<p>As far as I can tell, this is just a coincidence. This producer wasn't part of the original School Days visual novel production team, and he worked on anime before the School Days anime or VN (the earliest apparently being Meine Liebe (2004)). The School Days VN came out in 2005, which seems to rule out it being a pen name chosen because of the character. He made a brief joke on the <a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2816191">39th episode of the radio show "Radio School Days"</a> regarding their names which seems to confirm that they aren't related.</p>

<p>According to <a href="http://schooldays.wikia.com/wiki/Makoto_It%C5%8D">School Days Wiki</a>, the basis for (the fictional character) Makoto's name is actually from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%C5%8D_Hirobumi">Itou Hirobumi</a>, who was prime minister of the Japanese empire for four terms.</p>

<p>As a note, Itou Makoto (written as 伊藤 誠) isn't an uncommon name. Itou is the 6th most common surname, and Makoto is the <a href="http://www.japanorama.com/zip/100%20given%20names.pdf">18th most common given name</a> (these figures may change somewhat depending on the source, time period, etc. but are just meant as demonstrations of commonality). <a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E8%97%A4%E8%AA%A0">This Wikipedia disambiguation page</a> lists 6 real people with that name. While it's still a pretty big coincidence that a producer would end up having the same name as a character, it's not unbelievable.</p>

<p>Source (for everything unsourced above): <a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E8%97%A4%E8%AA%A0_%28%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E5%88%B6%E4%BD%9C%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%83%87%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC%29">jp.wikipedia article</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-28T08:19:22.807Z
Very well made answer! I'm interested in the radio show you're talking about. Is a transcript or audio sample available for reference?
chirale
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-28T15:20:08.323Z
@chirale I added a link to nicovideo with the episode of the radio show above. Itou Makoto shows up at around 8:30. I don't know of any English translation of it, nor could I find the video on YouTube.
Logan M
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-28T21:28:04.973Z
A very complete answer, thank you Logan. I will try to get a transcript of the show.
chirale
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-27T21:55:19.983Z
2013-05-28T15:16:43.897Z
2013-05-28T15:16:43.897Z
Logan M
<p>Itou Makoto (伊藤 誠) is a main character from 2005 0verflow's eroge School Days that later (2007) got an anime adaptation. However, the protagonist name appears as an actual staff member in the credits of the anime <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=97202">as of Anime News Network</a>, credited in other more recent works too.</p>

<p>Who really is Itou Makoto? Was the character named after a real person or the name of the character used as a pen/collective name?</p>

<anime-production><school-days>
Who is Itou Makoto (producer) and how is he related to the character with the same name?
# Who is Itou Makoto (producer) and how is he related to the character with the same name?
Posted by: username_0 on 2013-05-27
Itou Makoto (伊藤 誠) is a main character from 2005 0verflow's eroge School Days that later (2007) got an anime adaptation. However, the protagonist name appears as an actual staff member in the credits of the anime [as of Anime News Network](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=97202), credited in other more recent works too.

Who really is Itou Makoto? Was the character named after a real person or the name of the character used as a pen/collective name?
**Tags:** anime-production school-days
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## 1 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2013-05-27. Score: 11 | Accepted answer
As far as I can tell, this is just a coincidence. This producer wasn't part of the original School Days visual novel production team, and he worked on anime before the School Days anime or VN (the earliest apparently being Meine Liebe (2004)). The School Days VN came out in 2005, which seems to rule out it being a pen name chosen because of the character. He made a brief joke on the [39th episode of the radio show "Radio School Days"](http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2816191) regarding their names which seems to confirm that they aren't related.

According to [School Days Wiki](http://schooldays.wikia.com/wiki/Makoto_It%C5%8D), the basis for (the fictional character) Makoto's name is actually from [Itou Hirobumi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%C5%8D_Hirobumi), who was prime minister of the Japanese empire for four terms.

As a note, Itou Makoto (written as 伊藤 誠) isn't an uncommon name. Itou is the 6th most common surname, and Makoto is the [18th most common given name](http://www.japanorama.com/zip/100%20given%20names.pdf) (these figures may change somewhat depending on the source, time period, etc. but are just meant as demonstrations of commonality). [This Wikipedia disambiguation page](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E8%97%A4%E8%AA%A0) lists 6 real people with that name. While it's still a pretty big coincidence that a producer would end up having the same name as a character, it's not unbelievable.

Source (for everything unsourced above): [jp.wikipedia article](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E8%97%A4%E8%AA%A0_%28%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E5%88%B6%E4%BD%9C%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%83%87%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC%29)
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2013-05-28): Very well made answer! I'm interested in the radio show you're talking about. Is a transcript or audio sample available for reference?  
> **username_1** (2013-05-28): @chirale I added a link to nicovideo with the episode of the radio show above. Itou Makoto shows up at around 8:30. I don't know of any English translation of it, nor could I find the video on YouTube.  
> **username_0** (2013-05-28): A very complete answer, thank you Logan. I will try to get a transcript of the show.  
---
