, sometimes credited as
Kouichi Ishii, is a
video game designer perhaps best known for creating the
Mana series (known as
Seiken Densetsu in
Japan). He joined
Square (now
Square Enix) in 1987, where he has directed or produced every game released in the
Mana series (as of 2006). He has also contributed to several games in Square Enix's
SaGa and
Final Fantasy series, and created the well-known
chocobo and
moogle characters.