Ken Akamatsu

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Ken Akamatsu (赤松健 Akamatsu Ken) is a celebratory mangaka (Manga auther/artist) from Tokyo. He is credited for the creation of such manga series as Itsudatte My Santa!, A.I. Love You, Love Hina, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Hito Natsu no Kids Game, and Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan.

Biography[]

Born July 5, 1968, in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Akamatsu applied himself to Film Study when in his teens. Eventually, he became famous as an illustrator featured in Comiket (a comic convention held bi-annually in Japan) during which he used the pen name Awa Mizuno (水野亜和 Mizuno Awa).

Akamatsu then proceeded to win the Weekly Shonen Magazine award twice while still in college studying the Department of Literature Country Literature course in Chuo University. Soon after he graduated, his creation, Hito Natsu no Kids Game, was awarded the coveted 50th Shonen Magazine Newcomer's Award.

After a big hit with A.I. Love You, his following manga, Love Hina, was a grand success. The series appeared in Weekly Shonen 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. 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.

Now married to Kanon Akamatsu, who was previously a Japanese pop singer/idol. He is currently working on his latest manga series, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, which is his longest running manga so far, which, like Love Hina, has also been made into an anime series.
A second independent retelling of Negima was made called Negima!?. The first anime adaption was produced by XEBEC, and the second retelling produced by Shaft. Shaft also produces all of the OVAs for Negima! Magister Negi Magi and is currently making a new Negima! OVA , Negima! Magister Negi Magi ~Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba~.