Akio Hotta is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator born in 1956 in Yubari City, Hokkaido. While one source lists his birth year as 1958, the preponderance of records indicate 1956. He began his career at Tezuka Productions, where he worked as an assistant to the legendary manga creator Osamu Tezuka. Following this formative period, Hotta made his professional debut with the work Tenshi no Tsubasa.

Hotta is credited as the creator behind the manga Flag, which served as the basis for the anime Saitama Bōsō Saizensen Flag! Shinimonogurui no Seishun!!. Another of his noted works is the manga Carying. His bibliography also includes contributions to the World Biographies series published by Shueisha, for which he provided the manga adaptations for the lives of the Japanese historical figures Ikkyū Sōjun and Hideyo Noguchi.

Beyond his original serialized works, Hotta has explored more personal and collaborative projects. In 2019, he and his wife, Kayo Hotta, who is also a manga writer, published Tezuka Osamu Ashisutanto no Shokutaku, a manga that recounts their experiences at the table of Osamu Tezuka during his time as an assistant. The couple has also collaborated on other nonfiction manga, including works detailing their experiences with infertility treatment and travels in India. His career is thus defined by a foundation in the classic manga industry, the creation of original works that have seen anime adaptation, and a continued output in both fictional and autobiographical genres.