The author of the famous manga series "Yu-Gi-Oh!", Kazuki Takahashi, is dead. The 60-year-old may have died as a result of a diving accident, a member of the coast guard of the southern Japanese city of Nago told the AFP news agency on Thursday.
Takahashi's body was found off the coast of Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday morning after the Coast Guard received a call for help.
Takahashi was reportedly wearing a T-shirt, a diving mask with a snorkel and fins when he was found.
An investigation should now clarify the cause of death.
At present, neither an accident nor a crime would be ruled out, the Coast Guard said.
The first episode of the manga adventure Yu-Gi-Oh!
was published in 1996.
It is about the boy Yugi, who is given a puzzle in which the spirit of an Egyptian pharaoh is trapped, which takes possession of the boy's body.
The manga has 38 volumes, two Yu-Gi-Oh! series and two Yu-Gi-Oh! movies.
The trading cards for the adventure have become a worldwide success.