Rumiko Takahashi, A popular female artist, was born Niigata, Japan in 1957.She attended Tokyo University, and won Shogakukan's Best new Autoher award and San Diego's Comicpot . Her first story was Urusei Yatsura, which started to run in 1979. It then became a series in 1981 and spawned 6 movies. The title means Those Obnoxious Aliens. Her next manga series was Maison Ikkoku, which was also made into a TV series (86-88), then came Ranma 1/2 one of the most popular and longest running anime series of all time. It was a comedy that dealed with a boy Ranma who would change back forth between a male and a female everytime he was spalshed with water. Her other series include Inu-yasha and The Mermaid Saga. Inu-Yasha is her final work. She enjoys writng and now lives in Tokyo