Search and Destroy Manga Earns 2025 ALA Outstanding Comics Honor
Search and Destroy, the manga by Atsushi Kaneko, has received major recognition from the American Library Association. The ALA’s Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table announced its 2025 Outstanding Comics Award for Adults, granting Honors in the “Series” category to the complete three-volume release published by Fantagraphics and Mangasplaining Extra.
The manga was serialized digitally through the Mangasplaining Extra newsletter beginning in August 2023, with print editions following in July 2024. All three volumes were included in the award recognition, highlighting the series as a complete work rather than a single release.
Reimagined from Osamu Tezuka’s classic Dororo, Search and Destroy shifts the story into a brutal dystopian future. The narrative follows a city ruled by powerful elites and enforced by mercenary robots known as “creatures.” After the violent death of one such enforcer, an orphaned thief named Doro becomes entangled with a mysterious, cybernetically enhanced girl whose rage fuels a relentless campaign of revenge.
Originally launched in 2018, the manga ran for 18 chapters and concluded with its third volume in 2020. The series stood out for its raw emotion, heavy themes, and striking visual style, all of which contributed to its critical acclaim and recent award recognition.
Kaneko remains a prominent figure in the manga world, with several of his works inspiring live-action adaptations and earning international award nominations over the years. Search and Destroy now joins that legacy as one of his most celebrated titles to date.
