What is Manga?Well, put very simply, manga are Japanese comics. But to leave it at that would not be entirely accurate. For one thing, manga are not just for kids! The stories found in manga cover a wide range of subject matter from lighthearted magical girls, coldblooded assassins, to beautiful guys in love...with each other! Everyone in Japan reads manga, and now with so many great titles translated into English, you can join the fun too! Manga-ka Korner: Ken AkamatsuManga artist Ken Akamatsu is probably best known for the Love Hina manga series in which a loser guy is surrounded by a harem of beautiful young women who have a habit of somehow ending up naked. His current series, Negima, is similar, being a something of a mashup of Love Hina and Harry Potter wherein a 10 year old wizard is the precocious teacher of a harem of young female students who also have a habit of ending up naked. Clearly, if you like seeing naked girls, you'll probably enjoy Akamatsu-san's work a great deal. But the thing that makes him one of my favorite manga-ka is the unexpected depth of the numerous characters he creates. They're a lot more than just pretty faces, and instances of nudity are used for comedic effect, never anything truly dirty, in my opinion. From his first manga, A.I. Love You, through the current Negima, Akamatsu's story telling gets better and better. Ken Akamatsu is a manga-ka you don't want to pass up. A.I. Love You |