Ichiban Sato

 Ichiban Sato is the founder of FÖZZIE and the CEO of Big East, the distributor of FÖZZIE's animated productions. Sato used to work with the The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau releasing animated ads. That is, until he spotted a tax loophole that allowed one to get a tax rightoff if you release a derivative work for the original company and it flops (especially for animated shows), this type of thing was common in that era.

Ichiban Sato quit his job and created FÖZZIE and Big East searching

for a cheap license and found it with the Wizbits Elemenstor Battle card game. Ichiban Sato hired director Tomono Shuuan due to his known mental issues, and hoped it would flop by adding alot of material that would be found objectionable by its young target audience.

Far from flopping however, the show was an instant success, much to the dismay of Sato. If he is unable to make the series fail, he could be charged with tax evasion. So he hired the eccentric James Langomedes to direct and produce an importing of the series, then Sato hired Niles Taylor to drive up censorship costs. The plan did not work, as again it was a suprise success.

In 2001, the walls came closing in as Ichiban Sato was about to be caught. However, Ichiban Sato in a last-ditch attempt planted the incriminating evidence on James Langomedes. By early 2002, the police had followed the evidence to James Langomedes and among other drug and exporting charges, he was charged with tax evasion, effectively stopping both animated franchises. Mysteriously, most of the workforce started to die off by heart attacks over 85% who were said to be "laid off" At least half of those who died had the "real truth" about Sato.

Investgators only realized their mistake when a mysterious detective known only as "R" came forward. Sato and R were cat and mouse for several years until Ichiban Sato disappeared mysteriously in late 2004, selling the studio to  Multigame Corp,using the money to support himself on the run. He was rumored to have left a note that supposedly read "Exactly as planned. - Starborn Gem". It is believed Ichiban Sato used the powers of the Starborn Gem to kill James Dolan, the employees of his studios who knew about the Gem and others connected to the The Shoe Masterpiece. Police repeatedly deny this, but this does not stop conspiracy theories.