Yoshihiro Togashi

Yoshihiro Togashi was born on April 27, 1966, in Shinjo, Japan, into a family operating a paper shop. His interest in manga drawing began in elementary school. While attending Yamagata University studying education, Togashi pursued his passion for manga, submitting his work to Weekly Young Jump, a publication by Shueisha. At the age of 20 in 1986, his manga “Buttobi Straight” earned him the prestigious Tezuka Award, Japan’s highest honor for new comic artists. He also received an honorable mention in Shueisha’s first annual Hop Step Award Selection magazine in 1988 for “Jura no Mizuki.” After college, Togashi moved to Tokyo to officially begin his professional manga career with Shueisha.

Togashi’s career gained momentum with early works such as “Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!!,” a collection of comedy short-stories, and the romance manga “Ten de Shōwaru Cupid” (1989-1990). His breakthrough came in 1990 with “YuYu Hakusho,” an occult and horror-inspired series that sold over 78 million copies worldwide and earned him a Shogakukan Manga Award in 1994. The series was adapted into a successful anime. Following this, he created “Level E,” a science fiction-comedy manga published from 1995 to 1997, which also received an anime adaptation in 2011.

In 1998, Togashi launched “Hunter × Hunter,” another critically and commercially successful series that has sold over 84 million copies by July 2022. This work further solidified his standing as a prominent manga artist, tying him with “One Piece” author Eiichiro Oda as the fifth most popular manga artist in a 2008 Oricon poll. His artistic style has evolved from using screentone to a more minimalist approach. Togashi has faced health challenges, notably chronic back issues, which have led to intermittent hiatuses in his work, but he continues to be a highly influential figure in the manga industry.