Natsuki Takaya (高屋 奈月 Takaya Natsuki?) is the pen name of a Japanese manga artist best known for creating the series Fruits Basket.
Takaya was born on July 7, 1973, in Shizuoka, Japan; she was raised in Tokyo, however, and made her debut there in 1992. She is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a manga artist since first grade, when her sister started drawing.
She's also said to be something of a Gamer Chick, as she enjoys video games such as the Final Fantasy series or Sakura Wars.
Takaya's biggest hit is the aforementioned Fruits Basket, which is one of the best-selling shojo manga ever in both Japan and North America. It also won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga in 2001. Fruits Basket was first adapted into a 26-episode anime series in 2001, though Takaya made her dislike of the series very clear due to the numerous Creative Differences between her and director Akitaro Daichi during its production. Their disagreements reached the point that it was a sure thing there would never be a second season by Studio DEEN, as Daichi refused to work with her again and the studio didn't want anyone else to direct another season.
She is the chief production supervisor of the 2019 Fruits Basket anime adaptation, which is by TMS Entertainment and aired from 2019 to 2021 for three seasons.
Some of Natsuki Takaya's works are:
- Phantom Dream, 1994–1997
- Tsubasa: Those with Wings, 1995–1998
- Because You Smile When I Sing, 1998, short story collection
- Fruits Basket, 1998–2006
- Fruits Basket Another, 2015-2018
- Komogomo, 2006, one-shot
- Twinkle Stars, 2007–2011
- Liselotte and The Witch's Forest, 2011–2013
Some tropes found in Natsuki Takaya's works are:
- Abusive Parents: A heavy theme in the Fruits Basket series; the number of characters who haven't suffered some form of parental abuse can easily be counted on one hand.
- Author Appeal: She admits that she likes Age Gap Romances. She also likes to give female characters masculine names since this "balances them out".
- The Beautiful Elite
- Camp
- Coming of Age Story
- Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends
- Dysfunction Junction
- Foot Focus: Many of her characters don't wear socks.
- Mood Whiplash
- Only Six Faces
- The Pollyanna
- Shoujo
