Rumiko Takahashi

She is quite probably the most widely-read mangaka of the last decade or so: Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, and Maison Ikkoku were major players in the western anime and manga boom of the '90s, and her more recent follow-up InuYasha blew them all away with its popular run on Cartoon Network.

But InuYasha is over, and Takahashi has moved on to a new series: Rin-ne, a supernatural comedy/drama series with the potential to reach the same heights as her past works. VIZ interviewed Takahashi about the title, whose first collected volume just hit stores this week (review pending!).

Takahashi is charming in the interview, even sometimes self-efacing (she holds that the honor of creating the first manga ever to be simultaneously released in Japan and North America is more than she deserves). As for the manga itself, Takahashi reveals that she doesn't have an ongoing story written up in advance; she thinks up as she goes. As such she's still "feeling [her] way" with protagonists Sakura and Rinne, as well as the overall story.

Also of note: she would like to return to her Mermaid Saga at some point, and she is happy to feel that the popularity of her series worldwide shows that "what makes people laugh or moves them doesn't change from country to country," that in the end we're all the same. Which is a feeling I find pleasant as well!

What's your favorite of Takahashi's series? I've enjoyed all of them on some level, but my favorite is actually her Rumic World shorts. Of her longer series, Urusei Yatsura totally floats my boat.