Rumiko Takahashi

Rumiko Takahashi (born October 10, 1957) is a Japanese manga artist whose career took off with *Urusei Yatsura* in 1978. She is among Japan’s most famous and wealthiest creators in the field, with her work translated worldwide and over 230 million copies in print—placing her among the best-selling authors ever. Takahashi has twice won the Shogakukan Manga Award (1980 for *Urusei Yatsura*, 2001 for *Inuyasha*) and twice the Seiun Award (1987 for *Urusei Yatsura*, 1989 for *Mermaid Saga*). In 2019, she received the Grand Prix de la ville d’Angoulême, becoming only the second woman and second Japanese person to do so. The Japanese government awarded her the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2020 for her artistic contributions.

Takahashi was born in Niigata, Japan. As a child, she showed little interest in manga but would doodle in the margins of her papers at Niigata Chūō High School. There, she co-founded a manga club with Yōko Kondō, who also became a manga artist. Her own desire to draw manga came later; in a 2000 interview, she said she had always wanted to be a professional comic author since childhood.

During university, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school run by Kazuo Koike (author of *Crying Freeman* and *Lone Wolf and Cub*). Under his guidance, she published her first dōjinshi in 1975, including *Bye-Bye Road* and *Star of Futile Dust*. Koike stressed creating well-developed, interesting characters, an influence that shaped her later work. She also worked as an assistant to horror manga artist Kazuo Umezu, creator of *Makoto-chan*.

Her professional debut came in 1978 with the one-shot *Katte na Yatsura* (*Those Selfish Aliens*), which earned an honorable mention at that year’s Shogakukan New Comics Contest. Later that year, she began her first serialized story in *Weekly Shōnen Sunday*: *Urusei Yatsura*, a comedic science-fiction series. She initially struggled to meet deadlines, so chapters appeared sporadically until 1980. During the series’ run, she shared a small apartment with two assistants and often slept in a closet due to space constraints. That same year, she published *Time Warp Trouble*, *Shake Your Buddha*, and *The Golden Gods of Poverty* in *Weekly Shōnen Sunday*, which remained the home for most of her major works for the next two decades.

In 1980, Takahashi launched her second major series, *Maison Ikkoku*, in *Big Comic Spirits*, a magazine aimed at an older audience. The late-1970s New Wave movement in manga had opened up seinen (young men’s) comics to shōjo (young women’s) aesthetics and to female artists. *Maison Ikkoku* is a romantic comedy inspired by her own experience living in an apartment complex. She worked on it intermittently alongside *Urusei Yatsura*, concluding both in 1987—*Urusei Yatsura* at 34 volumes, *Maison Ikkoku* at 15.

During the 1980s, Takahashi became a prolific short-story writer. Her works *Laughing Target*, *Maris the Chojo*, and *Fire Tripper* were adapted into original video animations (OVAs). In 1984, while still writing *Urusei Yatsura* and *Maison Ikkoku*, she began *Mermaid Saga*, a series published sporadically in *Weekly Shōnen Sunday* until 1994. It was partially released in two wide-ban volumes, with the complete story issued as a shinsoban (special edition) in 2003. Another sporadic short work, *One-Pound Gospel*, concluded in 2007 after chapters in 1998, 2001, and 2006; it was adapted into a live-action TV drama.

In 1987, Takahashi began her third major series, *Ranma ½*. Following the late-1980s and early-1990s trend of shōnen martial arts manga, it added a gender-bending twist. The series ran for nearly a decade, ending in 1996 at 38 volumes. *Ranma ½* and its anime adaptation are cited as among the first of their mediums to gain popularity in the United States.

Through the latter half of the 1990s, Takahashi continued short stories and installments of *Mermaid Saga* and *One-Pound Gospel* before starting her fourth major work, *Inuyasha*. Darker in tone, more like *Mermaid Saga*, it ran in *Weekly Shōnen Sunday* from 1996 to 2008, making it her longest series to date. On March 5, 2009, she released the one-shot *Unmei No Tori*. On March 16, 2009, she collaborated with Mitsuru Adachi (creator of *Touch* and *Cross Game*) on the one-shot *My Sweet Sunday*. Her next series, *Kyōkai no Rinne*, began on April 22, 2009—her first new series since *Inuyasha* ended in June 2008—and concluded on December 13, 2017, with 398 chapters collected in 40 volumes.

*Urusei Yatsura*, *Maison Ikkoku*, *Ranma ½*, *Inuyasha*, and *RIN-NE* are all published in English in the United States by Viz Comics. A 1989 re-release of *Urusei Yatsura* was halted after only a few translated volumes, but a 2-in-1 omnibus reprint began in 2019. Takahashi started a new manga series, *Mao*, in *Weekly Shōnen Sunday*.