Kazuki Akane

Kazuki Akane has directed a number of well-received animated epics, many of which featured science fiction and fantasy elements as well as the familiar premise of ordinary youth finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. He started his career at Sunrise, the studio responsible for the popular series "Gundam"; after working as a storyboard artist, he directed 1996's "The Vision of Escaflowne," which took elements of anime for teenage boys and girls and threw in an otherworldly adventure for good measure. The series was written by Shoji Kawamori, whom Kazuki would collaborate with again throughout the next decade on series for the studio Satelight, where Kawamori served as executive director. These included the 2002 "Heat Guy J," a futuristic cop drama aimed more at grown-ups than at teenage audiences; and "Noein" an '05 sci-fi series about a war that takes place not only in the future, but between different possible futures existing in parallel universes. As in "The Vision of Escaflowne," "Noein" opens with seemingly normal Earth teens transported to a far-off place. Kazuki directed both series, among others, before freelancing on "Birdy the Mighty," a latter-'00s anime about an interplanetary cop who through unfortunate events becomes melded with a teenage boy.