Young at heart

Akioboy (pronounced ah-key-oh-boy) is a combination of two words: akio, which is Japanese for “bright; shining man,” and boy, which is used to contradict the latter half of the word. It’s like saying “man-child.”

It’s also the name of Birmingham native Ronnie Moore Jr.’s company.

An entertainment company based in Birmingham, Akioboy began in 2014 as a fashion and lifestyle brand, but has since expanded. “At its core, it’s like a lifestyle brand for other nerds and geeks who are in the video game and cosplay culture,” Moore said. 

He said their mission is “to promote the idea that everyone’s the main character of their life story,” and that the business “represents staying young at heart and creating yourself like character customization in a video game,” which is represented in the logo.

Moore’s interest in anime, video game and cosplay piqued when he found popular animated TV show “Dragon Ball Z” after school as a kid. “From there, I just kind of got into it,” he said.

He found his creative side when he was younger, too, and after drawing and doodling characters for many years, a friend noticed and jokingly called him “man-child” — later giving way to his company’s name, but infusing the anime influence to include the Japanese word “akio.” 

“I was always an artist growing up,” he said. “But the actual computer side [for graphic design on merchandise] came from my job where I’ve been since 2006.”

A sign maker at Instant Sign Center in Trussville, Moore’s boss gave him a book early into his career to learn more about graphic design. “Read through this and learn,” Moore recalled his boss saying. “I fell in love with it. Vector art, that’s kind of therapeutic to me.”

As the brand of his company grew, Moore needed experience and equipment to take photos of people wearing his merchandise. So he invested — financially and mentally — in camera gear.

“From there, I realized I had a love for directing and filming and such,” he said. “So I decided to run with that as well.”     As of mid-August, his Youtube channel, found under Akioboy, has over 90 cosplay and indie videos, all anchored in anime and ranging from three minutes to nearly 30 minutes in length.

“I’m trying to bring something different in terms of like, think like a live action anime, but it’s got more emotion into it,” he said. “It’s very different and that’s kind of how I want Akioboy to be; always having this sense of being whimsical.”

Moore said he doesn’t typically work with clients on a personal basis, although he has collaborated with Youtube celebrity Caleb Hyles, but has worked with different conventions for both merchandise and video content. Most recently, he designed shirts that were sold at Birmingham’s Magic City Con. A lot of what he does comes by word of mouth.

“The productions we do, they’re kind of our productions,” he said. Aside from using music from local artists or artists he’s found online for the cosplay videos, everything is done in-house, even the score to many of his longer indie films. 

“It’s different,” he said of Akioboy’s productions. “I kind of want it to be that thing where you’re confused when you see it, but then you go down the rabbit hole.” Eventually, he would like his brand to stand out so that when a viewer sees an Akioboy video, they can tell he created it just from the style.

With the many different facets of his business, Moore said his company’s organization is loosely based on what Disney has done. By creating one, overarching umbrella of a company, Akioboy is a conglomerate that can work on graphic design, video production, music production and more in the future — all without a storefront.

“You don’t actually always have to have a storefront,” Moore said. With everyone having access to the internet these days, he said those who are interested can contact him or purchase merchandise from their online store, akioboy.com.

That’s not to say he wouldn’t like to have a storefront or home base in the future. “That’s my dream, to walk down the hallway and see people working on different characters,” he said, and within the next five years or so, he’s hoping to grow Akioboy to where it’s his full-time job. 

After growing the company from its roots in Birmingham, Moore said others have told him that what he’s doing is unique to the city and he plans to keep moving forward with it all.

“Even if tomorrow everyone said, ‘Oh, we don’t care about Akioboy’ … I would still keep doing it,” he said. “Because that’s what I love.”

Learn more about Akioboy at akioboy.com or the brand’s Facebook page at facebook.com/akioboybrand.