is a Japanese actor and singer. His major works include lead roles as Wataru Kurenai in ''

Kamen Rider Kiva is the 2008 ''Kamen Rider'' Japanese ''tokusatsu'' television series produced by Toei Company and Ishimori Productions. It is the series' ninth series in its Heisei era, and 18th series overall since the debut of ''Kamen Rider'' in 1971. It prem ...

''; and supporting roles as Satoru Okura in Atashinchi no Danshi, Ariake Yamato in

Otomen is a Japanese romantic comedy manga written and illustrated by Aya Kanno, which began in ''Bessatsu Hana to Yume'' in late 2006 and concluded on November 26, 2012. The series has been adapted into a live action TV drama. The series has been ...

, and

Eiji Kikumaru ''The Prince of Tennis'' manga and anime series has a large cast of fictional characters created by Takeshi Konomi; many have appeared in the musical and film adaptations. The cast of the series is largely made up of the members of the variou ...

Tenimyu , also known as for short, is a series of live action stage musicals directed by Yukio Ueshima based on the manga series ''The Prince of Tennis'' created by Takeshi Konomi and serialized by Shueisha in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. The first music ...

. He stars as Mori Ranmaru in the drama, '' Gō: Hime-tachi no Sengoku''. In 2010, he was named one of the most promising actors and actresses, placing 7th in a poll conducted by Oricon.Oricon: Promising Actors and Actresses for 2010
/ref> Through his role with ''

'', he was also the lead vocalist of the J-Rock band Tetra-Fang. Seto is a member of

D-Boys 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 ...

Life and career

Born in 1988 in

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, Kōji Seto grew up as the oldest child with two younger sisters. His childhood dream of becoming a vet changed suddenly with the end of his Junior High School time, when he watched with 15 years the TV series

Orange Days Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower * Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...

. The praised drama and performance by

Satoshi Tsumabuki is a Japanese actor. His breakthrough film was ''Waterboys'' for which he was nominated for the 'Best Actor' award at the Japanese Academy Awards, and won the 'Newcomer of the Year' prize. He is also the bassist and lead singer of the Japanese ...

inspired his wish to become an actor. After discussing his plans with his parents, they decided to support their son and enrolled him to a local acting school. After one year in training, he was cast in 2005 as Makoto Kanno, the snobbish main antagonist the comedy TV Series Rocket Boys. Although the series was filmed earlier, it would take over six months until its broadcasting. Meanwhile, after the filming ended, his parents surprised their son with a letter that stated the teenager made it to the final round of

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 ...

's 2nd official

audition. With his interpretation of

Fukuyama Masaharu is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actor from Nagasaki. He debuted in 1990 with the single "Tsuioku no Ame no Naka". Fukuyama is represented by the agency Amuse, Inc. Career While he can also be seen in Japanese television dramas, Fukuyama ...

's song "Himawari" won Seto the Grand Prix 2nd Winner Award on July 31, 2005. He debuted as a Junior member just shortly afterwards in December at the 3rd D-Live Event - an entertainment show featuring only D-Boys members. In spring 2006, at the age of 17, he finally moved after constant commuting from his rural and idyllic hometown in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

to live by himself in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Seto starred together with all his fellow D-Boys members in their first own TV production "DD-Boys" and won, at the same time, the audition for the part of the hyperactive acrobatic tennis player

. In 151 performances the name Setomaru was established (the nickname was his own idea, by combining his own surname (Seto) and Eiji's (Maru)) and took its place in the hearts of fans in Japan and all over the world until his graduation alongside the members of the 3rd

Seigaku ''The Prince of Tennis'' manga and anime series has a large cast of fictional characters created by Takeshi Konomi; many have appeared in the musical and film adaptations. The cast of the series is largely made up of the members of the variou ...

-Generation on September 9, 2007. He and his stage partner

Yukihiro Takiguchi was a Japanese actor, singer, and model affiliated with Stardust Promotion. After modeling in various campaigns, he made his acting debut in the 2004 television series ''Water Boys 2'' and later appeared as Fumizō Sōma from '' Tadashii Ōji ...

were honored with a Best Actors Album and praised by the creator of the original work

Takeshi Konomi is a Japanese manga artist, known for creating the manga series ''The Prince of Tennis''. Financial standing Every year the National Tax Agency releases a list of the highest income tax payers for entertainers in Japan. The higher someone's inc ...

as perfect cast. Seto's official D-Boys logo is a chameleon, in reference to his versatility. In late 2006 the young actor was chosen as Thursday's-face of '' OhaStar'', a children's TV show airing live every morning on TV Tokyo. He co-hosted the show constantly from then, once a week together with

Kōichi Yamadera is a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and singer from Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University's economics school and is currently affiliated with Across Entertainment. Before that, he was affiliated with th ...

, until his graduation on April 28, 2008. Seto was not just a boy in an old-fashioned green uniform - he also had the ability to change his persona with the use of his "Miracle Glasses". This way, he was able to act out his part in eight different ways. He starred in his first leading part in spring 2007, as the dallying greenhorn Kyoichi Segawa, a young gentleman Butler in ''

Happy Boys is a 13 episode Japanese television comedy, following five young men who work at Lady Braganza, a butler café. It was adapted into a manga by Makoto Tateno. Television series The series aired Mondays between 13:15 and 14:45. Cast * Koji Se ...

''. The drama followed

Makoto Tateno , who also uses the pen name Shinjuku Tango, is a Japanese manga artist who made her debut in 1986. Tateno regards her influences as being Go Nagai and Osamu Tezuka. Two of her best-known works are ''Yellow'' and '' Happy Boys''. For the lat ...

's script, which was published alongside the TV series in Manga-form. Manga artist Tateno created the character design originally based upon the actors - a very rare occurrence. Right after this series, the teenager was offered his first starring role in a movie, as the meekly salesman Tibe-kun, who tries to deal with the yaoi passion of his girlfriend in the comedy ''

Tonari no Yaoi-chan is a Japanese four-panel Internet manga written and illustrated by Ajiko Kojima. It centers on the relationship between a male otaku named Tibet and his yaoi-obsessed fujoshi girlfriend Yaoi whose obsession manifests as a small, green fur ...

'', a self-parody movie based on a real-life blog that centered on the 801-chan phenomenon. The part of Izamu Hayama in the feature film ''Tenshi ga Kureta Mono'' was his first cinema production in autumn 2007. He then co-starred in winter 2007 with Aya Ueto and

Yo Oizumi is a Japanese actor, comedian, television personality and voice actor. He is a member of the theatrical and musical unit TEAM NACS, and is represented by Creative Office Cue. His wife Kumiko Nakajima is a drama producer at Fuji TV. In 1995, w ...

in his first Golden Time TV series ''Abarenbo Mama'' as a kindergarten teacher. From January 2008 to 2009 he starred as one of Toei's

Tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...

Heros, the young violinist and half-vampire Wataru Kurenai, the protagonist in ''

''. About the same time, was Seto chosen among 1000 competitors in an audition for the leading part as the rebel Hiroki "Hiro" Sakurai, in the TV series adaption of ''

Koizora , or for short, is a 2005 best-selling Japanese coming of age and romance novel written by Mika. Originally posted on the cell phone website "Mahō no iLand", where chapters would be released exclusively for mobile reading, ''Koizora'' rec ...

'' (after the bestseller book by Mika), making him the leading actor for two TV series filmed and broadcast at the same time. Both works earned him a nomination for the renowned Elan d'Or award as Best Newcomer of the Year 2009. In early 2009, Seto started filming for the latest Ju-On movie '' Ju-On - Black Girl''. He reprised his role as Wataru Kurenai for the first and last episode of

Kamen Rider Decade is the title of the first installment of the 2009 editions of the long-running Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu dramas. ''Decade'', as its title suggests, is the tenth of the Heisei Rider special anniversary Series, having begun with ''Kamen Rider ...

, as well as in '' Decade: Last Story'', the last part of the storyline, as a guest star. Afterwards, he starred as the hotheaded genius-magician Satoru Okura in the Fuji TV drama '' Atashinchi no Danshi'' as one of

Maki Horikita is a Japanese former actress. During her career from 2003 until 2017, she starred in numerous Japanese television dramas, television and magazine advertisements, and movies, including roles in ''Nobuta wo Produce'', '' Hanazakari no Kimitachi ...

's six sons, followed by his part as the cheerful, but delusional junior Ariake Yamato in the drama adaption of the Hit-Manga

in Summer. At the end of October, he finished filming with

Yusuke Yamamoto is a Japanese actor and DJ. He was born in Aichi, Japan. His debut role was as Tsurugi Kamishiro, a.k.a. Kamen Rider Sasword, in ''Kamen Rider Kabuto''. On July 10, 2020, he had been tested positive for COVID-19. A week later, his agency announ ...

for their roles as brothers (having previously starred as brothers in Atashinchi no Danshi) in the award-winning TV movi
''Rinne no Ame''
in which Seto portrayed the mentally disabled, autistic Shuhei Mikami. In early 2010, he played Shunta Matsumoto, a young medical student in the BeeTV drama ''Gift'', a part that was written for him, as an alternative version of himself. In the spring TBS TV series ''Tumbling'', Seto is starring as Yuta Takenaka, captain to the boy's

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coord ...

team at Karasumori High, alongside

again. For the 10th anniversary commemoration of Watanabe Entertainment, he was selected with fellow D-Boys members

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 ...

, Yuichi Nakamura, and

Hirofumi Araki is a Japanese actor and singer associated with Watanabe Entertainment. He is a member of the acting troupe D-Boys and the leader of its pop unit D-Date. As an actor, Araki has been involved in many theater and television projects, notably st ...

to represent all members of the group in a special unit with a new fifth member determined through the 2010 D-Boys Audition. Recently, he's been filming and played as

Mori Ranmaru , also known as Mori Naritoshi (森成利), was the son of Mori Yoshinari, and had 5 brothers in total, from the province of Mino. He was a member of the Mori Clan, descendants of the Seiwa Genji. Biography From an early age, Ranmaru was an ...

for the latest Taiga drama '' Gō'' for 2011. On 7 August 2020, Seto married his costar in TV dramas '' Hope: Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain'' and ''Perfect World'',

Mizuki Yamamoto is a Japanese actress and model. Biography Yamamoto was born in Fukuoka Prefecture. She started her career as an exclusive model for the women's fashion magazine CanCam in 2009. Two years later, she made her acting debut in the Fuji TV drama '' ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Official photobooks

Official DVDs

References

External links

Koji Seto's Blog

Koji Seto's D-Boys Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seto, Koji 1988 births Living people Japanese male actors People from Kama, Fukuoka People from Fukuoka Musicians from Fukuoka Prefecture Watanabe Entertainment 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese male singers