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Kazuki Takahashi at the Leipzig Book Fair 2005: manga, anime, playing cards
Photo: Peter Endig / picture alliance / dpa
His manga series »Yu-Gi-Oh!« (»King of the Games«) made him famous, it was expanded into a universe that also included an anime series, feature films and a very popular card game.
Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi has been found dead, NHK and other Japanese media reports.
Takahashi was 60 years old.
The body of Kazuo Takahashi, as the artist was born, was found in seawater off Nago in Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday morning.
She was wearing snorkel gear.
The Coast Guard confirmed Thursday that the deceased was Takahashi.
The cause of death is still under investigation, the media reports, citing the Coast Guard.
As the news station TBS reported, Takahashi was traveling alone in Okinawa.
A car rental company contacted the police on Wednesday because they could not reach him.
This caused the Coast Guard to suspect that he might be the body found.
According to TBS, officials reported abdominal and lower body injuries that could have been caused by a shark or other marine life.
Takahashi's works are very popular both in Japan and abroad.
In 2011, »Yu-Gi-Oh!« made it into the Guinness World Records as the best-selling trading card game: 25.17 billion games had been sold up to that point, according to Kyodo News.
Old trading cards are sold for sometimes high sums.
In 2016, a »Yu-Gi-Oh!« card game is said to have been the cause of a violent argument among young people in Euskirchen.
In 2005 Kazuki Takahashi was invited as a guest of honor at the Leipzig Book Fair.
The anime series »Yu-Gi-Oh!« had also made it popular in Germany, the trading cards were traded as the next Pokémon.
The comic books are published by Carlsen-Verlag.
Born in Tokyo in 1961, Takahashi has been working for the weekly manga magazine »Shōnen Jump«, which specializes in boys' comics, since 1991.
In 1996 he had his personal breakthrough with »Yu-Gi-Oh!«.
Even after the actual manga story ended, Takahashi continued to oversee the products released for the world he created.
Feb