Akiyuki Takehara

"'I want to live.' - Akiyuki Takehara"Akiyuki is the one of the main protagonists of the series.

Personality
Akiyuki is enthusiastic and can be described as a caring and charismatic person, oftentimes willing to help others. This is first shown when he takes it upon himself to help Nazuna get on the school bus by distracting an officer and giving her his armband.

Biography
Akiyuki is first seen getting ready for school. After leaving him, he drops by his father's clinic to drop off his lunch. He then rushes to the bus stop, meeting his childhood friends Haru Nishimura and Furuichi Teraoka. It is there that he meets Nazuna, a girl that he has never seen before who he notices lacks an armband. Taking it upon himself to help her, he distracts the officer and gives her his armband. When she later tries to return it, he quietly insists that she keeps it.

Later, after getting off of the bus, Nazuna suddenly detonates herself, releasing mysterious streams of light from within her. Before he can react, one of these lights shoots into his right arm. Shortly after, he notices Nazuna is still alive on the bus and quickly goes to make sure she is alright. Once there, he learns that she was the cause of the explosion and after she creates an irremovable mask upon his face, he suddenly begins to transform into a mysterious creature known as Xam'd.

Immediately following Akiyuki's transformation, the Northern Government attacks Sentan Island, releasing multiple humanfrom weapons. After he manages to save his close friend, Haru Nishimura, and defeat one of the humanforms, Akiyuki is subdued by a mysterious woman named Nakiami. She takes him back to the postal airship, the Zanbani, where she begins to help him learn how to coexist with the being within him.

Skills and Abilities
After being implanted with a Hiruko by a suicide bomber, he gained the ability to be turned into a Xam'd. His Xam'd appearance is a white humanoid creature with orange stripes, green knee pad-like shells that cover his knees, and a head that resembles a goldfish.

Following abilities that he gained as Xam'd: In spite of his remarkably immense powers, he still has weakness where his experience with Xam'd power and relationship with Hiruko are concerned. If he stays in his full Xam'd form or partially transformed for too long, he would either begin turning to stone, or suffer amnesia where his face would be masked. Even though his relationship with his Hiruko eventually improved, it was still not enough to prevent him from suffering amnesia in the prolonged transformations.
 * Superhuman Strength: As a fully transformed Xam'd, his natural strength is amplified several times, and even enables him to jump large distances. While partially transformed, his strength is also amplified, but not as much as in his full Xam'd form.
 * Biological Explosion: Akiyuki appeared to possess this, though it only works against Humanforms. He can perform this by channeling electrical impulses to his Xam'd foe's body through his fists, which makes them inflate and explode.
 * Blade: Whether in full Xam'd form or partially transformed, he can transform his right hand into a large blade that can cut through flesh at ease and even cut up a Humanform.
 * Tendril Attack: Akiyuki can turn his fingers into long tendrils with unspecified maximum length that can ensnare and possibly cut through a Humanform's body.
 * Shield: He can manipulate his Xam'd mass into a powerful round shield that can deflect a Humanform's spore beam attack.
 * Spore Wings: After he remembered his identity thanks to his second reunion with Haru, he gained a new Xam'd power to manifest ethereal, insectoid wings that enable him to levitate in the air.
 * Transference: In battle with the Black Xam'd Emperor, Akiyuki meets the masked emperor on the spiritual plain while their Xam'ds do battle. As they talk, it becomes plain that the emperor isn't truly evil, but just wishes to live. So Akiyuki displays his final Xam'd ability, the transference of his being to the Xam'd Emperor, giving the emperor everything. When he does this, the emperor gains the memories of Akiyuki, and Akiyuki's name, while Akiyuki becomes a masked wanderer, and his Xam'd form is turned to stone.

Haru Nishimura
Haru is Akiyuki's childhood friend. She promised Fusa that she would look out for him, so she is often seen worrying about his well being.

Fusa Takehara
Fusa is Akiyuki's mother. They seem to have a well enough relationship, though Fusa is often seen scolding him.

Ryuuzo Takehara
Ryuuzo is Akiyuki's father. They seem to have a well enough relationship, though Akiyuki is often seen as the one taking care of his father, instead of the other way around.

Furuichi Teraoka
Furuichi is Akiyuki's childhood friend.

Trivia

 * He is the first Xam'd shown in the series.


 * It is learned that he does not do well in school.