Yoshihiro Togashi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yoshihiro Togashi
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| Native name |
冨樫 義博
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| Born | April 27, 1966 Shinjō, Yamagata, Japan |
| Occupation | Manga artist |
| Subject | Shōnen manga |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Signature | |
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Yoshihiro Togashi (Japanese: 冨樫 義博, Hepburn: Togashi Yoshihiro, born April 27, 1966) is a famous Japanese manga artist. He started drawing manga when he was very young. Later, a publishing company called Shueisha noticed his talent while he was in college.
Togashi has created many different manga series over the past thirty years. He is most famous for writing and drawing YuYu Hakusho (from 1990 to 1994) and Hunter × Hunter (which started in 1998 and is still ongoing). These are some of the best-selling manga series ever! Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, who created the popular Sailor Moon series.
Contents
About Yoshihiro Togashi
His Early Life
Yoshihiro Togashi was born on April 27, 1966, in Shinjō, Yamagata, Japan. His family owned a paper shop. He began drawing manga just for fun when he was in elementary school.
When he was in high school, Togashi joined the fine-arts club. He later went to Yamagata University to study education, hoping to become a teacher. While in college, he sent some of his manga work to a magazine called Weekly Young Jump.
In 1986, when he was 20, he won the Tezuka Award for his manga called Buttobi Straight (ぶっとびストレート, Buttobi Sutorēto). This is a very important award for new comic artists in Japan. Another one of his manga, Jura no Mizuki (ジュラのミヅキ), also received an honorable mention in 1988. After college, an editor from Weekly Shōnen Jump asked him to move to Tokyo to work on manga.
His Manga Career
Togashi's first published works for Shueisha were short, funny manga stories. These were collected in a book called Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (狼なんて怖くない!!, lit. I'm Not Afraid of the Wolf!!) in 1989. From 1989 to 1990, he wrote Ten de Shōwaru Cupid (てんで性悪キューピッド, lit. An Ill-tempered Cupid in Heaven), a romance manga about a human boy and a devil girl.
In 1990, Togashi became very well-known with his next series, YuYu Hakusho (幽☆遊☆白書, lit. Poltergeist Report). This story was inspired by his interest in the occult and horror films. It's about a character named Yusuke Urameshi, who becomes an "Underworld Detective" after he dies and comes back to life.
YuYu Hakusho was a huge success! It sold over 78 million copies around the world. Togashi also won the Shogakukan Manga Award for it in 1994, and it was made into a popular anime show.
In 1995, he created Level E (レベルE), a science fiction-comedy manga. This series had three books and was published until 1997. Level E also became an anime TV series in 2011.
Togashi's next big manga series, Hunter × Hunter, started in 1998. The story follows a young boy named Gon Freecss who is looking for his father. His father is a legendary, special person called a "Hunter." This manga has also been very successful, selling millions of copies. As of 2022, it has 84 million copies in print. In 2008, Togashi was named one of the top five favorite manga artists in a poll.
In 2017, Togashi wrote a two-chapter manga called Akuten Wars (悪天ウォーズ). Another artist, Hachi Mizuno, drew the pictures for it.
His Personal Life
Yoshihiro Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, who created the famous Sailor Moon series. They met at a party in 1997. In 1998, Naoko even helped Togashi for a short time with his Hunter × Hunter manga.
Togashi and Takeuchi got married on January 6, 1999. Many other manga artists and voice actors from their anime shows attended their wedding. They have two children together. They even worked together on a children's book called Oobo— Nu— Tochiibo— Nu— (おおぼーぬーとちぃぼーぬー), which Naoko wrote and Togashi illustrated.
Togashi enjoys playing board-game-style video games and going bowling with his family. He also likes watching horror movies. He has mentioned that visual effects designer H. R. Giger has been a big influence on his work.
Togashi has faced health challenges, including back problems, which have sometimes made it difficult for him to draw. He has a younger brother named Hideaki Togashi, who is also a manga artist. His mother's paper store is still open in Shinjō, Yamagata.
On May 24, 2022, Togashi started a Twitter account. It was quickly confirmed as real, and he gained over one million followers in just one day! He is now the most-followed manga artist on Twitter, with over three million followers. He often posts updates about his work there.
For many years, Togashi has had ongoing back issues. Because of these problems, he sometimes has to take breaks from drawing. He has shared that he can only draw while lying down.
His Drawing Style
Manga critic Jason Thompson has said that "Togashi is no ordinary mangaka; he does things his own way." He noted that Togashi's early short stories mixed school comedy with horror movie ideas.
Togashi's art style started with using a lot of screentone (patterns used in manga). But over time, his style became more simple and clean.
Since 2006, Togashi has taken many long breaks while working on Hunter × Hunter. Some of these breaks were because of his health, like his back pain. Other times, the reasons were not shared. In 2012, Jason Thompson thought that Togashi's slow pace might be because "he's a perfectionist who enjoys his work and wants to do things himself."
Many other manga artists have said that Togashi and his work, especially YuYu Hakusho, have influenced them. These include Nobuhiro Watsuki (creator of Rurouni Kenshin), Pink Hanamori (artist for Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch), Masashi Kishimoto (creator of Naruto), and Gege Akutami (creator of Jujutsu Kaisen).
His Works
Manga Series
- Sensēha Toshishita!! (1986)
- Jura no Miduki (1987)
- Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (1989, a collection of short stories including:
- Buttobi Straight (1987)
- Tonda Birthday Present (1987)
- Occult Tanteidan (1988–1989)
- Horror Angel (1988)
- Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (1989))
- Ten de Shōwaru Cupid (1989–1990)
- YuYu Hakusho (1990–1994)
- Level E (1995–1997)
- Hunter × Hunter (1998–present)
- Akuten Wars (2017, story only, drawn by Hachi Mizuno)
Other Projects
- Yoshirin de Pon! (1994, a fan-made YuYu Hakusho comic)
- Biohazard 3: The Last Escape Official Guidebook (1999)
- Official Hunter × Hunter Guide (2004)
- YuYu Hakusho Who's Who Underworld Character Book (2005)
- YuYu Hakusho Illustrations (2005)
- Oobo— Nu— To Chiibo— Nu— (2005, a children's book he illustrated)
- Hetappi Manga Kenkyūjo R (2011)
Images for kids
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Yoshihiro Togashi's signature
See also
In Spanish: Yoshihiro Togashi para niños
