Kanata Hongō

Kanata Hongō (本郷 奏多, Hongō Kanata, born November 15, 1990) is a Japanese actor and model. He is part of Stardust Talent agency and has appeared several times in music videos, movies, TV series, and magazines. His major breakthrough role was as Ryoma Echizen in the live-action film adaptation of The Prince of Tennis, and became even more widely known when he was cast as Shin in Nana 2. In television, his most notable role was as Hinata in Himitsu no Hanazono and he starred in Seigi no Mikata. For the live-action feature film adaptation of Attack on Titan he portrayed Armin Arlert. He has also been involved in anime voice acting as the lead character Ryōta Sakamoto in Btooom!.

Career

Hongō has appeared in several movies, including Moon Child, which also starred Gackt, Hyde and Leehom Wang. Hongō played the role of Sho as a child, while the adult role was played by Gackt. He appeared in a movie called Hinokio which was released in July 2005 in Japan. Hongō is also the young boy in the singer Yui's music video for her song "Tomorrow's Way." In 2006, Kanata was cast as the popular anime character Ryoma Echizen in the live-action adaptation film of The Prince of Tennis. He joined the majority of the Seigaku Regulars of the Prince of Tennis musicals as he was replacing Kotaro Yanagi, who couldn't play the role due to a car accident he was involved in.

Hongō also portrayed the young bassist Shinichi Okazaki in the movie Nana 2, which was released in Japan on December 9, 2006. He had replaced Kenichi Matsuyama who had previously played Shin in the first Nana film. His next feature film was alongside Michael Pitt and Keira Knightley in Silk which was screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. This marked Hongō's first appearance in an English language film, where he played a Japanese servant boy. He also starred in another music video, B'zs "Eien no Tsubasa" along with Tsubasa Honda and in GReeeeN's music video of "Namida Sora".

In television, Hongō's first major role was as major supporting character Hinata in Himitsu no Hanazono and performed a wonderful tear jerking moment in one of the later episodes. His superb job in acting lead him to being another major supporting character in the drama Seito Shokun! as rebellious student Kohei Aoki. Later, he appeared as a guest in two other shows. In 2008, he starred as Riku Okamoto in Seigi no Mikata, broadcast by NTV. He said Okamoto was probably his most normal role to date. He was then featured in the music video for The Gospellers' "Sky High", which was the opening to the second season of anime Nodame Cantabile.

Hongō starred in three films in late 2008. They included Aoi Tori, K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces and Goth. The latter two were released in Japan on the same day, December 20. Goth is based on a Japanese novel with the same name, written by Otsuichi.

In 2011, he portray the role of Jōichiro Nishi in Gantz (live action movie) and Gantz Perfect Answer.

Last January 27, 2012, Shirato Osamu No Jikenbo was aired at TBS every Friday. In this drama, Hongo Kanata played the role of Kurosaki Hitoshi, the childhood friend of Shirato Osamu (Chiba Yudai) and Shirato Osamu's life changed after meeting Kurosaki Hitoshi (Hongo Kanata).

In October 2012, he starts his debut as anime voice actor in Btooom! as the lead character Ryōta Sakamoto.

Filmography

Dramas

Film

Music videos

Voice acting

Books/magazines

• Boy Actor vol.1 (September 2005 and PIA)
• "Nana2" Novelization (2006 and Shueisha Cobalt)
• Real G vol.1 (January 2007 and SDP)
• Real G vol.2 (May 2007 and SDP)
• Junon Magazine (June 2014)

Others

• Concert Costarring "Gackt Live Tour 2003 The Month Of The Upper Chord"
• The Radio Play "At Night Of A Big Blackout" – Shota Tazawa