Ken Akamatsu

健赤松

Also known as: LEVEL-X, Mizuno Awa

Born: July 5, 1968

About

Birth place: Nagoya, Japan Current residence: Tokyo, Japan Blood type: B Doujin circle: LEVEL-X Ken Akamatsu is a Japanese mangaka. He is married to his wife "Kanon" Akamatsu, who was previously a singer/idol. In his teenage years, Akamatsu failed the entrance exam to Tokyo University, and applied for Film Study instead (it is speculated that this is where he got the idea for Love Hina). Eventually, he became famous as an illustrator featured in Comiket. He used the pen name Awa Mizuno. Akamatsu, still in college, then proceeded to win the Weekly Shonen Magazine award twice. His A Kid's Game for One Summer was awarded the coveted 50th Shonen Magazine Newcomer's Award soon after he graduated. After a big hit with A.I. Love You, he finally made a grand success with his new manga Love Hina, which received the Kodansha Manga Award for shounen 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. In 2022, Akamatsu was elected to the House of Councillors as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. Twitter: @KenAkamatsu Tumblr: @kenakamatsu Facebook: @Akamatsu.Ken Blog: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/KenAkamatsu/