It's a Rumic World

This is the poster image for the Takahashi Rumiko exhibition at the Niigata City Art Museum, "It's a Rumic World." The exhibition, mostly a presentation of painted covers and specialty pieces for calendars and art books, was a tribute to the native Niigatan and one of the most famous manga-ka in all of Japan. Ms. Takahashi, who began by publishing her own doujinshi in the '70's, has joined the ranks of the all-time greats and is the best-selling female comic artist in history(!!!), as her works are famous world wide.
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Her breakout manga was Urusei Yatsuya (Those Selfish Aliens), better known to the Viz crowd as Lum (Lum is pictured with Ranma ½'s Saotome Genma in his panda form in the poster). She just recently finished Inu Yasha after drawing it for about 12 years.
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If I have one complaint as a comic art fan, it is that there were only a few panel pages in the exhibit and only two pages showing her uninked pencil work (from Inu Yasha). What was presented, however, was gorgeous and were often from the final pages of her long running series. The pages showing Kyoko (of Maison Ikkoku) in her wedding kimono were particularly fascinating. It's apparent from these that while Ms. Takahashi is capable of putting her characters through hell and high water, she loves happy endings.