API tools faq
paste
lillyaaa

Kunihiko Ikuhara (Ikuni)

lillyaaa
Jan 25th, 2020
334
0
Never
Add comment
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
text 10.58 KB | None | 0 0
raw download clone embed print report
  1. [Website](https://ikuni.net/) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ikuni_noise)
  2.  
  3. **Kunihiko Ikuhara**, nicknamed Ikuni, was born December 21, 1964 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Ikuhara is an idiosyncratic, postmodern anime director that had a significant impact on the development of anime styles from the 90s and onward. His surrealist, psychosexual works are why fans often compare him to [David Lynch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch). Although he is a beloved creative mind, Ikuhara is very hard to deal with and is an overwhelming perfectionist, leading to a small, but important catalog of work.
  4.  
  5. **Style**
  6. Ikuhara is an incredibly unique artist, but draws a lot of influence from [Osamu Dezaki](https://anilist.co/staff/100393/Osamu-Dezaki), making interesting anime that focuses on maximal impact on minimal drawings. Key examples would be [*Onii-sama e...*](https://anilist.co/anime/795/Oniisama-e/) and [*Versailles no Bara*](https://anilist.co/anime/338/Versailles-no-Bara/). Their directing also show similarities in how they try to provoke feelings from the viewer. One particular recurring trait would be [their Dutch angles](https://aninomiyako.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/obliqueness.jpg?w=500&h=561), which is used to depict unrest and disorientation.
  7.  
  8. Ikuhara's usual stylistic and narrative devices include pretense, deception, metaphors, bluffs, and repetition of gags. His iconography is consistent to the point people made [humorous bingo's](https://i.imgur.com/vlVmMu6.jpg) for his works. His enthusiasm and history with theater led to his most apparent stylistic trait, namely a stage play-like presentation with a mise-en-scène policy of showing only what is necessary, maintaining a tight control of his canvas at all times. Images themselves become a strong narrative tool. The themes of his work often tackle adolescence and LGBTQ-issues and turns them into cartoonish fables that gets to the heart of the issues.
  9.  
  10. **College**
  11. Ikuhara grew up in a fatherless home and recalls being obsessed with becoming an adult when he was young. An early encounter with avant-garde artists [Shuuji Terayama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%ABji_Terayama), [Hermann Hesse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse), and [Kenji Miyazawa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Miyazawa) taught him the value of arts. In college, he became an amateur filmmaker and stage director, gaining notoriety for the strange atmosphere of his production, wherein Ikuhara often appeared nude.
  12.  
  13. **Career**
  14. After graduation from the Kyoto College of Arts in 1985, he entered the anime industry because the route from assistant to chief director was shorter there than for live action. He joined Toei Animation and became [Junichi Satou](https://anilist.co/staff/99002/Junichi-Satou)'s disciple because they shared similar comedic taste. Ikuhara and Satou's combination proved effective, with the former providing idealism, stage production, and social commentary, and the latter the production and storyboards.
  15.  
  16. Ikuhara worked under Satou during the first portion of [*Sailor Moon*](https://anilist.co/anime/530/Sailor-Moon/), where he met a lot of people that would later join his 'school of art'. Ikuhara stepped up to finish [*Sailor Moon R*](https://anilist.co/anime/740/Sailor-Moon-R/), being a lush display of shoujo iconography. Ikuhara would fully come in his own right with the sequel [*Sailor Moon S*](https://anilist.co/anime/532/Sailor-Moon-S/), where he let his imagination go wild. Ikuhara pushed boundaries and introduced themes that would remain common in his works: eccentric characters, complicated same-sex relationships, apocalyptic tones, and nightmarish circus designs. He built up his reputation as Toei's infant terrible by animating insignificant scenes on the 1s, dressing up in drag, repeatedly trying to kill off Tuxedo Mask, and shifting *SuperS*' character development on Chibiusa, much to the dismay of many fans. Ikuhara had planned to make a follow-up film, but he promptly left Toei Animation after feeling he had too little creative control.
  17.  
  18. Ikuhara moved to the smaller J.C. Staff studio, forming the *Be-Papas* group with several friends and talented staff from Toei, and conceived the legendary [*Shoujo Kakumei Utena*](https://anilist.co/anime/440/Shoujo-Kakumei-Utena/). Although Ikuhara was intimately involved in *Utena*'s production, much of his efforts were funneled into giving younger storyboarders and directors the opportunity to flourish. Many artists from the 'Ikuhara school' went on to form successful solo careers. Several commonalities to these directors are planimetric compositions, reuse of backgrounds, emphasis on lighting and character acting, and a postmodern fascination with European architectural history. Many of his disciples err towards understated naturalism, whereas Ikuhara is fairly melodramatic and over-the-top.
  19.  
  20. Utena itself would be a highly unique, fascinating work that combined unrealized ideas from *Sailor Moon* and common shoujo anime refrains - loss of innocence, liminality, taboo sexuality, gender politics - and threw them in a stark relief. Many parallels could be drawn with *Neon Genesis Evangelion*: both being subversions of genre expectations with strong personal touches. Utena's themes, combined with its exotic aesthetic that drew from European architecture and the Gothic Revival made it a highly influential and defining entry in anime history.
  21.  
  22. Following Utena, Ikuhara would take a decade long break from directing. He is credited with some storyboards, but it would take until 2011 for his hiatus end, wherein he made [*Mawaru Penguindrum*](https://anilist.co/anime/10721/Mawaru-Penguindrum/) under the highly experimental, risk-taking studio Brain's Base. Although not as lauded as *Utena* (due to time constraints and production troubles), *Mawaru Penguindrum* found a strong cult following for its endless meta references towards Ikuhara's own career and Dezaki's library, symbolisms, metaphors, and themes drawing inspiration from [Japan's Lost Decade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decade_(Japan)), the infamous [Aum Shinrikyo attacks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo), and magical realist fiction of novelist [Haruki Murakami](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami).
  23.  
  24. Ikuhara kept encouraging younger, anomalous talent such as now-popular director [Mitsue Yamazaki](https://anilist.co/staff/110249/Mitsue-Yamazaki), [Shouko Nakamura](https://anilist.co/staff/108707/Shouko-Nakamura), and character designer [Terumi Nishii](https://anilist.co/staff/107584/Terumi-Nishii).
  25.  
  26. He would go on to make two more shows prominently dealing with LGBTQ-issues, with 2015's [*Yuri Kuma Arashi*](https://anilist.co/anime/20827/Yuri-Kuma-Arashi/) and 2019's [*Sarazanmai*](https://anilist.co/anime/101261/Sarazanmai/). They're smaller productions but attempt to push the boundaries while giving opportunities for unknown artists such as [Katsunori Shibata](https://anilist.co/staff/133844/Katsunori--Shibata) or [Mayu Matsushima](https://anilist.co/staff/148157/Mayu-Matsushima) to flourish with an abundance of creative freedom.
  27.  
  28. **Influence**
  29. *Shoujo Kakumei Utena* was a hotbed for talent due to the creative freedom Ikuhara allowed his younger staff members. With his subsequent works as well, Ikuhara has opened the path to many gifted creators and many of their roots can be traced back to his productions.
  30.  
  31. One such star is filmmaker [Mamoru Hosoda](https://anilist.co/staff/100067/Mamoru-Hosoda), known for directing *Wolf Children* and *The Girl Who Lept Through Time*. Although he started his career as animator at Toei Animation, he would consider Ikuhara his mentor after making his directorial debut with Utena. Their stylistic similarities, cinematic technique, and directorial devices strongly resemble each others, with an emphasis on metaphorical layouts, shot composition, and the rhythm of their storyboarding. *Mushishi*'s [Hiroshi Nagahama](https://anilist.co/staff/99346/Hiroshi-Nagahama) was deeply involved with Utena's pre-production and gave shape to Ikuhara's mental images and ideas. Nagahama absorbed Ikuhara's approach to staging and layouts, while designing the world and architecture for *Utena*.
  32.  
  33. [Nobuyuki Takeuchi](https://anilist.co/staff/108709/Nobuyuki-Takeuchi), best known for his visual direction of SHAFT's *Bakemonogatari* and being *Sarazanmai*'s chief director, shares lots of similarities with Ikuhara and Dezaki, pursuing maximum effect with limited animation. Takeuchi's planar screen compositions reminiscent of stage plays, use of silhouettes and black faces, sky design, metaphorical images, and minimalist backgrounds
  34. reek of Ikuhara's school. Takeuchi and [Akiyuki Shinbou](https://anilist.co/staff/100089/Akiyuki-Shinbou) established a lot of SHAFT's iconic stylistically offbeat *Utena*-like aesthetic that their works have been praised for, which is very strongly inspired by Ikuhara's framing and liberal, fanciful storyboarding.
  35.  
  36. [Takuya Igarashi](https://anilist.co/staff/105087/Takuya-Igarashi) had been a close associate of Ikuhara since their Toei Animation days, both being two of the major *Sailor Moon* directors. Igurashi picked up a lot from Ikuhara here, mostly in his [framing](https://aninomiyako.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/ouran-high-school-host-club.jpg). He could be considered a more accessible shoujo director than Ikuhara is.
  37.  
  38. Other applauded artists such as *Doukyuusei*'s director [Shouko Nakamura](https://anilist.co/staff/108707/Shouko-Nakamura), animator and *Flip Flappers* character designer [Takashi Kojima](https://anilist.co/staff/119807/), *Golden Time* character designer [Shinya Hasegawa](https://anilist.co/staff/106529/Shinya-Hasegawa), animator [Norimitsu Suzuki](https://anilist.co/staff/104133/Norimitsu-Suzuki), animation director [Akemi Hayashi](https://anilist.co/staff/124000/Akemi-Hayashi), *Kyousougiga*'s [Rie Matsumoto](https://anilist.co/staff/107664/Rie-Matsumoto), and *Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight*'s [Tomohiro Furukawa](https://anilist.co/staff/121599/Tomohiro-Furukawa) cite Ikuhara as a teacher/strong influence.
  39.  
  40. Good friend [Hideaki Anno](https://anilist.co/staff/100111/Hideaki-Anno), known for Neon Genesis Evangelion fame, would work on Sailor Moon transformation scenes and made a dedication book to Ikuhara to thank him. During Ikuhara's break, he would still storyboard an episode of Anno's Diebuster. There is also a common rumor that Evangelion character *[Kaworu Nagisa](https://anilist.co/character/1261/Kaworu-Nagisa)* was based on Ikuhara. Ikuhara himself jokes that they conceived the character enjoying an onsen together. Despite their differing personalities, their art mirror each other in destroying and rebuilding their respective genres.
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Public Pastes
We use cookies for various purposes including analytics. By continuing to use Pastebin, you agree to our use of cookies as described in the Cookies Policy.  OK, I Understand
Not a member of Pastebin yet?
Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!