Yoshihiro Takahashi (高橋義廣, Takahashi Yoshihiro) is a Japanese manga artist. He writes under a pen name in which his first name Yoshihiro is spelled out in hiragana (よしひろ).
Takahashi was born on September 18th, 1953, in Higashinaruse, Akita, a village in the Tōhoku region of Japan. He was very interested in drawing coming of age-related themes and, in the 1960s, started publishing small comics in several newspapers and magazines.[clarification needed] His first manga was Shitamachi Benkei, published in 1971, but his breakthrough came in 1984 when he published the popular manga Silver Fang, a story following a young Akita puppy, who goes in search of other dogs to fight the bear haunting his hometown. He got the idea in 1980, after reading an article about domestic dogs that ran away from their owners and lived as wild dogs in the mountains. The pure idea fascinated him, which eventually led him to create the aforementioned manga. In 1987, the series won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga.[1]
Takahashi started to publish Silver Fang's sequel, Weed, in 1999, and it soon became a hit as well, after the airing of the anime adaptation on September 17th, 2005. He has been touted as the first manga artist to draw manga featuring a puppy as the hero of the story.[2]
Takahashi was the guest of honour at the Finnishrole-playing and animefan convention Tracon, which took place from the 3rd to the 4th of September, 2011, in Tampere.[3] It was his first visit to Finland, and most likely his first time being a guest of honour outside Japan;[3] he visited Finland for the second time in 2012, participating in the Animecon event in Kuopio.[4]
Bibliography
Manga
Genkotsu Boy (げんこつボーイ) (1974)
Akutare Kiyojin (Giants) (悪たれ巨人 (ジャイアンツ)) (1976) Also known as Rowdyism Giant.
Fureai Story – Yūta to Shiro (ふれあい ストーリー – ゆうたとシロ) Included in the book Boku no Inu, Boku no Weed.
Wagaya no Mel (我が家のメル) Included in the book Boku no Inu, Boku no Weed.
HANAKO Included in the Ginga Densetsu Weed Gaiden] story compilation.
Lonely Ron (ロンリーロン) Two stories with the same name. The other is included in the Ginga Densetsu Weed Gaiden story compilation and the other in Ginga Nagareboshi Gin Shin Gaiden story compilation.
Shion no Kaze (シオンの疾風) Included in the Ginga Densetsu Weed Gaiden story compilation.
Mel no Tabidachi (メルの旅立ち) Included in the Ginga Densetsu Weed Gaiden story compilation.
Ganin (牙忍) Published in the Comic Jidai Katsugeki manga magazine.
Kai no san kyōdai (甲斐の三兄弟) Published in the Business Jump manga magazine and included in the Ginga Nagareboshi Gin Shin Gaiden story compilation.
Chōmon no Tabi (弔問の旅) Published in the Business Jump manga magazine and included in the Ginga Nagareboshi Gin Shin Gaiden story compilation.
Karadaki no Tomon (枯滝の十文) Published in the Business Jump manga magazine
Shin Gaiden Benizakura Hen (真外伝紅桜編) Published in the Business Jump manga magazine
Furukawa Masaaki Monogatari – Kowareta Radio (古川昌明物語 –壊れたラジオ–) Published in the Weekly Shōnen Sunday manga magazine in 1994.[5]
J-League no Kaze (other details unknown)
Grand Slam (other details unknown)
References
^小学館漫画賞: 歴代受賞者 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
^Weed vol. 1, published by ComicsOne, the text inside the back cover
