is a Japanese manga artist known as the creator of the ''

Hamtaro ''Hamtaro'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga and storybook series created and illustrated by Ritsuko Kawai about a hamster. The manga was serialized in Shogakukan's "Second Grade" magazine in April 1997; more ''Hamtaro'' stor ...

'' franchise. Kawai originally created Hamtaro as storybooks for children first published in 1997 and adapted into an

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series in Japan in July 2000. ''

'' is about a little hamster and his friends. ''Hamtaro'' has gained great popularity and was made into an anime series and a line of merchandising. However, the animated show has since been cancelled. Kawai has had a say in the message that ''Hamtaro'' promoted, which was non-violence, teamwork, cooperation and sharing. Hamtaro has also been made into many different games for Nintendo handheld systems such as the

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

and Nintendo DS. Other than ''Hamtaro'', Ritsuko Kawai has created other shōjo

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

, serialized in ''

Ciao ''Ciao'' ( , ) is an informal salutation in the Italian language that is used for both "hello" and "goodbye". Originally from the Venetian language, it has entered the vocabulary of English and of many other languages around the world. Its d ...

'' magazine.

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people Japanese writers People from Toyonaka, Osaka {{Japan-writer-stub