Who..? The Rest of Be-Papas

Okay, so you know all about how director Kunihiko Ikuhara singlehandedly created Utena out of thin air, right? Hee hee... that's not -exactly- true, you know... Be-PaPas is actually a group collaborative, and Ikuhara doesn't deserve all the credit. Because many artists at this behind-the-scenes level do not get the personal credit (or enjoy the fame) of a big name director, personal and biographical information is often hard to come by. But titles are usually easy to locate with a little effort.

Here's some basic information about the other mothers and fathers of Utena, without whom Utena would not be the revolutionary series that it is...

Series Composition: Enokido Youji
By far the most underappreciated anime screenwriter of the last decade and a half, Enokido Youji has been responsible for some of the most distinctive and challenging anime in modern history. He was responsible for Shinji's angst, Sailor Uranus and Neptune's dramatic suicides, and the Vespa-riding, guitar-slingin, living-robot TV cast of FLCL.

Before he became a screenwriter, Enokido was working as a salaryman. His friend Ikuhara tapped him to come write scripts for Sailor Moon, since Ikuhara thought the current scripts were so awful. Enokido accepted the offer, and has been working in anime ever since. It's possible that Enokido and Evangelion director Hideaki Anno met through Ikuhara as well, since Ikuhara was friends with both men. Enokido's list of achievements reads like a parade of greatest hits:

Sailor Moon S: (screenplays)
Sailor Moon Super S: (screenplays)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: (screenplays)
Adolescence Mokushiroku: (screenplay)
Shounen Ou (novel): Author (with Shinya Hasegawa)
FLCL: (Screenplay)
UFO Princess Valkyre: (Screenplay- unconfirmed)

Character Designer: Hasegawa Shinya
A key animator with a penchant for sexy imagery that truly came to flower for the first time in the advertisements and character designs for Utena.

Sailor Moon R, S, SS: (animation)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: (Key animation)
Adolescence Mokushiroku: (character design)
Shounen Ou: Art & Illustration (with Youji Enokido)

He also appears to have personally animated parts of the opening sequence of Tenshi ni Narumon (look for Sarah's appearance; as an aside, TenNiMon! actually does NOT share creative staff with Utena, though it was clearly 'inspired by'- there are a few crossover voice actors though, including Utena and Akio's voices)

Original Concept & Original Art: Chiho Saito:
A manga-ka (comic book artist) for decades, Chiho Saito's virtually a household name in shoujo comics. Her themes are dark, often revolving around dramatic betrayals and incest; often her characters look quite similar to one another. For example, Saionji is a look-alike of a character from one of her earliest and most popular works, Kakan no Madonna (aka Madonna of the Flower Crown) from 1994. Having produced over twenty titles, she is very prolific. Her list of works is too massive to show here. Currently she is working again with Ikuhara and Be-Papas on the manga World of S&M.

Her influence on Utena can hardly be overstated; she is definitely the co-creator of the series. During the production of the movie she argued for Touga's position in the cast to be changed so that Utena would have someone who loved her. She tells a funny story about how she wanted Utena's school uniform to be pink, but Ikuhara shot her down. ("What color do you like, pink or black?" asks he. "Pink!" she says enthusiastically. Ikuhara nods, and says, "We'll go with black then." and walks away.)

Ikuhara says that he wanted to work with her, so he went over and paid a visit to her house every day in person until she let him in.

Concept Designer: Hiroshi Nagahama :
Working on a variety of series, his two most notable efforts apart from Utena are surely his involvement with Jubei-chan and Fruits Basket.

The Cockpit: (Mecha Design)
Jubei-chan: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch: (Assistant Director)
Now and Then, Here and There: (Storyboard, Assistant Director)
Sexy Commando Gaiden: (Assistant Director, Animation Director)
Fruits Basket: (Storyboards, Assistant Director, OP and ED Animator)
Samurai Deeper Kyo: (Opening animator)

Art Director: Shichiro Kobayashi :
An industry veteran of many years. You can often spot Shichiro's distinctive style. If you see a scene that includes a person with a blacked-out silhouette, as in the opening sequence of Utena, it's probably Kobayashi in the credits for art direction, or someone who's doing a deliberate homage to him. This thematic device appears several times in To-y, and Mamoru Oshii's monumental film Angel's Egg features sets that could be extensions of the movie designs for Ohtori Gakuen. Kobayashi's profile is also a greatest hits list:

Venus Wars: (Art Director)
Angel's Egg: (Art Director)
Space Adventure Cobra: (Art Director)
Kimagure Orange Road: (Art Director)
To-Y (OAV): (Art Director)
Castle of Cagliostro: (Character Design)
Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer: (Character Design)
Sohryuden- Legend of the Dragon King #2: (Art Direction)

As an amusing aside, Kobayashi also worked on both Cobra and Cagliostro, which were films that were worked on by director Kimio Yabuki- who also directed Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealers.

Music: Shinkichi Mitsumune :
Apart from Utena and the Utena movie, Mitsumune has provided soundtracks for several other series, including FLCL. His mastery of many different musical styles shines most brightly in Utena, with an astonishing range of instruments, tempos and moods.

FLCL: (Music)
Powerpuff Girls (Japanese): (Music)
Cyber Team in Akihabara: (Music)
KareKano: (Music)
POP: (Music)

Last but not least is:

Assistant Character Design: Hayashi Akemi
She appears first as an assistant to Hasegawa; her name can be seen prominently on many of the illustrations used in commercial magazines to advertise the Utena movie, Adolescence Mokushiroku. From there, she 'graduates' to the next level, and is tapped as the lead character designer for a little series called Fruits Basket. So if you might have thought that Tohru and the Souma family bear an awful lot of resemblance to Utena characters, there's a good reason!

She has incorrectly been credited to several other series, including Nadesico and Kenshin, but those were actually done by other designers. Utena and Fruits Basket are the only series so far to have benefitted from Hayashi's lovely style.

Hope you've enjoyed this introduction to some of the other staff that made Utena great. If you have any bits of biographical information or other known titles to add, please mail me and let me know.