Takami Akai

Akai attended Osaka University of Arts majoring in fine art. While studying there, Akai created the character designs for the Daicon III 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 and Hideaki Anno.

He was a board member of Gainax. 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 2channel. He runs his own company titled NineLives.

He is portrayed by actor Tomoya Nakamura in the 2014 TV Drama Aoi Honō based on the autobiographical manga by his fellow Osaka University of Arts alumnus Kazuhiko Shimamoto. Akai himself cameos in the series as a bathhouse manager in Episode 10.