Author of the popular ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ manga series Kazuki Takahashi passed away at the age of 60. He was found dead during snorkeling off the coast of Okinawa in Japan.
Authorities are investigating the case as an accident and a possible crime. “He was wearing a T-shirt and an underwater mask, snorkel and fins, the official in the city of Nago,” an official told AFP. His body was found 328 yards offshore and pulled from the water.
Yu-Gi-Oh!” ran in the Japanese weekly comic magazine “Shonen Jump” between 1996 and 2004. It told the story of Yugi, a teenager who receives an ancient puzzle that awakens in him the alter ego of an Egyptian pharaoh. The manga gave rise to a media franchise including a trading card game as well as anime series and films, according to The Japan Times.
Takahashi, who wrote under a pen name and his real first name was Kazuo, also made a record that was listed on Guinness Book of World Records.
Yu-Gi-Oh became the world’s best-selling trading card game in 2011 as its more than 25.17 billion sets were sold around the world and it was recognized by the Guinness World Records.
Takahashi began as a manga artist in the 1980s and found success in 1996 when he created the manga comic series Yu-Gi-Oh! and began serializing it in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. He later outlined the rules for an accompanying trading card game, according to Deadline.
Takahashi, who has remained in charge of the manga’s direction through his Studio Dice imprint, just two weeks ago released Marvel’s Secret Reverse, a manga graphic novel created with Marvel starring Iron Man and Spider-Man, according to the report.
Read more
