In a continuing effort to make more and more manga available to the English-reading public, Random House’s Del Rey branch has released the latest Ken Akamatsu series. You may remember Del Rey as the company that kept your local library stocked full of science fiction and swords & sorcery works when you were a geeky little kid with no allowance. or maybe that was just me.

I’m pretty sure that I haven’t had a five-year span during my life in which a Del Rey publication didn’t somehow work its way into my hands. It is good to see them nudging into this niche of the industry.

Mahou Sensei Negii is being published under the title “Negima,” for reasons that escape me. It follows a child prodigy from his graduation from Wizard’s school through his pre-ordained first job as an English professor at a Japanese high school. Because this title is by Ken Akamatsu, creator of Itsudatte My Santa and Love Hina, this is an all-girl’s school.

Unlike previous works by this author, there is no strong romantic entanglement between the male protagonist and the veritable harem of female protagonists, which is refreshing in a way. Don’t let the “mature reader’s only” sticker fool you. The target audience of this story is young men with no real-world females in their lives. The ecchi content here may be scandalous in the eyes of a Missionary Baptist preacher (and I’m pretty sure Jack Chick wouldn’t appreciate the pantyshots), but it is all totally harmless and non-explicit.