Rumiko Takahashi
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese manga artist
.
Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga
she creates (and its anime adaptations) are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages. Takahashi is also the best selling female comics artist in history; as of February 2010, over 170 million copies of her various works had been sold. She has twice won the Shogakukan Manga Award
: once in 1980 for Urusei Yatsura
, and again in 2001 for InuYasha
.
, Japan. 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 Chūō High School, Takahashi's interest in manga did not come until later. In an interview in 2000, Takahashi said that she had always wanted to become a professional comic author since she was a child. During her university years, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school founded by Kazuo Koike
, manga artist of Crying Freeman
and Lone Wolf and Cub
. Under his guidance Rumiko Takahashi began to publish her first dōjinshi
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 work was the one-shot Katte na Yatsura, for which she was awarded the Shogakkan New Comics Award. Later that same year, she began her first serialized story Urusei Yatsura
, a comedic science fiction story. She had difficulty meeting deadlines to begin with, so chapters were published sporadically until 1980. During the run of the series, she shared a small apartment with two assistants, and often slept in a closet due to a lack of space. During the same year, she published Time Warp Trouble, Shake Your Buddha, and the Golden Gods of Poverty in Shōnen Sunday
magazine, which would remain the home to most of her major works for the next twenty years.
During 1980, Takahashi started her second major series, Maison Ikkoku
, in Big Comic Spirits
magazine. Written for an older audience, Maison Ikkoku is a romantic comedy
, and Takahashi used her own experience living in an apartment to create the series. 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.
Another short work of Takahashi's to be published sporadically was 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 shōnen
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 Shōnen Sunday
magazine and is her longest work by far, and ended in 2008. On March 5, 2009, Rumiko Takahashi released her one-shot short story Unmei No Tori. On March 16, 2009, Rumiko Takahashi collaborated with Mitsuru Adachi
, creator of Touch
and Cross Game
, to release a one-shot story called My Sweet Sunday. Her latest manga series, Rin-ne
started on April 22, 2009. This is Rumiko Takahashi's first new manga series since the end of her previous manga series InuYasha in June 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.
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
.
Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
she creates (and its anime adaptations) are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages. Takahashi is also the best selling female comics artist in history; as of February 2010, over 170 million copies of her various works had been sold. She has twice won the Shogakukan Manga Award
Shogakukan Manga Award
The is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...
: once in 1980 for Urusei Yatsura
Urusei Yatsura
is a comedic manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi that premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 1978 and ran until its conclusion in 1987. Its 374 individual chapters were collected and published in 34 tankōbon volumes. The series tells the story of Ataru Moroboshi, and the alien...
, and again in 2001 for InuYasha
InuYasha
, also known as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996 and concluded on June 18, 2008...
.
Career and major works
She was born in NiigataNiigata, Niigata
is the capital and the most populous city of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. It lies on the northwest coast of Honshu, the largest island of Japan, and faces the Sea of Japan and Sado Island....
, Japan. Takahashi showed little interest in manga during her childhood; though she was said to occasionally doodle
Doodle
A doodle is an unfocused drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes....
in the margins of her papers while attending Niigata Chūō High School, Takahashi's interest in manga did not come until later. In an interview in 2000, Takahashi said that she had always wanted to become a professional comic author since she was a child. During her university years, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school founded by Kazuo Koike
Kazuo Koike
is a prolific Japanese manga writer, novelist and entrepreneur.-Biography:Early in Koike's career, he studied under Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito and served as a writer on the series....
, manga artist of Crying Freeman
Crying Freeman
is a manga by Kazuo Koike & Ryoichi Ikegami about an assassin who sheds tears after he kills his targets. Crying Freeman follows the title assassin, a Japanese man hypnotized and trained by the Chinese mafia to serve as its agent, and covered in a vast and complex dragon tattoo...
and Lone Wolf and Cub
Lone Wolf and Cub
is a manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Yorozuya Kinnosuke, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.Lone Wolf and Cub...
. Under his guidance Rumiko Takahashi began to publish her first dōjinshi
Dojinshi
is the Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, manga or novels. Dōjinshi are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry. The term dōjinshi is derived from and . Dōjinshi are part of a wider...
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 work was the one-shot Katte na Yatsura, for which she was awarded the Shogakkan New Comics Award. Later that same year, she began her first serialized story Urusei Yatsura
Urusei Yatsura
is a comedic manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi that premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 1978 and ran until its conclusion in 1987. Its 374 individual chapters were collected and published in 34 tankōbon volumes. The series tells the story of Ataru Moroboshi, and the alien...
, a comedic science fiction story. She had difficulty meeting deadlines to begin with, so chapters were published sporadically until 1980. During the run of the series, she shared a small apartment with two assistants, and often slept in a closet due to a lack of space. During the same year, she published Time Warp Trouble, Shake Your Buddha, and the Golden Gods of Poverty in Shōnen Sunday
Shonen Sunday
, first published on March 17, 1959, is a weekly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan. Contrary to its title, Weekly Shōnen Sunday issues are released on Wednesdays.- History :...
magazine, which would remain the home to most of her major works for the next twenty years.
During 1980, Takahashi started her second major series, Maison Ikkoku
Maison Ikkoku
is a Japanese seinen manga written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi and serialized in the manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1980 through 1987. Maison Ikkoku is a bitter-sweet comedic romance involving a group of madcap people who live in a boarding house in 1980s Tokyo...
, in Big Comic Spirits
Big Comic Spirits
is a weekly Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Shogakukan and aimed at males 20–25 years old. It originally launched on October 14, 1980. The culture of food, sports, love relationships, and business provide the themes for its featured series, which often question conventional values...
magazine. Written for an older audience, Maison Ikkoku is a romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
, and Takahashi used her own experience living in an apartment to create the series. 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
Laughing Target
is an anime OVA released in Japan in 1987. It was licensed for North American release by Central Park Media, but this license has since expired...
, Maris the Chojo
Maris the Chojo
, literally translated as "The Supergirl", and originally titled Supergal in U.S. markets, is a one shot manga story by Rumiko Takahashi...
, and Fire Tripper
Fire Tripper
is an anime OVA based on a manga story by Rumiko Takahashi. In North America, it was released on VHS by Central Park Media under the "Rumik World" series...
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
Mermaid Saga
is a series of manga graphic novels in three volumes by Rumiko Takahashi. Two of the stories from the series, Mermaid Forest and Mermaid's Scar, have been adapted as anime OVAs, and all of the tales, except one, were later produced as an anime TV series.-Manga:The original manga was serialised in...
. This series of short segments was published sporadically until 1994, with the final story being Mermaid's Mask.
Another short work of Takahashi's to be published sporadically was One-Pound Gospel
One-Pound Gospel
is a manga series created by Rumiko Takahashi, author of Maison Ikkoku, Ranma ½, and InuYasha. The series was serialized periodically in Weekly Young Sunday from issue 9 in 1987 to issue 3/4 in 2007. Released in North America by Viz Media, it is a fusion of the sports and romantic comedy genres...
. 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
Ranma ½
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi with an anime adaptation. The story revolves around a 16-year old boy named Ranma Saotome who was trained from early childhood in martial arts...
. Following the late 80s and early 90s trend of shōnen
Shonen
The term refers to manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 10 and up. The Kanji characters literally mean "few" and "year", respectively, where the characters generally mean "comic"...
martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
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
InuYasha
, also known as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996 and concluded on June 18, 2008...
. While Ranma ½, Urusei Yatsura, and Maison Ikkoku all were heavily seated in the romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
genre, InuYasha was more akin to her dark Mermaid Saga. The series featured action, romance, horror, fantasy, (folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
-based) historical fiction, and comedy. This series was serialized in Shōnen Sunday
Shonen Sunday
, first published on March 17, 1959, is a weekly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan. Contrary to its title, Weekly Shōnen Sunday issues are released on Wednesdays.- History :...
magazine and is her longest work by far, and ended in 2008. On March 5, 2009, Rumiko Takahashi released her one-shot short story Unmei No Tori. On March 16, 2009, Rumiko Takahashi collaborated with Mitsuru Adachi
Mitsuru Adachi
is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa...
, creator of Touch
Touch (manga)
is a Japanese high school baseball manga by Mitsuru Adachi. It was originally serialized in the weekly manga magazine Shōnen Sunday from 1981–1986...
and Cross Game
Cross Game
is a romantic comedy baseball manga series by Mitsuru Adachi that was serialized by Shogakukan in Weekly Shōnen Sunday between 11 May 2005 and 17 February 2010 . It is collected in 17 tankōbon volumes, with the final volume published in April 2010, shortly after the end of the anime series...
, to release a one-shot story called My Sweet Sunday. Her latest manga series, Rin-ne
Rin-ne
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It began serialization in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday manga magazine on April 22, 2009...
started on April 22, 2009. This is Rumiko Takahashi's first new manga series since the end of her previous manga series InuYasha in June 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.
Major works
| Years | Name | Japanese publisher | English publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shōgakukan Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan... |
Viz Media VIZ Media VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and... |
||
| 1984–94 | |||
| 1987–2007 | |||
| 1996–2008 | |||
| Mamoru Oshii Mamoru Oshii Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2... , who made Beautiful Dreamer, the second Urusei Yatsura movie. AnimEigo AnimEigo AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. The company was founded in 1988 in Ithaca, New York by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams, III. It is now based in Wilmington, North Carolina, and run by Natsumi Ueki, Robert's wife... has released the entire TV series and all of the OVAs and movies except for Beautiful Dreamer (which was released by Central Park Media Central Park Media Central Park Media was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York, that was active in the distribution of East Asian cinema, television series, anime, manga and manhwa titles in North America prior to its bankruptcy in 2009... 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 Kitty Films Kitty Films is an anime production company established in 1972 in Japan. The company also operates a record label under "Kitty" or "Kitty Records" .-History:... , the studio that produced Urusei Yatsura with animation assistance from Studio Pierrot Studio Pierrot is a Japanese animation/animation studio, founded in 1979 by former employees of Tatsunoko Production. Its headquarters is located in Mitaka, Tokyo.The company has a simple logo of the face of a clown... and then Studio Deen Studio DEEN is a Japanese company that produces anime. Three years after Sunrise was founded in 1972, Studio Deen was established by Sunrise's members in 1975. As a result of this, anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop that were produced by Sunrise may have had assistance from Studio Deen.-Produced anime:* Urusei... , 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 two 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. Sunrise Sunrise (company) is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise. It is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings. Its former name was Nippon Sunrise, and prior to that, Sunrise Studios... 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. However, recent news confirms a year-old rumor that InuYasha will continue. A new InuYasha anime series called, "InuYasha the Final Act" debuted in Japan in the fall of 2009 and ended in March 2010. 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 Shōnen 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. A special DVD release containing all three new OVAs was announced as coming out on January 29, 2010, with a trailer posted in September 2009. However it is not known whether any of the new episodes will ever be released outside Japan. The latest Rumiko Takahashi TV animation adapts many of her short stories from the 80s. Rumiko Takahashi Anthology Rumic Theater Rumiko Takahashi Anthology, also known as Rumic Theater, is a collective manga of many short stories. In Japanese it has been published under several different names, at least as and as . Some editions are numbered 1–3 while other editions are unnumbered. Volume 4 currently only exists in an... , 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, animating 13 of her stories. Popularity and impact on the western worldMany of Takahashi's works have been translated into English, as well as other European languages. Takahashi said that she did not know why her works are relatively popular with English speakers. Takahashi said "Sure, there are cultural differences in my work. When I see an American comedy, even though the jokes are translated, there's always a moment when I feel puzzled and think, ‘Ah, Americans would probably laugh at this more.' I suppose the same thing must happen with my books. It's inevitable. And yet, that doesn't mean my books can't be enjoyed by English-speaking readers. I feel confident that there's enough substance to them that people from a variety of cultural backgrounds can have a lot of fun reading them."External links
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