Akiyoshi Hongou is credited as the creator behind Digimon's original concept and character designs across all official media. The thing is, virtually nothing is publicly known about who Hongou actually is—because the name is a pseudonym combining three people.

The three creatives behind it are Aki Maita (co-creator of Tamagotchi), Hiroshi Izawa (who wrote the first Digimon manga), and Takeichi Hongo (Bandai's marketing director at the time). Together, their names fused into the single credited identity fans know today.