Fukuda is a graduate of Waseda Senior High School. While in school, he was a member of the manga research society.[2] After graduating from high school, he joined Sunrise in 1979 at the age of 19.[3] He calls himself a disciple[4] of Takeyuki Kanda, who directed Ginga Hyōryū Vifam, Choriki Robo Galatt, and Metal Armor Dragonar among others.
For the OVA series Future GPX Cyber Formula SAGA, Fukuda selected his wife, Chiaki Morosawa, who had been a family friend to talk with about work, to write the scripts, and since then, he has entrusted series composition to Morosawa for almost all of the works he has directed (Morosawa's scriptwriting work is also almost exclusively limited to series directed by her husband Fukuda).
Fukuda's major works include Future GPX Cyber Formula, Gear Fighter Dendoh and the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED series. Although he has been on a freelance basis since Dragonar, when he turned to directing, his participation in other companies' productions has been very limited, with the majority of his work being Sunrise productions. He has a close relationship with Takayuki Yoshii, former president and chairman of Sunrise, and Naotake Furusato, former producer at Sunrise, and most of his career has been spent participating in their works and series. In addition, as mentioned above, most of Morosawa's participation has been limited to works directed by Fukuda, but Furusato was the producer of Outlaw Star, the only series in which Morosawa participated that was not directed by Fukuda.