Elections for the House of Councilors, the upper house of the national parliament, have taken place in Japan, and popular mangaka Ken Akamatsu has won a seat. In the last election, he ran for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, campaigning primarily to protect artists’ freedom of expression, artistic freedom from censorship and undue outside influence.

Akamatsu sensei, who debuted as a professional manga artist in 1993 with Hito Natsu no Kids Game, is best known for Love Hina, a romantic comedy that appeared in Kodansha’s Weekly Shounen Magazine from 1998 to 2001, which received an anime adaptation for TV, several OVAs, novels and video games.

Akamatsu Sensei is the first manga artist to be elected to the Japanese National Diet. He announced his victory on Twitter, noting that he will work hard to keep his promises and not betray his constituents.

In his blog, published shortly before the election, Akamatsu-sensei mentioned that he had been drawing manga for 28 years, and sometimes he received comments like Ken Akamatsu’s manga saved my heart, which gave him strength and motivation to work.

Akamatsu-sensei continued by mentioning that he really believes that it was through manga, anime and video games that he was able to achieve such success. Anime helped him when he struggled during exams, and video games helped him when he struggled at work. The politician-mangaka is sure that many have had the same experience at least once, and when people are sad or suffering, the work of many creators can help.