Kanata Hongo’s path until he became『Attack on Titan』’s Armin
2016年4月23日更新 / source : http://ciatr.jp/topics/15814
Actor・All About Kanata Hongo
Ever since he was young, Kanata Hongo is active as a kid model while he was still in kindergarten. After that, he signed a contract with Stardust Promotion, became a main protagonist and his activities in showbusiness continued. There was even a topic spreading on how he and Ryunosuke Kamiki, also a child actor and is currently active, looked alike.
He made a screen debut in 2002 in the movie『Returner』when he was 12 years old. In 2005, he got a starring role in『HINOKIO』when he was 13 years old and gained positive feedbacks for his performance. The protagonist, Iwamoto Satoru, is a gradeschool student stuck in a wheelchair who refuses to go to school. He strived hard no matter how broken he is and his journey to overcome his struggles also gave the viewers courage.
Ever since he acted in the 2015 movie『Attack on Titan』, Kanata Hongo became a popular actor and he appeared in various TVs and dramas. I will introduce below more about his projects and profile.
Acting career・Kanata Hongo’s road / 『Returner』(2002)
Kanata Hongo’s first movie appearance when he was 12 years old. It is a Sci-Fi movie that used a lot of VFX and was directed by Takashi Yamazaki of『Eternal Zero』. Human beings are invaded by an alien called「Daggra」and is on the brink of extinction. Hongo plays the child role of a「Returner」worker, Miyamoto, who recovers money from the black market and return it to his client. He has a lot of portrayals of cool characters but the innocence of his childhood is still there.
『HINOKIO』(2005)
It is the first movie where Kanata Hongo portrayed as the main protagonist when he was 15 years old. Using a remote-controlled robot to represent himself, he portrayed the role of the boy Satoru who uses a robot called 「Hinokio」to go to school in his stead. Because it is a robot-themed movie, they used CG. He co-starred with Mikako Tabe in this work.
『Prince of Tennis』(2006)
He played the role of Ryoma Echizen in Takeshi Konomi very popular manga turned into live-action『Prince of Tennis』. While being surrounded by musical casts, he also did a performance where he draw out the charm of the character itself.
『Blue Bird』(2008)
Attempted suicide in Junior Highschool. As soon as Murauchi (Hiroshi Abe) was transferred to teach to another school, an attempted incident happened (Kazuya Yamazaki). He was then drawn into a complicated with Hongo who played a difficult character named Shinichi Sonobe and was suffering from complicit bullying.
『GANTZ』(2010)・『GANTZ PERFECT ANSWER』(2011)
Divided into two movies, from Hiroya Oku’s popular sci-fi action manga turned into a live action movie, 『GANTZ』. Hongo plays as the veteran highschool fighter who was fighting in the world of GANTZ earlier than the hero, Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya). As far as Hongo’s casting work is concerned, this is the biggest and most expensive epic movie.
Kanata Hongo is a picky eater? Learn more about his unusual lifestyle
Fans are concerned if whether or not Kanata Hongo is eating properly because of his thing visuals. In fact he doesn’t seem to like eating and said that there are times that he doesn’t eat anything throughout the day. Even Kiko Mizuhara who co-starred with him in the movie『Attack on Titan』shared,
Kanata said,『If I can only live without eating rice, I won’t eat it』. 引用：http://www.excite.co.jp
Also, he seemed to like sweets, he is said to be eating gummy and potato chips always. He also prefers staying indoors, spending the whole day in bed or making a Gundam Plamodel for 20 hours. Because he’s very keen with cleanliness, he prefers to stay at home and not go out because he thinks that there a lot of dirty things such as breath, exhaust gas and dust of people.
He’s also not good with ultraviolet rays so when going out, a sunshade is a commodity. From his slim appearance to his conviction, his unique lifestyle is really surprising.
He wants to have a normal love relationship
People were able to hear about him from his work as an actor but in private life, he’s really a nice guy. When asked about his love life, his type of girl is someone who’s 「smart and elegant」「cute and kind」.
Since he likes sweets, he wants his girlfriend to make sweets for him！Isn’t it a cute love affair? Also, he wants to date in the Aquarium and prefers a normal relationship, away from being an actor.
Almost like Ryuunosuke Kamiki
The image above is Kanata Hongo while the image below is Ryuunosuke Kamiki. Growing up, their slim appearance both look the same but they have always been regarded as 「look-alike」ever since childhood.
Also, the both of them are actors ever since they were kids so they are good friends. They even have nicknames「Kanati」「Ryuu」for each other. They both co-starred together in the drama『Aikurushii』last 2005.
Attack on Titan, a new big step as an actor!
It is not an exaggeration to say that he’s one of the biggest actors that played many roles ever since his debut, including the 『Attack on Titan』live action project. Drawn into a unique closed world surrounded by walls, this work is the largest among all of Hongo’s appearances.
And, he played the role of Armin who supports the main character, Eren, in both the first and second movie. Making judgments on what to do in the future in a calm manner, the role is perfect for his appearance.
He appeared in the popular manga turned into drama『Akagi』！
Started broadcasting in SKY PerfecTV! last July of 2015, he appeared for the starring role of Shigeru Akagi based on a Mahjong manga by Nobuyuki Fukumoto who has fans worldwide. He is enthusiastic about this project and dyed his hair silver as soon as it was announced.
Appeared in Keigo Hagashino’s original drama『Whose is the cuckoo’s egg?』
Always popular everytime his novels are turned into dramas, another of Keigo Higashino’s novels was brought into life. The drama『Whose is the cuckoo’s egg?』is a sports drama that started airing last March of 2016.
The story is about the Father, Hiromasa Aketa, and daughter, Kazami, who came from a family of top skiers for 2 generations. However, special genes showing high exercise capacity are found from Kazami. Eventhough the research institution requested for them to cooperate on the research of genetic genes, Hiromasa refused. That is because Kazami has a secret in birth...
Kanata Hongo played as a boy who has leukemia , Fumiya Kamijou. Though it hasn’t been revealed much, he seemed to be the key person of the story.
With『Akagi』which was premiered to 150 countries and regions and 『Attack on titans』which has a lot of fans worldwide, because of his appearances in large projects, Kanata Hongo’s popularity will definitely spread from Japan to the whole world.
From a popular game turned into anime, Kanata Hongo will also participate as a voice actor of the role Ryota Mitarai in 「Danganronpa 3 -The End of Hope’s Peak Academy - Future Edition」and will be broadcasting starting July 2016. Let’s look forward to his future success!