Akira Matsushima

After graduating from middle school he entered Yoyogi Animation vocational school where he fell in love with animation. He then joined Jec.E, a sub-contracting studio. After it's bankruptcy he went freelance, but had a seat he used for workspace at Studio Elle. In 2010, he joined ufotable and has been one of its key members since, together with animators like Nozomu Abe, Masayuki Kunihiro and Masaru Kimura. In 2019, he served as the character designer and chief animation director on Demon Slayer and the movie sequel following it, which became the highest-grossing anime film and Japanese film of all time.

Highly praised for his work as an animation director on Rurouni Kenshin, Hunter x Hunter and Naruto.

Influenced by the likes of Tetsuya Nishio and Nobuteru Yuuki.