The winners of the Next Manga Awards 2025 are fantasy title Ichi the Witch (Print Manga category) and the baseball-themed Strikeout Pitch (Web Manga category).
Both are published by Shueisha and available in English on Manga Plus. Ichi the Witch is written by Nishi Osamu and drawn by Shiro Usazaki, while Strikeout Pitch comes from Kyu Sumiyoshi.
Ichi the Witch‘s Manga Plus synopsis:
In this world, witches must hunt down their magic! Deep in the forest, the terrifying king of magic and the strongest witch are locked in deadly combat. But suddenly, a young boy joins the fray. His name is Ichi and he is just a hunter. But he has the power to flip the magic world upside down in this magic hunting fantasy epic!
As for Strikeout Pitch, it involves a mysterious and formidable pitcher who shows up at night to issue challenges to school baseball clubs, and can only pitch thrice a day. Soha Public High School’s Heita Kobori and Yoji Hirose seek to recruit him to get their team to the Koshien.
Here are the other winners that were highlighted on the Next Manga Awards 2025’s main page:
Print Manga
• Number 2 — COSMOS (Ryohei Tamura)
• Number 3 — Super Psychic Policeman Chojo (Shun Numa)
• Reito Shokuhin wa Nichirei Award — Hokago Kitaku Biyori (Mai Matsuda)
• U-NEXT Award — Gokurakugai (Yuto Sano)
Web Manga
• Number 2 — Centuria (Tohru Kuramori)
• Number 3 — Omotomeitadaita Bokun-heika no Akujo desu, or perhaps better known by the English Google translation of its Korean title, I Will Fall With the Emperor (Tenichi and Sorajima)
• U-NEXT Award — The Witch and the Mercenary (Makoto Miyagi, Chohokiteki Kaeru, Kanase Bench)
Source: Next Manga Awards 2025 website
