, known professionally as , was a Japanese animator and character designer who worked at Kyoto Animation. She worked as character designer and chief animation director for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006) and the Sound! Euphonium franchise, and after her death in the Kyoto Animation arson attack, she was posthumously credited for her work on the 2023 OVA Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest and the anime's 2024 third season.
Career Shoko Ikeda, a native of Kyoto Prefecture, was born on 18 June 1975. Inspired by the anime OVA Gunbuster to pursue a career as an animator, she was educated at the Osaka campus' Department of Animation, and she joined Kyoto Animation in 1996. During her early years in Kyoto Animation, she worked as an animation director for Inuyasha, for which the studio was a coloring subcontractor, during which she encouraged employees at the studio to "make works of higher quality than any other company". Additionally, her original drawings were featured prominently in the special feature pages of anime magazines.
In 2006, Ikeda was the character designer and chief animation director for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Director Yutaka Yamamoto later recalled that "Haruhi [Suzumiya] was perfectly equal to [Ikeda]," who also admitted that she herself thought Haruhi was "just like me". At Anime Expo 2008, she won the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation Award for Best Character Design for her work on the anime. She also worked as an animation director for Kanon, Lucky Star and K-On!, among others.
In December 2014, Ikeda was announced as the character designer for the Sound! Euphonium anime. She returned as character designer for the anime's second season, as well as the films Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band, Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – May the Melody Reach You! and Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day.
At Kyoto Animation, she continued to improve skills by sketching fashion magazine models and, secretly, other colleagues' work, as well as using another colleague as a model. She supported reforms to address widespread poverty among young animators.
Personal life She was a fan of the Takarazuka Revue's productions of the musical Elisabeth, at one point doing a parody at Kyoto Animation's end-of-year party.
She married university employee in 2007; she illustrated a commemorative picture for her own wedding. They had two children, the eldest of whom was an elementary school student at the time of his mother's death. In 2021, her husband recalled that she "was innocent and really loved anime". She cooked gratin dishes at home.
At the time of her death, she lived in Uji, a city south of Kyoto.
Death Ikeda was killed in the Kyoto Animation arson attack on 18 July 2019; her body was found on the second floor. She was 44 years old. She was posthumously credited as character designer for the 2023 theatrical OVA Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest and, alongside , for the 2024 third season of Sound! Euphonium.
Filmography
Television series Year Title Characterdesigner Chiefanimationdirector Animationdirector Animator 2005 Air 2006 Kanon (Kyoto Animation) 2006–2009 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2007 Lucky Star 2007 Clannad 2008 Clannad: After Story 2009–2010 K-On! 2011 Nichijou 2012 Hyouka 2012–2014 Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! 2013 Tamako Market 2015–2024 Sound! Euphonium (posthumousin season 3) 2017 Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid 2018 Violet Evergarden
Films Year Title Characterdesigner Chiefanimationdirector Animationdirector Animator 2010 The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya 2013 Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!: Rikka Version 2014 Tamako Love Story 2016 Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band 2017 Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – May the Melody Reach You! 2018 Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Take on Me 2019 Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day 2019 Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll (posthumous) 2020 Violet Evergarden: The Movie (posthumous) 2023 Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest (posthumous) 2026 Sound! Euphonium: The Final Movie (posthumous)
References