The mangaka Kazuki Takahashi, known worldwide for his manga Yu Gi Oh!, is dead, announced the Japanese media as well as its publisher in France, Kana. Aged 60, he was found dead on Wednesday July 6 off the coast of the city of Nago, in Okinawa prefecture. According to the NHK channel, he had a scuba diving accident.
【速報 JUST IN 】人気漫画「遊戯王」作者 高橋和希さん沖縄名護で死去 #nhk_news
— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) July 7, 2022
Cult series
Kazuki Takahashi began his career as a mangaka in 1991. To create his manga Yu Gi Oh! – which means “king of the game” – , published between 1996 and 2004, where individuals compete during duels of cards representing monsters, he was inspired by Dungeons and Dragons and of Magic. His manga was published in France – 38 volumes – published by Kana in the early 2000s by Kana editions. A spin-off, Yu Gi Oh! R, drawn by Akira Itō, was published between 2004 to 2008.
We learned this morning with sadness of the death of Kazuki Takahashi, the author of Yu-Gi-Oh!, our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/bxXt7AHeMM
— Editions Kana (@EditionsKana) July 7, 2022
The manga has been adapted into a cartoon and into playing cards which have met with great success. Kazuki Takahashi had also created various derivative anime including Yu Gi Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal.