14 Rin's World/February 2015
Takeru Satoh 佐藤 健
Hall of Fame
I found out about Takeru Sato only because he took the role of Kenshin Himura in Rurouni Kenshin. However, his acting skills, and his looks, captured my attention soon thereafter and I have been a fan ever since. I have watched nearly all of his dramas and movies and I can honestly say that he not only have the looks but the skills to be an actor, as is apparent in his role as Kenshin Himura. However, he does just as good in other roles that he have played. Take a look at his biography below and read my other article about Rurouni Kenshin on the next few pages.
Rin Sanada
Name: Satoh Takeru
Kanji: 佐藤 健
Birthdate: March 17th, 1989
Birthplace: Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama, Japan
Height: 178cm
Blood Type: A
Satoh was scouted by an agent from Amuse, Inc. in Harajuku in Tokyo when he was in senior high school, and made his debut in 2006. His first drama was Princess Princess D (TV Asahi) where he played the role of Toru Kouno. In 2007, he guest-starred in Shinigami no Ballad (Kentarō Ishihara) and gained popularity in the seventeenth installment of the Kamen Rider series as Ryotaro Nogami. Satoh attributes the popularity of Den-O to its comedic timing.
Following the success and popularity of Kamen Rider Den-O and a further two films, in spring 2008, Satoh starred in the award-winning TBS drama Rookies as Yuya Okada. Okada belongs to a group of delinquents in a baseball club who are suspended from playing due to a previous violent match. Under their new teacher's guidance, the wayward club members rediscover their dream of going to the Koshien high school baseball tournament. Satoh considers his role in Rookies to be his breakout role even though he only played a minor supporting role. This was due to the fact that Rookies reached a much larger audience than any of his previous works as the drama was shown on prime time television. Satoh also featured in the special episode of Rookies and starred in the live-action in the summer of 2009.
Satoh reprised his role as Ryotaro (Den-O) in the third film of Kamen Rider Den-O in October 2008. This was Satoh's last time playing Ryotaro. During the same month, he starred in the drama Bloody Monday, based on the manga with the same name. He played Otoya Kujo, the best friend of main protagonist Fujimaru Takagi, who is played by fellow Amuse member and real life good friend Haruma Miura.
In early 2009, Satoh starred in Mei-chan no Shitsuji as Kento Shibata. His character decides to enroll in a butler school so that he can stay close to childhood friend Mei Shinonome, who attends St. Lucia Girls' Academy, where all the students have butlers. His role in this drama is a firm favorite with fans. He starred in the film Goemon in summer 2009, and also guest-starred on TV shows, Mr. Brain, True Horror Stories and MW Dai-0-sho. In 2010, he played Okada Izō in his first Taiga drama Ryōmaden and had a major supporting role in the film Beck co-starring Hiro Mizushima and Osamu Mukai,[6] both of them being his co-stars from Mei-chan no Shitsuji. Following the release of the film, Satoh landed his first leading role on prime time television with teen drama Q10.
Takeru Satoh at Rurouni Kenshin press conference in Manila, Philippines, in August 2014
On June 28, 2011, he was confirmed to star as Himura Kenshin in the live action adaptation of the highly popular Rurouni Kenshin manga series.[7] Released in August 2012, the film grossed a total of 3.01 billion yen at the domestic box office.[8] He also made his stage debut as Romeo with the Japanese adaptation of Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet in May 2012.
His subsequent project Tonbi was a drama series based on a novel by Shigematsu Kiyoshi. He then starred in Real, a science fiction mystery movie directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, as well as The Liar and His Lover, a live-adaptation film based on the manga Kanojo wa Uso o Aishisugiteru.
In 2014, Satoh played the role of a rookie detective in Fuji TV's Bitter Blood.[9] He reprised the role of Kenshin in two sequel films of the Rurouni Kenshin live action franchise, Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends, both of which were released in 2014.[10][11] He has completed filming films Bakuman and Sekai kara neko ga kietanara (working title), with scheduled release dates in 2015 and 2016 respectively. He is currently filming drama The Emperor's Cook as of December 2014.
He, alongside Rurouni Kenshin co-stars Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki, and director Keishi Otomo was appointed as "Cultural Friendship Ambassador" to the Philippines by the Makati City council on August 7, 2014.[12]