Born Nana Hatake, Takaya was raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut as a manga artist in 1992. Takaya had wanted to be a manga artist since first grade, when her sister started drawing.[1]
Her manga series Fruits Basket, which debuted in 1998, became one of the best selling shōjo manga in North America.[2][3]Fruits Basket has also been adapted into an anime series twice; the first, which premiered in 2001, aired as one season of twenty six episodes. The second, which premiered in 2019, consists of two seasons of twenty five episodes and the third season comprised 13 episodes and concluded in 2021.
In 2001, Takaya received the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Fruits Basket.[4] As revealed in a sidebar of Fruits Basket, Takaya broke her drawing arm after Fruits Basket volume six was published. She had to go into surgery, and as a result, had put Fruits Basket on a brief hiatus. Takaya made a full recovery, but complained that her handwriting had gotten uglier due to the surgery.[5]
^Hibbs, Brian (February 2008). "Tilting @ Windmills 2.0 #49: Looking at Bookscan 2007". Newsarama. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved February 19, 2008. Tokyopop's best-selling title is Fruits Basket v16 with an excellent 58,372 copies sold in 2007" and "[In 2007]...Naruto shares the Top 10 manga titles with Fruits Basket, Death Note and Bleach.
