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Sailor Moon Animation Director Showcase: Ikuko Itoh

Ikuko Itoh is one of the most well-known Sailor Moon animation directors, and for good reason. Joining the team as early as episode 5 and lasting all the way to 166 (the SuperS season finale), Itoh was eventually promoted to Chief Animator and Character Designer for the S and SuperS seasons (replacing Kazuko Tadano). Almost all of the transformations, attacks and promotional artwork for those two seasons is her work, including the absolutely stunning cover art for the S and SuperS laserdisc releases. After leaving the series, amongst other things, she was a character designer and animation director for Magic User’s Club, and is most well-known as the creator of the masterpiece magical girl series, Princess Tutu.

Strengths: PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING! The woman can crack you up, and she can make you absolutely bawl your eyes out. Her character designs and animation style eventually got more pointed and angular as time went on, and boy did those eyelashes grow thick! She is also absolutely amazing at single-frame gags, such as the quick shot of Sailor Moon being kicked in the face during the “Senshi stuck in the alley” scene. She also is really great at drawing smear frames (Google it if you’re not familiar with the phrase, you’re in for a treat).

Weaknesses: You may have noticed that I didn’t include any scenes from her first two episodes, #5 and #18. It’s because the animation is…pretty rough. She drew the heads much too large (compare the gif from episode #24 to any of the others). There is also a very distinct difference in quality between her “filler” episodes and her “plot” episodes. The filler episodes usually look fine, but aren’t up to her usual standard. She also tends to goof up planetary symbols – the symbol on Uranus’ head when the Talismans are combining was upside down, and Small Lady’s crescent moon was missing during her entire dream sequence in episode 159.

Notable Firsts: First (and only) appearance of “Moon Tiara Stardust,” Neo-Queen Serenity, the Holy Grail, “Crisis, Make Up!,” “Pluto Planet Power, Make Up!”, Hotaru Tomoe, Pharaoh 90, Sailor Saturn, “Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!”, “Flame Sniper,” Elderly Nehelenia. And since it would be a crime not to mention it…Nephrite and the 4 Inners’ deaths.

Other Notable Work: Although she only directed two episodes during the R season, she contributed two key scenes to the R Movie – the scene where Little Usagi gives Little Mamoru a rose, and the finale scene where Sailor Moon is brought back from death. She also directed the animation for the second R opening sequence (the one with the Salvador Dali-inspired twisting clocks). The Sailor Moon S has three opening sequences, the first of which is only used in the first two episodes before Haruka and Michiru’s introduction. In this first sequence, you can see the Inners using manga-exclusive attacks such as “Mars Snake Fire” and “Flower Hurricane.”

Misc: You can spell her surname as “Ito,” “Itou,” “Itō,” or “Itoh,” but I use the latter spelling because it is how her work is credited on the S and SuperS laserdiscs, as well as how she spells it in her own signature. Also, although she directed the animation for almost all of the OPs/EDs, attacks and transformation sequences, Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno did the animation direction for Sailor Uranus and Neptune’s transformation sequences (Itoh animated Pluto’s, if you’re wondering). In Episode 104, there is an extended homage to Crayon Shin-chan, which aired on the same channel (TV Asahi) as Sailor Moon.

These Scenes Are From: 24, 31, 45, 55, 68, 111, 124, 125, 152, 166

If you’d like to see more analysis and screenshots of Ikuko Itoh’s work, please check out my “The Animation Art of Ikuko Itoh” blog series! (Yes, she’s my personal favourite animator, if you couldn’t already tell)