Kunihiko Ikuhara

幾原邦彦

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. 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.

Style
Ikuhara is an incredibly unique artist, but draws a lot of influence from Osamu Dezaki, making interesting anime that focuses on maximal impact on minimal drawings. Key examples would be Onii-sama e... and 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, which is used to depict unrest and disorientation.

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 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.