Ikuhara, from the Utena Art Collection artbook, circa 1999

Kunihiko Ikuhara (幾原邦彦 Ikuhara Kunihiko) (born December 21, 1964) is a Japanese creative artist who has collaborated on several famous anime and manga series. He is best known for his role in creating and directing Revolutionary Girl Utena. Image File history File linksMetadata Ikuhara. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Ikuhara. ... is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... “Animé” redirects here. ... This article is about the comics published in East Asian countries. ... Serialized in Ciao Original run 1996 – 1997 Volumes 5 TV anime Director Kunihiko Ikuhara Studio J.C.Staff Network TV Tokyo Original run April 2, 1997 – December 24, 1997 Episodes 39 Movie: The Adolescence of Utena Director Kunihiko Ikuhara Studio J.C.Staff Released 1999 Runtime 80 min. ...

Life

Ikuhara was born on December 21, 1964 in Komatsushima, Tokushima Prefecture. He studied graphic design at the Komatsu City College, and joined Toei Animation in Tokyo after graduating. He served as assistant director to Junichi Sato on Maple Town Monogatari, Akuma-kun, Toushou!! Ramen-man and Mooretsu Atarou, and episode director on Kingyo Chuuihou! and Sailor Moon. Komatsushima (小松島市; -shi) is a city located in Tokushima, Japan. ... Tokushima Prefecture ) is located on Shikoku island, Japan. ... Graphics are often utilitarian and anonymous,[1] as these pictographs from the US National Park Service illustrate. ... Toei Animation Company, Limited ) (JASDAQ: 4816) is a Japanese animation studio owned by the Toei Company. ... For other uses, see Tokyo (disambiguation). ... Junichi Sato (佐藤 順一 Satō Junichi, born March 11, 1960 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan) is a Japanese director of anime. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Goldfish Warning! ) is a shōjo manga by Neko Nekobe ) which ran in Nakayoshi. ... For the title character, see Sailor Moon (character) and for the first story arc, see Sailor Moon (arc). ...

Sailor Moon

Ikuhara's most famous work with Toei was on the anime version of Sailor Moon. He served as director of many episodes over the course of the series' run, and took over the position of series director from Junichi Sato during the second season, Sailor Moon R. Additionally, Ikuhara served as the director of the first Sailor Moon theatrical movie, also called Sailor Moon R. The Sailor Moon anime series , Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon) was co-produced by TV Asahi, Toei Agency and Toei Animation. ... The Sailor Moon R movie is the first of three theatrically released Sailor Moon movies. ...

Utena

Displeased over the lack of creative control granted to him, Ikuhara left Toei after the fourth season of Sailor Moon in 1996 to form his own creative group, Be-Papas, consisting of himself, the famous shoujo manga artist Chiho Saito, animator Hasegawa Shinya (animation supervisor for Neon Genesis Evangelion), writer Enokido Youji, and producer Okuro Yuuichiro. Be-Papas collaborated to produce the anime and manga series Revolutionary Girl Utena (Shoujo Kakumei Utena). Shōjo (少女 lit. ... Chiho Saito (さいとうちほ Saitō Chiho, born June 29, 1967) is a manga-ka, notable mostly for the manga Revolutionary Girl Utena. ... Original run October 4, 1995 – March 27, 1996 No. ... Yōji Enokido , born 27 September 1963) is a Japanese screenwriter. ...

Ikuhara had much more creative control over the anime, which he directed, than he did over the manga, which was drawn by Chiho Saito. Notably, he also recruited composer J.A. Seazer, who provided the series' distinctive choral tracks. Ikuhara stated that he had always admired Seazer, who had enjoyed popularity in Japan's student movement during the 1960s, and felt that Seazer's work, with its themes of revolution and changing the world, was perfectly suited to Utena. J. A. Seazer is a film music composer. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ...

The series was a success, winning the "Best Television Series Award" and the "Kobe Award" at Animation Kobe '97. Be-Papas collaborated again in 1999 to produce a Revolutionary Girl Utena movie, Adolescence Mokushiroku ("Adolescence Apocalypse", released in English as "Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie"), with an accompanying manga, again drawn by Saito. Ikuhara also helped supervise the production of other Utena-related works, including a Sega Saturn video game and a stage musical. Be-Papas disbanded after the release of the movie. It has been suggested that Arcade Racer Joystick be merged into this article or section. ...

Post-Utena

Ikuhara's post-Utena works include the manga The World of S&M (released in English as The World Exists for Me), on which he collaborated with Chiho Saito; the novel Schell Bullet, which he co-wrote with Mamoru Nagano; and the Schell Bullet-based concept album Thanaphs 68. He enjoys the theatre and singing, and has sung on the Utena and Thanaphs 68 soundtracks. Mamoru Nagano , born on January 21, 1960 in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture) is a Japanese animator and character designer. ...

He supervised the production of the English dub of the Utena movie, checking the quality of the translation; he expressed strong distaste for the idea of his work being cut, censored, or changed to seem more "American."

Interaction with fans

Ikuhara has attended several conventions and similar events, given interviews to fans and reporters, and, along with Chiho Saito, provided commentary tracks for the DVD releases of Utena. He often dresses in brightly-colored clothes when socializing with fans. There is a popular rumour that he has cosplay as Sailor Mars on a few occasions. A fan convention, or con, is an event in which the fans of a particular TV show, comic book, or actor, or an entire style of entertainment such as science fiction or anime, gather together to meet famous personalities (and each other) face-to-face. ... Cosplayers Cosplay ), a portmanteau of the English words costume and play, is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime, tokusatsu, and video games, and, less commonly, Japanese live action television shows, fantasy movies, Japanese pop music bands, Visual Kei, fantasy music stories (such as stories by... Sailor Mars ) is one of the central characters in the Sailor Moon metaseries. ...

When questioned about his work by fans, particularly about the more mystifying aspects of Utena, he tends to give humorous, odd, or evasive responses (for instance, asked about the significance of the stopwatch carried by the character Miki, he said that it contains the key to "all the mysteries of the world.") The implication is that he wishes to leave interpretation of his works open to the audience. Ikuhara (whose nickname is "Ikuni") is known to like cats and flirting with women.

Interest

Ikuhara has stated that he likes anime with shōjo-ai elements because he feels that when a female character is given a male love interest, the relationship between them tends to overwhelm the other elements of the show. ^{[citation needed]} Utena Tenjou and Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena, a popular yuri couple. ...

He has expressed interest in the possibility of collaborating on a project with David Lynch someday. [1] For other persons named David Lynch, see David Lynch (disambiguation). ...

External links

• Ikuhara's homepage
• Interview with Kunihiko Ikuhara, October 2000
• Brief Biography of Ikuhara
• Ikuhara page on ANN
• Ikuni Observation Journal
• Ikuhara's Schell Bullet at Gears Online
• 幾原邦彦 (Kunihiko Ikuhara) (Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database