He has created and collaborated on several notable anime and manga series, including Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Penguindrum, Yurikuma Arashi, and Sarazanmai.

[1] After graduating, Ikuhara began work at Toei Animation, where he served as assistant director to Junichi Sato on Maple Town Monogatari, Akuma-kun, Toushou!!

Ikuhara also helped supervise the production of other Utena-related works, including a Sega Saturn video game and a stage musical.

He is currently writing the manga Nokemono to Hanayome, illustrated by artist Asumiko Nakamura and published monthly in Japanese fashion magazine KERA.

[4] In an interview, Ikuhara was asked if he had any American filmmaker influences, to which he answered Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch.

"[5] As with fellow directors Hayao Miyazaki and Yoshiyuki Tomino, Ikuhara's works (especially Mawaru Penguindrum and Yurikuma Arashi) contain certain criticisms of the capitalist system.

Ikuhara has attended several conventions and similar events, given interviews to fans and reporters, and, along with Chiho Saito, provided commentary tracks for the DVD releases of Utena.