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Rumiko Takahashi Marks Doraemon's 55th Anniversary With Crossover Art

Renowned manga creator Rumiko Takahashi posted a congratulatory birthday message to the massively popular anime and manga character Doraemon on Thursday. Her illustration features Urusei Yatsura heroine Lum celebrating the 55th anniversary of Doraemon with a giant dorayaki birthday cake. The posts caption notes the Doraemon franchise is releasing messages and illustrations from “a stellar cast of manga artists in a countdown format to his birthday.”

The manga creator duo Fujiko Fujio created Doraemon in 1969. The character first appeared in the January 1970 editions of Shogakukan's Gakunenbetsu Gakushū Zasshi publications. Following the breakup of Fujiko Fujio, the series development fell under one of the duo's members, Fujiko F. Fujio (real name Hiroshi Fujimoto). The manga series saw a short-lived anime adaptation in 1973 and a longer-running series beginning in 1979. The 1979 series is still airing new episodes, although the staff completely revamped the voice cast in 2005.

Sources: Doraemon's X/Twitter account, Rumiko Takahashi's X/Twitter account