Shōwa Tennō Monogatari
Shōwa Tennō Monogatari is a Japanese manga series written by and illustrated by, based on the novel Shōwashi by. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Big Comic Original since April 2017.
Development
Editor-in-chief of Big Comic Original Nakaguma Ichirō first thought of the idea of a manga about the Imperial Family after watching the 2006 film The Queen. He noted that manga artists have not worked on this theme before, as in Japan it is generally considered taboo to speak about the imperial family in such a familiar fashion. As Japan suffered greatly during World War II, he wanted to depict the Emperor's feelings and personal situation at the time, and also felt that Japanese readers would also like to know about him.
Publication
Written by and illustrated by, based on the novel Shōwashi by, Shōwa Tennō Monogatari started in Shogakukan's manga magazine Big Comic Original on April 20, 2017. Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was released on October 30, 2017. As of July 30, 2025, 17 volumes have been released.
Reception
By 2019, the series has sold over 140,000 copies. Shōwa Tennō Monogatari ranked sixth on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2019 ranking of Top 20 manga for male readers. The series was nominated for the 43rd Kodansha Manga Award for the Best General Manga category in 2019. The series was nominated for the 68th Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category in 2022.