D-Boys

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D-Boys (stylized as D-BOYS) is a Japanese acting troupe 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 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.

• Masato Wada (和田 正人, Wada Masato, born August 25, 1979)
• Hiroki Suzuki (鈴木 裕樹, Suzuki Hiroki, born October 3, 1983)
• Hirofumi Araki (荒木 宏文, Araki Hirofumi, born June 14, 1983)
• Kōji Seto (瀬戸 康史, Seto Kōji, born May 18, 1988)
• Masahiro Usui (碓井 将大, Usui Masahiro, born December 3, 1991)
• Arata Horii (堀井 新太, Horii Arata, born June 26, 1992)
• Syo Jinnai (陳内 将, Jin'nai Shō, born January 16, 1988)
• Ryosuke Ikeoka (池岡 亮介, Ikeoka Ryōsuke, born September 3, 1993)
• Yuki Yamada (山田 裕貴, Yamada Yūki, born September 18, 1990)
• Shotaro Okubo (大久保 祥太郎, Ōkubo Shōtarō, born August 27, 1995)
• Jun Shison (志尊 淳, Shison Jun, born March 5, 1995)
• Masaki Nakao (中尾 暢樹, Nakao Masaki, born November 27, 1996)

• Ichitaro Yamazaki (一太郎, Yamazaki Ichitarō, born July 19, 1980)
• Katsuki Nakamura (中村 勝樹, Nakamura Katsuki, born March 23, 1990)
• Shintaro Tetsu (鐵 進太郎, Tetsu Shintarō, born September 29, 1986)
• Yuma Minakawa (皆川 佑馬, Minakawa Yūma, born October 1, 1984)
• Yu Shirota (城田 優, Shirota Yū, born December 26, 1985)
• Kouhei Kumai (熊井 幸平, Kumai Kōhei, born July 27, 1990)
• Masaya Nakamura (中村 昌也, Nakamura Masaya, born April 30, 1986)
• Shingo Nakagawa (中川 真吾, Nakagawa Shingo, born May 8, 1983)
• Yūichi Nakamura (中村 優一, Nakamura Yūichi, born October 8, 1987)
• Yuya Endo (遠藤 雄弥, Endō Yūya, born March 20, 1987)
• Masaki Kaji (加治 将樹, Kaji Masaki, born January 29, 1988)
• Osamu Adachi (足立 理, Adachi Osamu, born December 22, 1987)
• Shunji Igarashi (五十嵐 隼士, Igarashi Shunji, born August 7, 1986)
• Toru Kamitsuru (上鶴 徹, Kamitsuru Tōru, born June 26, 1989)
• Taito Hashimoto (橋本 汰斗, Hashimoto Taito, born November 1, 1991)
• Kenki Yamaguchi (山口 賢貴, Yamaguchi Kenki, born July 17, 1986)
• Yoichiro Omi (近江 陽一郎, Ōmi Yōichirō, born April 5, 1989)
• Ryuki Takahashi (高橋 龍輝, Takahashi Ryūki, born March 28, 1993)
• Shintaro Akutsu (阿久津 愼太郎, Akutsu Shintarō, born June 21, 1995)
• Kotaro Yanagi (柳 浩太郎, Yanagi Kōtarō, born December 21, 1985)
• Shion Tsuchiya (土屋 シオン, Tsuchiya Shion, born July 7, 1992)
• Takuya Negishi (根岸 拓哉, Negishi Takuya, born March 12, 1996)
• Atsushi Shiramata (白又 敦, Shiramata Atsushi, born March 22, 1994)
• Tetsuya Makita (牧田 哲也, Makita Tetsuya, born June 7, 1984)
• Tomo Yanagishita (柳下 大, Yanagishita Tomo, born June 3, 1988)
• Masashi Mikami (三上 真史, Mikami Masashi, born June 20, 1983)
• Yukito Nishii (西井 幸人, Nishii Yukito, born June 14, 1995)
• Ryo Mitsuya (三津谷 亮, Mitsuya Ryō, born February 11, 1988)
• Atsushi Arai (荒井 敦史, Arai Atsushi, born May 23, 1993)
• Takahisa Maeyama (前山 剛久, Maeyama Takahisa, born February 7, 1991)
• Shuto Miyazaki (宮崎 秋人, Miyazaki Shūto, born September 3, 1990)
• Yusuke Yamada (山田 悠介, Yamada Yūsuke, born July 29, 1987)

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
• Ryo Mitsuya
• Syo Jinnai
• Atsushi Arai
• Ryosuke Ikeoka
• Yuki Yamada
• Takahisa Maeyama
• Shotaro Okubo
• Jun Shison

Former members

• Ryotaro Konno (今野 良太郎, Kon'no Ryōtarō, born August 23, 1993)
• Toru Kamitsuru
• Kenki Yamaguchi
• Yoichiro Omi
• Shintaro Akutsu
• Shion Tsuchiya
• Takuya Negishi
• Atsushi Shiramata

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

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.

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)

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

• Marvelous Radio Vibration (May 5, 2005 - April 1, 2006) - weekly radio show hosted by Yu Shirota, Kotaro Yanagi and Yukki.
• D-Radio Boys (October 2007/present) - weekly radio show hosted by Masato Wada and Shunji Igarashi, featuring guest D-Boys members.

• 43rd Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Young Man Colosseum" (January 1, 2006) - television guest appearance, performed by Masaki Kaji and Hiroki Suzuki.
• 44th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Chinese Lion Dance" (January 1, 2007) - television guest appearance, performed by Yuya Endo, Masaki Kaji, Hiroki Suzuki, Masato Wada and Yuma Minakawa.
• 45th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Ikemen Jumpers" (January 1, 2008) - television guest appearance, performed by Masaki Kaji, Kouhei Kumai, Koji Seto, and Shingo Nakagawa.
• 45th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Kakushi Gei Dancing Ikemen" (Fuji TV - January 1, 2009) - television guest appearance, performed by Tomo Yanagishita, Endo Yuya, Masaki Kaji, Makita Tetsuya, Taito Hashimoto, and Ryuki Takahashi.

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:

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 in 11th.

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Watanabe Entertainment official website (in Japanese)
• Interview with U (Shirota Yu) Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine (in English)
• D2 official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 24 April 2010) (in Japanese)
• DD-Boys official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 August 2006) (in Japanese)