For more than 20 years, Takahashi has created some of the most beloved manga titles, which have, in turn, been adapted into popular anime series that are a veritable who’s-who of classic Japanese animation. One of the newest series created from her manga, Inu-Yasha, is currently a big hit on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.
Rumiko Takahashi is accustomed to creating the first psychology of personages that will carry out history (and giving names them to tone in many occasions) and when it already has them well defined, leaves them free. I have leido and oido critics to Takahashi based on this form of work, because they argue that their personages and histories do not evolve. In my opinion that absence of evolution of some of its personages is an election of Rumiko Takahashi.
Born in 1957 in Nigata, from Rumiko from a young age already felt a great passion for art by the sleeve. At the age of 17 years she entered the feminine university of Nihon Josedai, settling in a small apartment for students. It was then she was registered (like hobby) in the school of comic Gekiga-Sonjuku, created by Kazuo Koike - scriptwriter of Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub) or Crying Freeman, to put two of his better known works here.
Takahashi boasts a clean yet subtly detailed artistic style that can depict action or slapstick comedy with equal aplomb. She’s expert at eliciting amusement with her characters’ exaggerated facial expressions. On the writing side, her love of puns, wacky situations and romance has led her to create some of the most unique and beloved manga series ever, each of which balances comedy and romance in varying proportions. Her superb and memorable characters have also won her acclaim and adoration by fans
Urusei Yatsura would be her first great success, it was published in the Shonen Sunday between 1978 and 1987. It has two series of tankoubons: first it was published between March of 1980 and January of 1987, it was a luxury edition that appeared between 1989 and 1990. Its structure in episodes was ideal for a series of television, but until 1981 it was not made, finalizing the series in March of 1986 after 216 episodes. Also 6 films and 11 have been made OVAs based on the series.
Most people who meet her are surprised by her charisma -- an attribute more often found in performing artists than comics artists who spend most of their time locked away from life -- and by the husky contralto voice that seems rather inappropriate for such a petite lady. She is renowned in Japan for her dislike of interviews, and clockwork-like reliability in a field where editors often have to trap artists in hotel rooms in order to obtain finished artwork. She seems to be universally liked as a person, and Frederik Schodt, well-known author of Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics (Kodansha, 1986), has said, "I've never heard anything negative about her -- in fact, everyone I've spoken to who has met her has come away thoroughly charmed."
In addition to her long series, she has also made shorter works, that have been published in diverse publications. Many of them they have been compiled in following books: the four volumes of Rumik World (the World of Rumiko), P not higeki (the tragedy of P), 1 or W and Senmu not inu.
A curiosity on her preference to work: She only accepts women as assistants (she says that thus she does not have to worry about "certain things").
