Ken Akamatsu

Ken Akamatsu (赤松 健, Akamatsu Ken, born July 5, 1968) is a Japanese manga artist from Tokyo. After success with A.I. Love You from 1994–1997, he wrote Love Hina from 1998 to 2001. His longest work to date has been Negima! Magister Negi Magi from 2003 to 2012. His current serial, UQ Holder!, is a sequel to Negima. Akamatsu is also the creator of the J-Comi website, a free digital distributor of out-of-print manga.

This article is about the manga artist. For the footballer, see Kenny Akamatsu.
Ken Akamatsu
赤松 健
Ken Akamatsu at Japan Expo 2015
Born (1968-07-05) July 5, 1968
Higashikurume, Tokyo
Other namesAwa Mizuno (水野 亜和)
EducationDepartment of Literature graduate of Chuo University
OccupationManga artist
Years active1993–present
Known forA.I. Love You, Love Hina, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, UQ Holder!
Spouse(s)Kanon Akamatsu
WebsiteKen Akamatsu's Website
Signature

His work Love Hina is considered as the origin of harem manga and anime, especially romantic comedy.[1][2]

Overview

Sailor Moon was his introduction to anime and manga fandom.[3]

In his teens, Akamatsu applied himself to Film Study (it is speculated that this is where he got the idea for Love Hina). Eventually, he became famous as an illustrator at the Comiket (a comic convention held bi-annually in Japan). He used the pen name Awa Mizuno (水野 亜和, Mizuno Awa). Akamatsu, still in college (Japanese literature course at Chuo University), then proceeded to win the Weekly Shōnen Magazine award twice. Soon after he graduated, his Hito Natsu no Kids Game was awarded the coveted 50th Shōnen Magazine's Rookie Award.[4]

After a big hit with A.I. Love You, he finally made a grand success with his manga, Love Hina. The series appeared in Weekly Shōnen Magazine and has been collected in eleven volumes (with fourteen volumes in total), which have sold over 6 million copies in Japan, and received the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen in 2001.[5] Akamatsu had added elements of his own life experiences to the story, and this was said to have induced a unique feeling to the manga especially for Western readers, whose lack of familiarity with Japanese culture for the most part added to the effect. The series, published in America in 2002, was especially well received in many overseas countries - Akamatsu was surprised that even foreign readers found Love Hina to be "cute" and to their liking. Akamatsu appears as a character in the Love Hina anime, in episode 14, and the Christmas and Spring specials.

He is married to 'Kanon' Akamatsu, who was previously a singer/idol. His series, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, his longest running manga so far with 355 chapters, was, like Love Hina, also made into an anime. A second independent retelling of Negima was made called Negima!?. The first anime adaption was produced by Xebec, and the second retelling was produced by Shaft. Shaft also produces all of the OVAs for Magical Teacher Negima! and finally made a new Negima! OVA, Negima! Magister Negi Magi ~Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba~, and a newer series of OVAs, Maho Sensei Negima! Mo Hitotsu no Sekai ~Another World~ .

Along with working on the Negima manga, he was also helping with the live action Negima! series.[6] He has no task-based daily schedule for his manga work; instead he works on one page at a time until the whole chapter is finished. When he was younger he could draw one chapter each week, but nowadays he usually draws 18 pages every 9 days. Thus, he has time to take a week-long break on four-week intervals while maintaining his weekly publishing schedule.[7]

In November 2010, he announced he would start a free manga download site for out-of-print titles called J-Comi, and announced that all 14 volumes of Love Hina will be its first release. The service is completely free and without any time restrictions or commissions, with authors receiving payment based on site ads.[8] The comics will be distributed as PDFs without any type of DRM. He also expects other manga artists to take advantage of the service.[9]

He started a new manga, UQ Holder!, in Weekly Shōnen Magazine; which debuted in the 38th issue in August 2013.[10]

Works

Manga

Anime

References
  1. “ハーレム”は『ラブひな』から始まった――現代アニメ作品の“萌え”の起源となった濃ゆすぎる「平成ゼロ世代アニメ」を総ざらい. Niconico News. 2019-02-26. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  2. ハーレムラブコメはミステリ化する？ 『五等分の花嫁』がラブコメというジャンルにもたらしたインパクトとは. M-on! Press. 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2020-07-07. 一般的にこのハーレム系ラブコメの祖といわれるのが98年に「週刊少年マガジン」で連載スタートした『ラブひな』。
  3. "Ken Akamatsu Live-Talk Session". ComiPress. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  4. "AI Love Network". Ai Love.net. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  5. Joel Hahn. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  6. "Negima! Live-Action Confirmed by Creator Ken Akamatsu". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  7. "Ken Akamatsu's schedule". Masters of Manga. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
  8. "The Future of Manga". Anime News Network. April 22, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  9. "Negima's Akamatsu Plans Free Site for Out-of-Print Manga". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
  10. "Ken Akamatsu's New Manga in 2013". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
  11. Johnston, Chris. "My Santa". (December 2007) Newtype USA. p. 103.
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