The English edition of a Japanese manga series about a young girl aspiring to be a witch has received the Eisner award, considered to be the Oscars of the comic industry, a Japanese publisher said Saturday.

Supplied photo shows the cover of the English edition of the manga comic book "Witch Hat Atelier" by Kamome Shirahama. (Courtesy of Kamome Shirahama/Kodansha)(Kyodo)

Kodansha Ltd. said Kamome Shirahama's work "Witch Hat Atelier," published by its U.S. affiliate, won the Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Asia, one of the categories of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.

More than 2.23 million copies of the work have circulated in 18 countries, Kodansha said.

The English edition of another Japanese comic "Cats of the Louvre" created by Taiyo Matsumoto was given the same award, according to the award organizers.

The category in which they won picks excellent works among foreign comics in the Asian division translated and published in the United States. Past winners include works by noted manga artists Osamu Tezuka and Shigeru Mizuki.


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