Ken Akamatsu facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ken Akamatsu
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赤松 健
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Akamatsu at Japan Expo 2015
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| Member of the House of Councillors | |
| Assumed office July 26, 2022 |
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| Constituency | Proportional |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 5, 1968 Nagoya, Aichi, Japan |
| Political party | Liberal Democratic |
| Spouse | Kanon Akamatsu |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Chuo University |
| Occupation | Manga artist, politician |
| Known for | Love Hina, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, UQ Holder! |
| Awards |
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| Years active | 1993–present |
| Signature |  |
Ken Akamatsu (赤松 健, Akamatsu Ken, born July 5, 1968) is a famous Japanese manga artist and a politician. He has been a member of the House of Councillors since 2022. This is like being a senator in Japan's parliament.
Akamatsu started his career as a manga artist in 1993. He is best known for creating popular manga series like Love Hina (1998–2001) and Negima! Magister Negi Magi (2003–2012). Both of these were published in a magazine called Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Later, he created UQ Holder!, which is a sequel to Negima!. This series ran from 2013 to 2022.
In 2011, Akamatsu started a website called J-Comi (now known as Manga Library Z). This website offers old manga series for free digital reading.
Since 2018, Akamatsu has been a managing director of the Japan Cartoonists Association. He strongly supports protecting freedom of expression for manga and anime. He believes these creative works should not face too much censorship or strict copyright laws. In 2022, he was elected to the National Diet (Japan's parliament). He ran as a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party. He became the first manga creator to serve in the National Diet. In November 2024, he was appointed to a government role related to education, culture, and science.
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Ken Akamatsu's Early Life
Ken Akamatsu was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on July 5, 1968. His father worked for the government and often moved for his job. Because of this, Akamatsu's family lived in many different cities across Japan.
He went to Kaijō High School in Tokyo. Later, he studied Japanese Literature at Chuo University. Akamatsu has said that the anime and manga series Sailor Moon got him interested in these art forms. While in college, he created his own fan-made comics, called doujinshi. He sold these at events like Comiket under the pen name Awa Mizuno.
Ken Akamatsu's Manga Career
In 1993, Ken Akamatsu won an award for his first professional manga, Hito Natsu no Kids Game. This was published in a magazine called Magazine Fresh. The next year, he started a series called A.I. Love You (1994–1997) in Weekly Shōnen Magazine.
His manga Love Hina (1998–2001) made him very popular. In 2001, he won the 25th Kodansha Manga Award for Love Hina. His next big work was Negima! Magister Negi Magi, which ran from 2003 to 2012. This was also in Weekly Shōnen Magazine.
Akamatsu's most recent manga series is UQ Holder!. It is a sequel to Negima!. It started in 2013 and finished in 2022. The books for UQ Holder! were the first to have a special "Doujin Mark." This mark shows that the author gives clear permission for fans to create their own works based on the manga. This idea came from Akamatsu himself.
In 2010, Akamatsu started a test version of J-Comi. This website lets people download manga that are no longer being printed. For the first test, he put all 14 volumes of Love Hina online for free. These copies had some ads and no digital rights management (DRM). This means there were no restrictions on how people could use the digital copies. Other big manga publishers later joined the site, and it officially launched in 2011.
By 2022, Akamatsu's manga series had sold over 50 million copies around the world. His popular manga like Love Hina, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, and UQ Holder! have all been turned into anime TV shows. Negima! was even made into a live-action TV series.
Protecting Creative Freedom
Ken Akamatsu is a strong supporter of freedom of expression in anime and manga. He has often spoken out against government plans to increase censorship or change copyright laws.
In 2011, he warned that new copyright laws could harm Japan's fan-made doujin scene. He continued to share his worries in the years that followed. Akamatsu visited Japan's parliament to explain his concerns. Thanks to efforts like his, the final law passed in 2014 did not ban explicit anime and manga.
In 2018, he became a managing director of the Japan Cartoonists Association. In 2019, Akamatsu and the association worried about a plan to expand copyright law. This plan would have made it illegal to download or screenshot anime images and illustrations posted online without permission. It also would have made copying song lyrics illegal.
In 2020, Akamatsu was asked to advise lawmakers in the Diet about the future of manga. He said that "Japan's strength is its freedom of creativity." He also stated that Japanese works should not be controlled by rules from other countries.
In December 2021, Akamatsu announced he would run in the 2022 election. He wanted to join the House of Councillors, which is the upper house of Japan's parliament. He ran with the Liberal Democratic Party. His main goal was to protect creative freedom of expression. During his campaign, he talked about "outside pressure" (from other countries and from within Japan) to control Japan's "freedom of expression, especially for manga, anime, and games." He said that such rules need to be thought about carefully.
On July 10, 2022, Akamatsu won a seat in the parliament. He had campaigned in person in all 47 prefectures of Japan. This made him the first manga creator to be in the National Diet. One of his first ideas was to create a group to help preserve old and new Japanese video games so they can always be played. Since being elected, Akamatsu has been working on "manga diplomacy." He believes that using Japan's creative works, like manga and anime, is a way for Japan to succeed globally.
Ken Akamatsu's Family Life
Ken Akamatsu is married to Kanon Akamatsu. She is a professional cosplayer and used to be a pop idol. They have two daughters.
Ken Akamatsu's Works
Manga Series
- Hito Natsu no Kids Game (ひと夏のKIDSゲーム) (1993; a single story, published in Kodansha's Magazine Fresh)
- A.I. Love You (A・Iが止まらない!, A・I ga Tomaranai) (1994–1997; published regularly in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
- Itsudatte My Santa! (いつだってMyサンタ!) (1997; a single story, published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
- Love Hina (ラブひな) (1998–2001; published regularly in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi (魔法先生ネギま!, Mahō Sensei Negima) (2003–2012; published regularly in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
- Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan (陸上防衛隊まおちゃん, Rikujō Bōeitai Mao-chan) (2003–2004; he wrote the story only, published regularly in Kodansha's Magazine Special)
- Negiho (ネギほ) (2010–2011; he wrote the story only, published regularly in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine)
- UQ Holder! (2013–2022; published regularly in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine and later Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine)
Anime Series
- Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan (陸上防衛隊まおちゃん, Rikujō Bōeitai Mao-chan) (2002; he created the original idea, produced by Xebec)
See Also
In Spanish: Ken Akamatsu para niños
