Ikuko Itoh -
Anime
Convention Personality of the Week - February 4, 2007
It
must be an amazing feeling to travel halfway around the world to a
strange land, only to find that people there are in love with your
work. And it must be even more amazing to have that happen two years in
a row. That was the case for animator Ikuko Itoh, who twice traveled to
Austin, Texas to meet with enthusiastic fans of the Princess Tutu
series she created. When the last Ushicon convention was held in 2006,
Itoh was a guest of honor, and spent much of an afternoon fielding
questions from supporters of her stories of a ballet-loving duck who
turns into a human. The 2006 event was special, but it wasn't enough
for Tutu fans. Itoh returned in 2007 for a "block party" of anime fans,
and this time she wasn't alone. Actors from the Japanese and American
version of Tutu were on hand, some of whom made the trip just because
they loved the series and wanted to be in the presence of the creator.
Tutu fans celebrated the appearance of their favorite storyteller by
creating a scrapbook of Tutu fan art and presenting it to a delighted
Itoh. If you've heard the talk that certain sports coaches are
successful because their assistants went on to become head coaches,
then you could apply the same idea to Itoh's career. She comes from the
unofficial Kunihiko Ikuhara school, having worked under that animator
and storyteller on most of the Sailor Moon series as an animator and
animation director. The romance and drama of those series has to be
reflected in Tutu, and you can find much of the same storytelling
spirit in Magic Users' Club, another series which she animated and
directed.
It
must be an amazing feeling to travel halfway around the world to a
strange land, only to find that people there are in love with your
work. And it must be even more amazing to have that happen two years in
a row. That was the case for animator Ikuko Itoh, who twice traveled to
Austin, Texas to meet with enthusiastic fans of the Princess Tutu
series she created. When the last Ushicon convention was held in 2006,
Itoh was a guest of honor, and spent much of an afternoon fielding
questions from supporters of her stories of a ballet-loving duck who
turns into a human. The 2006 event was special, but it wasn't enough
for Tutu fans. Itoh returned in 2007 for a "block party" of anime fans,
and this time she wasn't alone. Actors from the Japanese and American
version of Tutu were on hand, some of whom made the trip just because
they loved the series and wanted to be in the presence of the creator.
Tutu fans celebrated the appearance of their favorite storyteller by
creating a scrapbook of Tutu fan art and presenting it to a delighted
Itoh. If you've heard the talk that certain sports coaches are
successful because their assistants went on to become head coaches,
then you could apply the same idea to Itoh's career. She comes from the
unofficial Kunihiko Ikuhara school, having worked under that animator
and storyteller on most of the Sailor Moon series as an animator and
animation director. The romance and drama of those series has to be
reflected in Tutu, and you can find much of the same storytelling
spirit in Magic Users' Club, another series which she animated and
directed.