Shunji Igarashi

is a Japanese business magnate and former actor. He is known for the his lead role as Mirai Hibino, the human form of Ultraman Mebius in his titular series. He belonged to Watanabe Entertainment for 3 years during junior high school days. He was also a member of the young male actor group D-BOYS of the same office.
==Career==
Shunji started his entertainment career auditioning for D-BOYS in the group's first open audition, held on July 27, 2004. Winner of the Grand Prix second place, Shunji joined the group shortly after, along with first placer Yuichi Nakamura and third placer Katsuki Nakamura.
In early 2006, Shunji conquered his first lead role as Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius in the tokusatsu series Ultraman Mebius, the 40th anniversary production in the Ultraman Series. He was chosen for the role for being able to convey the part of a "rookie" hero well, being at the time a new actor with little experience in demanding lead roles himself. A fan of the Ultraman series, Shunji has declared that the desire to play the role of Ultraman was one of the reasons he entered the entertainment world, and that being able to work with the same actors who had played his childhood heroes was one of his highest personal accomplishments.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunji_Igarashi#cite_note-1 Shunji was so fond of his work in the series that he eventually incorporated the Möbius strip sign "∞" into his autograph.
===Retirement===
In November 2013, at the last performance of GLORY FIVE 2013 tour at Tokyo Dome City Hall, Shunji Igarashi officially announced that his contract with Watanabe Entertainment agency was ending and he was retiring from the entertainment business by the end of November because of new interest in other work outside the industry. Shunji said "It is interesting also for jobs other than entertainment, I want to study from the beginning, I want to try it". The 27 year old actor made the announcement during the live concert of his musical unit D☆Date. 
The live concert on November 17 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall was his final entertainment gig after nine years where Shunji announced it directly to the fans. Lastly, Shunji thanked his fans for their utmost support and encouragement. 
Currently, the role of Ultraman Mebius is passed to voice actor Jun Fukuyama. Despite his retirement, Shunji's grunts were still kept and reused in some of Mebius' later appearances.
===Post-Retirement===
On May 28, 2021, Shunji took part in a two part collaboration video with former co-star Masaki Nishina, where they talked about various topics. The former elaborated on his reasons from retiring from showbiz. Back then, people only knew him as either Mirai Hibino or as Tetsuro Yufune in ROOKIES. Shunji felt he wasn't "saving" them, and that he was a separate person from his characters. With the thought that his career as an actor won't last long, Shunji started to begin researching on how to do business, specifically how to start and manage a restaurant. 
Once he got to the point that everything was decided & planned, he decided to retire from the entertainment business. He currently owns four restaurants and is planning on getting a fifth. Shunji then revealed that he is slowly getting contacted on his Twitter for entertainment Industry related work again, but he mentions that he wishes to take on only projects that he can balance his restaurant business with.https://web.archive.org/web/20210625074018/https://www.nihonhero.com/post/shunji-igarashi-ultraman-mebius-reveals-his-interest-to-return-to-acting-with-a-condition
In October 2023, Igarashi ended his bar business. Inspired by Masaki Nishina's disability support facility in Nichinan City, Miyazaki Prefecture, he returned to his hometown in Nagano. He began searching for properties and preparing business registrations. He decided to establish a disability support facility named "Ultra Marlin" in Ueda City, which officially opened on June 1, 2024.https://shueisha.online/articles/-/250678?page=2
Due to his activities of livestreaming and uploading videos on YouTube and Bilibili in his spare time, he has been actively participating in Ultraman series-related fan meetings since 2023.
==Roles==
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2006	Ultraman Mebius 	Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius	Voice (Ultraman Mebius)
2006	Ultraman Mebius 	Hiroto Ban 	Episode 21 "Cry from Space"Episode 22 "Future Days"
2006	Ultraman Mebius & the Ultra Brothers 	Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius	Voice (Ultraman Mebius)
2008	Ultraman Mebius Gaiden: Armored Darkness 	Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius	Voice (Ultraman Mebius)
2008	Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers	Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius	Voice (Ultraman Mebius)
2009	Ultraman Mebius Gaiden: Ghost Rebirth 	Ultraman Mebius 	Voice
2009	Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie 	Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius	Voice (Ultraman Mebius)
===Stage===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2007	Ultraman Premier Stage 1	Ultraman Mebius	Voice
2008	Ultraman Premier Stage 2	Ultraman Mebius	Voice
2009	Ultraman Premier Stage 3	Ultraman Mebius	Voice
===Video games===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2007	HEROES' VS	Ultraman Mebius	Voice
===Stock grunts===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2006	Ultraman Mebius & the Ultra Brothers 	Imit-Ultraman Mebius	
2013	Ultraman Ginga 	Ultraman Mebius 	Dark Spark War flashbacks in episodes 1, 7, 11
2015	Ultraman Ginga S The Movie: Showdown! The 10 Ultra Warriors!	Ultraman Mebius 	
2015	Ultra Fight Victory 	Ultraman Mebius 	
2016	Ultraman Orb 	Ultraman Mebius 	Ultra Fusion Card
2021	Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Absolute Conspiracy 	Ultraman Mebius 	Chapter 3 "The Appearance"
2022	Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Destined Crossroad 	Ultraman Mebius 	
==Gallery==
Shunji Igarashi Young.jpg
Shunji, Yoshioka, Hiroshi & Tsuruno behind the scene.jpg
Shunji Igarashi.jpg
Igarashi Shunji.jpg
Shunji.jpg
Shunji selfie.jpg
Shunji smiles.jpg
Shunji with Mebius.jpg|Shunji with Ultraman Mebius
Shunji, Takuya, Susume and Kohji in their kousen stance.jpg
File:Downloadshunji.jpg|Shunji wearing green shirt
ZDLqkE5kPW162C6wmCJzhbvj8Kx.jpg
File:Igarashi.jpg
File:Shunjiphoto.jpg
File:Wpid-is0610160016000.jpg
Shunji declared his retirement.jpg|Shunji declared his retirement
ShunjiIgarashinow.jpg
shunji2020.jpg|Shunji in the 2020
Shunji_Igarashi_2022.png|Shunji in the 2022
Shunji Igarashi 2024 1.png|Shunji in 2024 and the Disability Support Organization "Ultra Marlin" he established
Shunji Igarashi 2024 2.png|Shunji in the 2024
==Trivia==
*Shunji Igarashi was only 19 years old when he acted Ultraman Mebius, back in 2006.
*Aside from Mirai Hibino, the only role Shunji Igarashi played was Hiroto Ban, who is the person Mirai mimicked his appearance to honour him.
*Shunji said when he was 10 years old, he liked the series Ultraman Tiga that was on air at that time. For that reason he said he was pleased that his role Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius could co-star with Hiroshi Nagano/Ultraman Tiga in the movie Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers.
*Shunji is proud of having appeared in Ultraman Mebius and he said "I would like to appear in the Ultraman Series again as Mirai Hibino".
*Shunji is nicknamed Lassi, Shunji and Falcon by certain people.
*His hobbies are bowling, billiards and darts. He has ball skills, skiing and snowboarding.
*He likes large cartoons and on holidays it is "comic strip reading" (reading all the books on one shelf).
*Shunji once said if he didn't enter the entertainment, he would be a kindergarten teacher because he likes children.
*Shunji likes to do exercise but he can't swim and hates water.
**Regarding sports, there are almost no things that can not be done, but because of the climate Shunji went to a school (Nagano prefecture) where there are few swimming classes so he can not swim and Shunji also dislikes the body getting wet with water. However, in the scene of the pool of Ultraman Mebius fourth episode, Daisuke Watanabe, who co-starred in the scene, performed a dive and the like and director Hiromi Muraishi was not aware that Shunji couldn't swim until it was revealed by the launch.
*Shunji never got tooth decay and he never went to the dentist except he went to pull out his wisdom teeth.
*Shunji Igarashi currently runs a cafe in Roppongi, sometimes distributing videos to YouTube and LINElive.
==External Links==
*Shunji Igarashi's old YouTube channel
==References==
Category:Real Life People
Category:Actors
Category:Male Actors