Yoshitoshi ABe 安倍吉俊
Original character design (anime and game), NAVI and device design, game illustrations, AX graphic+text serial
ABe barely drew until after high school, then learned as an assistant to a manga-artist friend and entered the Japanese painting department of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1994, winning an Afternoon Shiki award that year. He had a homepage from early 1996, where Ueda found his work and emailed him in the winter of his senior year; he joined the project after his graduate exams. Lain was his first professional job. He describes the design as a loop of meetings and sketches until the team recognized Lain, credits Ueda with the asymmetry and himself with the X clip, and designed every NAVI as a machine he wanted to own. He drew about 46 illustrations for the game, plus an unrequested rough of Lain's father that became the father's design in the game. Ueda calls him a painter rather than an illustrator, because mood shows in his line. The 1999 artbook an omnipresence in wired collects his Lain work. He later created Haibane Renmei and held a 30th career anniversary exhibition, Enkan Kiten, in July and August 2025.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org archived · ja.wikipedia.org archived · archived page · archived page · lawmune.net · 4gamer.net · gigazine.net · lain.wiki · kai-you.net