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Hisato Inoue (井上•ヒサト; pronounced He-Sou-Tow Ee-no-ay) was a staff member who created six different Sanrio characters in total; Badtz-Maru, Hangyodon, Donragon, Donjarahoi, JungleBikky, and Accyan ga Ichiban.


Hisato was born in Katsushika City on July 10th, 1957. He went to Tama Art University, one of the top art schools in Japan, and graduated with Graphic Design as his major.

Sometime in the 1980s after graduating from Tama Art University, he got hired and worked for Sanrio initially as a position in planning and designing various characters. During his time at the company, Hisato created Hangyodon in 1985 and Badtz-Maru in 1993, who both were incredibly popular and continue to be so today. Donjarahoi and Accyan ga Ichiban—his final Sanrio character created in 1994—weren't as well known but still received plenty of attention, merchandise, and even being featured in Sanrio OVAs in the case of the former. However, Donragon and JungleBikky remain fairly obscure due to reasons mentioned on their respective pages.

Hisato left Sanrio in 1995 to start work as a freelancer in Character Design, Celebrity caricature creation, Three-dimensional doll production for media such as postcards, and has created more characters unaffiliated with Sanrio such as Nemuta who has been in picture books by Hisato. He has also been involved in game development and designing characters for video games including バッドばつ丸 ゴージャスタウンは大さわぎ! where Hisato is credited as a director. His first character he made unaffiliated with Sanrio after his leave was Korasho.

Hisato is also the creator of the toilet humor themed comic/manga series Boo Boo Paradise, which has been given it's own social media accounts on different platforms including Instagram to showcase the comics that also have animated counterparts.

He now resides in Kanagawa Prefecture where Hisato also serves as a part-time lecturer, including at Joshibi University of Art and Design since 2011.


Trivia

  • Hisato Inoue appears as a character in Rururugakuen known as Professor Inoue who looks similar to how he does in real life.
    • A character resembling Hisato also appears in the OVA Hangyodon no Parallel Daisakusen: Mirai Sekai wa Oosawagi, as one of the first characters Hangyodon and friends meet in the future.
  • Hisato frequently appeared at different Sanrio events where he would interact with fans and sign autographs.
  • According to Hisato's Twitter account, he is married to an unnamed spouse.
  • Although Hisato has designed merchandise for his own characters, he did not come up with the English taglines that sometimes appeared on them.[1]
  • Hisato is a fan of the American animated comedy television series Spongebob Squarepants, which is also popular in Japan.
  • Hisato enjoys collecting merchandise based on his characters (with a focus on the retro goods) which he usually showcases on his social media accounts and provides his thoughts on the items.
  • Hisato is a fan of several different Sanrio characters including My Melody and Peek-a-Boo (which he helped with creating a Filing Pocket for).

Gallery

Sources

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