D-Boys
D-Boys is a Japanese acting troupe affiliated with Watanabe Entertainment. The D in the group's name stands for "Drama", "Dream", "Debut", "Discovery" and "Development".
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.
Members
Current members
- Masato Wada
- Hiroki Suzuki
- Hirofumi Araki
- Kōji Seto
- Masahiro Usui
- Arata Horii
- Syo Jinnai
- Ryosuke Ikeoka
- Yuki Yamada
- Shotaro Okubo
- Jun Shison
- Masaki Nakao
Former members
- Ichitaro Yamazaki
- Katsuki Nakamura
- Shintaro Tetsu
- Yuma Minakawa
- Yu Shirota
- Kouhei Kumai
- Masaya Nakamura
- Shingo Nakagawa
- Yūichi Nakamura
- Yuya Endo
- Masaki Kaji
- Osamu Adachi
- Shunji Igarashi
- Toru Kamitsuru
- Taito Hashimoto
- Kenki Yamaguchi
- Yoichiro Omi
- Ryuki Takahashi
- Shintaro Akutsu
- Kotaro Yanagi
- Shion Tsuchiya
- Takuya Negishi
- Atsushi Shiramata
- Tetsuya Makita
- Tomo Yanagishita
- Masashi Mikami
- Yukito Nishii
- Ryo Mitsuya
- Atsushi Arai
- Takahisa Maeyama
- Shuto Miyazaki
- Yusuke Yamada
D2 members
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
- Ryotaro Konno
- Toru Kamitsuru
- Kenki Yamaguchi
- Yoichiro Omi
- Shintaro Akutsu
- Shion Tsuchiya
- Takuya Negishi
- Atsushi Shiramata
Group projects
In addition to their individual careers, the D-Boys are also involved in collective projects, as part of the group promotion work.''DD-Boys''
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.Fan club events
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
- Official Fan club Limited Bus Tour
- Official Fan club 3rd Anniversary Bus Tour
Live tours
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.
Radio
- Marvelous Radio Vibration - weekly radio show hosted by Yu Shirota, Kotaro Yanagi and Yukki.
- D-Radio Boys - weekly radio show hosted by Masato Wada and Shunji Igarashi, featuring guest D-Boys members.
Other
- 43rd Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Young Man Colosseum" - television guest appearance, performed by Masaki Kaji and Hiroki Suzuki.
- 44th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Chinese Lion Dance" - television guest appearance, performed by Yuya Endo, Masaki Kaji, Hiroki Suzuki, Masato Wada and Yuma Minakawa.
- 45th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Ikemen Jumpers" - television guest appearance, performed by Masaki Kaji, Kouhei Kumai, Koji Seto, and Shingo Nakagawa.
- 45th Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Kakushi Gei Dancing Ikemen" - television guest appearance, performed by Tomo Yanagishita, Endo Yuya, Masaki Kaji, Makita Tetsuya, Taito Hashimoto, and Ryuki Takahashi.
Media
D-Boys members have released merchandise in the form of photobooks, DVDs and CDs individually, or in relation to a work project. As a group, they have released a calendar featuring all D-Boys members and the following items:Discography
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 .| Year | Title | CD info | Members | Chart debut | Track listings |
| 2009 | Natsu Doko 2009 Kaze - Team Wind version | Audio Theater album by D-Boys | Team Wind members | 11 | D-Boys CD and DVD |
| 2009 | Natsu Doko 2009 Yama - Team Mountain version | Audio Theater album by D-Boys | Team Mountain members | 11 | D-Boys CD and DVD |
| 2009 | Natsu Doko 2009 Kawa - Team River version | Audio Theater album by D-Boys | Team River members | 11 | D-Boys CD and DVD |