Uprising young Generation-Y japanese actors
Gen-Y, or the Y Generation, refers to the group of people born in the late 1980s and after. In other words, the Millennials or the Internet Generation. This generation is different from the X Generation (born in 1970s-1980s) in that they grew up with their life interwined profusely with the Internet. (Btw Arashi would be Generation X.)
Recently, I have begun to notice that we are now standing at the transition point witnessing the japanese showbiz's change of 'young male actors' dynasty. The familiar faces that we are so used to associating with 'young male lead in idol-dramas' are now gradually replaced with new faces of newbies. Newbies whom the media called 'budding/uprising actors'.
Perhaps it is a bit of shock to me because i have just started watching the japanese showbiz a few years ago and thus only just familiarise myself with the 'young male leads' faces. Suddenly to have these faces replaced seemed a bit of urmm.. too fast. But then again, logically, what's happening makes sense because those faces have already been there for some 5-6 years so it's really time for a change. So actually it's just my problem because the time I entered jap showbiz-watching is just too late. But anyway, looking it in terms of workplace in society, the Generation Y is now either entering or going to enter society; thus it is afterall not surprising to begin seeing more and more of the Gen-Y faces on TV, joining the showbiz not child-actors but as full-time professional artistes.
Ok, so to name a few of the 'current familiar idol-dorama-male-lead faces' (the Gen-X), within which i have further split into 3 categories:
[Older, not in age but in terms of chronology]
Tsumabuki Satoshi, Ichihara Hayato
(note: these 2 guys should have already graduated from idol-doramas by now, but their names appear here because some of their works in the early 2000s are idol-like doramas to me)
[Current]
Matsumoto Jun, Yamashita Tomohisa, Tamaki Hiroshi, Kamenashi Kazunari
[Newer]
Oguri Shun, Eita, Hayami Mokomichi, Mizushima Hiro
*Ppl who are still occasionally male leads in IDOL DORAMAS (though very small chances of that) such as Kimura Takuya, Fukuyama Masaharu and Yamada Takayuki are not mentioned because they are supposed to have graduated from idol doramas. Also, Oguri and Eita are considered newer leads because they got their breakthroughs recently though they had been toiling hard for years.
De-wa, the .... Uprising Gen-Y actors! (within which i separated into another 2 groups):
[Already well-known]
Miura Haruma, Kanata Hongo, Kamiki Ryunosuke
[Budding]**
Irie Jingi, Kaku Kento, Sakurada Dori, Yamada Ryosuke
**This list of "Budding Gen-Y actors" is tentative because though these people are relatively well-known compared to other debuting starlets, it is presently unclear as to whether they will take a more active role in ACTING or choose to work as an idol/artiste (as in performing more as singers/dancers/cm-models etc). Notice I only classify artistes as actors only if they have completed a considerable amount of doramas/films/butais. Participating in 2 or 3 productions does not spell 'actor' but rather 'a participant in XXX'.
Of course, the above list is merely a personal perspective and is certainly not exhaustive (I don't know the jap showbiz very well!!!).
Well, of these uprising Gen-Y actors, I haven't had the opportunity to read/watch more about them yet, but from a quick research on their pictures just now, these 3 caught my attention:
Left to right: Irie Jingi, Kanata Hongo, Kamiki Ryunosuke.
DON'T THEY LOOK SO MUCH ALIKE??!!! Especially Irie and Kamiki. No i'm sure I got the right pictures... Not 3 pictures of Irie/Kanata/Kamiki or something. What is even more creepy amazing is that the 2 'especially-look-alikes' share the same age... only at a difference of 1 day. (Well, at least from the information obtained from the web that is...)