Natsuki Takaya

Natsuki Takaya
Born	July 7, 1973 (1973-07-07) (age 38) Shizuoka, Japan
Pen name	Natsuki Takaya
Occupation	Manga artist
Nationality	Japanese
Genres	Fiction
Subjects	Shōjo manga

Natsuki Takaya (高屋 奈月, Takaya Natsuki^?) is the penname of a Japanese manga artist best known for creating the series Fruits Basket, which at one time was the best selling manga in the world.^{[citation needed]} She was born on July 7, 1973. Takaya is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a manga artist since first grade, when her sister started drawing. She was born in Shizuoka, Japan, but was raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut in 1992. She enjoys video games such as the Final Fantasy series or Sakura Wars, or working on her different manga series, such as Fruits Basket, which is the second best-selling shōjo manga ever in Japan,^[1] and the top selling shōjo manga in North America.^[2] Fruits Basket has also been adapted into a twenty-six-episode anime series. In 2001, Takaya received a Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Fruits Basket.^[3]

According to Takaya (in a sidebar of a Fruits Basket manga volume), she enjoys drawing girls (girly ones) more than she does boys. She also says that she enjoys drawing young children, but is excited to see them (referring to Kisa and Hiro Sohma) grow up. Takaya also enjoys electronics and music, but dislikes talking about herself. Also revealed in a sidebar of Fruits Basket, Takaya broke her drawing arm (left) 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 complains that her handwriting had gotten uglier, due to the surgery. During her hospital stay, she gained an interest in baseball.

Series

• Phantom Dream 1994 - 1997
• Tsubasa: Those with Wings, 1995–1998
• Because You Smile When I Sing, 1998, short story collection
• Fruits Basket, 1998–2006
• Komogomo, 2006, one-shot
• Hoshi wa Utau 2007 - 2011
• Liselotte to Majo no Mori 2011 - ongoing

References

• Fruits Basket Vol. 1; pg. 29. (English Translation)
• Fruits Basket Vol. 7; pg. 15 (English Translation)

1. ^ "'Fruits Basket' Tally Over 18 Million". ICv2. 2007-05-08. http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/10537.html. Retrieved 2007-12-12. 
2. ^ Hibbs, Brian (02 2008). "Tilting @ Windmills 2.0 #49: Looking at Bookscan 2007". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20080517183444/http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting49.html. Retrieved 2008-02-19.  "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."
3. ^ Joel Hahn. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on 2007-08-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20070816031310/http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/kodansha.shtml. Retrieved 2007-08-21. 

External links

• "Something About Shojo". Time.com. 2006-08-10. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1225166,00.html.  - Time.com's Interview with Natsuki Takaya
• Natsuki Takaya at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

Persondata
Name	Takaya, Natsuki
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 7, 1973
Place of birth	Shizuoka, Japan
Date of death
Place of death