Akiko Nanbara

Akiko Nanbara (南原 顕子) is the chief of the C.A.A.C.'s response bureau and an antagonist for the beginning of the series. She is a central figure in the Japanese government's efforts to promote artificial lifeform technology, and aimed to recover Aiko Tachibana's artificial body to achieve this.

Nanbara had known Kyōsuke Isazu and Susumu Kurose ever since college, being a year ahead of them where she once dated Kurose during that time.

Etymology

 * The name Akiko means "reveal, appear, existing" (顕) (aki) and "child" (子) (ko).
 * Akiko's surname Nanbara means "south" (南) (nan) and "field, plain" (原) (hara/bara).