‘Negima’ follows artist’s
time-tested formula

Ken Akamatsu is quickly establishing himself as the master of guilty-pleasure manga.

His devoted fans will recall his work on "Love Hina," the tale of a prospective Tokyo University student and his misadventures with a bevy of beauties at a hot-springs inn converted into an all-girl dormitory.

Hard-core fans will also gush about his work on "A.I. Love You," the tale of a computer geek and his misadventures with a bevy of virtual beauties that suddenly manifest themselves in real life.

So what does Akamatsu do to follow that up? Try the tale of a 10-year-old teacher and his misadventures living with and teaching a bevy of beauties at an all-girls school.

You gotta hand it to the guy for knowing his niche.

In "Negima," one of the titles under Del Rey's fledgling manga publishing arm, young Negi Springfield fills the role of the hapless male character. Negi's a graduate from a British magic academy who is assigned to teach a junior high school English class in Japan. Unfortunately for him, he's replacing a teacher upon whom Asuna Kagurazaka, granddaughter of the school's dean, has a crush. And as fate would have it, Negi's assigned to bunk in Asuna's room.

Since Asuna is cut from the same cloth as "Love Hina's" Naru Narusegawa -- a generally nice girl with a hair-trigger temper and a tendency to clobber unsuspecting male characters to kingdom come -- wacky high jinks naturally ensue. "Love Hina" fans will also note that Akamatsu seems to be developing Asuna on a track that parallels Naru's development, going from outright hatred of Negi to grudging respect for him. Whether it develops into love remains to be seen, but it wouldn't be surprising if it did happen.

And then there are the other girls -- 31 in total, each one of whom, according to Akamatsu's notes, has her own detailed concept design. While the girls are often shown in mob scenes that make it difficult to distinguish one from another, there are also a number of chapters that flesh out each individual character through Negi's experiences with them. Still, don't expect to learn about all of them in the near future -- the first three volumes released in America deal with only a small fraction of the girls, and the series isn't even close to being complete yet in Japan. The sheer numbers make it difficult to keep track of all of them, anyway.

All of Akamatsu's trademarks are accounted for in "Negima." Hapless bespectacled boy caught in compromising positions? Check. Girls who often flash their underwear and are shown in various stages of undress? Check. (It's so extreme at times, this manga even carries a "mature audiences" sticker because of it.) Situations that spiral deeper and deeper into absurd wackiness? Check.

Take as an example the chapter "Bathhouse Rub," in which Asuna drags Negi to the bath hall because, as she puts it, "You're not stinking up my dorm room." Through an unusual turn of events, she ends up helping him bathe.

Then a whole bunch of girls come into the same bath early, clad only in towels and smiles, forcing Asuna and Negi to hide.

Then the girls start comparing chest sizes.

Then Asuna and Negi try to slip out unnoticed, but -- darn the luck! -- she trips over him and ends up in a very compromising position over him, in plain view of the others. In desperation, Negi tries to utter a wind spell to help them get away but mistakenly chants a spell to enlarge Asuna's chest to obscene levels.

It's an approach that will delight some readers and frustrate others. Anyone who didn't like "Love Hina" probably won't like this series, either.

But just when "Negima" seems like it's going to devolve into a larger-scale version of "Love Hina," Akamatsu kicks the series into a higher gear with Negi's magical heritage and his aspiration to become a master wizard like his father, the fabled Southern Master who mysteriously disappeared years ago. The introduction of Evangeline, one of Negi's students who actually is a magical vampire sealed in a girl's body by his father, makes for a story arc that is much more action-packed than anything "Love Hina" ever came up with.

Call it "Harem Potter," if you will -- many people who have read this series and posted their thoughts on the Internet have said as much. But it will be interesting to see which direction the story develops starting with Volume 4, due out in February, and future volumes.