Toshiyuki Itahana left Square Enix and became a freelance illustrator at the end of 2025
Toshiyuki Itahana announced that he had left Square Enix at the end of 2025. The illustrator best known for his works in Final Fantasy IX and the Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon series has decided to start working as a freelance starting in 2026.
As a side note, Itahana's company tenure did not entirely exist with Square Enix. He initially joined Banpresto as a character illustrator. But when the studio took part in the development for the first Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon entry that came out for PS1 in 1997, Itahana was also part of the team. This created a connection with Squaresoft, to which he would later move on.
Other than the aforementioned titles, Itahana is also known for doing the character designs in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Explorers, and Mobius Final Fantasy among others. He also contributed character designs as a guest for Devola & Popola in NieR: Automata and Sphene Alexandros XIV in Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail.
You can find Toshiyuki Itahana's tweet and a copy of the official English announcement from his Note blog right below.
🖌️Announcement
— 板鼻利幸 TOSHIYUKI ITAHANA (@ItahanaT) January 5, 2026
After concluding my work on the FINAL FANTASY IX 25th Anniversary project,
I left Square Enix at the end of last year.
From this year onward, I will be working as a freelance illustrator.
I’ve shared more details on note.👇https://t.co/kDPpiWF0MQ
As I began thinking seriously about preparing myself to continue drawing for many years to come, I decided to leave Square Enix at the end of last year.
Last year marked a major milestone with the 25th anniversary of FINAL FANTASY IX, a truly significant event, and I was deeply grateful to see so many people celebrating FFIX.
With the illustration work and supervision related to the 25th anniversary now complete, I feel a strong sense of accomplishment in having fulfilled the role entrusted to me. At the same time, I felt this was the right moment to draw a line under this chapter and take on new challenges.
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From here on, I will be working as a freelance illustrator and character designer.
While remaining deeply grateful for all the connections I’ve been fortunate to receive through my work so far, I hope to draw upon my experience and continue creating a wide variety of new artwork.At the moment, I’m still finding my way—listening to advice and learning from senior freelance illustrators—but if you happen to come across my work somewhere, I would be truly happy if you could support me.
To everyone who played the games I worked on at Square Enix, and to all those I had the pleasure of working with over the years, thank you very much. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude, and I sincerely hope for your continued support in the future.
May this new year be an exceptionally happy one for all of you.
Toshiyuki Itahana
Jan 05, 2026