Manga is a Japanese style comic book or graphic novel that was developed in the late 19th century by Osamu Tezuka. Since then, manga has become quite popular and their subsequent anime adaptations only made their popularity skyrocket.
Mangas are so popular that they are often licensed by companies abroad and translated to English to publish them worldwide.
Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia at Comic-Con International San Diego on July 24.
The manga tied with Cats of the Louvre by Taiyo Matsumoto in the category.
Alvin Lu, the Publishing President and CEO of Kodansha USA, stated:
“Witnessing the spellbinding charm of this manga with universal appeal entrance the world has been enormously gratifying for us at Kodansha USA. This special recognition by the Eisners committee and voters is a great honor. On behalf of the enormously talented Shirahama-sensei, thank you.”
Kodansha Comics, who publishes the comic, announced the news on their official Twitter account thanking everyone for their support.
Kodansha comics also tweeted a message by Kamome Shirahama, the mangaka behind the series.
The Eisner Award is often called the “Oscar of Comics” by the industry with almost two dozen categories.
Witch Hat Atelier is another title by Kodansha USA that won an Eisner Award. Other titles like Tokyo Tarareba Girls by Akiko Higashimura won in 2019, and AKIRA by Katsuhiro Otomo won in 2018.
Witch Hat Atelier has seen over 2.3 million copies across 18 countries.
Its English translations are available digitally via Amazon Kindle, BookWalker, comiXology, Apple Books, Google Play, Rakuten Kobo, Nook, and izneo. It is also published physically and distributed by Penguin Random House.
The manga was nominated for Kodansha Manga awards under the ‘Best General Manga’ category in 2020. It was also featured as one of the Best Manga for Kids at Comic-Con in 2019.
About Witch Hat Atelier
Witch Hat Atelier is a manga written and illustrated by Kamome Shirahama that began serialization in Kodansha’s Monthly Morning Two magazine from July 22, 2016. The fantasy, seinen manga, has published seven compiled volumes.
The series also inspired a spinoff manga titles” Kitchen of Witch Hat” by Hiromi Satō in 2019.
Witch Hat Atelier revolves around Coco, a girl living in a small village. She lives in a world where magic and dragons are taken for granted.
Coco has always had one dream, to become a Witch. But people born without magic are unable to become magicians.
But one day, Coco accidentally sees Qifrey, a magician visiting the village casting a spell—thus starting a magical story weaved by despair and hope.
Source: Twitter
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