Rumiko Takahashi



Rumiko Takahashi (高橋 留美子) is a who is one of the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga she creates (and their anime adaptations) are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages. She has twice won the : once in 1980 for Urusei Yatsura, and again in 2001 for  InuYasha.

Ranma ½ is Takahashi's third major manga series, which she began in 1987 after Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku. It is also her second-longest series after InuYasha. She purposefully aimed the series to be popular with women and children. In a 2000 interview she was asked her if she intended Ranma ½ "as an effort to enlighten a male-dominated society." Takahashi said that she does not think in terms of societal agendas and that she created the Ranma ½ concept because she wanted one that may be "a simple, fun idea." She added that she, as a woman and while recalling what comics she liked to read as a child, felt that "humans turning into animals might also be fun and märchenhaft...you know, like a fairy tale."