Rumiko Takahashi

is a Japanese author and manga artist.

She made popular manga books such as _Ranma ½_ and _InuYasha_. She is the richest woman in Japan and her manga is loved all over the world.  She joined Gekiga Sonjuku college: a manga school run by Kazuo Koike, also a manga artist. With the school's help, she managed to make a "doujinshi" (self-published work mostly for beginners) manga artwork, for example, _Bye-Bye Road_ and _Star of Futile Dust_.

## Beginning of professional work (as a real job)

She first started with _Those Selfish Aliens_ in 1978, followed by _Time Warp Trouble_, _Shake Your Buddha_, and _The Golden Gods of Poverty_, published in Shonen Sunday - this place was to become the publisher of her most important works. Later in this year, she tried to work on _Urusei Yatsura_ (Lamu, the invader girl), her first full series of books. This had some publishing problems, but even so, it became the most loved manga comedy in Japan.

## Major and important works

In 1980, she wrote a lot of books. The most important was _Maison Ikkoku_ from 1980 to 1987. She finished both _Urusei Yatsura_ (34 books) with _Maison Ikkoku_ (15 books). After that she began a dark, story telling type of manga - the _Mermaid Saga_, finished at 1994, with the story _Mermaid's mask_. It is thought to be unfinished because it did not have a note to tell the reader it was ended. _One-pound Gospel_ was her next book. It was nearly not finished because of the ending similar to _Mermaid Saga_, with the last story done in 2001.

At late 1987, she began another major manga called _Ranma ½_. It ended in 1996 with 38 books altogether. During 1990s, she began _InuYasha_. It was a magical story very similar to _Mermaid Saga_. Rumiko Takahashi had said that she would make it up to 500 chapters and 50 books. That would make it the longest she has ever made for now.

## Anime based on her manga

In 1981, Urusei Yatsura was the first work to become an anime. This series began showing on October 14 at the Japanese television by a studio called Kitty Animation. This had many different directors during the making of this anime. The most well known director was Mamoru Oshii. He also directed the second _Urusei Yatsura_ movie, _Beautiful Dreamer_. This is thought to be his best work for the anime. Kitty Animation also made the anime of _Maison Ikkoku_ in 1986 (with 96 episodes and 4 Original Video Animation (OVA)s, which are animes made only on video but not on TV). It also made Ranma ½ in anime.  Kitty Animation stopped because of problems, and Ranma ½ anime also stopped during episode 161.

Sunrise was the next studio to make animes out of Rumiko Takahashi's mangas. They made 167 episodes of _InuYasha_ animes, started on 2000 and ending in 2004. As with _Ranma ½_, _InuYasha_ did not finish. This was because the manga _InuYasha_ was too long to continue in anime. The _Mermaid Saga_ anime was made in 2003 for 13 series of the manga.

The later animes are from her short mangas: _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_.

## Effect of her works in Western world (outside Japan)

Takahashi is still popular in Europe, mostly in France. Viz Media is the studio that translated most of the animes in English. At early 1990s, they began to translate _Urusei Yatsura_ the anime. Because it was difficult to translate the Japanese way of life/culture and the confusing puns and wordplay, they stopped the series. _Mermaid Saga_, _Maison Ikkoku_ and _Inuyasha_ could go on even so. _Ranma ½_ was popular for English-speakers. It was shown all over the world. Viz also showed _InuYasha_ anime on Adult Swim, where it was very popular. _InuYasha_ is the very popular even now. Even with many of her works having Japanese cultures that is difficult to understand in them, the believable characters in them and their feelings are easy to understand all over the world.

## Other websites

- Rumiko Takahashi , a fan-produced biography
- Rumiko No Sekai  French website on Rumiko Takahashi manga
- Rumiko Takahashi entry at Anime.com
- Takahashi's Work