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Ichi the Witch, Strikeout Pitch Win Next Manga Awards 2025
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Writer Osamu Nishi and artist Shiro Usazaki's manga Ichi the Witch and Kyu Sumiyoshi's Strikeout Pitch won the top prizes at this year's Next Manga Awards (Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Taishō). Ichi the Witch placed first in the Print Manga category, and Strikeout Pitch won in the Web Manga category.
Nishi celebrated Ichi the Witch's win with the following illustration:
The story follows Ichi, the only male witch in the entire world. Once a hunter, he's taken under the wing of the great witch Desscaras.
Nishi and Usazaki launched the series in Shueisha's Shonen Jump magazine in September 2024. The manga has received accolades from popular creators, including My Hero Academia's Kōhei Horikoshi and D.Gray-man's Katsura Hoshino. Horikoshi referred to the series as an "epitome of shonen manga." The manga's first four volumes have 700,000 copies in circulation as of July.
Ichi the Witch, published in English by Viz Media, is available on the Shonen Jump and MANGA Plus apps. Viz will release the first volume in print in February 2026.
The series marked Usazaki's return as a manga artist following the arrest of act-age writer Tatsuya Matsuki. Writer Nishi's previous works include Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun manga, later adapted into an anime series by Bandai Namco Pictures.
Sumiyoshi celebrated Strikeout Pitch's win with the following illustration:
The story follows high school student Heita Kobori, the captain of his school's baseball team, after he meets the rumored "Baseball Club Slasher." Heita witnesses the pitching skills of the mysterious Fusetsu Kiriyama and decides to recruit him to the team. He then learns that Kiriyama can only successfully pitch three times a day.
Sumiyoshi launched Strikeout Pitch on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ platform in September 2024, and the MangaPlus platform publishes it simultaneously in English.
Sumiyoshi's previous manga series, Hyperinflation, topped AnimeJapan's 6th "Manga We Want To See Animated" poll in 2023 and was featured twice in Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga is Amazing!) guidebooks.
The Next Manga Awards also bestowed the special "Frozen Food Is Nichirei Prize" to Hōkago Kitaku Biyori (A Fine Day for Going Home After School) manga by Mai Matsuda.
The manga centers on Shun, a new student who is invited to be a part of the "Go-Home Club" (a Japanese slang term for people who do not participate in after-school club activities and go home instead) by a girl nicknamed "Go Home." While at first he refuses, the girl does not seem to take no for an answer, and he is forced into going along with her.
Matsuda launched the manga in Futabasha's Manga Action magazine in August 2023. The series has a anime in the works.
Japanese company Nichirei Foods sponsored the "Frozen Food Is Nichirei Prize" in its desire to support manga artists and fans. The prize debuted last year with the intention of awarding a manga story that readers can enjoy while eating Nichirei frozen food products.
The U-NEXT Prizes went to Yuto Sano's Gokurakugai manga in the Print Manga category and Makoto Miyagi's manga of Kaeru Chōhōkiteki's The Witch and the Mercenary light novel series in the Web Manga category.
The top 20 Print Edition and Web Manga Edition series are:
Print Manga
- Ichi the Witch by Osamu Nishi and Shiro Usazaki * Published by Viz Media/MANGA Plus
- Cosmos by Ryūhei Tamura * Published by Viz Media
- Super Psychic Policeman Chojo by Shun Numa * Published by Viz Media/MANGA Plus
- Utsura nai ndesu by Ruka Konoshima
- Heisei Haizan-hei Sumire-chan by Satomi U
- Akira Failing in Love by Shinta Harekawa * Published by Viz Media
- Gokurakugai by Yuto Sano * Published by Viz Media/MANGA Plus
- Shinobi Undercover by Ippon Takegushi and Santa Mitarashi * Published by Viz Media/MANGA Plus
- Fall in Love, You False Angels by Coco Uzuki * Published by Kodansha Comics/K-Manga
- Dogsred by Satoru Noda * Published by Viz Media/MANGA Plus
- Alice, Doko Made mo by Kiko Urino
- Kaiten no Albus by Akihisa Maki and Miki Yatsubo
- Imōto wa Shitteiru by Mari Gangi
- Phantom Busters by Neoshoko * Published by Viz Media
- Silver Mountain by Kazuhiro Fujita
- Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi by Shoichi Usui
- Learning to Love My Cat-like Classmate by Akinoko * Published by Square Enix Manga & Books/Manga UP!
- Stray Cat & Wolf by Mitsubachi Miyuki * Published by Yen Press
- Mane Mane Nichi Nichi by Sōichirō Yamamoto
- Host to Shachiko by Mitsuru Kawajiri
Web Manga
- Strikeout Pitch by Kyu Sumiyoshi * Published by MANGA Plus
- Centuria by Tohru Kuramori * Published by Viz Media/MANGA Plus
- Omotome Itadaita Bōkun Heika no Akujo Desu by Tenichi, STRAIGHT EDGE and SORAJIMA
- Shiba Inu Rooms by Esu Omori * Published by Viz Media/MANGA Plus
- Zenbu Sukutte Yaru by Netarō Tsuneki
- Dokagui Daisuki! Mochizuki-san by Kamome Maruyono
- Kami-sama Kitsune to Salaryman by Yashin
- Genkai OL Kirigiri Giriko by Miitosupa Tsuchimoto
- Welcome to Ghost Mansion by Nebukuro * Published by Titan Comics
- Ghost Fixers by Yasuki Tanaka * Published by MANGA Plus
- MAD by Yusuke Otori * Published by MANGA Plus
- Ryū Okuri no Isagi by Makoto Hoshino
- The Witch and the Mercenary by Kaeru Chōhōkiteki, Bench Kanase, and Makoto Miyagi * Published by K manga
- Monochrome Days by Yosuke Matsumoto * Published by MANGA Plus
- Mujikaku-chan to Otome na Otoko by Rabi
- Okaeri, Hatsukoi. by Tora Kamemizu
- Drama Queen by Kuraku Ichikawa * Published by MANGA Plus
- The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Seen by mmk * Published by Viz Media
- War of the Adults by Kappy and Masaaki Tsuzuki * Published by MANGA Plus
- Hero Organization by Kei Saikawa and Akira Takahashi * Published by MANGA Plus
Fan submitted 9,432 entries for this year's nominees, and then cast about 600,000 votes for both the Print Manga and Web Manga categories.
Last year's winners included Takeru Hokazono's Kagurabachi (print) and Kuwahali and Tetsuo Ideuchi's Girl Meets Rock! (web). Past winners include Seitokai ni mo Ana wa Aru!, The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All, Medalist, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You, Kaiju No. 8, Oshi no Ko, Undead Unluck, SPY x FAMILY, and Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii.
Sources: Next Manga Awards' website, Da Vinci Web
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
