Kazuki Takahashi
{{nihongo|Kazuki Takahashi|高橋 和希|Takahashi Kazuki|also 高橋 一雅, October 4, 1961 - July 6, 2022) was a Japanese manga artist and game creator, best known for creating Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Takahashi started as a manga artist in 1982. His first work was Tokiō no taka (闘輝王の鷹, Fighting Hawk), published in 1990. One of his earliest works, Tennenshoku Danji Buray (天然色男児BURAY), was published from 1991 to 1992 and lasted two volumes. Takahashi did not find success until 1996, when he created Yu-Gi-Oh! Takahashi's Yu-Gi-Oh! manga led to the creation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game published originally by Bandai, then later Konami. Originally intended as a one-shot in the manga's episodic introduction of new games, the game was named "Magic and Wizards" as a reference to the card game Magic: The Gathering and its publishing company Wizards of the Coast (the card game's name was changed to "Duel Monsters" in the anime adaptations). However, Shueisha, the publisher of the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine, received so many letters and fan-mail asking about "Magic and Wizards" that Takahashi decided to extend it. Takahashi continued to supervise the creation of Yu-Gi-Oh! manga following the end of the original manga's run. In 2013, the one shot manga Drump was released in Weekly Shōnen Jump, based on a new game by Kazuki Takahashi. In 2015, the manga artist received the Inkpot awardfrom Comic-Con International for his outstanding contributions to comics. In 2018, Takahashi published the limited series The Comiq in Weekly Shōnen Jump.
On July 6, 2022, Takahashi was found dead off the shore of Nago, Okinawa, by Japan Coast Guard officers following a civilian report from a passing boat. He was found wearing snorkeling gear, and his cause of death was determined to be drowning, estimated on the afternoon of July 4.