, known professionally as , was a Japanese
manga artist. He made his serial manga debut in 1986, and is best known as the author of ''
Yu-Gi-Oh!
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine between September 1996 and March 2004. The plot follows the story of a boy named Yugi Mutou, w ...
'', published in ''
Weekly Shōnen Jump
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...
'' from 1996 to 2004. The manga spawned a popular
trading card game of the same name, which holds the
Guinness World Record for the best-selling trading card game to date.
Early life
Kazuo Takahashi was born in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
on October 4, 1961.
Career
In 1981, Takahashi's
one-shot manga ''Ing! Love Ball'', submitted under the pen name , won the Shogakukan New Comic Award and was published in ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' in the same year.
[ His serial debut was in 1986 with ''Go-Q-Choji Ikkiman'', an adaptation of the TV sports anime of the same name, published in Kodansha's '']Weekly Shōnen Magazine
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male hig ...
''.[ In 1990, his one-shot ''Tokio no Taka'' was published in ]Shueisha
(lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...
's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. Another manga, ''Tennenshoku Danji Buray'', was published in the magazine from 1991 to 1992. In a 2002 interview, Takahashi later called much of his early manga work a "total flop".
In 1996, Takahashi launched ''Yu-Gi-Oh!
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine between September 1996 and March 2004. The plot follows the story of a boy named Yugi Mutou, w ...
'' under the pen name "Kazuki Takahashi" in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', where it was serialized until 2004. The series became a huge success and has sold more than 40 million copies. The series has also received several media adaptations, notably an anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
television series and a trading card game
A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...
developed by Konami
, is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...
,[ which holds the Guinness World Record for the best-selling trading card game in history, with more than 25.1 billion cards sold as of 2011. Takahashi continued to supervise the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise following the end of the original manga's run.][
In 2013, his one-shot manga ''Drump'' was released in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. In 2015, Takahashi received the ]Inkpot Award
The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual conv ...
from Comic-Con International for his outstanding contributions to comics. In 2018, Takahashi published the limited series '' The Comiq'' in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. Takahashi also wrote a two-part manga, titled ''Secret Reverse'', for the '' Marvel × Shōnen Jump+ Super Collaboration'', which was released on ''Shōnen Jump+
is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its '' Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titl ...
'' in September 2019.
Personal life
Takahashi liked to play games such as shogi, mahjong, card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific.
Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...
s, and tabletop role-playing games. In an interview with '' Shonen Jump'', Takahashi stated that his favorite manga from other authors included '' Akira'' by Katsuhiro Otomo, ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly ''seinen'' manga ...
'' by Hirohiko Araki
is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', which began publication in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling ...
, and '' Dragon Ball'' by Akira Toriyama. He also enjoyed reading American comics American comics may refer to:
* History of American comics
*American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American co ...
, with Hellboy
Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossover ...
being his favorite American comic book character. His pet dog, a shiba inu
The is a breed of hunting dog from Japan. A small-to-medium breed, it is the smallest of the six original and distinct spitz breeds of dog native to Japan. Its name literally translates to "firewood dog".
A small, alert, and agile dog that ...
named , was the basis for the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' Trading Card Game monster card ; the card's artwork was personally drawn by Takahashi.
He occasionally expressed political opinions with his art. For instance, he once posted a drawing on Instagram of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' characters criticizing the Shinzo Abe
Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍 晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...
government and asking his followers to "vote for justice" in the 2019 House of Councillors election, for which he later apologized.
Death
On July 6, 2022, Takahashi was found dead in the water off the shore of Nago
''Nagu'', Kunigami: ''Naguu'' is a city located in the northern part of Okinawa Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. As of December 2012, the city has an estimated population of 61,659 and a population density of 288 persons per km2. Its tota ...
, Okinawa
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest city ...
, by Japan Coast Guard
The is the coast guard of Japan.
The Japan Coast Guard consists of about 13,700 personnel and is responsible for the protection of the coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Th ...
officers following a civilian report from a passing boat. He was found wearing snorkeling gear, and his cause of death was determined to be drowning.
It was subsequently reported, first in the American military newspaper '' Stars and Stripes'' on October 11, that Takahashi had died in the afternoon of July 4 while assisting in the rescue of three others who were caught in a rip current
A rip current, often simply called a rip (or misleadingly a ''rip tide''), is a specific kind of water current that can occur near beaches with breaking waves. A rip is a strong, localized, and narrow current of water which moves directly away ...
.
Works
* (1981; one-shot, published in Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...
's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'')
* (1986; serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male hig ...
'')
* (1990; one-shot, published in Shueisha
(lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...
's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...
'')
* (1991–1992; serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'')
* (1996–2004; serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'')
* ''Drump'' (2013; one-shot, published in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'')
* '' The Comiq'' (2018; serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'')
* ''Secret Reverse'' (2019; released on Shueisha's ''Shōnen Jump+
is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its '' Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titl ...
'')
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takahashi, Kazuki
1961 births
2022 deaths
Date of death unknown
Deaths by drowning
Inkpot Award winners
Manga artists from Tokyo
People from Tokyo
Place of death unknown
Yu-Gi-Oh!