(born July 7, 1973) 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 ...

best known for creating the series ''

Fruits Basket , sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese manga magazine , published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The series' title comes from ...

''. Takaya was born and raised in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, where she made her debut as a

manga 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 u ...

artist in 1992. Takaya is left handed and had wanted to be a manga artist since first grade, when her sister started drawing. Her manga series ''Fruits Basket'', which debuted in 1998, became one of the best selling manga in North America. ''Fruits Basket'' has also been

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

into an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, 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 Japane ...

series twice; the first, which premiered in 2001, aired as one season of twenty six episodes. The second, which premiered in 2019, consists of two seasons of twenty five episodes and the third season comprised 13 episodes and concluded in 2021. In 2001, Takaya received the

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

for manga for ''Fruits Basket''. As revealed in a sidebar of ''Fruits Basket'', Takaya broke her drawing arm (her left arm) after ''Fruits Basket'' volume six was published. She had to go into surgery, and as a result, had put ''Fruits Basket'' on a brief hiatus. Takaya made a full recovery, but complained that her handwriting had gotten uglier due to the surgery.

Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Takaya, Natsuki 1973 births Living people Japanese female comics artists Female comics writers Women manga artists Manga artists from Tokyo Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo)