Ken’ichi Ishikura

    Citizenship Japan
    Career 2002 — ...
    Genres Animation, Anime, Comedy

    Facts

    Ishikura began his career in the industry in 2000 as a production assistant for Invincible King Tri-Zenon under E&G Films, and made his debut as an episode director with the 18th episode of Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars. For the next several years, he worked mainly as a freelance director. In 2007, Ishikura had his first job with Shaft as an episode director and storyboard artist for Hidamari Sketch. Ishikura was working with a subcontracting studio when they asked him to choose one of their projects to work on. Ishikura chose Hidamari Sketch as he had seen director Akiyuki Shinbo's previous works including Pani Poni Dash!, which was a type of project he was interested in working on. According to him, Ishikura often got in trouble in his previous works for including too many parodies to other works; but for Hidamari Sketch, director Shinbo and the staff gave him the okay to do such. For the next 5 years, Ishikura worked mainly with Shaft, and made his series directorial debut with Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chū (under Shinbo's general direction). The following year, he directed the third season to the Hidamari Sketch franchise with Shinbo, but he started to work less with Shaft. Following his mainstay departure from Shaft, Ishikura dirercted Da Capo III (2013) at studio Actas, but mainly based himself out of Studio Deen, where he directed both Sakura Trick (2014) and a short Ongaku Shōjo (2015) film. He stopped series directing for the time and focused mainly on episode directing and storyboarding until 2025 with the release of I'm a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic.

    Top Rated Shows

    Filmography chart

    Title Ratings: 6.68
    My Ratings:
    • Anime 20%
    • Animation 20%
    • Drama 12%
    • Romance 12%
    • Adventure 8%
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      Critics
                                  • Reset

                                  Director — 14

                                  2025
                                  1
                                  Botsuraku Yotei no Kizoku Dakedo, Hima Datta kara Mahô o Kiwametemita, 2025 — ...

                                  Anime, Animation, Adventure, 23 min
                                  Japan • Ken'ichi Ishikura

                                    2017
                                    2
                                    2017
                                    1 episode, 2017

                                    Anime, Animation, Sci-Fi, 25 min
                                    Japan • Masaki Tachibana...

                                      2015
                                      3
                                      Ongaku shoujo, 2015

                                      Animation, Short, 25 min
                                      Japan • Ken'ichi Ishikura

                                        4
                                        2015

                                        Animation, Short, Music, 25 min
                                        Japan • Ken'ichi Ishikura

                                          2014
                                          5
                                          2014
                                          12 Episodes, 2014

                                          Anime, Animation, Comedy, 23 min
                                          Japan • Ken'ichi Ishikura...

                                            2013
                                            6
                                            2013

                                            Anime, Animation, 23 min
                                            Japan • Ken'ichi Ishikura

                                              2010
                                              7
                                              Hidamari sukecchi hoshimittsu, 2010
                                              12 Episodes, 2010

                                              Anime, Animation, Romance, 25 min
                                              Japan • Ken'ichi Ishikura...

                                                2007
                                                8
                                                Ef: A Tale of Memories., 2007 — episode director
                                                1 episode, 2007

                                                Anime, Animation, Drama, 24 min
                                                Japan • Shin Onuma...

                                                  9
                                                  Nagasarete Airantô, 2007
                                                  1 episode, 2007

                                                  Anime, Animation, Comedy, 25 min
                                                  Japan • Hideki Okamoto...

                                                    2006
                                                    10
                                                    Amaenaideyo!! Katsu!!, 2006 — unit director
                                                    2 Episodes, 2006

                                                    Anime, Animation, 25 min
                                                    Japan • Keitarô Motonaga...

                                                      2005
                                                      11
                                                      2005
                                                      1 episode, 2005

                                                      Anime, Animation, Drama, 22 min
                                                      Japan • Osamu Kobayashi...

                                                        12
                                                        2005 — episode director

                                                        Anime, Animation, Comedy, 25 min
                                                        Japan • Akira Nishimori...

                                                          13
                                                          Shuga shuga rûn, 2005 — 2006
                                                          1 episode, 2006

                                                          Anime, Animation, Fantasy, 25 min
                                                          Japan • Hideaki Anno...

                                                            2002
                                                            14
                                                            Asagiri no miko, 2002 — 2005
                                                            3 Episodes, 2002

                                                            Anime, Animation, Short, 12 min
                                                            Japan • Yûji Moriyama...

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