Romance seems to still be in the air as an underrated romance manhwa just beat Omniscient Reader for a major webtoon award, and it only proves the genre needs more attention. In the wake of Solo Leveling‘s massive success as a webtoon-turned-anime, action-centric webtoons like Omniscient Reader, Tomb Raider King, and Gosu are continually being picked up for anime adaptations, overlooking a plethora of brilliant romance and otome isekai titles, Fortunately, the genre may have finally gotten its dues with a recent award win, and through a most deserving title at that.
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Comic Natalie, on February 20th, 2025 announced the results of the Vertical Manga Awards 2024 with Tapas’ hit otome isekai How to Win My Husband Over by SIRU and Spice&Kitty bagging first place in the International category. How to Win My Husband Over won by popular vote out of 40 total nominated works in the category, winning over even popular mainstream titles like Omniscient Reader, which surprisingly just barely made the top 20, placing at #19. SIRU, the illustrator of How to Win My Husband Over, also shared a post on X thanking fans who voted for the series along with a new illustration of the series’ main leads, Ruby and Iske, to commemorate the occasion.
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Tapas’ How to Win My Husband Over Sweeps Natalie’s Webtoon Awards 2024
Based on a web novel by Spice&Kitty, How to Win My Husband Over is currently localized by Tapas and is arguably one of the best romance manhwa the platform has to offer. The series has garnered a whopping 8.7 million views on Tapas so far, and despite what its fluffy title may lead readers to believe, the series is surprisingly mature and heartfelt, tackling a plethora of serious themes with a well-written and well-paced story that is more than deserving of the award.
That said, what makes the win all the more impressive is the list of exceptional nominations in the category besides Omniscient Reader. Some other noteworthy nominees in the same category with How to Win My Husband Over included Tower of God, The Greatest Estate Developer, Lookism, Teenage Mercenary, A Man’s Man, Villains Are Destined to Die, Your Throne, The Remarried Empress, Operation True Love, and The Villainess Flips the Script. The complete top 20 ranking in the International category is as follows:
- How to Win My Husband Over
- I Shall Master This Family
- Villains Are Destined to Die
- God of Blackfield
- The Villainess Flips the Script
- The Viridescent Tiara
- Under the Oak Tree
- My In-Laws Are Obsessed With Me
- Baroness Goes on Strike
- The Remarried Empress
- The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyways
- The Fantasie of a Stepmother
- The Villainess Lives Again
- Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story
- Saving My Sweetheart
- Author of My Own Destiny
- Into the Light Once Again
- The Beast Within
- Omniscient Reader
- Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord
With the exception of two titles—Omniscient Reader and God of Blackfield, the International category rankings were completely dominated by romance, villainess, and otome isekai titles, suggesting that these particular genres may finally be picking up in popularity in Japan. Hopefully, this means more romance manhwa and webtoons will also be picked up for anime adaptations as the genre has plenty of gems like How to Win My Husband Over simply waiting to be discovered.
How to Win My Husband Over is available to read on Tapas.
Source: Vertical Manga Awards 2024 website.
