Toshiyuki Itahana, the man behind Final Fantasy IX's iconic character designs, has departed Square Enix in order to become a freelance artist and illustrator.
In a post on Japanese platform Note (which is in both Japanese and English and which was spotted by ResetEra user Xenosaga), Itahana says he left Square Enix following a period of "thinking seriously about preparing [himself] to continue drawing for many years to come". His departure actually came at the end of 2025.
Itahana goes on to say that while he feels "deeply grateful" towards those who celebrated Final Fantasy IX for the JRPG's 25th anniversary last year, completing the "illustration work and supervision" for the occasion led him to "draw a line under this chapter and take on new challenges".
In conclusion to his post, Itahana says he's hoping to "continue creating a wide variety of new artwork" as a freelancer and expresses his "heartfelt gratitude" to former colleagues both at Square Enix and elsewhere.
As well as Final Fantasy IX, Itahana has worked on a number of other Square Enix projects, including the likes of Final Fantasy XIV's Dawntrail expansion, where he provided character concept art (but nothing beyond that, so I...
