Journal with Witch Anime Wins March's Galaxy Award

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Anime awarded by Japanese Broadcast Critics Association for its unique visual style, sound design, animation

The Japanese Broadcast Critics Association announced on Monday that the television anime of Tomoko Yamashita's Ikoku Nikki (Journal with Witch, or literally Diary of a Strange Land) manga won one of the four Galaxy Awards for March.

Since 1963, the Galaxy Awards honor outstanding programs, individuals, and groups with the hope of improving the quality of Japanese broadcast culture. As the anime won a monthly award, it will also be a candidate for the association's yearly Galaxy Awards, which will be held this year in June.

The association stated it selected the anime for its quiet affirmation of mutual respect and coexistence despite the protagonists' opposite personalities and misunderstandings. The association added that the protagonists' cohabitation in the same room that conversely feels like they are living in "different lands" is delicately portrayed through the anime's unique visual style, sound design, and animation.

The Ikoku Nikki anime premiered on January 4 and ran for 13 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired. The anime stars Miyuki Sawashiro as novelist Makio Kōdai and Fūko Mori as Makio's niece Asa Takumi.

Yamashita (The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Don't Cry Girl, Mo'some Sting) launched the manga in June 2017 in Shodensha's Feel Young magazine, and ended it in June 2023. The manga was nominated for the 28th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2024. The manga also ranked at #5 on the women's list of the 2024 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi!, topped Da Vinci's 23rd annual "Book of the Year" list for manga in December 2023, and was nominated for the 13th Manga Taisho awards in 2020.