Project Itoh is the pseudonym of Satoshi Ito, a Japanese science fiction author whose career, though brief, left a significant mark on the genre. He was born on October 14, 1974, and passed away at the age of thirty-four on March 20, 2009, due to lung cancer. Despite his short life, his literary output formed the foundation for a major multimedia animation project that brought his dystopian visions to a global audience.

Itoh made his literary debut in 2007 with the novel Genocidal Organ, which was a finalist for the prestigious Komatsu Sakyo Award. He followed this success with the novel Harmony in 2008. At the time of his death, he was working on a third novel, The Empire of Corpses, which was left unfinished. The manuscript was later completed by his friend and fellow author To Enjo and published in 2009.

His original works are united by their dark, intellectually rigorous exploration of near-future societies. His fiction often examines the relationship between technology, state power, and individual human consciousness. Genocidal Organ is a military science fiction thriller that follows a special forces agent hunting a linguistic mastermind who can trigger genocide through a hidden psychological mechanism, exploring themes of counterterrorism and the nature of violence. Harmony presents a seemingly utopian world where healthcare has become the central ideology, and a global medical network monitors citizens to ensure their well-being, leading a group of women to rebel against this pacifying, all-consuming system. The Empire of Corpses, distinct for its 19th-century steampunk setting, reimagines a world where Frankenstein's reanimation technology has been industrialized, following a young John Watson as he seeks the secrets of creating a corpse with a soul.

In 2014, the noitaminA programming block on Fuji Television launched a project titled Project Itoh to adapt these three novels into a series of theatrical anime films. The initiative was intended to celebrate and preserve the author's legacy. The three films were produced concurrently but by different animation studios with distinct creative teams. The Empire of Corpses was the first to be released in October 2015, directed by Ryotaro Makihara and produced by Wit Studio, the studio known for Attack on Titan. Harmony was released a month later in November 2015, directed by Michael Arias and Takashi Nakamura at Studio 4°C, a studio renowned for its artistic and experimental productions. The adaptation of Genocidal Organ faced production difficulties; the original studio, Manglobe, declared bankruptcy. The project was subsequently completed by the newly formed Geno Studio, and the film was finally released in February 2017, directed by Shuko Murase.

The Project Itoh film series also spawned manga adaptations. A manga adaptation of Genocidal Organ, illustrated by Gato Aso, was serialized and collected into three volumes. Similarly, a manga version of Harmony, illustrated by Minato Fumi, was also released, offering another visual interpretation of the source material.

The significance of Project Itoh within the anime and manga industry lies in the critical recognition of the source novels and the ambitious nature of their adaptation. Harmony received the Nihon SF Taisho Award and was given a special citation at the Philip K. Dick Award, an uncommon honor for a Japanese novel, highlighting its quality and thematic resonance with English-language science fiction. The unified film project, despite its troubled production, stands as a rare example of a posthumous, multi-studio cinematic tribute to a single author. His work continues to be celebrated for its prescient, cynical, and deeply philosophical take on the future of humanity, cementing his status as a singular voice in modern Japanese science fiction.