Yu Shirota
Biography
Yu Shirota (城田優), born December 26, 1985, in Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese-Spanish actor, singer, and stage performer. He made his professional acting debut in 2003 and has since worked across film, television, musical theater, and music. Shirota first gained recognition through his stage performances, including Tuxedo Mask in the Sailor Moon musical series and Kunimitsu Tezuka in The Prince of Tennis musical series.
He has appeared in numerous Japanese films and television dramas, including The Prince of Tennis, Waruboro, Rookies: Graduation, The Negotiator: The Movie, Arakawa Under the Bridge, SPEC: Close, Black Butler, Ajin: Demi-Human, The Forest of Wool and Steel, The Confidence Man JP: Episode of the Hero, and The Violence Action. His television credits include Hana-Kimi, Rookies, The Negotiator, Samurai High School, SPEC, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Jiu: Special Investigation Team, GTO, Jun & Ai, Come Come Everybody, TOKYO MER, and Sudden Marriage (いきなり婚), in which he played Hajime Ando.
Shirota has also established a career in musical theater, performing roles such as Der Tod in Elisabeth, Romeo in Romeo & Juliet, the Phantom in Phantom, Cheech in Bullets Over Broadway, and Lola in Kinky Boots. He has additionally worked as a musical director and stage producer, alongside his career as a singer and songwriter. His performances in Elisabeth earned him the Newcomer Award in the Theater Division of the Agency for Cultural Affairs' 65th National Arts Festival in 2010.
In 2027, Shirota is set to expand his work into video game voice acting as the voice of Makoto Daito, the protagonist of SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's upcoming action-adventure game Stranger Than Heaven.
Known for
GTO
Through the introduction of his friend Danma Ryuji, Onizuka Eikichi, the former legendary bike gang member, visits Meishu Academy to tend to the trees in the garden as a part-time gardener. Learning that Yoshikawa Noboru, a student in teacher Fuyutsuki Azusa’s class is being bullied by Uehara Kyoko and other classmates, Onizuka befriends and saves Yoshikawa. Seeing Onizuka’s unprecedented but visceral, powerful response to problem solving, the school’s president and principal, Sakurai Yoshiko, overrides resistance from her vice principal Uchiyamada Hiroshi and makes Onizuka a teacher. Onizuka goes on to tackle many issues as the teacher in charge of the most problematic class, Class 2-4.
Come Come Everybody
Come Come Everybody is a Japanese television drama series and the 105th NHK Asadora series, following Okaeri Mone.. It depicts the lives of three generations of women who have close links to the English lessons on radio which began in 1925.
Plastic Beauty
When a gifted ER surgeon is thrust into cosmetic medicine, her clash with a celebrity doctor exposes the greed and desire beneath the glamour.
TOKYO MER: Mobile Emergency Room
TOKYO MER is formed by order from the Governor of Tokyo. The name of the group stands for TOKYO Mobile Emergency Room. The members are emergency care professionals and they are to go to sites of dangerous accidents and disasters by ER car. Their ER car is a large vehicle equipped with the latest medical devices and an operating area. There, TOKYO MER saves lives of the injured.
Kōta Kitami is a doctor for TOKYO MER and its leader. He holds a strong conviction that, regardless of the dangers, he will go to accident sites to save lives.
HANA-KIMI
Mizuki disguises herself as a boy and transfers to the same all-boys' high school her idol, Izumi Sano, a high-jump athlete who gave up on the sport, attends. In between their classmates' antics she tries to get him to jump again.
SPEC ~ First Blood
An eccentric genius and a demoted special forces officer team up in Tokyo's Unidentified Crimes Unit to tackle criminals with supernatural abilities.
From Today, It's My Turn!!
Two transfer students, Takashi Mitsuhashi and Shinji Itō, tired of their boring normal life and unpopularity, decide to take their arrival at a new school as an opportunity to reinvent their image, and become delinquents. The duo set out on various misadventures to become the greatest delinquents in all Japan!
Team Batista no Eikō
There exists a legendary team of surgical experts in Tojo University Hospital that specializes in the Batista procedure - one of the most difficult cardiac surgeries with the survival rate only at 60%. Ever since its formation, this team has shocked the country by having 27 consecutive post-operative successes, virtually unheard of in the medical community. They basked in the glory until three of the most recent procedures resulted in consecutive deaths on the operating table. Taguchi, a psychosomatic medicine specialist, has been entrusted with the investigation but is in over his head because of his soft nature and having to deal with skills beyond his realm of expertise. Then arrives Shiratori, a cocky Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare investigator. He not only labels Taguchi naive, but speaks with confidence that this is a murder, and the murderer is within this team of elites. As the mystery unfolds, so does the complicated affiliation between each of the seven team members.
Last One Standing
They're comedians starring in a thrilling drama, but if their jokes don't land in the unscripted scenes, they're off the show. Let the mayhem begin!
The Pride of the Temp
Oomae Haruko is an A+ Temp worker who never cracks a smile or minces words, and leaves work on the dot. But her cynical nature indicates she has something painful to hide. Satonaka Kensuke has just been promoted to head S&F's new Marketing Division. Saddled with a rag-tag group of subordinates, he is struggling to lift his division off the ground. When Oomae is placed in Kensuke's department, she finds herself doing more work than she's ever done before.
This is a timely drama that examines the different attitudes toward temp workers and regular employees, and the ways to overcome frictions in interpersonal relationships. This follows an October report on labor conditions by the Labor Ministry, which showed that, after regulations were relaxed, the proportion of regular employees to Temps had doubled compared to that of eight years ago.
Brave Yoshihiko and the Seven Driven People
Several hundred years after Yoshihiko defeated the dark spirit Deathtark in a fierce battle and saved the world, the world is once again plunged in darkness because of the devil king. Resurrected by the power of Buddha, Yoshihiko, Murasaki, Merebu and Danjo are told to defeat the devil king. The devil king has seven weak points which they must attack if they are to be able to succeed. Only destined people can go on offensive. The party of four set off on a new, dangerous journey around the world in search of these seven warriors with the pearls of destiny to bring down the devil king and return peace to the world. Guided by Buddha, they reach a village, but there are no signs of people. When Merebu calls out after finally spotting a human figure, the person’s face sends them fleeing hastily and they spend a night hiding in a small hut. Will they be able to save the world again?
Rookies
Led by their fervent teacher, a high school baseball team full of delinquents vows to make it all the way to the national championship tournament.
Angel Flight
Ryoko Yonekura stars in this series written by Ryota Kosawa about specialists who transport the deceased back home. The company Angel Hearse is run by Nami Izawa and Kashiwagi. A drama that portrays love between the deceased and the bereaved.
Jiu: Special Investigation Team
The show is based on the "Jiu" suspense novel series by Honda Tetsuya. Motoko (Kuroki) is a fierce, physically capable investigator with a strong battle instinct, while Misaki (Tabe) is more intellectual, kind-hearted, and naive. The two of them are both working to track down Jiu, the ringleader responsible for a series of brutal crimes.