Takeshi Obata (born 11 February 1969 in Niigata) is a Japanese manga artist who usually works as the illustrator alongside a separate writer. He won the Tezuka Award at sixteen, and first drew international attention with Hikaru no Go (1999-2003), written by Yumi Hotta. He is best known for the Tsugumi Ohba collaborations Death Note (2003-2006), Bakuman (2008-2012) and Platinum End (2015-2021). Hikaru no Go won the Shogakukan Manga Award, and he received a Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2003.