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 big publishing company called Shueisha noticed his talent while he was in college.
Togashi has created many different manga series over the last 30 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
Early Life and First Steps
Yoshihiro Togashi was born in Shinjō, Yamagata, Japan. His family owned a paper shop. He began drawing manga just for fun when he was in elementary school.
In high school, Togashi joined the fine arts club. He later went to Yamagata University to study education. He hoped to become a teacher. While in college, he sent some of his manga drawings to Weekly Young Jump magazine. This magazine is published by Shueisha.
In 1986, when he was 20, Togashi created a manga called Buttobi Straight (ぶっとびストレート). For this work, he won the Tezuka Award. This is a very important award for new comic artists in Japan. Another manga by Togashi, 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 Amazing Career
Togashi's first published works for Shueisha included Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (狼なんて怖くない!!), which means "I'm Not Afraid of the Wolf!!". This was a collection of funny short stories. These stories were published in Weekly Shōnen Jump before being released as a book in 1989. From 1989 to 1990, Togashi wrote Ten de Shōwaru Cupid (てんで性悪キューピッド), a four-volume romance manga.
In 1990, Togashi became very well-known with his next series, YuYu Hakusho (幽☆遊☆白書). This story was inspired by his interest in the occult and horror films. It is about a character named Yusuke Urameshi, who dies and comes back to life as an "Underworld Detective." This manga was very popular. It sold over 78 million copies around the world. It also won Togashi a Shogakukan Manga Award in 1994 and became a hit anime show.
In 1995, he created Level E (レベルE), a science fiction-comedy manga. This series had three volumes and was published until 1997. Level E was also made into 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. Gon is searching for his father, who is a legendary "Hunter." This manga has also been very successful. By July 2022, it had 84 million copies in circulation. In 2008, Togashi was tied as the fifth favorite manga artist 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.
Life Outside Manga
Family and Hobbies
Yoshihiro Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, who created the famous Sailor Moon series. They met at a party in August 1997. They got married on January 6, 1999. Many other manga artists and voice actors from their anime shows attended the wedding.
The couple has two children. 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). Takeuchi wrote the story, and Togashi drew the pictures.
Togashi enjoys playing board-game-style video games and bowling with his family. He also likes watching horror movies. He considers Don't Look Up and Dawn of the Dead to be his favorites. He also says that visual effects designer H. R. Giger has greatly influenced his work.
Health and Social Media
Togashi has faced a lot of stress while working on his manga. This has sometimes caused him to have trouble sleeping and chest pain. He has also suffered from chronic back issues for many years. These issues have led to him taking breaks from drawing for long periods. Since July 2022, he has been unable to sit in a chair to draw. However, he found a way to continue drawing by lying down.
On March 29, 2011, Togashi and other manga artists posted messages online to support the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Togashi has a younger brother named Hideaki Togashi, who is also a manga artist. His mother's paper shop, the Togashi Paper Store, is still open in Shinjō, Yamagata.
On May 24, 2022, Togashi created a Twitter account. It was quickly confirmed by Shueisha as his official account. 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 mainly uses his account to share updates on his work.
His Unique Art Style
Manga critic Jason Thompson has said that "Togashi is no ordinary mangaka; he does things his own way." His early short stories mixed school comedy with horror. When he created YuYu Hakusho, it became a hit supernatural fighting comedy. However, Togashi chose to end the series rather than continue it for as long as possible. After that, he created the science-fiction horror manga Level E, which was full of humor and had no fighting.
Togashi's art style has changed over time. It started with a lot of screentone (patterns used in manga). But it gradually became more simple, using fewer details. Some critics have noted that the art in Hunter × Hunter is simpler than in his earlier works. During the magazine run of Hunter × Hunter, his artwork was sometimes "sketchy" and lacked backgrounds. However, Togashi would go back and fix these details for the collected book versions. He also likes to include gore in his work, and some panels in Hunter × Hunter have been covered with screentone to censor them.
Many other manga artists have been influenced by Togashi and his work, especially YuYu Hakusho. These include Nobuhiro Watsuki, Pink Hanamori, Masashi Kishimoto (who created Naruto), and Gege Akutami (who created Jujutsu Kaisen).
Manga and Other Works
Manga Series
- Sensēha Toshishita!! (1986)
- Jura no Miduki (1987)
- Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (1989)
- 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)
Other Projects
- Yoshirin de Pon! (1994, a YuYu Hakusho fan 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, children's book)
- Hetappi Manga Kenkyūjo R (2011)
See also
In Spanish: Yoshihiro Togashi para niños
