Kazuki Takahashi, creator and writer of the iconic manga and trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh!, died at the age of 60, in southern Japan this Wednesday.
Takahashi’s body was found floating in shallow waters in the sea while wearing snorkeling equipment, about 300 meters off the coast of Nago city in Okinawa Province, reported the Japanese media outlet NHK.
The famous manga creator was traveling alone in Nago, a popular vacation destination, and had apparently been snorkeling when he died from unknown causes, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
The spokesman added that “his body bore no noticeable sign of injury and an investigation into the cause of his death has now begun.”
Takahashi’s agency “Studio Dice” turned the artist’s web page black, mourning the death of the legendary manga and anime creator.
Takahashi, whose real name was Kazuo, began working as a manga artist in the early 1980s, but it wasn’t until 1996 that he rose to international fame with the story of a spiky-haired boy who challenges his enemies to duels using magical cards that summon beastly creatures.
Along the way, it inspired movies, TV shows, video games and a collectible trading card game, which rivaled Pokemon as one of Japan’s most recognizable cultural exports.
The series and its spinoffs became a marketing giant that marketed themselves: Movies and TV shows featured characters playing a card game very similar to the one fans could purchase in their neighborhood hobby shops.
New cards have since been regularly released, continuing to update even after the manga and anime had ended.
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