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Kazu Himself Kazuki Takahashi    Kazuki Takahahi is the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh!, born on October 4, 1961 in Tokyo, Japan. Kazuki Takahahi started drawing comics in his teens. He made his debute in the weekly comic magazine Shonen Jump in, 1991. He started drawing the comic book series of Yu-Gi-Oh! in 1996 and Yu-Gi-Oh! was first debuted on TV in 2000 and is still running, not only in Japan, but other Countries around the world. Kazuki Takahahi is now known worldwide. Kazuki Takahashi was born on October 4, 1961 in Tokyo. The creator of YU-GI-OH! became passionate about drawing comics in his teens, and made his debut in Japan's best-selling weekly comic magazine, Shonen Jump, in 1991. After taking some time to recharge his artistic energy, he began drawing the comics series YU-GI-OH! in 1996. The animated version of YU-GI-OH! debuted in 2000 and became an immediate hit, spawning a mania that included video games, animation, and a card game, all of which boasted record sales. 23 million comics have been sold thus far. YU-GI-OH!'s appeal has spread across every facet of the media, and Kazuki Takahashi is now known as one of Japan's foremost comic artists. Who is he? Takahashi was born in Japan and grew up to be a manga artist/author. The Creator and The Craze (JAPAN): Takahashi is a very famous manga (comic) book artist. His creation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! World flew by the land of the rising sun.. JAPAN, very quickly! It's popularity, in 1996 croweded many new children and fans in Japan. With the creation of the card game in works by Konami, Japan couldn't keep the cards on the store shelves! Tournaments were performing, and manga books of Yu-Gi-Oh! were in the works! 4 seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! aired on TV Tokyo, ranking the #1 show and gaming. A movie was made, and now, Mr. Takahashi's popularity in his home country makes him even more happy with just writing one book! Over 8 video games of Yu-Gi-Oh! where hot gamings for the Gameboy Color, GameBoy Advance, and Playstation, where hot in Video Gaming, Electronic Stores in Japan. Comic books were being sold in book stores. Everyone in Japan, wants to be like Yugi. They had to buy everything with Yugi on it! And that's where the craze began! Yu-Gi-Oh! is the King of hot products!! The Creator and The Craze (ASIA): Takahashi's popularity is sweepting the nation! Japan wasn't the only coutry that's beging for more Yu-Gi-Oh! Asia countries like the big one: China, is aiming for Yu-Gi-Oh! There is very unknown info about Chinese popularity of Takahashi, but there is a Chinese version of the card game, Japanese games and TV series are now airing in China. Will China and the rest of Asia catch up to Japan's major home populirity in the future? We'll just wait and see! The Creator and The Craze (USA): Now in 2000, the famous Game King hits America, UK, and other countries. But USA was the first to have the English translation of Yu-Gi-Oh! Yu-Gi-Oh! was first released in America around 2,000! Manga books are going fast, new card sets are being madely translated for the Americans, new video game releases, and more Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes are now airing as KidsWB #1 show! Future Popularity Ending?: Yu-Gi-Oh! is one of the most ever so popular series, that just keeps going on. Unlike Pokemon, Pokemon faded in 1995-2000. So Pokemon lost it's popularity because of less battles, gaming was borring, to many cute new creatures, no cool new cast, and best worst part, cards were boring! Now, Pokemon may still might have a comeback, but mostly everyone, is tired of Pikachu. Yu-Gi-Oh! on the other hand, is much cooler, characters are better. Story plot is great, and the cards are cooler then Pokemon. Duel Monsters are 10 times cooler then Pocket Monsters. Reasons: 1) Not many cute ones 2) Attacks are wickedly better 3) There is no limit to number of Duel Monsters, as their are Pocket Monsters! Will the popularity of Yu-Gi-Oh! die out in the near future, in the next 5 years or so. We hope not! Yugi and his pals are too cool, and too stong, and they will never give up! Believe in the heart of the cards! So thanks Kazuki for giving us all something to love and something to bring us all together from anime fans to card games...now, It's Time To Duel!

Special Report: "The white dolphin heads to battle. She is a water-borne soldier who can swim to swift escape but has inadequate fighting skills. Her opponent materializes: the Armored Lizard. Damn! My dolphin is no match for its steely jaws and impenetrable skin. Next, I set loose the Blade Fly, whose razor pincers make for nasty weapons. I prepare for a fight. But this enemy is too clever: he has set a hidden trap that swallows the fly. "Game over," says Hiroaki Namikata. "You suck." I consider wringing his neck but decide this would upset his mom. "You'll get better in time," Hiroaki says, as he slurps down his lemon soda. We're playing Yu-Gi-Oh, the game that has replaced Pokémon as Japan's No. 1 fad and is expected soon to enter the global lexicon. Yu-Gi-Oh, which means "King of Games," stars a seemingly normal boy named Yugi who gains extraordinary powers when playing a card game. The boom began when it was introduced as a plot twist in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga-comic series, which then spawned an actual card game, as well as Game Boy and PlayStation software, an animated TV show, action figures, pencil boxes and countless other money-sucking doodads. Yu-Gi-Oh is already a $2 billion industry; it caused a riot at a Tokyo games convention and has been banned from Bangkok schools. Its U.S. kickoff is slated for the fall. Hiroaki, an outspoken eight-year-old, has gathered two other Yu-Gi-Oh freaks at his family's condo in Chiba to challenge me in electronic battle. By wiring our Game Boys together with a cable, we assess one another's "cards" and send our own characters off to war. Each of the 700-some characters has unique traits and powers, which are rated by points. Illusionist No-Face, for instance, is a magician who can instantly shift appearances. His 1,200 points of offensive strength are no match for the 1,400 of the Mecha-Falcon, but the magic man's 2,200 defensive points far outnumber the jet-powered bird's 1,200. Got it? Yu-Gi-Oh creator Kazuki Takahasi at work in his Tokyo studio. Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of the comic series, and games producer Konami appear to be following the Pokémon formula to fuel the Yu-Gi-Oh craze. Like Pokémon, the animated TV show brings the characters and plot twists to life. Like Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh demands careful strategy to decide which cards to pit against one another. Because you need 40 cards to play the game (players download characters into a Game Boy by inserting the codes printed on real cards), it also plays to kids' penchant for collecting. And though the Game Boy version can be played alone, it's more fun to challenge someone else. "Japan used to be a place where all the neighborhood kids played together," says Hideo Takayama, president of the Children's Research Institute. "But today's kids spend most of their free time studying for exams, so it's harder for them to make friends. Games based on trading cards, like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, force kids to interact; that's why they're such a hit." But Yu-Gi-Oh is not such a hit with parents. Nearly everyone likes Pokémon's cute figures, but Yu-Gi-Oh's dark story lines, leggy girls and terrifying monsters make Satomi Namikata, Hiroaki's mother, cringe. As her young daughter hugs a talking Pikachu, the best-recognized Pokémon character, mom frets: "The rules are so complicated and the drawings so scary that I'm sure Yu-Gi-Oh is meant for teenagers." Which is exactly why younger boys love it. The craze isn't limited to fad-mad Tokyo; in a large toy store on the southern island of Shikoku, every Yu-Gi-Oh card and Yu-Gi-Oh Game Boy game is sold out. "I get swarms of kids from the elementary school next door," says Mitsuaki Muraoka, the shop's manager. "On weekends, parents come in with pieces of paper on which they've written the word yu-gi-oh." Since Konami introduced them in 1999, the company has sold 3.5 billion cards; 7 million computer games have been sold since its release in late 1998. With the U.S. launch due before Christmas, Konami is predicting a 65% jump in Yu-Gi-Oh-driven profits over the next two years. It's the cards and not the video game that still drive Japanese kids' interest. "The funny thing about these games is that they have reminded kids how fun it is to play with each other, instead of at home alone with a video console," says Macoto Nakamura, a Tokyo game designer. Are interactive games promoting interactivity of the retro, Old Economy kind? Could be: the toy fad currently sweeping Japan is Bei Blade, an updated version of spinning tops. "