A “tiny” manga series has suddenly surpassed the monuments, including the “king” One Piece, to win the most prestigious title.
2025 has been a phenomenal year so far for the global anime and manga industry. Audiences have enjoyed extremely popular animated works like Solo Leveling Part 2 right at the beginning of the season, and high-quality series like Gachiakuta afterward.
In the manga segment, regular comic books continue to offer great chapters. As always, there are winners and losers at the various awards ceremonies that take place throughout the year.
Witch Hat Atelier is the best manga of 2025
Earlier this year, Solo Leveling Part 1 convincingly won the title of Anime of the Year. However, in the manga segment, a shocking name won the title of Best Manga of 2025 at the Harvey Awards. That name is Witch Hat Atelier.
This was a victory that surprised fans. Witch Hat Atelier is a series that is growing in popularity, especially since it has a long-awaited anime version, scheduled to release in 2026. However, the fact that a manga with a classic, gentle art style won against the world’s biggest comics like One Piece is a big shock.
Surprising victory
Anime and manga fans always eagerly await the award results, and this year is even more exciting as the next generation of manga is in full swing. Following Solo Leveling’s resounding win at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, all eyes have turned to the manga awards.
Most recently, the final Harvey Award results were announced, and the winner surprised many. Witch Hat Atelier surpassed them all to win the top title. Although it is a famous manga series among comic book enthusiasts, it is still not widely known because there is no anime adaptation yet.
What’s more puzzling is that One Piece, the biggest manga in the world, didn’t win this title, simply because it wasn’t even nominated.
As a rule, the Harvey Awards are uncomplicated: any series that released a volume in the previous year is eligible to be nominated, including One Piece. This leads to one speculation: One Piece was simply not chosen by the nomination committee, perhaps because if it were, the competition would be unfair to other series. After all, with One Piece’s huge popularity and loyal fan base, it is difficult for other series to compete fairly.
The Harvey Awards seem to favor more modest series. This year’s nominees, in addition to Witch Hat Atelier, are also quite light and developing series, including The Summer Hikaru Died and Wind Breaker.
Witch Hat Atelier’s anime has the potential to become a huge phenomenon
The fact that Witch Hat Atelier won the title of best manga of 2025 at the Harvey Awards shows the great potential of the series. Although it debuted in 2016 and had to postpone the anime adaptation until 2026, this victory is an affirmation of quality.
Fans are pinning a lot of hope on the upcoming anime version. If the studio really does well, Witch Hat Atelier can completely become a new mainstream series, on par with global phenomena like Solo Leveling or Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. Let’s wait and see whether Witch Hat Atelier will make miracles next year or not.
