Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi tragically passed away on July 6, 2022. While details of his death are still being investigated, the world immediately felt the loss of his passing. From anime fans who watched the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime when they were kids, to people who played the various forms of the card game, to the people who loved the original manga from which the entire franchise was born, Kazuki Takahashi’s creation managed to touch millions of people across multiple different media platforms. Though Yu-Gi-Oh! was ultimately one of the most successful franchises in the world, the journey to bring the card dueling character to the world was not an easy or straightforward one for his creator Kazuki Takahashi.
Born October 4, 1961, in Tokyo Japan, Takahashi’s journey to manga artist was not a foregone conclusion nor was it an obvious one. While he loved to draw as a child, Takahashi never had any bigger ambitions in mind with his art. He wasn’t even particularly moved by art until one day when he was watching a kamishibai (which is a Japanese term for street storyteller). While many of the kids were drawn to the puppets and the man’s performance, Takahashi was instead drawn to the artwork on the stage. He was not only impressed with the detail of the art he spent most of the show wondering if the performer had drawn all of it himself. It was this event that inspired him to draw more, and as he drew more the idea of putting his drawings to use in manga form started to take place.
Early Attempts
After graduating from high school Takahashi immediately started entering art and manga contests. His persistence paid off when one of his manga stories won a shounen manga contest. Takahashi was 19 when he won. Though he hoped it would be a boost to his career, the reality is that for several years many of his story ideas were rejected by editors, and he found himself primarily writing one-shots to make a living. Two of his ideas - Tokio no Tsuma and Tennenshokudanji – did become series, however, both series ended relatively quickly, and Takahashi considers the work he produced during these years to be a “total flop.”
When it was time to regroup and create something new, he decided that what he really wanted to write was a battle manga. However, with so many battle manga on the market, he was having a hard time coming up with something original. He decided an interesting twist would be to have a battle manga where the main character didn’t throw a punch. Just as quickly as the idea brought inspiration did that same idea put severe limits on what he could do in said series. That’s when he decided that his characters could “battle” in games, and he was back on track.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Is Born
While this idea was rejected by editors, Takahashi felt he was on to something. Instead of creating a battle manga about games, he would instead create a horror manga where the game battles had deadly consequences. Once it was decided that horror would play a major theme, he threw in mystical Egyptian artifacts that would summon spirits and monsters, and Yu-Gi-Oh! was finally born. The editors at Weekly Shonen Jump loved the concept and decided to publish the series. While it was far from a breakout hit, it did catch the attention of famed animation studio Toei Animation, who decided it had the potential to be a huge hit and commissioned an anime early on.
Takahashi was on his way to finally making it in the industry, yet the series was still far from a runaway hit. Yet in a remarkable twist of fate, two chapters would change the course of Yu-Gi-Oh’s! fortune and give Takahashi the tool to make the game battle manga he always wanted to make. In two chapters of the manga, Yugi plays a card game called 'Magic and Wizards' (a nod to Magic of the Gathering and Wizards of the Coast) with a bully named Kaiba, who attempted to steal a rare card his grandfather had. Using the powers of the Millennium Puzzle, the dark pharaoh that now lurks inside Yugi brings the card creatures to life as the two have an epic battle.
Once the two chapters were over Takahashi planned to move on and create other games, yet the response from readers was instant: Kids wanted to know what that card game was called and where they could get it. Sensing an opportunity, Takahashi and his editors retooled the manga and gave it a soft reboot to center around Duel Monsters, the official card game of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. This did create some issues with the anime – which was struggling to find an audience – and resulted in the series getting canceled, with a new anime from a new studio taking its place. That anime – Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters! – ended up being a big hit in Japan, and successfully made the card game THE trading card game to play in school!
Duel Monsters Comes to America
Shortly afterward it would be brought to America via 4Kids Entertainment, where despite receiving a questionable dub, also managed to take America by storm and temporarily dethroned the Pokemon Trading Card Game as THE card game kids were playing during recess. From there the series would go on to worldwide success, with various video games and merchandise based on the manga being released, making Takahashi a very successful man. Yet Kazuki Takahashi believed him to be a storyteller first and a toy maker second. When it was time for the manga to end, he did another soft reboot and ended the series with the Millennium World storyline, which brought the series back to its darker Egyptian-themed roots and gave readers the kind of epic ending you only get once every decade or so.
Once Yu-Gi-Oh! ended Takahashi would give his blessing to several more anime adaptations that would largely not have his involvement. He would also write a new short manga story for Weekly Shounen Jump’s 50th anniversary called The Comiq, in which a manga artist’s images become the basis of a real-life murder. He would spend his final years enjoying nature, doing new monster designs for various Yu-Gi-Oh! products, and occasionally doing crossover projects with Marvel and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. His final project was a Marvel comic called Secret Reverse, in which Tony Stark becomes the CEO of a card battle company.
Takahashi's Legacy
Today the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game is one of the most successful card games of all time, with the Guinness Book of World Records recognizing it with over 35 million cards sold. To this day the game is still played all over the world. The anime has been incredibly popular since it first premiered in 2000. Fans and professionals alike mourned his passing, and whatever the circumstances behind his death end up being, what is undeniable is that he made a mark on the world that was unique, and helped create a game that will be played for years to come. Takahashi left an incredible, positive mark on the world, and he will certainly be missed.