Inoue Takehiko

BIOGRAFIA & NOTAS

Takehiko Inoue (井上 雄彦, Inoue Takehiko, born 12 January 1967) is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for the basketball series [Slam Dunk (1990–1996)](https://mangadex.org/title/319df2e2-e6a6-4e3a-a31c-68539c140a84/slam-dunk), and the jidaigeki manga [Vagabond](https://mangadex.org/title/d1a9fdeb-f713-407f-960c-8326b586e6fd/vagabond), which are two of the best-selling manga series in history. Many of his works are about basketball, Inoue himself being a huge fan of the sport. His works sold in North America through Viz Media are **Slam Dunk**, **Vagabond** and [Real](https://mangadex.org/title/62b74aa6-24df-4b91-b76d-39e7ab3c3ca5/real), although **Slam Dunk** was earlier translated by **Gutsoon! Entertainment**. In 2012, Inoue became the first recipient of the Cultural Prize at the Asia Cosmopolitan Awards. --- His real name is **Nariai Takehiko (成合雄彦)**. Inoue Takehiko first started playing basketball in high school as a means to winning attention from the opposite sex, he was in kendo club in elementary school and junior high. After being immersed in the competitive sport, he became a huge basketball fan. His love for the sport can be easily seen both from his choice in using it as a central theme in his works, as well as the unmistakable ability in capturing the details of it all. He went to Kumamoto University but dropped out, and became assistant to [Hojo Tsukasa](https://mangadex.org/author/bdd3b599-48be-49d2-8bea-877e38704ad6/tsukasa-hojo) for ten months during [City Hunter](https://mangadex.org/title/f1c716b5-e82f-4625-a646-280cfa66abad/city-hunter). [Hara Yasuhisa](https://mangadex.org/author/6637c726-8d02-456f-b837-65e1b190d0af/hara-yasuhisa), [Tatsuzawa Katsumi](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=6613), [Mihara Kazuto](https://mangadex.org/author/345dc961-0229-40a5-8419-14cd2e94774a/mihara-kazuto) and [Yuki Izumi](https://mangadex.org/author/b6b68daf-f191-44fc-9ef6-b01376160bd5/yuki-izumi) are former assistants of his. [Mizushima Shinji](https://mangadex.org/author/370fdd0d-ff84-4edf-beb5-db78cdca3f85/mizushima-shinji)’s [Dokaben](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=84088) was one of the works that made him to become a mangaka. He is the artist for the X360 RPG "[Lost Odyssey](https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/lost-odyssey/BZB4S8FS8T5B)". Married and has a son.