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Rumiko Takahashi
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is a Japanese mangaka.
Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent mangaka in Japan. The manga she creates (and its anime adaptations) are very popular in the United States and Europe where they have been released as both manga and anime in English translation. Her works are relatively famous worldwide, and many of her series were some of the forerunners of early English language manga to be released in the 1990s.
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is a Japanese mangaka.
Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent mangaka in Japan. The manga she creates (and its anime adaptations) are very popular in the United States and Europe where they have been released as both manga and anime in English translation. Her works are relatively famous worldwide, and many of her series were some of the forerunners of early English language manga to be released in the 1990s. Takahashi is also the best selling female comics artist in history; over 170 million copies of her various works have been sold. She has twice won the Shogakukan Manga Award: once in 1981 for Urusei Yatsura, and again in 2002 for InuYasha.
Career and major works
Born in Niigata, Japan, Rumiko Takahashi showed little interest in manga during her childhood, though she was said to occasionally doodle in the margins of her papers while attending Niigata Chuo High School, Takahashi's interest in manga did not come until later. During her college years, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school founded by Kazuo Koike, mangaka of Crying Freeman and Lone Wolf and Cub. Under his guidance Rumiko Takahashi began to publish her first doujinshi creations in 1975, such as Bye-Bye Road and Star of Futile Dust. Koike often urged his students to create well-thought out, interesting characters, and this influence would greatly impact Rumiko Takahashi's works throughout her career.
Takahashi's professional career began in 1978. Her first published story was Those Selfish Aliens, a comedic science fiction story. During the same year, she published Time Warp Trouble, Shake Your Buddha, and the Golden Gods of Poverty in Shonen Sunday magazine, which would remain the home to most of her major works for the next twenty years. Later that year, Rumiko attempted her first full-length series, Urusei Yatsura. Though it had a rocky start due to publishing difficulties, Urusei Yatsura would become very well known.
In 1980, Rumiko Takahashi found her niche and began to publish with regularity. At this time she started her second major series, Maison Ikkoku, in Big Comic Spirits magazine. Written for an older audience, Maison Ikkoku is a romantic comedy. Takahashi managed to work on Maison Ikkoku on and off simultaneously with Urusei Yatsura. She concluded both series in 1987, with Urusei Yatsura ending at 34 volumes, and Maison Ikkoku being 15.
During the 1980s, Takahashi became a prolific writer of short story manga. Her stories The Laughing Target, Maris the Chojo, and Fire Tripper all were adapted into original video animations (OVAs). In 1984, during the writing of Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku, Takahashi took a different approach to storytelling and began the dark, macabre Mermaid Saga. This series of short segments was published sporadically until 1994, with the final story being Mermaid's Mask. Many fans contend that this work remains unfinished by Takahashi, since the final story does not end on a conclusive note.
Another short work, like Mermaid Saga, which was published erratically is One-Pound Gospel. Takahashi concluded the series in 2007 after publishing chapters in 1998, 2001 and 2006. One-Pound Gospel was adapted into a TV drama, which ran for 9 of its originally scheduled 11 episodes.
Later in 1987, Takahashi began her third major series, Ranma ½. Following the late 80s and early 90s trend of shonen martial arts manga, Ranma ½ features a gender-bending twist. The series continued for nearly a decade until 1996, when it ended at 38 volumes. Ranma ½ is popular amongst manga fans outside Japan.
During the later half of the 1990s, Rumiko Takahashi continued with short stories and her installments of Mermaid Saga and One-Pound Gospel until beginning her fourth major work, InuYasha. While Ranma ½, Urusei Yatsura, and Maison Ikkoku all were heavily seated in the romantic comedy genre, InuYasha was more akin to her dark Mermaid Saga. The series featured action, romance, horror, fantasy, (folklore-based) historical fiction, and comedy. This series was serialized in Shonen Sunday magazine and is her longest work by far, and ended in 2008.
Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2 and InuYasha manga were all published in English in the United States by Viz Comics; however, Viz's 1989 release of Urusei Yatsura halted after only a few volumes were translated, and is long out of print.
Animation
In 1981, Urusei Yatsura became the first of Takahashi's works to be animated. This series first aired on Japanese television on October 14, and went through multiple director changes during its run. Though the 195-episode TV series ended in March 1986, Urusei Yatsura was kept alive in anime form through OVA and movie releases through 1991. Most notable of the series directors was Mamoru Oshii, who made Beautiful Dreamer, the second Urusei Yatsura movie. AnimEigo has released the entire TV series and all of the OVAs and movies except for Beautiful Dreamer (which was released by Central Park Media in the U.S.) in the United States in English-subtitled format, with English dubs also made for the first two TV episodes (as Those Obnoxious Aliens) and for all of the movies.
Kitty Animation, the studio that produced Urusei Yatsura with animation assistance from Studio Pierrot and then Studio Deen, continued their cooperation and adapted Rumiko Takahashi's second work, Maison Ikkoku in 1986; it debuted the week after the final TV episode of UY. The TV series ran for 96 episodes, 3 OVAs, a movie and also a live-action movie. Studio Deen also provided animation duties on Maison Ikkoku and Ranma.
Maris the Chojo, Fire Tripper, and Laughing Target were all made into OVAs during the mid-80s. Her stories Mermaid's Forest and Mermaid's Scar were also made as OVAs in Japan on 1991. They were all released, subtitled in English, in the U.S.
In 1989, Kitty Animation produced its last major series, Ranma ½. The series went through ups and downs in ratings until Kitty Animation finally went out of business. Ranma ½ was never concluded in animated form despite being 161 episodes and three movies in length. The TV series ended in 1992 amid internal turmoil within Kitty; Kitty and Studio Deen continued to produce Ranma OVAs until 1996, but as of January 2009, the conclusion of the Ranma manga still has not been animated.
Sunrise was the first studio after Kitty Animation to adapt a major Rumiko Takahashi series. InuYasha debuted in 2000 and ended in 2004. The TV series went on for 167 episodes and spawned four major films. The anime ended before the manga did, thus wrapping up inconclusively. Sunrise Animation had expressed interest in finishing the series through OVAs once the manga series ended, but there are no set plans to continue InuYasha at this time.
Viz Communications has released the anime of Maison Ikkoku, Ranma and InuYasha in English, in both subtitled and dubbed formats.
The year 2008 marked the 50th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Sunday and the 30th anniversary of the first publication of Urusei Yatsura, and Rumiko Takahashi's manga work was honoured in It's a Rumic World, a special exhibition held from July 30 to August 11 at the Matsuya Ginza department store in Tokyo. Several new pieces of animation accompanied the exhibit, including new half-hour Ranma 1/2 and InuYasha (Black Tetsusaiga) OVAs and an introductory sequence featuring characters from Urusei Yatsura, Ranma and InuYasha (starring the characters' original anime voice talents), which has become a popular video on YouTube. The It's a Rumic World exhibit was scheduled to re-open in Sendai in December 2008, at which time a new half-hour Urusei Yatsura OVA was scheduled to premiere. It is not known whether any of the new UY, Ranma or InuYasha animations will ever be released outside Japan.
The latest Rumiko Takahashi TV animation adapts many of her short stories from the 80s. Rumiko Takahashi Anthology, animated by TMS Entertainment, features her stories The Tragedy of P, The Merchant of Romance, Middle-Aged Teen, Hidden In The Pottery, Aberrant Family F, As Long As You Are Here, One Hundred Years of Love, In Lieu of Thanks, Living Room Lovesong, House of Garbage, One Day Dream, Extra-Large Size Happiness, and The Executive's Dog. Also, a TV series of Mermaid Saga was produced in 2003 as well, animating 13 of her stories.
Popularity and impact on the western world
Outside Japan, Rumiko Takahashi continues to be a popular and influential mangaka. Her works are especially prevalent in Europe, and most particularly in France , where most of her manga series (including Urusei Yatsura, which never finished its run in the U.S.) have been released.
AnimEigo was the first distributor for Takahashi's series in the English-speaking world, starting with Urusei Yatsura which was widely distributed first on VHS tape in the US, followed by Laser Disk distributions, and finally DVD. Animeigo has released the series in its entirety, including all the Movies (except Movie #2 which was licensed by Central Park Media), as well as all the OVAs in entirety. These products are still available for sale from them in the US, although in limited number.
Viz Media distributes most of Takahashi's series in the English-speaking world. They began to release her works via printed monthlies in the early 90s. However, the remainder of her works all met with success, especially Ranma ½ and Maison Ikkoku. At the time, Ranma ½ was a costly property most manga/anime companies were wary to touch. Viz's sales skyrocketed with Ranma ½ and later InuYasha, which were collected into graphic novels as the monthlies were released. The Ranma ½ anime became one of the first big anime titles to gain popularity amongst English-speakers, and was one of the most widely-viewed anime before the introduction of anime on DVD. This anime is still playing nowadays, due to the fact that so many people requested reruns of it. Viz hit it big time by introducing the InuYasha anime on Adult Swim, where it gained massive recognition.
Though not as recognized, both Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku have a small dedicated fanbase among older viewers. For many manga and anime fans, however, Rumiko Takahashi's works were their earliest exposures to the genre. Despite the fact that her works are often steeped in Japanese folklore and culture, her wide range of genres and sympathetic characters often make them universal to readers from around the world.
Rumiko's work has also enjoyed large popularity in Spain and Latin America, InuYasha has enjoyed a good following due to the development of the anime subculture, and Ranma 1/2 was one of the most popular anime series to be released on television.
External links
- , information about Rumiko Takahashi and her works
- French website on Rumiko Takahashi manga
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