is a Japanese

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

and illustrator. He attended College of Economics at

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

. His spouse is manga artist Reiko Yano. He cites artists such as

Shinji Wada was a Japanese manga artist in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, and best known for the creation of the '' Sukeban Deka'' franchise in 1979. History When Hakusensha published ''Sukeban Deka'' in 1979, Wada's work became very popular. He was ...

Fumio Hisamatsu was a Japanese manga artist and character designer who frequently worked with TCJ in the 1960s and illustrated manga adaptations of their television series. In particular he created the manga for ''Super Jetter'' as well as serving as the anim ...

Shotaro Ishinomori was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime, and , creating several immensely popular long-running series such as ''Cyborg 009,'' the ''Super Sentai'' series (later adapted into the ''Power Rangers'' series), an ...

, and

Mitsuteru Yokoyama was a Japanese manga artist born in Suma Ward of Kobe City in Hyōgo Prefecture. His personal name was originally spelled , with the same pronunciation. His works include ''Tetsujin 28-go'', ''Giant Robo'', ''Akakage'', ''Babel II'', ''Sally t ...

as his influences.

Biography

was born January 19, 1959, in

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

, Japan. He attended and graduated from

in the College of Economics. His professional manga debut, (using the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Izumi Takemoto), appeared in the August 1981 issue of ''

Nakayoshi is a monthly ''shōjo'' manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First issued in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 60 years of manga publication history. Notable titles serialized in Nakayoshi include ''Princess Knight ...

'', though it wasn't published in book form until 2003. All of his professional manga and illustration work has appeared using the name "Izumi Takemoto". In an interview with BookScan, Takemoto cited artists such as

, and

as his influences. His first experience with science fiction was through the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the majority of his works reflect this SF influence. He is also a cat lover, and while cats frequently appear in his works, he had never owned a cat until 2003. He used his first experiences with his cat when he wrote Aru Hi no Zwei. Takemoto's works have been nominated seven times for the

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fict ...

in the Best Comic category but never won the award. His third published manga, ''Aoi-chan Panic!'' (1983-1984), was nominated in 1985. His second nomination came in 1993 for (1990-1992), followed the next year by a nomination for (1991-2004). In 2002, (1995-2001) was nominated. (2006-2009) was nominated in 2010, followed by (2009-2013) in 2014, and (2015-2016) in 2017. Some of his older and uncollected works have been rereleased through

Enterbrain , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on 30 January 1987 as . Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy ...

, beginning with and .

Works

All works are listed chronologically within each section.

Audio albums

These are either soundtrack albums for Takemoto's games or

audio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

albums based on his manga. * (July 1994) * (May 1994) * (January 1996) * (February 1997) * (April 2006) * (February 2008) * (December 2009) **Contains music from ''Hataraku Shōjo: Tekipaki Workin' Love'', ''Neko Mēwaku'', and ''Rupupu Cube Lup Salad'' games from

Datam Polystar was a Japanese media company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo.About Us
." ''Datam Polystar''. Retrieved on December 28, 2008.

Cover and other illustrations

Takemoto illustrated these works: * by

Osamu Kudō was an officer and ace fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific theater of World War II. In aerial combat over China and the Pacific, he was officially credited with destroying seven e ...

, based on Takemoto's manga ** Volume 1 (November 1996,

Takeshobo is a major publisher in Japan. Takeshobo was founded in 1972 by Kyōichirō Noguchi, starting Japan's first Mahjong magazine . Other magazines, such as a magazine dedicated to mahjong-themed manga, as well as a magazine dedicated to yonkoma ma ...

, ) ** Volume 2 (January 1997, Takeshobo, ) * by

Ryunosuke Kingetsu is a Japanese screenwriter of scenarios for several anime, drama CDs, video games as well as novels. Filmography * series head writer denoted in bold TV series * '' Piano: The Melody of a Young Girl’s Heart'' (2002–2003) * '' Weiß Kreuz ...

(March 1999,

Movic is a Japanese company which specializes in the publication of trading cards, figures, CDs, and other general media related to the anime industry. Movic is a part of the Animate group. Anime involved in *'' Ah! My Goddess: The Movie'': Producti ...

, ), based on Takemoto's manga

Games

Takemoto has had several works produced as games for various platforms. They are listed chronologically. * (January 1993,

Mega-CD The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, ...

) * ''Yumimi Mix'' (1993,

FM-Towns The is a Japanese personal computer, built by Fujitsu from February 1989 to the summer of 1997. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended for multimedia applications and PC games, but later became more compatible with IBM PC compatibles. ...

) * (July 1995,

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

) * (1995,

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

) * (August 1996, PlayStation (SLPS-00416)) * (March 1997,

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, though ...

) * (March 1997, FM Towns) * ''Para PAR∀ Paradise'' (August 1997,

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturin ...

) * (February 1997, Saturn (T-4503G)) * ''Hataraku Shōjo: Tekipaki Workin' Love FX'' (March 1998,

PC-FX The is a 32-bit home video game console developed by NEC and Hudson Soft. It was released in 1994 and discontinued in February 1998, as NEC's final home video game console. Based on the NEC V810 CPU and CD-ROM, it was intended as the successor ...

) * ''Yumimi Mix Remix'' (March 1998, Windows 95) * ''Dino Island'' (April 1998, Windows 95) * (October 1999, interactive comic,

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

(SLPS-02354)) * ''Click Manga: Click no Hi'' (October 1999, interactive comic, Windows 95/98) * ''Rupupu Cube Lup Salad DS'' (January 2008,

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

) * (January 2010, PSP (ULJM-05520)) * (June 2020,

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

/ Android)

Manga

* (1981 in ''

'',

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

) * (1982 in ''Nakayoshi'', Kodansha) * (1983-1984 in ''Nakayoshi'', Kodansha) * (1984 in ''Nakayoshi'', Kodansha) * (1984-1985 in ''Nakayoshi'', Kodansha) * (1985-1986 in ''Nakayoshi'', Kodansha) * (1986-1987 in ''Nakayoshi'', Kodansha) * (1988 in ''Nakayoshi'', Kodansha) * (1990-1992 in ''Comic Master'',

Hobby Japan is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing and releasing books, magazines, light novels, games, and collectibles. Founded in 1969, the company owns and distributes such publications as the eponymous ''Hobby Japan'' magazine, as well ...

) * (1990-1991 in ''Be Love Parfait'', Kodansha) * (1991-2004 in ''Apple Fantasy'' and ''Apple Mystery'', Ohzora/Mugenkan) * (1992, Shufu to Seikatsu Sha) * (1992-1997 in ''Comic Master EX'', ''Comic Master'', and ''RPG Magazine'', Hobby Japan) * (1993-1994 in ''Apple Mystery'', Ohzora) * (1993-1994 in ''

Young Animal In the English language, animals have different names depending on whether they are male, female, young, domesticated, or in groups. The best-known source of many English words used for collective groupings of animals is ''The Book of Saint Al ...

'',

Hakusensha is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV ...

) ** (2004, Hakusensha) ** (2018, Hakusensha) * (1993-1995 in ''Haoh'', Media Works) * (1993-1995,

ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

) * (1993-1996 in ''Comic Ganma'',

) * (1995, Shufu to Seikatsu Sha) * (1995-2001 in ''Monthly ASCII Comic'' and ''

Comic Beam is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Enterbrain on a monthly basis since November 1995. In 2006, it had a circulation of 25,000. Popular manga serialized in ''Comic Beam'' include Kaoru Mori's '' Emma'' about the love story between ...

'', ASCII/

) * (1996-1997, Ohzora) * (1997, Ohzora) * (1997, Ohzora) * (1997, Ohzora) * (1997-1998 in ''Nora Comics DX'',

Gakken is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1947 by Hideto Furuoka, which also produces educational toys. Their annual sales is reported at ¥ 90 billion ($789 million US). Gakken publishes educational books and magazines and produces other ...

) * (1999-2004 in ''Monthly Comic Flapper'', Media Factory) * (1999-2012 in ''

Manga Life Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

'', Takeshobo) * (2001, Ohzora) * (2001-2006 in ''Comic Beam'', Enterbrain) * (2003,

Tokuma Shoten is a publisher in Japan, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company was established in 1954 by Yasuyoshi Tokuma in Minato, Tokyo. The company’s product portfolio includes music publishing, video game publishing, movies, anime, magazines, m ...

) * (2004-2008 in ''

Monthly Comic Flapper is a monthly Japanese seinen manga magazine, published on the 5th each month by Media Factory since November 5, 1999 as a successor to ''Comic Alpha''. The magazine celebrated its 100th issue on February 5, 2008 (March issue 2008). On July 13, ...

'',

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was possi ...

) * (2005 in ''

Manga Time Kirara is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha which mainly serializes Yonkoma, four-panel manga. The magazine is sold on the ninth of each month and was first published as a special edition of ''Manga Time'', another Houbunsha magazi ...

'',

Houbunsha is a Japanese publishing company founded on July 10, 1950. It is based in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. Magazines published by Houbunsha *''Weekly Manga Times'' *''Hana Oto'' *'' Comic Fuz'' Manga Time magazines *''Manga Time'' *''Manga Time Original'' * ...

) * (2006,

SB Creative is a Japanese publishing company and a subsidiary of the SoftBank telecommunications company. It was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Publications ;Young Adult * : Original Japanese language publication of the Math Girls ...

) * (2006-2010 in ''

Manga Time Kirara Carat is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha and mainly consisting of four-panel comic strips. The first issue was released on 18 January 2003. List of serialized titles * * *''Bad Girl'' * * * * * * *''H・R'' * *''Harumaki!'' * ...

'', Houbunsha) * (2006-2009 in ''Gēmaga'', SB Creative) * (2006-2009 in ''Comic Beam'', Enterbrain) * ''MAGI×ES (2007-2009 in ''Monthly Comic Flapper'', Media Factory) * (2009 in ''Peach Comics'', Gakken) **Later re-published and continued 2013-current () in ''Pet Comics'' from Shusuisha and Daitosha) * (2009-2011 in ''Monthly Comic Flapper'', Media Factory) * (2009-2013 in ''Comic Beam'', Enterbrain) * (2010-2013 in ''Manga Time Kirara'', ''Manga Time Kirara Carat'', and ''Manga Time Kirara Ichimaru Ichimaru'', Houbunsha) * (2011-2012 in ''Manga Time Kirara'', Houbunsha) * (2012-2020 in ''

'', Takeshobo) * (2013, Takeshobo) * (2013-2014 in ''Comic Beam'', Enterbrain) * (2015-2016 in ''Comic Beam'', Enterbrain) * (2016, Daitosha)

Awards and recognition

Takemoto has been nominated seven times for the

in the Best Comic category but didn't win.

References

External links

Himawari House
(official site (archived), in Japanese)
UjaUja.net
(unofficial fan site, in English)
Izumi Takemoto
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Takemoto, Izumi 1959 births Japanese illustrators Japanese science fiction writers Living people Manga artists from Saitama Prefecture People from Saitama Prefecture Nihon University alumni Science fiction fans