Kazuki Takahashi, author of the manga Yu-Gi-Oh!, was found dead off the coast of Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture in Japan on July 6, 2022.

Around 10:30 a.m. on July 6, a person passing by on a boat spotted the body of a man floating on his stomach off the coast of Nago City, and alerted authorities. The coast guard then found a man with a snorkeling device about 300 meters off the coast of the city.

The man was later confirmed dead and identified as the 60-year-old Kazuki Takahashi (real name Kazuo Takahashi). According to the authorities, Takahashi had already been dead for a day or two, when the coast guard found his body.

The Japanese coast guard are currently investigating the events that might have caused the mangaka’s death.

Takahashi’s Yu-Gi-Oh! manga was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump between September 1996 and March 2004. The manga series has spawned a media franchise that includes multiple spin-off manga and anime series, a trading card game, and numerous video games.

Takahashi started as a manga artist in 1982. His first work was Tokiō no taka published in 1990. One of his earliest works, Tennenshoku Danji Buray was published from 1991 to 1992 and lasted two volumes.

In one of his interviews, the author said that he was huge fan of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, Hirohiko Araki’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures and Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball.

Source: Okinawa Times, NHK