Benimaru Itoh: Difference between revisions

'''Benimaru "Ashura" Itoh''' (Japanese: '''伊藤「アシュラ」紅丸''') is a manga artist, designer and musician who began drawing comic strips for various [[Nintendo]] franchises, including {{wp|Star Fox (series)|''Star Fox''}} and {{wp|Metroid (series)|''Metroid''}}. Itoh then worked closely with game designer [[wp:Shigesato Itoi|Shigesato Itoi]] whilst at Ape, Inc. on the {{wp|EarthBound (series)|''EarthBound''}} (''Mother'' in Japan) series of games. Ape, Inc. later became known as [[Creatures, Inc.]], where Itoh became involved in the development of several Pokémon titles, and also illustrated a handful of cards for the [[Pokémon Trading Card Game]]. During this time he became more involved in 3D development, serving as a chief designer and supervisor on a number of games. He eventually moved to [[HAL Laboratory, Inc.]] in 2002, where he has continued to work on the {{wk|Kirby (series)|Kirby}} franchise.<br>

Itoh is also an accomplished guitarist, and was the guest host for the {{smw|Mario & Zelda Big Band Live}} concert, held at Nihon Seinenkan Hall, Tokyo on September 14, 2003. The concert featured performances based on music from {{smw|Mario (series)|''Mario''}} and {{zw|The Legend of Zelda (Series)|''The Legend of Zelda''}}, as well as original music. The collaboration of The Big Band of Rogues, Yoshihiro Arita and his band performed jazz, Latin, country, and bluegrass arrangements – Itoh himself started the concert off with a guitar solo rendition of the Mario opening theme. The concert became the source of a CD and DVD.<br>