Ritsuko Kawai

is a Japanese manga artist known as the creator of the Hamtaro franchise.

Career

Hamtaro Kawai originally created Hamtaro as storybooks for children first published in 1997 and adapted into an anime television series in Japan in July 2000.

Hamtaro is about a little hamster and his friends. Hamtaro gained great popularity and was made into an anime series and a line of merchandising.

Kawai has said the message that Hamtaro promoted is non-violence, teamwork, cooperation and sharing.

Hamtaro have also been made into video games for Nintendo.

Other works Other than Hamtaro, Ritsuko Kawai has created other shōjo manga, serialized in Ciao magazine.