Itaru Hinoue

Itaru Hinoue
Born	March 1 Osaka, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Education	Vocational school
Known for	Visual novels
Notable work	Kanon, Air, Clannad, Little Busters!, Rewrite

Itaru Hinoue (樋上 いたる, Hinoue Itaru^?, born March 1) (pseudonym) is a female Japanese artist from Osaka, Japan, and is one of the founding members of the visual novel brand Key under VisualArt's. Hinoue's choice of her pseudonym stems from the manga C by Shō Kitagawa; the protagonist in the manga was named Itaru Amano (天野 格, Amano Itaru^?). Before forming Key, Hinoue worked for the company Tactics where she had a hand in the creation of the three games for that company: Dōsei, Moon, and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e. After forming Key, Hinoue has become known for her work on such titles as Kanon, Air and Clannad. Her dōjinshi circle is known as "Soldier Frog". In September 2016, Hinoue resigned from Key and VisualArt's.

Hinoue entered a vocational school to become a professional artist due to the influence of the popular adult visual novel Dōkyūsei by ELF. Her first work for a visual novel was as one of many artists for Tamago Ryōri by Bon Bin Pompon in 1996, but shortly after transferred to the software company Tactics under the publisher Nexton. There, she was the art director of three games: Dōsei, Moon, and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e. After the completion of One, Hinoue and much of the staff who made both Moon and One, including Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito, Naoki Hisaya, and OdiakeS, left Tactics to work under the video game publishing company VisualArt's where they formed the company Key. At Key, Hinoue was the sole art director for their first three titles, Kanon, Air, and Clannad, but did not contribute for the two games that followed, Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet, and Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life.

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