  I'm hoping I can share some of my knowledge about Rumiko Takahashi using this page. I haven't put more than a listing of her manga series and magazine articles at the end, but they still provide some interesting information for anyone who wants to know just a little bit more about her. Rumiko Takahashi's Manga |
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Rumic World 3 volumes |
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| A name given to the collected shorts and mini-series created by Rumiko Takahashi. The early Rumic World works established her as a certifiable manga-ka. She continued to create many strange and wonderful stories as small side projects while she worked on Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2. There are a lot of stories I could list, but to name a few, some examples of these stories include Firetripper, Dirt Spot, Marisu the Choujo, Laughing Target, Time Warp Trouble, Kattena Yatsura and so many more. | ||
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Urusei Yatsura 1978-1987 Shounen Sunday 34 volumes |
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| An explosion of science-fiction mayhem. Other than the re-occurring theme of aliens, there really is no defineable premise to this hilarious comic. It's certainly never restricted to just sci-fi parody. It's just a comic where the bizarre and the unbelievable occur daily. This was Takahashi's creative playground where she experimented with every genre of story under the sun. It's where she perfected her genius for comedy. The manga centers around an electrically-charged alien princess named Lum and the man she loves, an unlucky and lecherous high school boy named Ataru Moroboshi who thinks of nothing but chasing girls (except Lum). Along with them, a motley crew of weird and diversified characters interact together to create comedy that is incomparable. UY is just about the most unpredictalble and in-your-face comic there has ever been. In my mind, it was Takahashi's funniest body of work. There's no point in me telling you more since I already have a whole site dedicated to this series, you'll eventually read about the rest. | ||
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Maison Ikkoku 1984-1987 Big Comic Spirits 15 volumes |
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| A romantic comedy/drama about the eccentric residents of an old boarding house. In the center of all the madness, the main conflict is the relationship problems between two individuals. One is a young, hoplessly bumbling college student named Yusaku Godai who is in love with the woman in question, but is too much of a loser to be straightforward about it. That woman in question is Kyouko Otonashi, the kind-hearted apartment manager of Godai's building who has trouble accepting his love mostly because of the death of her late husband. It's a slice of life drama full of wit and loads of comedy to make it very well balanced entertainment. Perhaps the most true to life manga series there is. Most will agree that this manga features Takahashi's best writing. Few will argue that it's her most emotionally involving manga as well. | ||
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Ranma 1/2 1987-1996 Shounen Sunday 38 volumes |
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| A martial arts comedy of the sexes. It's about a young and skilled martial artist named Ranma Saotome who's training in China left him with a curse: he transforms into a female when splashed with cold water, and back to a male when splashed with hot. Other characters recieve similar curses turning them into pigs, pandas, cats, etc. This series mostly features a lot of comical fighting scenarios taking everyday activities and turning them into a martial art style. The basic plot revolves around the many battles Ranma is forced into and the driving force in Ranma's life...to find a cure to his emasculating curse. All the while the series follows the romantic troubles of Ranma and his tomboyish fiance Akane Tendou. Two bickering teenagers reluctantly engaged to each other against their will by their fathers. This is Takahashi's longest-running and most action-packed series. It's got to be her second funniest body of work, ranking only slightly behind Urusei Yatsura. | ||
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The Mermaid Saga 1989-?? Shounen Sunday |
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| This type of dark and moody series is quite unusual to see from Rumiko Takahashi since she usually creates manga in a much lighter vein. It's a horror story premised around the legend of the mermaid flesh. It is said that if you eat mermaid flesh that you will live forever. But more often than not the flesh is poison which will either kill or turn a recipient into a hideous monster. The comic follows the voyages of two immortals named Yuta and Mana who have eaten it and survived to find that immortality is a curse. They undergo many ordeals by the hands of those who would kill to live forever. The chapters of this story include Mermaid Forest, Mermaid Scar and Mermaid Promise and many others as well. It's just about the creepiest manga I've ever read. | ||
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Rumic Theater | |
| A collection of short domestic comedies which focus on strange circumstances in everyday Japanese life. The stories include P's Tragedy, Inside the Pot, Romantic Merchant, The Happiness of large size, and more. | ||
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One Pound Gospel 1989-Present Young Sunday |
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| This time Takahashi has taken a poke at satirizing the sports manga genre. This one is about a young boxer and a nun in training. The boxer Kosaku, has an eating disorder and can't help himself from craving food. This vice is constantly foiling his career, especially when he vomits in the ring, mostly to the dismay of his overstressed coach. The young nun Angela feels it's her responsibility to steer Kosaku in the right direction, but soon romance begins to spark. (she's only a nun in training so it's okay). | ||
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1 or W (Double) 1994 Young Sunday 1 volume |
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| An extended Rumic Theater story about a lazy kendo boy who's got a lot of potential but doesn't take the art seriously enough. In a bike accident the girl he loves who manages the kendo dojo drowns along with his overzealous kendou instructor. Luckily it seems that she's come back to life, but actually her body was intercepted by the instructor's spirit. The girl's ghost want's her body back, but the teacher refuses to let his soul rest until he's made the boy achieve world class skill in the ways of kendou. | ||
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Inuyasha Sengoku Otogi Zoushi 1996-Present Shounen Sunday 2 volumes so far. |
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| This is Takahashi's newest major series to follow her others such as Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2. Instead of a parody of martial-arts or science-fiction, this time Takahashi has set up an adventure series that shows signs of becoming a satire of ancient Japanese history and mythology. However, so far this manga has a lot less comedy and slapstick than her usual fare. Instead it's more dramatic, violent, full of action and more story oriented. Some compare it to her earlier Rumic World story "Fire Tripper". Kagome is a 15 year old school girl who is accidentally sent back in time to 16th century Japan via the well in her family shrine. There she runs into a half-demon with attributes of boy and dog named Inuyasha. He had been sleeping for 50 years ever since he was imprisoned by Kagome's ancestor who used a bow and arrow to nail him to a tree. Sensing the common bloodline, the violent Inuyasha is aggressive towards Kagome. She possesses a coveted jewel, the Shikon no Tama which can grant unimaginable power to any demon who possesses it. Yet Inuyasha cannot get it from Kagome as she also has been given the power to subdue Inuyasha. Apart from that, Kagome seems to be showing other devine powers that seem to surface in times of crisis. In a battle with a demon the jewel had been shattered and scattered throughout the country. So Kagome has now been thrust into the role of a "miko" who must travel the land and find the fragments of the jewel to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. Having obtained the sword of his late, great demon-lord father, the Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha accompanies Kagome as her protector. He hopes to regain the Shikon no Tama for himself so that he may become a whole demon. I haven't seen enough to know what direction Takahashi will take it, but knowing her, I have a feeling that it will start to show more of her trademark comedy soon enough. One thing's for sure, this won't be another Urusei Yatsura as I had first thought (and hoped for). It's different, but it's still tremendous fun to read. | ||
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A Talk With Takahashi - by K.J. "Keiji" Karvonen | ||
The following are some very informative articles about Takahashi-sensei. Articles about
her are hard to come by, especially in english, but these are the
best ones that I have ever read. I reccomend that any fan of her works
to take the time and read them it as it puts some perspective to the
woman behind the manga.
