is an illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

, game creator, character designer and animator born on November 21, 1961 in Yonago

Yonago, Tottori

is a city located in the northwest of Tottori Prefecture, Japan, facing the Sea of Japan, and adjacent to Shimane. It is the prefecture's second largest city after Tottori and therefore a commercial center of the western part of this prefecture....

, Tottori Prefecture

Tottori Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region. The capital is the city of Tottori. It is the least populous prefecture in Japan.- History :Before the Meiji Restoration, Tottori encompassed the old provinces of Hōki and Inaba...

, Japan. He was a board member of Gainax

Gainax

is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as Gunbuster, The Wings of Honneamise, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which have gone on to critical acclaim and commercial success, as well as for their association with...

, and runs his own company titled NineLives. His wife is Kimiko Higuchi. He stepped down from Gainax board after an incident in which he and another employee made disparaging remarks about fan criticisms made on the Japanese Internet forum

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

 2channel

2channel

is a Japanese textboard. In 2007 there were 2.5 million posts made every day. Launched in 1999, it has gained significant influence in Japanese society, comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. As of 2008, the site generates revenue upwards of ¥100...

.

Career history

Akai attended Osaka University of Arts

Osaka University of Arts

is a private arts university located in Kanan, Minamikawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The university was founded in 1945 as , changing its name to in 1957, and then to in 1964...

 majoring in fine art

Fine art

Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....

 . While studying there, Akai created the character designs for the Daicon III

Nihon SF Taikai

The is an annual science fiction convention held in Japan. Each of these conventions is officially the , but they are more popularly known by the official nicknames given to them based on their locations, e.g. TOKON or DAICON .Each year the Nihon SF Taikai attracts between 1,000 and 1,500 science...

 opening animation. The main staff for the Daicon III and Daicon IV opening animations went on to create the animation studio Gainax. Akai was in the same class as Hiroyuki Yamaga

Hiroyuki Yamaga

is a founding member of the Japanese animation studio Gainax, and a anime director. He wrote the screenplay for Gundam 0080 . He is best known for directing the film "Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise" at age 24, directing Mahoromatic & Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi , and an episode...

 and Hideaki Anno

Hideaki Anno

is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...

.

Works

• Aikoku Sentai Dai Nippon
• Akai Takami Works
• Banner of the Stars
  Banner of the Stars
  is a series of science fiction novels written by Hiroyuki Morioka, which serve as sequels to Crest of the Stars. The series is ongoing. Three of the four novels in the series have been made into anime.- Characters :Main characters:...
  
  (anime, character designs)
• Crest of the Stars
  Crest of the Stars
  is a three-volume space opera science fiction novel written by Hiroyuki Morioka with cover illustrations by Toshihiro Ono. Beginning in 1999, the novels were adapted into anime series, the first of which ran for 13 episodes on WOWOW...
  
  (anime, character designs)
• Dennō Gakuen
• Kaettekita Ultraman (Daicon Film)
• Petite Princess Yucie
  Petite Princess Yucie
  is an anime series, which was produced by Gainax, aired from 2002 to 2003, and ran for 26 episodes. Six volumes of videos were released on DVD by ADV Films in the United States. As of Sep. 1, 2009, the series is now licensed by ADV's successor, AEsir Holdings; with distribution from Section23 Films...
  
  (anime, original story, character design)
• Princess Maker
  Princess Maker
  is a series of Japanese life simulation bishōjo games by the computer game and anime production company Gainax. The first Princess Maker, while popular enough to be translated into Chinese, was never released in the United States. Princess Maker 2 was translated by for a North American release,...
  
  (game, character design, director)
• Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
  Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
  is a 1987 Japanese animated science fiction film and the first film produced by Gainax and Bandai Visual. It was directed and written by Hiroyuki Yamaga with assistant director Takami Akai. The film would eventually be a critically acclaimed Gainax classic, but it was poorly received and sold only...
  
  
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
• Yamata no Orochi no Gyakushū
  Yamata no Orochi no Gyakushu
  is a tokusatsu kaiju fan film shot on 16mm by Daicon Films . It was released on December 1985 and runs at 72 minutes. This was the most heavily promoted of Daicon's fan films. It was so successful that it was released on video by Bandai/Emotion...
  
  

External links

• NineLives Official Site
• Gainax Net Akai interview Gurren Lagann interview Lagann, Daicon interview