Saturday, March 8, 2008

Yoshihiro Togashi

Yoshihiro Togashi was born April 26, 1966 in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. He is a Japanese manga artist. He is most notable for having created YuYu Hakusho, for which he received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1994,[1] and Hunter × Hunter. According to Shonen Jump,[citation needed] Togashi received the Tezuka Award, the most influential new comic artist award in Japan.

Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon (he mentioned their marriage in volume 5 of Hunter x Hunter).[2] From February 2006 to October 2007 Togashi had been on "sick leave" from his current manga Hunter × Hunter. Hunter x Hunter made its return on 2007-10-06, then quickly went back on hiatus on 2007-12-05. It returned from hiatus on 2008-03-03.

Manga creations

Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (狼なんて怖くない!!? "I'm not afraid of the wolf!")
Published in 1989, this collection of short stories includes Togashi's debut story, "Tonda Birthday Present", as well as "Buttobi Straight", the winner of the Tezuka prize, "Occult Tanteidan" 1 and 2, (the band of occult detectives), "Horror Angel", and the title work, "Ookami nante kowakunai!!". Each of the stories is an illustration of Togashi's tendency to write about the supernatural. The art style in these is simple and cute.
Ten de Shōwaru Cupid (てんで性悪キューピッド? "Wicked Cupid")
Published in 1989 and running until mid-1990, Ten de Shouwaru Cupid was published in four separate manga tankoubon (volumes). It was Togashi's first attempt to serialize a weekly manga publication. The series (like all of Togashi's other works) was published in Weekly Shonen Jump.
YuYu Hakusho (幽☆遊☆白書?)or Poltergeist Report
Togashi's most famous series. YuYu Hakusho was first published in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1990 and ran until 1994, eventually spanning a 19-volume tankoubon set. It features Yusuke Urameshi, a dead boy with an attitude and a high level of spiritual energy; eventually he returns to life and spends his time defeating demons either in tournaments or as a service to the God of the Dead. A team of demons and powerful humans form around him, and aid him in his fight. YuYu Hakusho was made into an extremely popular anime series (titled Yu Yu Hakusho in English).
Level E (レベルE?)
"Level E" moves into the realm of science fiction, spinning into a fantastic universe in which extraterrestrials draw an innocent human into their rather strange intrigues. It was first published in Shounen Weekly Jump in 1995, and ran until 1997. It spans three volumes of tankoubon.
Hunter × Hunter
Beginning in 1998 and still running in Shonen Weekly Jump, it features a return to Togashi's original "cutesy" art style. The main character of HXH is named Gon, a bright-eyed, good-hearted boy with talent, who wishes to become a "Hunter" like his father. "Hunters" are people with fearsome skills, who bend all their formidable attention towards reaching a specific goal. Along the way, Gon picks up friends and enemies, and his world gets extremely complicated.
Church!
This is a dōjinshi series written by Togashi. Church! Volume 3 - We're Carried Away Here was advertised in page 187 of volume one of Yu Yu Hakusho. The United states and Canada edition of Yu Yu Hakusho Volume 1 published by VIZ Media, which contains an advertisement for Church!, states on page 187 that the series is no longer available.

Togashi also created a series called Trouble Quartet, a sports manga with homosexual characters and cross-dressing. According to page 116 of Volume 1 of Yu Yu Hakusho, Shueisha decided to not publish the comic in Weekly Shonen Jump. As of 2007, the comic has never been published. The main character of Trouble Quartet was named Gen Otoda (音田 弦 Otoda Gen?).

Illustrated books

Oboo-nu- to Chiboo-nu-
Written by his wife Naoko Takeuchi. A children's book drawn for his son's birthday.

Anime

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