Ken Akamatsu

Ken Akamatsu (赤松 健, Akamatsu Ken, July 5, 1968) is a Japanese mangaka from Tokyo. 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 featured in 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), th... more

Ken Akamatsu (赤松 健, Akamatsu Ken, July 5, 1968) is a Japanese mangaka from Tokyo. 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 featured in 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 Shonen Magazine award twice. Soon after he graduated, his "A Kid's Game for One Summer" was awarded the coveted 50th Shonen Magazine Newcomer's Award. After a big hit with A.I. Love You, he finally made a grand success with his new manga, Love Hina. 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... less