Line #3 Creator/KazukiTakahashi


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kazuki_takahashi.png]]
2	Kazuo Takahashi (October 4, 1961 – July 4, 2022), known professionally as Kazuki Takahashi, was a Japanese mangaka and game creator best known for the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' franchise.
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4	In a ''Magazine/ShonenJump'' interview, Takahashi shared that his favorite manga series include ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' by Creator/KatsuhiroOtomo, ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' by Creator/HirohikoAraki, and ''Manga/DragonBall'' by Creator/AkiraToriyama, but he also liked American comics, like ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}''.
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6	''Manga/YuGiOh'', which was first published in 1996, has received multiple anime adaptations, movies, and spin-offs including ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', ''[[Anime/YuGiOh 5D's]]'', ''[[Anime/YuGiOhZexal Zexal]]'', ''[[Anime/YuGiOhARCV ARC-V]]'', ''[[Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS VRAINS]]'', ''[[Anime/YuGiOhSEVENS SEVENS]]'', and ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGoRush GO RUSH!!]]'', all of which he was involved in (fairly unusual for any author!).
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8	Besides ''Yu-Gi-Oh'', he was also the creator of ''Manga/TheComiq'', a short murder mystery manga with a mangaka protagonist, and ''Advent Heroes'', a comic and card game influenced by American comics.
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10	On July 6, 2022, he was found dead off the coast of Nago City in Okinawa, believed to have drowned during a snorkeling accident. He was 60 years old. It was later [[https://t.co/CWezXBElxs reported by a scuba instructor in the U.S. Army]] that Takahashi braved a deadly rip current in an effort to save a drowning child, her mother, and a soldier.
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12	!!Tropes Associated With Kazuki Takahashi's works:
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14	* AlternateContinuity: ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' had 7 different spinoff series during his lifetime.
15	* ArtEvolution: The back of the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' card has changed various times in the anime. It has changed twice in ''Zexal''.
16	* AscendedFanboy: Not only was Takahashi a major fan of manga and comics and a mangaka himself, but he was also a huge gamer (traditional, tabletop, and video game). ''Yu-Gi-Oh TCG'' was heavily inspired by ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' as well.
17	* CentralTheme: The main theme of any ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' installment is ThePowerOfFriendship.
18	* InMemoriam: The end of the 15th episode of ''GO RUSH!!'' pays tribute to him, airing on the same week as that of his passing.
19	* RousseauWasRight: Most characters in ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' are complex people with deep motivations to their actions.
20	* ShadesOfConflict: Each installment of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' constantly challenges morality but most usually end towards WhiteAndGreyMorality, with the exception of a final villain who's MadeOfEvil.
21	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: All installments of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' end mainly on the idealistic end of the scale. With that said, the course of the series often challenges the scale.
22	** The original ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' run had the story set in Domino City at its seediest, but through Dark Yugi's justice-dispensing Penalty Games and gradual transition to larger stories, the series is ultimately idealistic despite the ''massive'' amounts of trauma the characters go through.
23	** ''GX'' started out highly idealistic, gradually became cynical in the second half, and then became idealistic again in the last couple of episodes.
24	** ''5D's'' had a more cynical setting but still an idealistic tone due to its characters, tone, and messages.
25	** ''ARC-V'' goes back and forth on the scale, ultimately ending as idealistic.[[note]]Fittingly so, considering the themed summoning mechanic for the show is ''Pendulum'' Summoning.[[/note]]
26	** ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'' starts out cynical and grows more idealistic.
27	** The Rush Duel spin-offs ''SEVENS'' and ''GO RUSH!!'' moved back to the idealistic sides.
28	* WriteWhatYouKnow: If Takahashi's themes and moods he presents are to be indicated, his content sheds light on some of Japan's less affable aspects of life, including how HighSchoolIsHell and society's unscrupulous and exploitative side of things. A chapter in the initial ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' manga had Yugi win by default against an abusive teacher; it should be noted that Takahashi had an incident in high school in which a teacher caught him in class drawing comics and compared him to a defecating machine. Kaiba is also said to have been based on an extremely vain card gamer he heard of from his friends, and it wouldn't be of surprise that some of the antagonists of the day were the same in this regard as well. On the brighter side of things, Takahashi's love of gaming in general was a heavy focus as it was his main hobby. The circumstances of his death also immediately led to fans writing about how he himself proved to be the same type of sacrificial hero as the main characters in his franchise.

Context Creator / KazukiTakahashi