Takehiko Inoue (井上雄彦 Inoue Takehiko, January 12, 1967 - ) is one of the most famous Japanese manga artists. He has been drawing manga mainly in male-oriented magazines. Inoue's name is ordered as Takehiko Inoue on the Vagabond books sold in North America, while it is ordered Inoue Takehiko on the Slam Dunk books sold in Singapore. The North American Slam Dunk books use Inoue Takehiko, but they are now out of print.
His works are: Chameleon Jail , Slam Dunk, Buzzer Beater , Vagabond (for which he received an Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 2002), and Real .
His debut in manga magazines was in 1988, and Purple Maple appeared in the Shonen Jump magazine. His manga book debut was Chameleon Jail in 1989. His most known work is Slam Dunk, it has become a big influence in Japan, and this fame has gone overseas.
The next work he has produced is Buzzer Beater, and this manga can be found on the Internet. It appears on his official web site, and it has two language versions, Japanese and English.
His serial manga now are Vagabond and Real.
These manga have been one of the most published manga books in Japan.
Many of his works are about basketball, and many Japanese children started to play basketball because they read his manga. Therefore, he made basketball popular in Japan.
External links
