Yoshihiro Togashi

Yoshihiro Togashi (冨樫 義博) is a Japanese manga artist.

He began drawing manga at an early age, before being recognized for his talent by publishing company Shueisha while attending college.

Togashi has authored several manga series in different genres during the past three decades.

In 1986, at age 20, he authored a manga titled Buttobi Straight (ぶっとびストレート) for which he received the Tezuka Award, the most prestigious award for new comic artists in Japan.

Another manga by Togashi titled Jura no Mizuki (ジュラのミヅキ) was an honorable mention in Shueisha's first annual Hop Step Award Selection magazine, published in 1988.

After having given up his goal of becoming a teacher, Togashi was contacted by an editor of Weekly Shōnen Jump during his senior year of college, who asked him to move to Tokyo.

Togashi's earliest published works for Shueisha include Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!!

(狼なんて怖くない!!), a collection of comedy manga short-stories.

Weekly Shōnen Jump published some of the stories prior to a tankōbon release in 1989.

Between 1989 and 1990, Togashi authored Ten de Shōwaru Cupid (てんで性悪キューピッド), a four-volume romance manga involving the relationship between a normal, human boy and a beautiful, devil girl.

He is best known for writing and illustrating the YuYu Hakusho (1990–1994) and Hunter × Hunter (1998–present) series, both of which are some of the best-selling manga in history.

Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the author of Sailor Moon.

Born in Shinjō, Yamagata to a family that owned a paper shop, Togashi began drawing manga casually in his first to second year of elementary school.

In high school, Togashi joined the fine-arts club; he later enrolled at Yamagata University where he studied education in the hope of becoming a teacher.

During college he submitted some of his manga work to Weekly Young Jump, published by Shueisha.

In 1990 Togashi made a name for himself with his next series YuYu Hakusho (幽☆遊☆白書).

Based on his interests in the occult and in horror films, the plot features the character Yusuke Urameshi, who is killed and brought back to life as an "Underworld Detective".

The manga, which lasted 175 chapters over 19 tankōbon from 1990 to 1994, went on to sell over 78 million copies worldwide, earned Togashi a Shogakukan Manga Award in 1994, and received a hit anime adaptation.

In 1995, he created Level E (レベルE), a science fiction-comedy manga.

Comprising three volumes, it was first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1995 and ran until 1997.

The two were introduced at a party hosted by Kazushi Hagiwara in August 1997.

The following year, Takeuchi assisted Togashi for a short time by adding screentone to his manga Hunter × Hunter.

Togashi's next major series Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター), an action-adventure manga, began serialization in 1998.

The story revolves around the protagonist Gon Freecss, a young boy in search of his father, who is a legendary, elite member of society called a "Hunter".

Togashi and Takeuchi were married on January 6, 1999.

In attendance for the ceremony were several fellow manga artists and voice actors from both the Sailor Moon and Yu Yu Hakusho anime series.

The couple have two children and have collaborated on a children's book titled Oobo— Nu— Tochiibo— Nu— (おおぼーぬーとちぃぼーぬー), which Takeuchi wrote and Togashi illustrated.

Togashi enjoys board-game-style video games and bowling with his family.

He also likes watching horror movies, and considers Don't Look Up and Dawn of the Dead his favorites.

Togashi cites visual effects designer H. R. Giger as a major influence.

Togashi suffered from an immense amount of stress while working on YuYu Hakusho, which caused him inconsistent sleep patterns and chest pain.

In 2008, Togashi tied with One Piece author Eiichiro Oda as the fifth favorite manga artist from a poll posted by the marketing research firm Oricon.

Level E was adapted into an anime television series in 2011.

This manga also performed very well commercially, with the first 20 volumes selling nearly 55 million copies in Japan as of August 2011.

It has 84 million copies in circulation as of July 4, 2022.

On March 29, 2011, Togashi and his fellow manga artists posted messages on the official Shōnen Jump website in support of the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

He has a younger brother named Hideaki Togashi, who is also a manga artist.

In 2017, Togashi wrote the two-chapter manga Akuten Wars (悪天ウォーズ).

It was illustrated by Hachi Mizuno and published in the September and November issues of Grand Jump Premium.

Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon.