Takahashi Manga Movable Feast: 10 Interesting Rumiko Takahashi Facts

Hello and welcome to day four of the Rumiko Takahashi Manga Movable Feast! It's so hard to believe that we're already at Thursday!

I'm sure that most people who have stopped by here this week are already familiar with the work of Rumiko Takahashi. If you aren't, then I hope by this point in the Feast we've convinced you that you should try one of her books as soon as possible!

But how much do we really know about Takahashi herself? For example, I knew that she had been a manga-ka for a long time, but I had no idea her first published work dated back to 1978!

Here are ten interesting facts about Rumiko Takahashi that I think everybody should know. When applicable, I'm linking to the various sources. Enjoy this fascinating list of facts!

1) Her birthday is October 10th, which you absolutely must know in case you meet her on the street on October 10th, otherwise, you'll just seem rude.

2) How successful is Rumiko Takahashi? In 2004, she was the highest-taxed manga-ka in Japan, and the second-highest taxed person in Japan overall!

3) There have been six theatrical release movies for Urusei Yatsura, giving it almost as many movies as Batman and as many as Spider-Man and the X-Men combined! Face front, true believers and move over, Stan Lee!

4) When Viz opted to try a simultaneous release of a manga online, they used Rumiko Takahashi's Rin-ne. Because she was also one of their pioneers in print form, I love the idea of it coming full circle.

5) Takahahi's art school was founded by Kazuo Koike, the author of Lone Wolf and Cub, one of my early manga finds and still one of my favorites.

6) Though I can't find a solid citation for reference for a current figure, Takahashi has sold well over 100 million books, and some places had it pegged at closer to 200 million books. That's enough copies to put a Takahashi book in the hands of two out of every three Americans, though I feel sorry for the ones trying to figure out things in the middle of a InuYasha story arc!

7) Takahashi actually likes working ahead of her deadlines. Could we perhaps get her to talk to superhero writers and artists about this shocking concept?

8) Rumiko Takahashi never got married. I wonder how that's impacted on the relationships she's placed into her manga over the years?

10) Rumiko Takahashi makes it up as she goes along. Think about how great her mangas are, and then come back to that sentence again. She makes it up as she goes along. If you weren't in awe of her ability before, this final interesting fact should seal the deal!

These are just a few of the things you can find out about Rumiko Takahashi by poking about and trying to find out more about this wonderful creator. Want some starting points? Go have a look at today's Manga Movable Feast links page, which should be right above or below this post.