D-Boys (stylized as D-BOYS) is a young male actors group affiliated with

Watanabe Entertainment is a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate and a member of the Watanabe Production Group. Its head office is in Shibuya, Tokyo and the company's principle functions include organizing television and radio programming, managing Japanese entert ...

. The ''D'' in the group's name stands for "Drama" (acting work), "Dream", "Debut", "Discovery" and "Development" (growth and advancement). Although the D-Boys are promoted as a group and members occasionally work together on the same projects, each actor develops his career independently from his fellow members in their own television, cinema and theatre projects. New D-Boys members are regularly selected through public audition events with interactive participation of fan club members.

Members

Current members

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Former members

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

D2 members

In 2009, D2 was formed as D-Boys' younger brother group. In October 2013, D2 joined D-Boys to become its sub-group. ;Current members *

Yukito Nishii Yukito is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yukito can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples: *幸人, "happiness, person" *幸斗, "happiness, Big Dipper" *行人, "to go, person" *行斗, ...

* Ryo Mitsuya * Syo Jinnai * Atsushi Arai * Ryosuke Ikeoka * Yuki Yamada * Takahisa Maeyama * Shotaro Okubo * Jun Shison ;Former members * * Toru Kamitsuru * Kenki Yamaguchi * Yoichiro Omi * Shintaro Akutsu *

Shion Tsuchiya Shion is a Japanese given name, and may refer to: Sportspeople *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese figure skater *, Japanese footballer Musicians *, a R&B singer *, a pop singer *, a singer-songwriter *Shion Tsurubo (鶴� ...

* Takuya Negishi * Atsushi Shiramata

Group projects

In addition to their individual careers, the D-Boys are also involved in collective projects, as part of the group promotion work.

''DD-Boys''

''DD-Boys'' was a drama-documentary variety series, featuring the D-Boys members as themselves. Each episode had a short staged section following the plot of the members living in the fictional ''D-House'' and seeking ways to raise money for rent, followed by a documentary section showing the members undertaking tasks or challenges to raise that money. Some tasks were inspired by the actor's own personality -e.g., a member who was known to enjoy singing or dancing would have a task related to that hobby, etc. The show was 23 episodes long and aired from 10 April 2006 to 25 September 2006 on TV Asahi.

Stage works

Fan club events

The D-Boys hold special events where fan club members have the opportunity to meet the actors in person and interact with them in camp activities and games such as cook-offs, tug-of-war, etc., in which the members are split into teams, leading groups of fans to compete with each other. * Official Fan club Day Camp Bus Tour (November 13, 2005) * Official Fan club Limited Bus Tour (August 25 to August 27, 2006) * Official Fan club 3rd Anniversary Bus Tour (September 6 to 8, 2007)

Live tours

During the summer of 2009, 19 D-Boys members, including

Yu Shirota is a Japanese-Spanish actor and singer, most known for his role as Kagurazaka Makoto in the Japanese television drama live action adaption of ''Hana-Kimi'', Kunimitsu Tezuka in the '' Prince of Tennis Musicals'', Tuxedo Mask in the Sailor Moon ...

participated in performances for fans at Akiba Plaza called "Kotoshi no Natsu wa Mainichi Dokoka de D-Boys Uki-uki Yatta Hohohoy" or for short, ''Natsu Doko''. There were 49 performances in total of dances, songs and skits. New D-Boys member, Yusuke Yamada, was introduced to fans during these performances. Three CD+DVD sets featuring different recorded audio theater by separate groups of D-Boys members and footage of ''Natsu Doko'' were released on December 16, 2009. Due to the success and demand of ''Natsu Doko'', a live tour called ''Fuyu Doko 2009'' was held in the winter of 2009 with 19 D-Boys members and

visiting major cities in Japan to promote the ''Natsu Doko 2009'' CD+DVD release. It was the first live tour around the nation for the group.

Radio

* Marvelous Radio Vibration (May 5, 2005 - April 1, 2006) - weekly radio show hosted by

Kotaro Yanagi is a Japanese actor. Early life Yanagi was born on December 21, 1985, in Berlin, Germany. He lived in Germany for three years before moving back with his family to Japan. His family moved to India for work, and he lived there for three years. H ...

and Yukki. * D-Radio Boys (October 2007/present) - weekly radio show hosted by

Masato Wada is a Japanese actor and singer. He is known for his role as Sengoku Kiyosumi in ''The Prince of Tennis'' musical series, Tenimyu (and making a cameo in the ''Prince of Tennis'' live action film adaptation). He is also part of a young men's sta ...

and

Shunji Igarashi is a former Japanese actor known for his role as Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius in the 2006-2007 tokusatsu series '' Ultraman Mebius'' and several spin-offs in the Ultra Series following that. Igarashi was affiliated with the acting unit D-BOY ...

, featuring guest D-Boys members.

Other

* 43rd Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Young Man Colosseum" (January 1, 2006) - television guest appearance, performed by

Masaki Kaji is a Japanese actor and singer. He is known for his role as Takeshi Momoshiro in the ''Prince of Tennis'' musical series, ''Tenimyu'', and the live film adaptation. He was also part of a young men's stage acting troupe, D-BOYS, which perform in ...

and Hiroki Suzuki. * 44th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Chinese Lion Dance" (January 1, 2007) - television guest appearance, performed by

Yuya Endo is a Japanese actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Ryoma Echizen in ''The Prince of Tennis'' musical series (commonly known as ''Tenimyu''). He was also part of a young men's stage acting troupe, D-BOYS, which perform in various sk ...

, Hiroki Suzuki,

and Yuma Minakawa. * 45th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Ikemen Jumpers" (January 1, 2008) - television guest appearance, performed by

Kouhei Kumai D-Boys (stylized as D-BOYS) is a young male actors group affiliated with Watanabe Entertainment. The ''D'' in the group's name stands for "Drama" (acting work), "Dream", "Debut", "Discovery" and "Development" (growth and advancement). Although ...

, Koji Seto, and

Shingo Nakagawa is a Japanese stage and screen actor from Tochigi Prefecture. Nakagawa was affiliated with the acting group D-BOYS, produced bWatanabe Entertainment He joined D-BOYS on the group's second open audition in July 2005, receiving the Judge's Choice ...

. * 45th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Kakushi Gei Dancing Ikemen" (Fuji TV - January 1, 2009) - television guest appearance, performed by

Tomo Yanagishita is a Japanese former actor. He was a member of the acting group D-Boys. Yanagishita joined the unit D-Date (D☆DATE) of the same agency as a new member. It was announced at the last performance of the live tour in Tokyo Dome City Hall on June ...

, Endo Yuya,

, Makita Tetsuya, Taito Hashimoto, and Ryuki Takahashi.

Media

D-Boys members have released merchandise in the form of photobooks, DVDs and CDs individually, or in relation to a work project (e.g. character image CDs/photobooks). As a group, they have released a calendar featuring all D-Boys members and the following items:

Official photobooks

DVD series

Discography

The D-Boys have released on December 16, 2009, three CD+DVD sets featuring different recorded audio theater by separate groups of D-Boys members on CD and footage of ''Natsu Doko'' on DVD. ''Natsu Doko 2009'' debuted on the Oricon Charts i
11th

References

External links

*
Watanabe Entertainment official website

Interview with U (Shirota Yu)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:D-Boys Japanese entertainers Japanese male actors Watanabe Entertainment Japanese boy bands