuka remains best known for Osomatsu-kun, a manga series that follows the misadventures of sextuplet brothers. However, it is also interesting to note his impact on the magical girl subgenre with the creation of The Secrets of Akko-chan, one of the earliest magical girl series.
In 1999, Isao Takahata, one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli and legendary anime director, was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon. While best known for his Studio Ghibli films such as Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, My Neighbors the Yamadas and The Tale of Princess Kaguya (the latter being released many years after he had won the award), he has also directed a variety of other films such as The Little Norse Prince, the Panda! Go, Panda! series and more. He also made significant contributions to TV anime, directing episodes of the original Lupin the Third series as well as directing landmark series such as Heidi, Girl of the Alps and some episodes of Future Boy Conan.
In 2001, well-renowned mangaka Leiji Matsumoto was honoured with the Medal with Purple Ribbon. A tour de force in the field of sci-fi/space opera manga series, his works include Galaxy Express 999, Space Battleship Yamato and Space Pirate Captain Harlock (the anime adaptation of which is one of my favourite anime series of all time!). It’s also noteworthy that he supervised a film called Interstella 5555, a musical science-fiction film starring the music of Daft Punk (who stated that they were Leiji Matsumoto fans since childhood)!
In 2002, another mangaka, Tetsuya Chiba, received the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his contribution to the field of arts. He has created several famous series such as Harris’ Wind, Like the Wind and Carefree Matsutarō. However, undoubtedly his magnum opus is a series called Tomorrow’s Joe with which he worked with Asao Takemori and is considered by many to be amongst the greatest and most influential manga/anime series of all time.
Seven years later in 2009, acclaimed composer Joe Hisaishi won the Medal with Purple Ribbon. He’s best known for providing the soundtrack to all of Hayao Miyazaki’s films since Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind as well as providing the score for the Ni no Kuni video games. It’s also interesting to note his collaborations with film director Takeshi Kitano as well as various films such as W’s Tragedy, Departures and the recent anime film Children of the Sea.
Mangaka Ryohei Saigan was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2010 and, I confess, in contrast to the other names that I have discussed thus far, I had never heard of him. Best known for creating manga touching on everyday life in the Showa era, some of his more famous works include Sunset on Third Street and Tales of Kamakura.
Be sure to check out the conclusion of this article in “Medal with Purple Ribbon Winners in the Anime/Manga Industry Part 2“.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!