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Rumiko Takahashi is the best-selling female comic artist of all time, and one of the names by which to reckon the evolution of anime. One of the wealthiest women in Japan, all of her longer running Manga have become TV series, and nearly everything she has written has been made into an anime (OVA or TV). Perhaps more importantly, her influence and the nature of her series since 1980 have been cited as large contributors to the perception and acceptance of anime as a medium today. The anime adaptations for her longer series have an unfortunate tendency to end well before their manga does: the Inuyasha manga ran for nearly two more years after the end of the English dub of the anime; Ranma ½ barely got two-thirds of the way through its story and was heavily laden with Filler, to boot; and Urusei Yatsura likewise ended early, although it did get an OVA adaptation of its proper conclusion. Maison Ikkoku is her only major series whose animated adaptation spans the whole story. Inu-Yasha got picked up again after the Manga Series finished as a second series, titled Inuyasha: The Final Act, that continues the series from where the previous anime left off and tells the remainder of the story through to its conclusion.
Anime adaptations of her manga put the production company Kitty Films on the map in the 1980s and early '90s (though the actual animation was provided by studios such as Studio Pierrot, Studio DEEN and Madhouse)... until the company collapsed amid, among other things, an embezzlement scandal. In recent years, Takahashi's anime have been produced primarily by Sunrise or TMS.
She is noted for a distinctive stylized rounded style, sometimes to an excessive degree, intricate relationships among the characters, so much Belligerent Sexual Tension she has her own page, and an ability with puns and allusions on both visual and verbal levels. One example would be a character from Ranma ½ whose name, depending on whether the reading is Chinese, Japanese, or English (not to mention which kanji you're using), means "hair care product", "unpolished gem", "mountain girl", "she whose breasts are as mountains"... all of which describe the character in some way.
In stark contrast to her better-known comedic works, Takahashi has also written a number of shorter dramatic manga, many of which are grouped together under the collective name "Rumic World". She has also ventured into the macabre and outright horror with her Mermaid Saga.
She started a new manga series, Kyokai no Rinne, in Shonen Sunday, which has carried all her major works to date, on April 22, 2009. It is also being released in Japanese and English simultaneously (as simply RIN-NE).
Inducted into France's prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2023, putting her in the company of other anime/manga luminaries such as Isao Takahata, Katsuhiro Otomo, Go Nagai and Akira Toriyama. Meanwhile, a rebooted Urusei Yatsura anime premiered in 2022 and is ongoing.
TV anime series adapted from manga by Takahashi include:
- Urusei Yatsura
- Maison Ikkoku
- Mermaid Saga
- Ranma ½
- Inuyasha
- Rumiko Takahashi Anthology
- RIN-NE
- Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon
OAVs adapted from manga by Takahashi include:
- Fire Tripper
- Maris The Chojo
- The Laughing Target
- One Pound Gospel
- Mermaid Forest and Mermaid's Scar
Live action TV series adapted from manga by Takahashi include: