During her education at the art school, Ishizuka made a number of short animated films for her own enjoyment, often set to music.
However, by this time Ishizuka had already been hired by Madhouse as a production assistant, and feeling that it would not be right to accept freelance work outside of the studio, she turned them down.
However, the Minna no Uta staff was unwilling to give up, and they requested that Madhouse take on the music video project with Ishizuka as director.
Her art was featured at the 2007 Tokyo International Anime Fair, and Madhouse started to promote her talents publicly, leading some within the industry to speculate she would become the first female series staff director at the studio.
[3] Shortly thereafter, it was announced she would again be filling the role of assistant director of the upcoming anime adaptation of the popular Korean online game MapleStory.