, known professionally as , was 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 ...

. 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, wh ...

'', published in ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...

'' from 1996 to 2004. The manga spawned a popular trading card game of the same name, which holds the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the best-selling trading card game to date.

Early life

Kazuo Takahashi was born in Tokyo 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 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'' a ...

'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 high ...

''. 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 fol ...

'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 ''

'' 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 o ...

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 strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with '' Magic: The Gathering'' in 1993. General ...

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 casin ...

, which holds the

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 ''The Comiq'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from October to November 2018, with its chapters co ...

'' in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. Takahashi also wrote a two-part manga, titled ''Secret Reverse'', for the ''

Marvel × Shōnen Jump+ Super Collaboration is a Japanese manga series produced by the digital distribution platform ''Shōnen Jump+'' in collaboration with the American comic book company Marvel Comics. The series is composed of seven one-shots written by various ''Weekly Shōnen Jum ...

'', 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 title ...

'' in September 2019.

Personal life

Takahashi liked to play games such as

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, ''chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōgi' ...

mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...

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 game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal a ...

s. In an interview with '' Shonen Jump'', Takahashi stated that his favorite manga from other authors included '' Akira'' by

Katsuhiro Otomo is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter, animator and film director. He is best known as the creator of '' Akira'', in terms of both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. He was decorated a ''Chevalier'' of th ...

, ''

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 is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters collected into 42 ''tank� ...

'' by

Akira Toriyama is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for his highly successful manga series ''Dr. Slump'', before going on to create ''Dragon Ball'' (his best-known work) and acting as a character design ...

. He also enjoyed reading

American comics American comics may refer to: *History of American comics The history of American comics began in the 19th century in mass print media, in the era of sensationalist journalism, where newspaper comics served as further entertainment for mass re ...

, 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 crossov ...

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 c ...

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 Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be ...

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 Prefectures of Japan, 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 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

, 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. T ...

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 Hito ...

's ''

'') * (1986; serialized in

's ''

'') * (1990; one-shot, published in

's ''

'') * (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'') * ''

'' (2018; serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'') * ''Secret Reverse'' (2019; released on Shueisha's ''

'')

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!