Yu Yagami is a Japanese manga artist born on July 11, 1969, in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. After leaving Osaka Industrial University, he moved to Tokyo and made his debut as a mangaka in 1991 with the work Higawari Yagami Land. He is best known as the creator of the manga Those Who Hunt Elves, which was serialized from 1994 to 2002 and later adapted into an anime television series. His other notable original manga works include Go West!, serialized from 2002 to 2004, and Hikkatsu! Strike a Blow to Vivify, which ran from 2005 to 2006. He also contributed the manga adaptation for the Dokkoida?! light novel series by Taro Achi, which was serialized between 2000 and 2004 and also received its own anime adaptation. In addition to his manga work, Yagami provided the illustrations for the original six-volume Dokkoida?! light novel series published under the Dengeki Bunko imprint from 1999 to 2003.

Yagami’s body of work is predominantly comedy shōnen manga set within science fiction or high fantasy contexts. Recurring elements across his series include protagonists who practice martial arts, most often some form of karate, a reflection of his own personal interest in the discipline as a member of the Kendokai Karate-do organization. In 2011, he was a countrywide champion in the masters kumite division. Several of his manga have been licensed for English publication in North America, including Those Who Hunt Elves, Dokkoida?!, Go West!, and Hikkatsu! Strike a Blow to Vivify. His work on Those Who Hunt Elves was featured as a case study for screen tone techniques in the instructional book How to Draw Manga: Compiling Techniques, Volume 2. Most of his manga were originally published by MediaWorks and serialized in their magazine Dengeki Comic Gao!.