Shou Aikawa, born Noboru Aikawa on August 9, 1965, in Tokyo, is a highly regarded Japanese screenwriter and original creator known for his extensive work in anime, tokusatsu, and original video animations. He began his career in the industry at a young age, writing a script for an anime series while still in high school before working as a magazine editor. Early in his career, he used the pen name Sanyo Goro, and has also written under other aliases including Hayuki Itabashi, Kuro Hazuki, and Furaku Kosoyama. He is recognized as a distinctive figure in Japanese animation, often noted for crafting ambitious and large-scale stories within fantasy and supernatural genres.

Aikawa has been the original creator behind several notable anime series. In 1998, he created Neo Ranga, and in 2000, he created Clockwork Fighters Hiwou's War, which was also the first original production by the acclaimed animation studio Bones. The series is a historical fantasy set in an alternate Meiji period featuring steam-powered robots. He continued his collaboration with Bones by creating and writing the 2006 historical fantasy series Ghost Slayers Ayashi, also known as Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi. The story, set in 19th-century Edo, follows a group of outcasts who fight supernatural beasts. He is also the creator of the 2006 series Simoun and the 2015 superhero anime Concrete Revolutio, which he co-created with Bones and which received a second season titled Concrete Revolutio: The Last Song. These original works demonstrate his consistent interest in blending historical settings with fantastical elements and complex, morally ambiguous narratives.

Beyond his original creations, Aikawa has a significant history of adapting existing works and serving as a series composer, or head writer, for numerous popular anime. His most prominent role in this capacity was for the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist and its subsequent film, Conqueror of Shamballa. He also served as the head writer for series such as Martian Successor Nadesico, Love Hina, Un-Go, and Eureka Seven AO. In the tokusatsu genre, which refers to live-action special effects productions, Aikawa is notable for being one of the few writers to have contributed to all three major Japanese franchises: Ultraman, the Kamen Rider series including Kamen Rider Blade and Kamen Rider Decade, and the Super Sentai series like Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger and GoGo Sentai Boukenger.

Shou Aikawa is considered a significant figure in the animation industry for his versatile writing skills and his willingness to tackle complex and politically provocative themes. He is known for his dense scripts that frequently incorporate metafictional commentary, dark narrative tones, and references to Western culture, including American comic books. While he has received acclaim for his ambitious storytelling, he has also been noted for creating scripts with a high density of information that can sometimes be challenging to fully unpack. Despite announcing a near-retirement from animation work around 2017, his extensive body of work as both an original creator and a series architect has cemented his reputation as a veteran and influential storyteller in Japanese anime and tokusatsu.