Yoshihiro Togashi

Yoshihiro Togashi (冨樫 義博) is a Japanese manga artist. He began drawing manga at an early age; while he attended college, the publisher Shueisha recognized his talent. Togashi has authored numerous manga series in different genres during the past three decades. He is perhaps best known for writing and illustrating the YuYu Hakusho and Hunter × Hunter series, both of which have been published in the popular Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the author of Sailor Moon.

Early life
Born in Shinjō, Yamagata, 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 hopes of becoming a teacher. During college, he submitted some of his manga work to the publisher Shueisha. 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 Miduki (ジュラのミヅキ) was an honorable mention in Shueisha's annual Hop Step Award Selection magazine in 1987. He began his professional career as a manga artist with Shueisha shortly thereafter.

Career
Togashi's earliest published works for Shueisha included Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (狼なんて怖くない!!), a collection of comedy manga short-stories. Some of the stories were published in Weekly Shōnen Jump 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 affairs of a normal boy who meets and then gets stuck befriending a beautiful devil girl.

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, a dead boy with an attitude and a high level of spiritual energy who eventually returns to life and spends his time defeating demons in the human world. The manga, which lasted 175 chapter over 19 tankōbon from 1990 to 1994, would go on to sell 44,000,000 copies in Japan, earn Togashi a Shogakukan Manga Award in 1994, and receive a hit anime adaptation. In 1995, he created Level E (レベルＥ), a science fiction manga depicting a fantastic universe in which extraterrestrials draw an innocent human into their rather strange intrigues. Comprising three volumes, it was first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1995 and ran until 1997.

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 bright-eyed, good-hearted boy with talent who wishes to become a "Hunter", a person with fearsome skills bending all his formidable attention towards reaching a specific goal. Hunter × Hunter also performed very well commercial, with the first 20 volumes selling nearly 37,000,000 copies in Japan as of June 2007. The series, though still ongoing, has taken numerous breaks in recent years, the first of which was due to Togashi falling ill. The longest running hiatus began on December 3, 2008 and lasted until January 4, 2010, whereas the most recent hiatus began after the publication of Chapter 310, on May 2010, and is still in effect.

Personal life
Togashi married Naoko Takeuchi, the mangaka of Sailor Moon, in 1999. The two were introduced at a party hosted by Kazushi Hagiwara in August 1997. The following year, Takeuchi assisted Togashi for short time by adding screentone to his manga Hunter × 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 YuYu Hakusho anime series. The couple has one son and another child whose gender they have not publicized. . The two 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 Joyû-rei (Don't Look Up) and Dawn of the Dead his favorites. Togashi cites visual effects designer H. R. Giger as a major influence.

Manga

 * Sensēha Toshishita!! (1986, later featured in Ten de Shōwaru Cupid Volume 4)
 * Jura no Miduki (1987, featured in Hop Step Award Selection Volume 1)
 * Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (1989, tankōbon published by Shueisha)
 * Buttobi Straight (1987)
 * Tonda Birthday Present (1987, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
 * Occult Tanteidan (1988–1989, two parts published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
 * Horror Angel (1988, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
 * Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (1989, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
 * Ten de Shōwaru Cupid (1989–1990, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
 * YuYu Hakusho (1990–1994, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)


 * Level E (1995–1997, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
 * Hunter × Hunter (1998 - ongoing, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)

Other

 * Official Hunter × Hunter Guide (2004, published by Shueisha)
 * YuYu Hakusho Who's Who Underworld Character Book (2005, published by Shueisha)
 * YuYu Hakusho Illustrations (2005, published by Shueisha)
 * Oobo— Nu— Tochiibo— Nu— (2005, published by Kodansha)