Kazuki Takahashi

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Kazuki Takahashi
Takahashi at the 2005 Leipzig Book Fair
Born
Takahashi Kazuo (高橋 一雅)

(1961-10-04)October 4, 1961
DiedJuly 4, 2022(2022-07-04) (aged 60)
OccupationManga artist
Years active1981–2020
OrganizationStudio Dice
Notable workYu-Gi-Oh!
Japanese name
Kanji高橋 和希
Websitestudio-dice.com

Kazuo Takahashi (

Guinness World Record
for the best-selling trading card game of all time.

Early life

Kazuo Takahashi was born in Tokyo on October 4, 1961.[1] In his childhood, he drew artwork of manga he enjoyed such as Tiger Mask, Ultraman, Space Battleship Yamato, Mazinger Z, Devilman, and Kamen Rider.[2] He also played tennis in his youth.[3]

Disinterested in his studies,

pachislot panels.[4][7] It was at this time he started submitting his manga to publishers.[3][2]

Career

In 1981, at the age of 20,

Showa era wooden apartment that people immediately thought of".[7] Because his early works were unprofitable, Takahashi switched his direction to Shueisha.[7] In 1990, his one-shot Tokiō no Taka was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump.[9] Another manga, Tennenshoku Danji Buray, was published in the magazine from 1991 to 1992.[3][10]

In 1996, Takahashi launched

Guinness World Record for the best-selling trading card game in history, with more than 25.1 billion cards sold as of 2011.[12] Following the end of the original manga's serialization, Takahashi would supervise adaptions made by his assistants, such as Yu-Gi-Oh! R by Akira Itō, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX by Naoyuki Kageyama and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's by Masashi Sato.[7][9] He was also involved in the animation production of Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions.[2][7]

In 2013, his one-shot manga Drump was released in Weekly Shōnen Jump.[13] In 2015, Takahashi received the Inkpot Award from Comic-Con International for his outstanding contributions to comics.[14] In 2018, Takahashi published the limited series The Comiq in Weekly Shōnen Jump.[15] Takahashi also wrote a two-part manga, titled Secret Reverse, for the Marvel × Shōnen Jump+ Super Collaboration, which was released on Shōnen Jump+ in September 2019.[16]

Style

Takahashi's early art style was comical gekiga and influenced by traditional anime. Some illustrators such as Drew Struzan, Alphonse Mucha, and Norman Rockwell had a tremendous impact on Takahashi's later art style. His choices of traditional art tools were g-pen, watercolors and Copic markers, whereas Adobe Photoshop and Painter were the art programs he used during post manga serialization.[3][2][4]

Personal life

Takahashi enjoyed playing games such as

shiba inu named Taro (タロ), was the basis for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game monster card Shiba-Warrior Taro (柴戦士しばせんしタロ); the card's artwork was personally drawn by Takahashi.[20][21] Takahashi also enjoyed sea diving and visited Okinawa seaside each July.[22][23]

Takahashi occasionally expressed his political views in his art, such as when he posted a drawing on Instagram of Yu-Gi-Oh! characters criticizing Shinzo Abe's government and asking his followers to "vote for justice" in the 2019 House of Councillors election. He later apologized.[24]

Death

On July 6, 2022, Takahashi was found dead in the water 300 meters (980 ft) off the shore of Nago, Okinawa, by Japan Coast Guard officers following a civilian report from a passing boat.[25] He was found wearing snorkeling gear, and his cause of death was determined to be drowning.[26][27]

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.[28][29]

Works

As Hajime Miyabi

  • Ing! Love Ball (ING!ラブボール) (1981; one-shot, published in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday)
  • Kyōgaku Sensen SOS!! (共学戦線SOS!!) (1982; one-shot, published in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday)
  • Ano Ko ni Scramble (あの娘にスクランブル) (1982; one-shot, published in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday)
  • Yū Yua Yū (勇ユア優) (1982; one-shot, published in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday)
  • Hajimemashite Ran Desu!! (はじめまして蘭です!!) (1983; one-shot, published in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday)

As Kazuo Takahashi

  • Gō-Q-Chōji Ikkiman (剛Q超児イッキマン) (1986; serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
  • Tokiō no Taka (闘輝王の鷹) (1990; one-shot, published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump)
  • Battle Mind (バトルマインド) (1991; one-shot, published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump)
  • Tennenshoku Danji Buray (天燃色男児BURAY) (1991–1992; serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump)

As Kazuki Takahashi

  • Yu-Gi-Oh! (遊☆戯☆王) (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+)

Others

  • Button (2010; released on Studio Dice official website)
3 episodes of anime shorts made by Takahashi.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c 『遊戯王』の作者・高橋和希さんが死去。沖縄県名護市で遺体となって発見、海上保安署と警察が死亡するまでのいきさつを調査中と報道. Den Fami Nico Gamer (in Japanese). July 7, 2022. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Duel Art, Kazuki Takahashi Yu-Gi-Oh! Illustrations". Internet Archive (in Japanese). Shueisha. December 21, 2011. Archived from the original on December 21, 2011. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Die Welt von Yu-Gi-Oh!". Banzai!. No. 23. Shueisha. September 2003.
  4. ^ a b c US Shonen Jump Magazine (February 2003). Archived in Taretare 和希の素 語録.[1]
  5. ^ Yu-Gi-Oh! tankobon vol. 28
  6. ^ Original from Studio Dice blog, now deactivated. @Kazuki_bot_ygo (March 5, 2022). 実はオレ高校生ん時、アルバイト雑誌に載っていた手塚プロダクションのアニメ背景スタッフの募集広告見て... (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved March 5, 2022 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ a b c d e @WANPOWANWAN (July 8, 2022). 「高橋かずお」と「高橋和希」は貧乏か金持ちかの差でしかなく中身はほぼ同じだ。... (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved July 8, 2022 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ Shonen Magazine, year 1986, vol. 19. Archived in Taretare 和希の素 語録.[2]
  9. ^ a b 遊☆戯☆王. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 21, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  10. ^ 天然色男児BURAY. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  11. ^ a b 「遊☆戯☆王」の高橋和希が60歳で死去. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 7, 2022. Archived from the original on July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  12. ^ Loo, Egan (June 14, 2011). "Yu-Gi-Oh! Sets Guinness Record with 25.1 Billion+ Cards". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  13. ^ Sherman, Jennifer (October 17, 2013). "Kazuki Takahashi Draws 'Drump' 1-Shot 9 Years After Yu-Gi-Oh's End". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 28, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  14. ^ Ressler, Karen (July 13, 2015). "Yu-Gi-Oh! Creator Kazuki Takahashi Receives Comic-Con Int'l's Inkpot Award". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  15. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (October 5, 2018). "Yu-Gi-Oh! Manga Creator Kazuki Takahashi Launches Short Manga in Shonen Jump". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 24, 2019. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  16. ^ Pineda, Rafael (September 3, 2019). "Yu-Gi-Oh's Kazuki Takahashi, Other Jump Artists Draw Marvel Superhero Manga Shorts". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  17. ^ "SHONEN JUMP". SHONEN JUMP. Archived from the original on April 12, 2008. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  18. ^ "Kazuki Takahashi interview". Shonen Jump. Vol. 1, no. 20. Viz Media. August 2004.
  19. ^ "When Yugi Met Hellboy...". Shonen Jump. Vol. 2, no. 9. Viz Media. September 2004. p. 330.
  20. ^ 「柴戦士タロ」があ出頭え!? [Shiba-Warrior Taro appears!?]. ジャンプSTUDIO発掘隊 [JUMP STUDIO FINDING CORPS]. ジャンプ流! [JUMP-RYU!] (DVD付分冊マンガ講座 [magazine bundled with DVD containing some of the same content in video format]) (in Japanese). Vol. 8. Shueisha. April 21, 2016. p. 7.
  21. ^ @jc_jumpryu (April 22, 2016). vol.8好評発売中!... (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2019 – via Twitter.
  22. ^ "Banzai! On Tour, Buchmesse Leipzig 2005" [Ich tauche gerne. Leider war ich in den letzten Jahren zu beschäftigt, aber in Zukunft möchte ich gerne wieder häufiger tauchen gehen.]. Banzai! (in German). Shueisha. May 2005.
  23. ^ @studio_dice (July 29, 2020). オレは毎年7月に沖縄に行っているけど、今年は行けないのがツライぜ.... Retrieved July 29, 2020 – via Instagram.
  24. ^ Loveridge, Lynzee (July 16, 2019). "Yu-Gi-Oh Creator Kazuki Takahashi Apologizes for Political Statements". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  25. Siliconera. Archived
    from the original on July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  26. ^ サメのかみ傷は死後 「遊☆戯☆王」作者の死因は溺死と発表 12キロ離れたビーチにレンタカー. Okinawa Times (in Japanese). July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  27. ^ Dooley, Ben (July 7, 2022). "Kazuki Takahashi, Yu-Gi-Oh! Creator, Dies at 60". New York Times. Retrieved November 2, 2022.
  28. ^ Burke, Matthew M. (October 11, 2022). "Army officer recognized for rescuing three people from riptide that killed 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' creator". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  29. ^ Ives, Mike; Ueno, Hisako (October 28, 2022). "A Celebrated Japanese Artist Died Trying to Save Others From Drowning". New York Times. Retrieved November 2, 2022.

External links