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Ikeda Touyou was born March 10, 1974 in Tokyo, Japan. He was an animation producer and president and representative director of Encourage Films. Ikeda was influenced by Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon and decided to go into animation. After majoring from college he joined the Yoyogi Animation Gakuin. After graduating he barely made a living at first and wasn't able to join a company until he was picked up by the newly established Digimation. After Digimation merged with Gonzo he continued to work for Gonzo Digimation and subsequently after the renaming back to its old name for Gonzo. He was a producer at Gonzo, until he left in 2007 to become independent. He later established animation production company Encourage Films with the aim to produce happy animation for and together with fans, without any restrictions and boundaries, which was also the reason for the company's name. The establishment of the company together with animation supervisor and character designer Oizaki Fumitoshi was announced at the Phoenix Birth Event, related to Kaleido Star: Legend of Phoenix - Layla Hamilton Monogatari, by Loft Plus on August 10, 2008 in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. He married on May 13, 2007. The wedding reception was done by voice actress Oohara Sayaka who had previously done the voice of Layla Hamilton in Kaleido Star, a series he produced for Gonzo.
