Eiji Akaso

Eiji Akaso (赤楚 衛二, Akaso Eiji, born 1 March 1994, in Osaka Prefecture) is a Japanese actor and model, known for playing Ryuga Banjou in Kamen Rider Build. He is represented by Tristone Entertainment.

Eiji Akaso
赤楚 衛二
Akaso from an episode of Kamen Rider Build (2018)
Born	(1994-03-01) 1 March 1994 (age 31) Osaka Prefecture[1]
Other names	Mamoru Akaso (former stage name)
Occupations	Actor model
Years active	2010–present
Agent	Tristone Entertainment
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Website	www.tristone.co.jp/actors/akaso/

Early life and education

Due to his father's work, Eiji lived in Wisconsin (USA) at ages one to four. His father graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a professor at the Faculty of Foreign Studies (Linguistic Department) at Nagoya Gakuin University and became the president of Nagoya Gakuin University in April 2020. His mother is a piano teacher.^[2]

Eiji's younger brother, who is four years younger than him, is studying film production at Osaka University of Arts.

He was strongly influenced by his academic and artistic parents. He started playing piano at the age of three until Junior High School. He graduated from Toho High School, a private school, in Nagoya. After high school, Eiji majored in English at the same university, but later dropped out to move to Tokyo.^[3] His desire to become an actor sprouted in middle school and was also influenced by the habit of his family of having a movie night once a month. At the age of 19 or 20, he went to Tokyo and auditioned for a year. The trigger that lead Eiji to drop out of university and to enter the world of entertainment was a call from the CEO of his current agency in 2014. At that time, he was still in university and he had to make the decision either to start then or after graduation at the age of 23. He made a "now or never" decision and dropped out of university to join Tristone Entertainment.^[4]

Career

Eiji was affiliated with the Nagoya model office "FORM JAPAN" when he was in his teens. He was active as a model and talent under the name Mamoru Akaso (赤楚 衛, Akaso Mamoru).^[5] In 2010, he joined the local idol group "BOYS AND MEN" in Nagoya, working on stage performances and regular appearances of variety shows.^[6][a] Eiji is said to have left BOYS AND MEN in 2011. Originally, he entered the entertainment agency because he wanted to be an actor and not an idol.^[8]

Eiji won the Grand Prix at the men's model audition of Samantha Thavasa in 2013, which became the turning point for him to audition in Tokyo at the age of 19.^[9][10][11] In 2015, he transferred to his current agency Tristone Entertainment, working as an actor and starring in television dramas and films in his current stage name.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2015	High School Chorus	Sho Ishikawa
	AKB Horror Night: Adrenalin no Yoru		Episode 16
2016	Never Let Me Go		Episode 2
	Tokyo Women's Guidebook	Kōhei		[12]
	Watashi ni Unmei no Koi nante arienai tte Omotteta		TV movie
2017	Frankenstein's Love		Episode 1
	Samurai Gourmet	[Actor]	Episode 5
	Kamen Rider Amazons	Hiroki Nagase	Season 2	[13]
2017–18	Kamen Rider Build	Ryuga Banjo/Kamen Rider Cross-Z	Lead role	[14]
2018	Kamen Rider Zi-O	Ryuga Banjo/Kamen Rider Cross-Z	Episodes 1-2
2019	Innocence, Fight Against False Charges	Tokudori Isawa
	My Husband's Wives	Hideaki Matsuda
	Hey Sensei, Don't You Know?	Riichi Kido	Lead role	[15]
2020	Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!	Kobayashi
	Gourmet Detective Goro Akechi	Nonaka	Episode 3
	Detective Yuri Rintaro	Shota Satsuki	Episode 2
	Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!	Kiyoshi Adachi	Lead role	[16]
2021	Cold Case Season 3	Yōsuke Hirayama	Episode 6	[17]
	Date My Daughter	Yuto		[18]
	Super Rich	Yu Haruno		[19]
2022	Hiru	Yūki Shinomiya	Lead role	[20]
	Ishiko and Haneo: You're Suing Me?	Ao Ōba		[21]
2022–23	Maiagare!	Takashi Umezu	Asadora	[22]
2023	Kazama Kimichika: Kyojo Zero	Junji Urihara		[23]
	Pending Train	Yūto Shirahama		[24]
	Turn to Me Mukai-kun	Satoru Mukai	Lead role	[25]
2025	Inheritance Detective	Nao Haie	Lead role	[26]

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2015	No Longer Heroine			[9]
	Tsūgaku Series: Tsūgaku Densha/Tsūgaku Tochū	Kyosuke		[27]
2016	Scoop!
2017	Closest Love to Heaven
	Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Rider	Ryuga Banjo/Kamen Rider Cross-Z		[28]
2018	Kamen Rider Build the Movie: Be the One	Ryuga Banjo/Kamen Rider Cross-Z		[29]
	Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever	Ryuga Banjo/Kamen Rider Cross-Z		[30]
2020	Love Me, Love Me Not	Kazuomi Inui	Lead role	[31]
	Love Me, Love Me Not: The Animation	A student (voice)	Cameo	[32]
	Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!	Kobayashi		[33]
2021	The Great Yokai War: Guardians	Amanojaku		[34]
2022	The Sunday Runoff	Yūki Iwabuchi		[35]
	Cherry Magic! the Movie	Kiyoshi Adachi	Lead role	[36]
2023	Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead	Akira Tendo	Lead role	[37]
2024	What If Tokugawa Ieyasu Became Prime Minister?	Sakamoto Ryōma		[38]
	6 Lying University Students	Shogo Hatano		[39]
2025	366 Days	Minato Makiya	Lead role	[40]
	About a Place in Kinki Region	Yūsei Ozawa	Lead role	[41]

Stage

Years	Title	Role	Ref.
2010–11	Straight Drive!		[5]
2013	Asu	Scanda	[42]
2016	Kuroko's Basketball	Ryo Sakurai	[9]
	Roshutsukurū

Music video

Years	Title	Artist	Ref.
2019	Masquerade	SHE'S	[43]
2019	Letter	SHE'S	[44]
2019	Your Song	SHE'S	[45]

Radio dramas

Date	Title	Role	Network	Ref.
Feb 2017	Saturday Drama House Binanshi Gekijō "Ma no tsubuyaki"	Ryo Okada	JFN	[46]

Modelling

Years	Title	Notes	Ref.
2010	Imuraya Confectionery "Nikuman Anman"	Advertisement model	[5]
2011	Aoki	Advertisement model	[5]
2013–	Samantha Thavasa	Men's model
2020	KANGOL REWARD	Collaboration x AM	[47][48][49]
2021	A BATHING APE® 2021 SPRING collection	Advertisement model	[50]
2021	Disney Pixar 'Toy Story' x Yohji Yamamoto Ground Y	Advertisement model	[51][52]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work(s)	Result	Ref.
2021	WEIBO Account Festival in Tokyo 2020	Popular Actor (Hot Topic Actor)	Cherry Magic	Won	[53][54]
2021	LINE NEWS AWARDS 2021	Next News Award	Actor Category	Won	[55][56]
2025	48th Japan Academy Film Prize	Newcomer of the Year	What If Tokugawa Ieyasu Became Prime Minister? and 6 Lying University Students	Won	[57]