Plot/Story

In this initial title fromAkamatsu-sensei, we have basically his version of Ah! My Goddess. Basically you have the nice nerd Hitoshi who's rejected by the hot babe, but has this really cool computer program (named Number 30) to be his girlfriend. Through a freak electrical accident, the program "comes to life" and Number 30 now has the body of a teenaged girl. Now Hitoshi has a hot girlfriend, who uses her computer skills to get herself into Hitoshi's high school. Further, she's given the name Saati.

Saati starts off like Belldandy from AMG but ends up like Naru from Akamatsu-sensei's second manga title, Love Hina. Saati and Hitoshi are soon joined by Program 20 who takes the name Toni (read Urd from Ah! My Goddess) and later by Program 40. who takes on the role of a younger brother/sister, depending on if the character says the word "boy" or "girl."

The stories are rather episodic in nature and rather than Hitoshi and Saati make progress in their relationship, they go backward. Hitoshi turns from a nice guy to a huge sex-obsessed pervert. Saati goes from sweet and innocent to violent prude. That the two have feelings for each other is clear throughout the series, but having already read Love Hina and other such titles, I got bored with the non-confessions.

The story did get somewhat interesting when Cindy, a rich American teen actress, is introduced and becomes a rival for Saati. However, once Hitoshi makes his choice in volume 7, volume 8 of the manga just isn't as interesting, even with the introduction of Hitoshi's sister and a final powerful villian (whom Akamatsu-sensei seems to have revived in a new form for Negima!).

Characters

Hitoshi Kobe -- the male lead of the series. Starts off as a nice, nerdy computer programmer who creates an artificial girlfriend for himself. Ends up as some sort of major sex-obsessed pervert, though still with a good heart.

Saati -- aka: Program 30. She's the creation of Hitoshi's idea of the perfect girlfriend who comes to life through a freak accident. Starts off sweet and nice but ends up violent and prudish, though still with feelings for Hitoshi.

Toni -- aka: Program 20. She's the earlier creation of Hitoshi, but was abandoned due to her wild nature. Like Saati, she came to life due to a freak accident and is considered the "oneesan" of Saati.

Fourty -- Fourty is the creation of Saati and Toni, who both wanted another sibling, but while fighting over whether it should be a boy or girl, the program came to life with numerous bugs. So when Fourty says "boy" he becomes one and is known as "Fourty-kun." When Fourty says "girl", she becomes one and is known as "Fourty-chan." The two personallities have no memory of the experiences of the other.

Drawing Style

Initially, Akamatsu-sensei's stuff shows the roughness of an early work. It isn't bad, but the cover art on the U.S. manga releases clearly show how far he's come over the years. By volume 8, he really has polished his work and it is more in line with how Love Hina looked.

Enjoyment

Overall, I'd say this was just an "OK" title. Because the early chapters are so much like Ah! My Goddess with different characters, it is a little boring. Since Akamatsu-sensei never has the characters grow as a couple but rather change in nature to keep apart, I found this a little bothersome. It is not that I disliked the characters, but their development was all wrong. At times, there were nice moments for all the characters and at times there were nice stories. For the most part, the series is just "OK."

Overall

Bottom line: I do think it is worth the time for fans of Love Hina and Negima! to know where Akamatsu-sensei got his start. So for that reason, it is worth a read but I don't consider it a title worth keeping on the bookshelf.