Transcribed by: Stephen Bazja

What inspired you to become an artist?

Ito: I immensely enjoyed anime and games, and I wanted to draw and get involved with it.

Are you currently working on any new PC games?

Ito: Yes, I am working on a new PC game right now.

How do I draw cute female characters?

Ito: Think of what their most important feature is, start from there, and emphasize it.

When designing some of your iconic characters like Haruhi, Shana, and Yuki, what exactly were you envisioning when you were creating them? Were you working off of something provided to you or were you just thinking them out of your head?

Ito: Whenever I design a character, I always, if there’s an original novel involved, I’ll definitely be reading the original version and be very open to any interesting ideas that might come to me, but there’s also an element of inspiration to any new things that come to mind.

How much control do you have over the character design, especially the color palette, used for characters in PC games as opposed to regular media for other characters?

Ito: When it comes to a PC game, when I’m drawing a character I’ll first do a rough drawing which is a line drawing, and then I’ll pass that off to a graphic artist who does the coloring and they do it under my instruction but I’m not actually the one coloring those characters. If it’s something really important for a poster or promotional image, I’ll do the coloring myself.

Did you start drawing at a young age?

Ito: I always liked looking at pictures and drawing since I was a kid, but I was really bad at drawing. So I got a friend of mine who was really good at drawing to draw things for me, and then I took those pictures. When I actually started to draw myself, I was in middle school and junior high.

Favourite series as a kid?

Ito: Urusei Yatsura by Rumiko Takahashi.

How did you get your start in the eroge industry, and please share your experiences gained by working in it.

Ito: The very first game company that I worked for was one that made eroge games. It’s not that I didn’t have resistance to working at a company that made that kind of game, but I really wanted to draw, and I wasn’t in a position where I could really choose my workplace. I had to take what was offered, but overtime, working on that sort of game really helps you increase your basic skill at being able to pose people in different positions, and that’s actually something that I think really helped me. Nowadays, of course, there are a lot of women creators working on those games.

Are you working on a new Haruhi light novel at the moment?

Ito: Among the things that I’m working on right now, there is actually something like that, and right now Haruhi is being serialized in a magazine called Za Sunika, which you may be familiar with, and part of the new material is going to be available as an advanced promotion in this month’s issue of that magazine. After that I’m not really sure what’s going to happen.

A lot of your ero games are focused on male audiences; do you ever feel uncomfortable drawing those scenes?

Ito: I don’t ever feel uncomfortable drawing those scenes for a male audience because that’s sort of a given. We know already when we’re making the game who the audience is going to be, and we know that the point of the game is that the male audience really enjoys seeing the cute females.

Is there anyone in particular you would like to work with for a manga or anime series?

Ito: No one really jumps to mind as far as people I’d like to work with if I had the chance, but I think if I was able to work with, for example, a novelist who had very different tastes from mine and who were normally working on things that were different from what I work on, it would be fun and interesting to me.

How do you feel about the new Haruhi Suzumiya movie?

Ito: I wasn’t involved very much, although I was involved in drawing the illustrations for the pamphlets and other things for the movie. As far as the movie itself and what I think about it, I’ve had a chance to see it and I think it’s a wonderful movie. I really enjoyed it, and it’s something I think the original author would be very proud of.

Which character design artists do you respect the most or feel the most inspired by?

Ito: There are so many people that I respect and feel inspired by that I can’t possibly list them all, sorry.

What series did you most enjoy working on?

Ito: I love all of them and I have deep feelings about all of them. I’m afraid I can’t narrow it down to just one, sorry.

Have you ever wanted to make your own series?

Ito: I am unable to come up with plot or stories and prefer to focus on character design. I love to bring life to someone else's world. I have some interest in it, maybe someday, but I would need to learn how to come up with a plot and such first.

What does your family think of your adult works?

Ito: My family doesn't know, as far as I know at least. They know I am an illustrator and they support me for that, but if they did find out, I would probably apologize despite the fact they would accept what I do.

When was the first time you attended Comiket, and what was the process of making something to take to Comiket?

Ito: The first time I attended Comiket was as a regular attendee, as a customer who would buy the comics, and then eventually I got involved in a circle of people that would make comics and sell them. We sort of wanted to keep it in a small group so that we could better enjoy the feel of being in a big convention and sort of enjoyed the party aspect of it.

How much time do you spend on drawing, and do you have a favorite medium to work in?

Ito: It’s completely different depending on the picture I’m drawing. For example, if I was drawing one character then it would probably take me half a day to go from rough drawing to finished, polished work. As far as what media I like the best, my very favorite thing is to take a pencil and draw hair. Sometimes though, depending on the day, it just takes too long and I’m just like, “ah I want this to be over with,” and on those days my favorite part is coloring.

I am a huge fan of yours. My name is Godzilla, will you please marry me?

Ito: Sorry, I am already married.

What is your favorite character, and do you play any of the games that your characters are featured in?

Ito: All of the characters are associated with their own memories so I’m afraid I can’t narrow it down. As far as playing the games that they appear in, it’s my policy to at least once play through the whole game and experience it from the eyes of the viewer.

Has there ever been a time when there was a dispute between you and the people you are working for?

Ito: No, there hasn't.

There are several groups out there which translate games for the enjoyment of the English speaking community without going through the Japanese companies for permission. What are your thoughts on people translating the eroge your art has appeared in?

Ito: First off, I am happy to have more people see and experience what I’ve done, but there are people who actually pay money in order to get these works, and it’s unfair to them otherwise. So I’d rather have you buy it properly and legally, and fair and square than to obtain it from an illegal route.

With the character Wilhelmina from Shakugan no Shana, are there any comments on her or her design?

Ito: Wilhelmina who appeared in Shakugan no Shana first of all I talked to the creator of the original work, Takamashi-san, who told me that this character would wear a maid uniform, and we discussed some other things about this character. Also it occurred to me just in my head that I think this character would be on the sunnier side and she’d be very tall and thin and the most important part of her design is her expression, that she never has one. When I was thinking of designing her I was thinking about a doll or a mannequin to be her main point of the design.

How much of your work has been inspired by traditional Japanese art from the 18th-19th century?

Ito: I can’t speak specifically to how much I’ve been influenced by woodblocks or those specific traditional arts, but the fact that those traditional arts gave Japan a sort of mysterious feel is something I’ve noticed and tried to use and exploit in my work. So for example, when I made the cover for the first artbook for Shakugan no Shana, I decided to make the background black and to have on top of that a yellow, and by the combination of those two colors I wanted to express the feeling of Japan.

Often one of the most fun things about creating a character is designing their outfits. Do you make them up as you go along, or do you have a reference that you like to use?

Ito: Sometimes when I’m designing a character I’ll think of an outfit immediately that’ll be the outfit that I’ll give them. Sometimes when I can’t think of anything, I’ll go outside and take a walk and I’ll look at what people walking around the city are wearing, or I’ll buy a magazine and look at what the people in it wear.

Have the studios at J.C. Staff or Kyoto Animations presented any difficulties in translating your designs from print to anime?

Ito: There hasn’t really been any trouble in adapting my work to animation. It’s all been done very smoothly. I’m afraid I can’t speak for other projects because I haven’t really been involved with them.

The colors and thickness of the lines in your images can vary at times within the same images. How do you decide how to represent the character through these?

Ito: When I’m drawing a character, first what I want to do is insert myself as fully as possible into the atmosphere and into world of that character and sort of try to get myself into the mind of either that character or somebody looking at them. As far as the line thickness goes, I am not deciding the line thickness at all. It just comes out as it comes out according to how I feel right then at that very moment. The same thing goes for the colors. I’ll think about that characters' characteristics and personality, and I’ll use the colors that occur to me as part of the feeling that accompanies that character as part of emotion and atmosphere that comes with that character, and that’s how I’ll decide the colors that I use.

What do you think of gender swapping Haruhi characters, and have you ever drawn any yourself?

Ito: I know quite well about the subject and I think it’s hilarious, but I’m afraid that if I were to draw any of the characters, it would be perceived as official art and so I can't join in.