| Hundreds of characters. Thousands of monsters. The Yu-Gi-Oh phenomenon all starts with the imagination and colorful, stylish artwork of one person, Kazuki Takahashi. Takahashi first tried to break into the manga business in 1982, but success eluded him until Yu-Gi-Oh! deputed in 'Weekly Shonen Jump' in 1996. The creation of the first "Magic & Wizards" monster, the blue-Eyes White Dragon, began the transformation from game manga to actual card game, giving a totaly new dimension to the classic Shonen manga themes of friendship and fighting. What is the secret of Yugi's split identitiy-his ability to become king of games? Says Takahashi: "The 'other self' exsists in everyone, I believe. It's the ideal you...but when the expectations of your parents or the world around you start to pressure you into something, and you can no longer endure the weight of that exsistence , you may lose sight of yourself." Takahashi didn't lose sight of himself- and Yu-Gi-Oh! is the result Shonen Jump: What were you like when you were younger (say, in middle school and high school)? Takahashi: In middle school, I was active in the tennis club and I drew manga as a hobby. Stying was not my favorite thing, and I used to doodle on my text books. I also had part-time jobs at convenience stores and coffee shops. Shonen Jump: How old were you when you first started drawing? What sorts of things did you draw? Takahashi: When I was in kindergarten, used to draw robots from anime shows on TV. They were quite a hit with my friends. Shonen Jump: What would you say are your artistic influences? Takahashi: I loved Ultraman when I was in elementary school, so I dreamed of becoming a monster designer. Before I settled down to my current style of drawing, I see-sawed a lot between styles such as comical, realistic, and anime, which I'm all influenced by. In the end, I think I mixed up all these styles and gave birth to Yu-Gi-Oh!. source: Sonen Jump |