Kunihiko Ikuhara
Auteur anime director, most famously of the TV series Revolutionary Girl Utena and its movie The Adolescence of Utena, plus Sailor Moon R, Sailor Moon S and Sailor Moon SuperS as well as the R movie. Also notoriously evasive about giving straight answers to his more surreal works. Kanashimi no Belladonna has been cited as an influence of his, which is quite easily seen in Utena.
![](http://static.miraheze.org/allthetropeswiki/5/5c/Kunihiko_ikuhara.png)
This is just between you and me, but when I was fourteen, I saw a UFO. |
That UFO telepathically told me this prophecy:"When you grow up, you will direct an anime about girls revolutionizing various things." |
Surely you jest. |
"You must not tell anyone about me. If you ever do..." |
Wh-What will happen to me? |
"People will call you a sketchy guy." |
His latest work, Mawaru Penguindrum, aired from July to December of 2011 as part of that year's summer anime lineup.
Worked on:
- Aoi Hana (opening)
- Goldfish Warning
- Nodame Cantabile (opening)
- Maple Town Monogatari
- Mawaru Penguindrum
- Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Sailor Moon (Episodes 60 - 166)
- Schell Bullet
Tropes associated with him:
- Cloudcuckoolander - Understatement of the century.
- Dream Team: He would like to collaborate with David Lynch. Just...think about that for a second.
- Then there's his collaboration with Mamoru Nagano on Schell Bullet. A perfect storm of FABULOUS!
- Jossed - Often looked to by fans for answers, often takes gleeful delight in disappointing them.
- Lying Creator - Possibly, when asked about Utena.
- Probably the best example is his response via Twitter to people asking about Mawaru Penguindrum:
All of you have enjoyed making your predictions. Now, I'll tell you the truth. Yes. Just as all of you have predicted all along: the Penguindrum is a pink washing machine. |
- Mind Screw
- Prima Donna Director - He's been known to be difficult to work with.
- Shrug of God - Obviously!
- Trolling Creator - Big time!
- Wholesome Crossdresser - He's been known to cosplay as Sailor Mars.
- Yuri Fan - He openly admitted on the commentary for the Utena movie that the ending is "the sort of thing I thought about a lot when I was younger." Said ending, by the way, involves two naked girls speeding away on the remains of a car when said car was one of the girls moments before.