Interest

Negima/Love Hina Creator Observes Moe Boom's Reported End

In an August 18 blog entry, Love Hina creator Ken Akamatsu responded to a Teikoku Databank report which said that anime studio revenues were down for the second year in a row, by observing three phenomena that have been occuring in anime since last year:

1. A lack of series with male leads, versus many anime titles that have female-only main casts
2. A decrease in the purchasing power of male fans, accompanied by an increase in female buyers of anime and manga along with the rise of female-oriented manga on Oricon's comic ranking charts (Akamatsu discussed this more in his March 13 blog entry)
3. The male audience has attained the means to empathize with female characters — Akamatsu highlights Maria-sama ga Miteru and K-ON! as examples of anime that have more male fans who watch, but not because they find the characters sexually desirable

Akamtsu cited the third reason to argue with a friend that yuri works would be a hit this year, but he sadly feels that this did not turn out to be the case. Akamatsu's observations came in response to Teikoku Databank's conclusions that "[t]he anime boom led by 'moe-kei' works has ended, and the number of timeslots for late-night anime and other programming have been dropping." Teikoku Databank added that [anime] films are still doing well.

Ken Akamatsu is best known for his romantic comedy manga Love Hina, published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1998 to 2001, and the fantasy comedy Negima!, launched in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 2003 and still ongoing. Both titles have been adapted into both TV anime and OVA series, and Negima! was also adapted into a live-action drama in 2007. Weekly Shōnen Magazine recently announced that Akamatsu would pen a Love Hina one-shot story in its next issue, due out on September 1.

[Via Temple Knights]

Image © Akamatsu Ken, Kodansha / Love Hina Production Committee, TV Tokyo