Itsudatte My Santa by Ken Akamatsu

Merry Christmas a day early! I probably will not get to post a manga review next week since Christmas is proceeded by a sibling's birthday and then its family time for New Years eve and New Years day which leaves little time to actually sit down and read let alone the hour or so it takes to write a review and format it to my liking. So again I say,

but adding:

Itsudatte My Santa by Ken Akamatsu

Art and story (c) Ken Akamatsu

Genre: Shonen, Ecchi
Length: One Chapter – 47 Pages




           This is the same mangaka as Love Hina so, it looks just like Love Hina unsurprisingly. Roundish faces, dark eyes with out much detail and thick eyebrows are the basic look. The bodies are rather thin, and the women wear clothes that are expressly drawn to be revealing; you can bet your sweet bippy there are lots of panty shots that’s for sure. Otherwise,

the clothing is baggy and unremarkable along with the mostly empty backgrounds. There's a lot of blush lines, too, but nothing too distracting. Overall it is good, I'd categorize, but not really remarkable.
           Born on December 24, and named Santa by his parents, one boy sits alone on Christmas eve people watching instead of being with anyone even though its his birthday. That is when a strange girl appears, claiming to be a real Santa Claus and promising him she'll spend the whole night with him!
           I started this manga sure I had read this story before, but after a few pages, and a look through past posts, I think I was mistaken and I've only heard the name before. In any case, I haven't written a review of it so I went ahead and did so. First off let me begin with my usual triad against this type of ecchi manga. While this isn't as bad as Inaba Rabbits, because it isn't a harem manga, the fact that it's written by the mangaka who is the king of harem, the jokes and humor are the same and the “story telling” is similar. When I was in high school (ten years ago! Time sure does fly when you're reading manga) Love Hina was a very popular manga and anime, and I believe it is still fondly remembered and read by a lot of budding manga readers and old

school readers alike. I was never one of those, and while I did read the whole set because several of my friends did, I did not care what happened to any of the characters. Now, I'm not against ecchi manga, even if it seems like I am every time the subject comes up but the fact of the matter is typically if the manga is a comedic ecchi the funny and revealing jokes replace real character development and action ecchi usually just use nakedness gratuitously because (I have to assume) that men enjoy the extra sexuality. So, if there is one think I dislike it is the loss of story telling for gimmicks. CGI movies that are all flash and no story irk me to no end, starting with Avatar all the way up to the more recent Hobbit movies, and its a trend that continues. I know I've complained about it everytime I've reviewed a manga that I felt shortchanged itself by falling in that sort of development and just cruised along floating on the premise alone instead of delving into the actual development of story. So, to come back around to the actual review and you can stop here if you skimmed through all that long winded personal feelings, this manga not only being ecchi but also written by the same author as Love Hina brings up a lot of dislike from me before I even began reading it. Trying to say unbiased, the story is cute and fun, though it is very cliched. It also moves at a fast pace and crams lots of naked/panty shots in as often as it can. I suppose for a Christmas themed manga it was a quick seasonal read but its pretty forgettable. The jokes are pretty funny, such as the supposed Santa Claus being only able to pull fish out of her magic backpack, and the slap stick humor keeps the pace and story light as well. If you like Love Hina style manga you'll probably like it, its a good example of humorous ecchi and there are several nude shots for anyone looking for them. Its just not a genre I particularly like so its hard to for me to recommend it.



2.5/5 But there's a lot of bitter personal feelings mixed in.