, is an anime and video game illustrator and character designer from

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

Biography

Well known for sparking the popularity of the

mecha musume is a form of anthropomorphism in anime and manga where '' moe'' qualities are given to non-human beings (such as animals, plants, supernatural entities and fantastical creatures), objects, concepts, or phenomena. In addition to ''moe'' feature ...

boom within the 2000s, Fumikane was involved in various

dōjin In Japan, is a group of people who share an interest, activity, or hobby. The word is sometimes translated into English as "clique", "fandom", "coterie", "society", or "circle" (as in "sewing circle"). Self-published creative works produced b ...

activities as one of the creators of military hardware girls. Various illustrations were featured in various commercial hobbyist magazines during this time, and his designs have been used in figurines by Toranoana and

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

. Later, he became involved in the character design for various military-themed anime television series and video games. In July 2013, Fumikane was responsible for designing military recruitment posters and other promotional material for the

Japan Self-Defense Forces The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, the ...

.2014-01-13
日自衛隊"萌女兵"受捧自衛官及防衛大學報名人數大增
,

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...

Art style

Fumikane's works are well known for their unique mechanical girl design, which involve girls dressed in the armour of various mechanical systems. He is also able to draw detailed illustrations of weapons based on his knowledge of the mechanics of military weapons, and is not limited to drawing female characters.

Main works

Anime

Sky Girls is a Japanese anime franchise produced by Konami and animated by J.C.Staff. A 30-minute OVA episode was released on August 25, 2006 and a television series adaptation aired on Chiba TV from July 5, 2007, to December 27, 2007. Plot In the ...

(2006-2007): Conceptual mechanical design, Original character design *

Strike Witches is a Japanese media mix originally created by Fumikane Shimada via a series of magazine illustration columns. The franchise has since been adapted into several light novel, manga, and anime series and various video games. ...

(2007-present): Original character design *

Busou Shinki is a Japanese media mix franchise from Konami Digital Entertainment, first launched in Japan in 2006 with a line of action figures followed by a companion online game. The franchise encompasses various manga, anime, novels, video gam ...

(2011-2012) *

Girls und Panzer , abbreviated as ''GuP'' or ''Garupan'' , is a Japanese anime franchise created by Actas which depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsutomu ...

(2012-present): character design *

Kantai Collection , abbreviated as , is a Japanese free-to-play web browser game developed by Kadokawa Games and published by DMM.com. The central theme of the game is the representation of World War II warships Moe anthropomorphism, personified as teenage girls ...

(2015) * Frame Arms Girl (2017-2019) * Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise (2019): Mobile Doll May design *

Alice Gear Aegis is a Japanese mobile game developed by Pyramid and published by Colopl; it was originally released in January 2018. The game received an original video animation adaptation by Nomad in September 2021. A console variant of the mobile game, t ...

(2023)

Videogames

* Hayate the Combat Butler: Nightmare Paradise: mechanical design *

video games (2006-present) *

Dariusburst is a horizontal scrolling shooter developed by Pyramid and published by Taito. Forming part of the ''Darius'' series, it was released for the PlayStation Portable on December 24, 2009. Like previous ''Darius'' games, ''Dariusburst'' is an offbea ...

(2009): character design *

(2013-present): character design and in-game sprite illustrations *

(2018-present) *

Sakura Wars is a Japanese steampunk media franchise created by Oji Hiroi and owned by Sega. It is focused around a series of cross-genre video games. The first game in the series was released in 1996, with five sequels and numerous spin-off titles being ...

(2019): guest character design for the Berlin Combat Revue (Elise and Margarethe) *

(2020-present): character design *

Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and ...

(2021): Galatea Design

Commercial magazines

* MC Akushizu * Spiegel Series

Figures and Model Kits

Mecha musume is a form of anthropomorphism in anime and manga where '' moe'' qualities are given to non-human beings (such as animals, plants, supernatural entities and fantastical creatures), objects, concepts, or phenomena. In addition to ''moe'' feature ...

: character design *

: character design * Frame Arms Girl: character design * Megami Device: character design

Dōjinshi

* *: illustrations

Artbooks

*『島田フミカネ ART WORKS』, published by Kadokawa Group Publishing. .

Other

* * * Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase

References

External links

*
Fumikane Shimada on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimada, Fumikane 1974 births Video game artists Japanese video game designers Anime character designers People from Okayama Prefecture Living people