Rookie cartoonist dies before debut

summation

Denji Yutai won the Blitzkrieg Grand Prize, but unfortunately passed away before his debut manga was published.
Yutai's work, titled Fairy Physics, will continue to be published after consultation with his family.
Toshimichi Uzuo, a fellow artist and friend of Yutai, shared how Yutai inspired his own writing career.

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- A friend from the past speaks

An upcoming new comic book artist died last week ahead of his debut next year. The new author's pen name is Denji Yutai, which is currently the only name revealed to the public. He won the 2024 Fall Manga Awards Blitz Grand Prize. There will no longer be a chance to see his work officially published.

This news was delivered through the X (formerly Twitter) account of Dengeki Bookstore, the awarding organization. On December 27, 2024, we posted a notice that this year's winner passed away. In a statement, Jengekimunko said it would continue to publish works available from Yutai in a way that respected Yutai's death and complied with his wishes.

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Yuta Denji's only work

Award-winning debut

The Dengeki Grand Prize, or Dengeki Novel Award, is an award given to both full-length novels and short stories sponsored by manga giant KADOKAWA. The award has been held since 1994, and Denji Yutai (translated as “Electromagnetic Ghost”) is the 31st recipient. 3,819 works were submitted for the 2024 award, and Yutai's work was selected as 『妖精のBiology – Physical phenomenon PHantom –』(Fairy Physics: Physics Phenomenon PHantom) was the winner.

The comics world thus took notice of Yutai, who was scheduled to begin publishing his works officially in 2025. Sadly, the budding author passed away on December 12, 2024 due to a previously unknown illness. Fairy Physics: Physics Phenomenon PHantom It was scheduled to be published as part of winning the Jengeki Grand Prize, and after consultation with Yutai's family, permission was granted to publish the work as planned.

Regarding Yutai's sudden death, Dengeki Bunko posted the following. (Quote from Live Door News, Japanese translation)

On Thursday, December 12, 2024, Denji Yutai suddenly passed away due to illness.

Everyone involved in Blitzkrieg and the editorial department at Blitzkrieg Media Works were shocked and deeply saddened by the sudden news. I am deeply saddened by his sudden passing ahead of his debut.

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Inspiring Others

A friend from the past speaks

Other light novel and manga artists posted about Yutai's tragic death before he even saw his work published. Among them is Uzuo Toshimichi, a previous winner of the Dengeki Grand Prize, who went on to write several other stories. Uzuo posted that he and Yutai are friends, and although they haven't shared any details about what they work on together, they have been friends for a long time.

Uzou also said that Yutai had wanted to be a light novel author for years, even before Uzuo started writing himself. Only after Yutai convinced Uzuo to try writing did Uzuo try it too. Inspired by Yutai, Uzuo submitted his first work to the Dengeki Daesang, and was lucky enough to win despite it being his first attempt. According to Live Door News, Uzuo said of Yutai's writing proposal, “Looking back now, it was a turning point in my life.”

Although the two grew further apart afterward, Uzuo said he did not deny that they had been friends since they were children. Now that Yutai has passed away, Uzuo has shared more about him and their relationship, revealing that he always felt Yutai was a more talented writer. They also said that as long as they continue to work as light novel writers, they will continue to remind others of what Denji Yutai was able to contribute in his short time as a writer, and make sure the world does not forget this. Yutai's achievements before his death.