Profile of Kunihiko Ikuhara on Famous Like Me

Kunihiko Ikuhara (幾原邦彦 Ikuhara Kunihiko) (December 21, 1964 - ) is a creative artist associated with a number of Japanese anime and manga. He studied graphic design at the Komatsu City College, and joined Toei Animation in Tokyo after graduating.

While Ikuhara has directed many anime, he first gained acclaim (some would say notoriety) when he joined (some would say co-opted) the writing team of Naoko Takeuchi's manga and anime Sailor Moon. He wrote or cowrote three seasons of the anime and much of the manga. While critics usually consider Ikuhara's contributions to have defined Sailor Moon and helped make it the classic it is, many otaku feel that Ikuhara warped Takeuchi's artistic vision with his offbeat humor and frequent characterizations of the senshi as lesbians.

While Sailor Moon served as a proving ground for Ikuhara, he craved the opportunity to create his own project, allegedly quitting his job writing for Sailor Moon the day he received an offer to direct his own anime. That anime was Revolutionary Girl Utena. With this and the follow-up movie, Adolescence Mokushiroku, Ikuhara firmly established himself in the upper tier of anime directors. The series' manga, published during and after the series' run, was written primarily by Ikuhara's frequent collaborator Chiho Saito.

Other projects of Ikuhara's include Maple Town, Mouretsu Atarou, and Kingyou Chuuihou.

Ikuhara's current projects include a manga entitled The World of S&M (a collaborative effort with Chiho Saito) and a live-action version of Sailor Moon.

While Ikuhara won his fame as a writer and director, he is especially notorious today for his public image. At public appearances such as anime conventions, like Otakon in 2000, Ikuhara's comments alternate between sublime and ridiculous, usually weighted heavily towards the latter. His feigned lack of English and his superficial responses to probing questions about his intellectually-challenging series lend him an air of inaccessibility, and his penchant for stymieing (not to say infuriating) interviewers protects the secrets of his creations. The mystique that has grown up around Ikuhara therefore contributes to enjoyment of his work.

External Links

• Ikuhara's homepage (Japanese)
• Brief Biography of Ikuhara
• Ikuhara page on ANN

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