Shounen to Seinen
Takehiko Inoue is considered one of the main reasons for popularizing the sport of basketball in Japan. At a young age, he joined both the kendo and basketball clubs and fell in love with the game of basketball, eventually becoming the captain of his team. From an early age, Inoue was fond of drawing and basketball. Although he wasn't able to play basketball professionally, he decided to pursue a career as a mangaka. He began his mangaka journey by illustrating a manga named "Chameleon Jail," published in Shounen Jump as a weekly issue. Later, Inoue decided to write his own manga revolving around his favorite sport, basketball. This led to the creation of "SLAM DUNK," a basketball-centric shounen manga that took the world by storm and is now one of the highest-selling manga of all time, with over 400 million copies sold worldwide. Following the success of Slam Dunk, Inoue created "VAGABOND," a manga biography of the greatest swordsman of all time, Mi...