Nationality Japanese Role Author Alma mater Hosei University Education Hosei University | Movies and TV shows Crusher Joe Name Haruka Takachiho | |
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Full Name Kimiyoshi Takekawa Born November 7, 1951 ( 1951-11-07 ) Nagoya, Japan Notable work Crusher Joe, Dirty Pair, Dirty Pair Flash Awards Best Japanese Short Story at the 1980 Seiun Awards for Daatipea no Dai Boken
Best Japanese Novel at the 1986 Seiun Awards for Dirty Pair no Dai Gyakuten Books The Great Adventures of Dirty Pair Similar People Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Adam Warren, Saeko Shimazu, Kazue Komiya, Tomomi Mochizuki | ||
Occupation Science fiction author | ||
Haruka Takachiho (高千穂 遙, Takachiho Haruka) (born November 7, 1951 as Kimiyoshi Takekawa (竹川 公訓) in Nagoya, Japan) is a Japanese science fiction author and founder of Studio Nue. Takachiho is best known as the creator of Crusher Joe, Dirty Pair and Dirty Pair Flash. Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies called him one of Japan's leading pulp novelists
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Takachiho established the anime production house Studio Nue in 1972, working as an anime producer and scenario writer, while still a student at Hosei University. He graduated three years later, in 1975, in social science. In 1977 Takachiho made his authorial debut with his novel "Crusher Joe: Rentai Wakusei Pizan no Kiki" ("Crusher Joe: Crisis on Solidarity Planet Pizan"). Two of Takachiho's stories have won Seiun Awards, "Daatipea no Dai Boken" ("Great Adventure of The Dirty Pair") for Best Japanese Short Story in 1980, and "Dirty Pair no Dai Gyakuten" ("The Dirty Pair Strike Again") for Best Japanese Novel in 1986. He held the title of Executive Secretary of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of Japan (SFWJ) until the end of 1997.
Dirty Pair
The inspiration for Dirty Pair novels was a visit to Japan by the British Australian SF author A. Bertram Chandler, probably in 1978. On his itinerary was a stop at the young Studio Nue, which Takachiho co-founded. As something to entertain their guest, two of the staffers there, Yuri Tanaka and Keiko Otoguro, hit upon the idea with Takachiho of taking Chandler to a tournament of the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling organization, which was a member of the World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA). The card included the highly-popular wrestling (and singing) team, the Beauty Pair. Something that passed among the foursome during that match led Chandler to remark to Takachiho something to the effect that "the two women in the ring may be the Beauty Pair, but those two with you ought to be called 'the Dirty Pair'."
This became the germ of an idea for a novella Takachiho decided to write, transplanting the rough-housing of pro-wrestling to the realm of space-opera mystery stories, with which he already had experience in his already successful Crusher Joe series. The team code-name "Lovely Angels" is also play on the names of certain women's teams of the time, such as the Queen Angels.
Works
- Rentai wakusei Pizan no kiki (連帯惑星ピザンの危機) "Crisis on Solidarity Planet Pizanne" (November, 1977)
- Gekimetsu! Uchuu kaizoku no wana (撃滅!宇宙海賊の罠) "Extermination! The Space Pirates Trap" (January, 1978)
- Gingakei saigo no hihō (銀河系最後の秘宝) "The Final Secret of the Milky Way" (April, 1978)
- Ankoku jashinkyō no dōkutsu (暗黒邪神教の洞窟) "Cave of the Cult of the Dark God" (July, 1978)
- Ginga teikoku e no yabō (銀河帝国への野望) "Treachery Toward the Galactic Empire" December, 1978)
- Jimmen majū no chōsen (人面魔獣の挑戦) "Challenge of the Human-faced Demon Beasts" (June, 1979)
- Utsukushi maō (美しき魔王) "The Beautiful Demon King" (March, 1983)
- Akuryō toshi Kukuru (悪霊都市ククル) "Kukuru, the Haunted City" (Part 1: November, 1989; Part 2: March, 1990)
- Wāmu'uddo no genjū (ワームウッドの幻獣) "The Phantom Beast Wormwood " (October, 2003)
- Dairon no seishōjo (ダイロンの聖少女) "The Holy Virgin Dairon" (May, 2005)
- Nijiiro no jigoku (虹色の地獄) "Rainbow-colored Hell" (February, 2003)
- Doruroi no arashi (ドルロイの嵐) "The Doruroi Storm" (December, 1986) (* originally published as side story' rather than extra series by Asahi Sonorama)
- Ginga bangaichi (銀河番外地) "Galactic unchartered zone" (November 1980)
- Seijū no tō (聖獣の塔) "Tower of the Holy Beast" (October 1983)
- Kyōsenshi Ai (凶戦士 愛) (June, 1988; January, 1993)
- Bōsatsu kyōdan (凶戦士 愛 PART2 謀殺教団) "Part 2:Conspiratorial Murder Cult" (January 1990; February, 1993)
- Yami no haō (闇の覇王) "Prince of Darkness" (August, 1988)
- Chinmoku no haō (沈黙の覇王) "Prince of Silence" (September, 1990)
- Gen'ei no haō (幻影の覇王) "Prince of Illusion" (March, 1995)