Ken'ichi Ishikura, a Japanese anime director and storyboard artist, embarked on his professional journey as a production assistant in the year 2000. Following several years of experience as a freelance episode director, he started collaborating with Shaft in 2007, taking on the roles of episode director and storyboarder. For the next five years, Ishikura worked primarily for Shaft, making his debut as a series director with the anime series Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chū. After this period, his collaborations with Shaft began to dwindle.
