The Harvey Awards, which recognize excellence in comics and sequential art, unveiled nominees this week across multiple categories featuring some of anime's biggest franchises.

In the Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel category, five anime projects are in the running: Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle - Akaza Sairai (the first film in the trilogy), My Hero Academia — Final Season, the second live-action One Piece season, and the Korean animated film Your Letter. They'll compete against entries from Western properties including The Boys season five, Invincible season four, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, Peacemaker season two, and Spider-Noir.

Meanwhile, the Best Manga category features a range of international works, though no major anime franchises dominate this particular lineup. The category includes Billy Bat by Naoki Urasawa & Takashi Nagasaki, He Rolled Me Up Like a Grilled Squid by Yoshiharu Tsuge, Land by Kazumi Yamashita, and several others.

The Harvey Awards established the dedicated Best Manga category in 2018, recognizing that manga deserves its own spotlight rather than competing in broader "Best Foreign Material" categories used in previous years. Since then, manga has dominated recognition—Chainsaw Man notably won the award three consecutive times (2021-2023), and Delicious in Dungeon took last year's honor.

Unlike the Eisner Awards and similar industry competitions, the Harvey Awards operate uniquely: comic book professionals themselves nominate and select winners rather than critics or voting panels. This peer-driven approach gives the awards particular weight within the creative community.

The ceremony takes place October 9 at New York Comic Con, where all winners across both manga and adaptation categories will be announced. The presence of multiple anime adaptations in this year's Best Adaptation race reflects the global reach of anime storytelling and the increasing crossover appeal of animated films in mainstream awards recognition.