Akira Itou - one the same or different?

[Tora]

I am wondering about Akira Itou, if there's 2 Akira Itou that have worked with Yoshihiro Takahashi or just one.

First, we have Shōnen To Inu with Akira Itou spelled as 伊藤昭.
Second, we have FANG with Akira Itou spelled as 伊藤アキラ.

Are they the same Akira Itou, or 2 different people?

[Digsu]

I tried looking this up and it was... inconclusive, to say the least. The only 伊藤アキラ I could find was a Japanese lyricist whose Wikipedia doesn't credit him with Fang, while 伊藤昭 turns up this page which says he only ever worked on Ginga No Inutachi and something called the Tetsuo Aoki Masterpiece Collection. It also doesn't list him as having worked on Fang, but it also doesn't mention Shounen To Inu (which is admittedly just the original release of GNI but you'd still think that would warrant a mention). Not helping matters is that trying to look up a mangaka called Akira Itou mostly just brings up results of another, more well-known Akira Itou, who's definitely not the guy we're looking for as his first name uses a different kanji and as far as I can tell his first works came out in the early 2000s.

So I couldn't find any solid info one way or another. However, if I had to guess, I'd say they're both the same Akira Itou, seeing how both Shounen To Inu and Fang came out only a few years apart from one another and the stories also have very similar themes (ie. they will both beat you up over the head with how much humans suck until you roll your eyes into the sun).

[Tora]

Thanks Digsu.

I dunno if this info from Shounen to Inu, this info from Ginga no Inutachi, as well as the info from Fang vol 2 about each Akira Itou can tell anything?

[Digsu]

Thanks Digsu.

I dunno if this info from Shounen to Inu, this info from Ginga no Inutachi, as well as the info from Fang vol 2 about each Akira Itou can tell anything?

I can't make out the text on the Fang one too well, but I think it's him just talking about the themes of the story and such.

I have a Japanese copy of GNI myself (and to me it looks the text is identical to what's in Shounen To Inu) so I could take a proper look at it, and it's... a bizarre little short story? Or something?

On his deathbed, a man asked the gods:
"Are there dogs in the place where I'm headed?"
The gods pondered for a moment, then answered:
"No place without dogs can be Heaven."
However, dogs are not angels. They are mischievous little demons.
Life in Heaven among demons...
Today, the two black demons are as lively as always.

Not sure how helpful that is. Though going off on bizarre philosophical tangents like that happens a lot in both Shounen To Inu and Fang, so it does kind of make me even more inclined to believe it's the same Akira Itou who wrote them both.