# Kōji Seto

Kōji Seto (瀬戸 康史, Seto Kōji, born May 18, 1988) is a Japanese actor and singer associated with D-Boys, an acting troupe produced by Watanabe Entertainment. His major works include lead roles as Wataru Kurenai in Kamen Rider Kiva; and supporting roles as Satoru Okura in Atashinchi no Danshi, Ariake Yamato in Otomen, and Eiji Kikumaru in Musical: The Prince of Tennis. He starred 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. Through his role with Kamen Rider Kiva, he was also the lead vocalist of their promotional rock band Tetra-Fang.

## Life and career

Born in 1988 in Kyushu, 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. The praised drama and performance by Satoshi Tsumabuki 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 in the television series Rocket Boys. After the filming ended, he was accepted final round of Watanabe Entertainment's 2nd official D-Boys audition. With his interpretation of Masaharu 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 to live by himself in Tokyo. 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 Eiji Kikumaru in Musical: The Prince of Tennis and played him until September 9, 2007. He and his stage partner Yukihiro Takiguchi were honored with a Best Actors Album and praised by the creator of the original work Takeshi Konomi as perfect cast.
Seto's official D-Boys logo is a chameleon, in reference to his versatility. In late 2006 he was chosen as Thursday's-face of Oha Suta, 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, until his graduation on April 28, 2008. He starred in his first leading part in spring 2007 as Kyoichi Segawa in Happy Boys. Right after this series, he played Tibe-kun in the live-action film adaptation of Tonari no Yaoi-chan.
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 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 Heros, the young violinist and half-vampire Wataru Kurenai, the protagonist in Kamen Rider Kiva. 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 (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, 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's six sons, followed by his part as the cheerful, but delusional junior Ariake Yamato in the drama adaption of the Hit-Manga Otomen in Summer. At the end of October, he finished filming with Yusuke Yamamoto for their roles as brothers (having previously starred as brothers in Atashinchi no Danshi) in the award-winning TV movie 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 team at Karasumori High, alongside Yusuke Yamamoto again. For the 10th anniversary commemoration of Watanabe Entertainment, he was selected with fellow D-Boys members Shunji Igarashi, Yuichi Nakamura, and Hirofumi Araki 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 for the latest Taiga drama Gō for 2011.

## Personal life

In 7 August 2020, Seto married his costar in TV dramas Hope: Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain and Perfect World, Mizuki Yamamoto.
On 29 January 2022, his wife, Yamamoto, made the announcement that she was expecting their first child. The couple's first child was born on 16 May 2023.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | Kamen Rider Kiva: King of the Castle in the Demon World | Wataru Kurenai / Kiva(Lead) | Motion picture |
| 2011 | Runway Beat | Biito "Beat" Mizorogi | Lead role |
| 2014 | Haganai | Kodaka Hasegawa | Lead role |
| 2018 | Asako I & II | Kushihashi | |
| 2019 | No Longer Human | Harube Ima | |
| 2021 | Daughter of Lupin the Movie | Kazuma Sakuraba | |
| 2022 | The Confidence Man JP: Episode of the Hero | Marcel Marimura | |
| 2022 | Love Nonetheless | Kōji Tada | Lead role |
| 2023 | Maboroshi | Akimune Kikuiri (voice) | |
| 2023 | Fly Me to the Saitama: From Biwa Lake with Love | Kenta Wakatsuki | |
| 2024 | Worlds Apart | Shingo Kasamachi | |
| 2024 | All About Suomi | Morio Koiso | |
| 2025 | Dollhouse | Tadahiko | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | Kamen Rider Kiva | Wataru Kurenai / Kiva | Lead role |
| 2011 | Gō | Mori Ranmaru | Taiga drama |
| 2015 | Burning Flower | Yoshida Toshimaro | Taiga drama |
| 2016 | Hope: Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain | Shinji Kiriake | |
| 2018 | Princess Jellyfish | Kuranosuke Koibuchi | |
| 2019 | Daughter of Lupin | Kazuma Sakuraba | |
| 2019 | Perfect World | Hirotaka Koreeda | |
| 2022 | The 13 Lords of the Shogun | Hōjō Tokifusa | Taiga drama |

## Discography

| Year | Title | CD details | Track list |
| 2006 | Tenimyu - Advancement Match Rokkaku feat. Hyotei Gakuen | OST of the Musical as Eiji Kikumaru | Track list |
| 2006 | Tenimyu - Absolute King Rikkai feat. Rokkaku: First Service | OST of the Musical as Eiji Kikumaru | Track list |
| 2007 | Happy Boys Image Collection 1: Yasashisa | Single as Kyoichi Segawa | Yasashisa Yasashisa unplugged Version Voice Message |
| 2007 | Tenimyu - Dream Live 4th | OST of the Musical as Eiji Kikumaru | Track list |
| 2007 | Finalist | Special Single for the Tenimyu Hit | Finalist Finalist - Forever With You Version Finalist - Instrumental |
| 2007 | Tenimyu Best Actor's Album 007 | As Eiji Kikumaru together with Yukihiro Takiguchi as Syuichirou Oishi | Track list |
| 2007 | Tenimyu - Absolute King Rikkai feat. Rokkaku: Second Service | OST of the Musical as Eiji Kikumaru | Track list |
| 2007 | Tenimyu Best Actor's Collection 010 | Extra Seigaku Memorial Edition | Track list |
| 2008 | Destiny's Play | Tetra-Fang (Kamen Rider Kiva ED Single) | Destiny's Play Destiny's Play NEO Romanesque Guitar Edit Destiny's Play Additional Kivat-bat the 3rd Edit Destiny's Play instrumental |
| 2008 | Individual-System | Tetra-Fang (Kamen Rider Kiva ED Single) | Individual-System Individual-System technical guitar fist Individual-System instrumental Individual-System Nago advance fist |
| 2008 | Circle of Life | Solo Vocalist (Kamen Rider Kiva Movie ED-Single) | With you - Wataru feat. Crimson Fang |
| 2008 | Supernova | Tetra-Fang (Kamen Rider Kiva Mini-Album) | Entrance Procession Supernova (Tribute to Emperor form) Shout in the Moonlight (Tribute to Garulu) Innocent Trap (Tribute to Basshaa) Silent Shout (Tribute to Dogga) Message (Tribute to Father) |
| 2008 | Roots of the King | Tetra-Fang (Kamen Rider Kiva ED-Single) | Roots of the King Individual-System acoustic fist Roots of the King instrumental Individual-System acoustic fist instrumental |
| 2008 | Destiny | Tetra-Fang (Kamen Rider Kiva Album) | Mind Garden Destiny's Play Roots of the King Lightning to Heaven Exterminate Time Eternity Blood Supernova Individual-System Rainy Rose Prayer: Message2 No matter who You are |
| 2009 | Kamen Rider Kiva Re-Union | Tetra-Fang (Kamen Rider Kiva Album) | Destiny’s Play Re-Union This love never ends (Emperor Edit.) Roots of the King (Acoustic Edit.) Beginning: Message 3 |

## Official photobooks

| Year | Photobook title | Description | Publisher | Release date | ISBN |
| 2005 | D-Boys | D-Boys First Photobook | Tokyo News Agency | April 27, 2005 | ISBN 4-924566-42-X |
| 2006 | Start! | D-Boys 2nd Photobook | Gakken Co., Ltd. | March 15, 2006 | ISBN 4-05-403035-1 |
| 2007 | Kōji Seto | Kōji Seto First Solo Photobook | Gakken Co., Ltd. | April 2007 | ISBN 4-05-403376-8 |
| 2008 | Dash | D-Boys Third Photobook | Kadokawa Marketing Co., Ltd. | December 2008 | ISBN 978-4-04-895035-0 |
| 2009 | SetoBook | Kōji Seto Second Solo Photobook | Shufu-to-Seikatsu Sha, Ltd. | April 2009 | ISBN 978-4-391-13765-1 |
| 2010 | Darling | D-Boys Fourth Photobook | Shufu-to-Seikatsu Sha, Ltd. | March 2010 | ISBN 978-4-04-895035-0 |
| 2010 | Et Cetera | Kōji Seto Third Photobook | Tokyo News Mook, TV Guide | 11 November 2010 | ISBN 978-4-86336-116-4 |

## Official DVDs

| Series | Title | DVD details | Distributor | Release date |
| Prince Series D-Boys Collection | Koji Seto | Volume 2 | Pony Canyon | May 16, 2007 |
| D-Boys Boy Friend Series | Set Out | Volume 10 | Geneon Entertainment | May 26, 2010 |

## Awards

| Year | Award | Category | Work(s) | Result | Ref. |
| 2023 | 44th Yokohama Film Festival | Best Actor | Love Nonetheless | Won | |