Ichirō Itano

Ichirō Itano (板野 一郎) is a Japanese anime artist, director, and producer. He has worked in a number of science fiction anime series, especially mecha-themed ones.

Itano Circus
Itano is best known among anime fans for a style of action scene that he developed, usually nicknamed "Itano circus" (板野サーカス) or "Macross missile massacre" by fans; it refers to a highly stylized and acrobatic method of depicting aerial combat and dogfights in many anime, particularly the Macross series.

The animated action sequence technique became famous when Itano used it for the "dogfights" depicted in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime TV series from 1982.

The Itano Circus is characterized by detailed, fluid shading of the mecha, the close-range acrobatic moves the duelling fighters make in combat, as well as twisting contrails left by fighters and missiles. It is also commonly used in specific reference to an attack where a mecha or spaceship launches a large swarm of missiles with meticulously animated spiraling smoke trails and erratic trajectories.