Andrew

Akira is Takao's friend. They are both around the same age and live in the same neighbourhood. Akira is relatively well respected there, meaning he has probably won many battles. However, he once met with Hiruta, member of Shell Killers, and got his beyblade stolen by this stronger blader. Learning this, Takao challenged Hiruta to a beybattle and defeated him, therefore regaining all the beyblades Hiruta had taken away. So, in a sense, Akira losing to Hiruta and losing his beyblade is really what made Takao progress and start the series at first. He was a key element.

Even though he was important at the beginning, he was completly forgotten afterwards since Takao moved around the world to compete in tournaments. Akira only appeared in the first two episodes anyway.

Trivia

 * The name Akira means 'intelligent' in Japanese. 'Andrew' is Greek for 'manly'.