Hiroki Aiba

Hiroki Aiba (相葉 裕樹, Aiba Hiroki) is an actor, dancer and singer. He is best known for his role as Shusuke Fuji in The Prince of Tennis musical series, Tenimyu, and the live film adaptation. He was also part of a young men's 3-member streetdancing group called Brights, which was disbanded in 2004. His other most known role was the part of Ryūnosuke Ikenami/ShinkenBlue in the 33rd Super Sentai series, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. He has been a member of "top coat" since April 2011.

His real and former name is 相葉 弘樹 (Aiba Hiroki, reading is the same but the kanji is different). He changed it when he moved to top coat.^[1]

Personal life

Aiba was born October 1, 1987 and studied at North Funabashi Highschool in Chiba prefecture.^[2] He is good friends with Tori Matsuzaka, Keisuke Souma, Shogo Suzuki and Renn Kiriyama.

Career

With Brights

Aiba was a former member of the disbanded three-men, originally four-member, streetdancing group called Brights. The other two members included Atsushi Koga and Takuya, who happened to later go on to play Akutagawa Jirou in Tenimyu with Aiba. The group disbanded after Aiba joined Avex after winning the Junon Boy contest. At that time, Aiba still was an amateur at dancing and he has stated in past blog entries that he owes a lot to Takuya, who was already an experienced dancer by then, for teaching him. They usually performed in Yoyogi Park.

The Prince of Tennis Musicals

In 2005, Aiba won the role of Shusuke Fuji, the prodigy of Seigaku Middle School's tennis club, in the The Prince of Tennis musicals, Tenimyu. From 2005 to 2006, he became the third actor to play Fuji as a member of the second generation Seigaku cast. He made his debut as Fuji on January 8, 2005 in the Side Yamabuki performance in Osaka. That same year, his role as Fuji was carried into the live adaptation film of the manga.

On March 29, 2006, in the Dream Live 3rd live concert, Aiba did not graduate alongside the rest of his fellow second generation Seigaku cast; instead, he decided to continue performing in the musicals and acted as a guide for the new third generation Seigaku cast members from 2006 to 2007. After the Absolute King Rikkaidai feat. Rokkaku ~ Second Service musical, Aiba graduated along with the majority of third Seigaku cast. He has been the longest serving actor to play Fuji, as well as the second longest serving actor in Tenimyu. Since his graduation, the role of Fuji was played by Yūta Furukawa.

On the Tenimyu website, it was announced that both the fourth and fifth Seigaku casts would take turns performing the next two musicals; Aiba made a brief return to reprise his role as Fuji with the fifth Seigaku cast in the Imperial Presence Hyotei Gakuen musical as there was no time to find an actor to play Fuji. After that show, actor Hashimoto Taito carried on as the fifth cast's Fuji. Following the fifth cast's graduation, the role of Fuji is played by Ryo Mitsuya.

Aiba released a Best Actor's album in 2006, for his role in the musicals as Fuji, called The Prince of Tennis Musicals Best Actor's Series 003 - Hiroki Aiba as Shusuke Fuji.

The Prince of Tennis film

Aiba was able to carry on his role from the musicals to the live-adaptation film of the manga series of The Prince of Tennis. He, along with most of the principal cast members for the Seigaku Regulars of the musical, were able to reprise their roles in the movie. The only major casting change was the casting of Kanata Hongo as Ryoma Echizen, the main protagonist.

The Prince of Tennis was released on May 13, 2006 and opened on the tenth spot in the Japanese Box Office.

Other work

After his work in Tenimyu, Aiba still continues to work as a stage actor, as well as act in several TV dramas. In 2007, he played the title role in the musical Pippin, sharing the role with his Tenimyu predecessor, J-pop singer Kimeru. Since 2008, he is also one of the star actors in the TV drama Tadashii Ouji no Tsukurikata (How to Create the Ideal Prince) along with former Tenimyu cast member Kotaro Yanagi who plays the lead role, Yukihiro Takiguchi, and Renn Kiriyama. He also did the voicing of Kanata Irie from the anime series New Prince of Tennis.

Super Sentai

In 2009, Aiba's next well known role was when he played Ryūnosuke Ikenami/ShinkenBlue in the Samurai Sentai Shinkenger Super Sentai series. The series ran until February 7, 2010.

Filmography

Variety shows: Sengoku Nabe TV ~Nantonaku Rekishi ga Manaberu Eizou~

• SHICHIHON Yari as Fukushima Masanori
• Tenshou Kenou Shounen Shitetsu as Itou Mancio
• Bei'Z as Takenaka Hanbei

Discography

Albums

Aiba has currently released one album.

Album Stats

Album was released for The Prince of Tennis musical in Japan (JPN), only. The album also includes KENN (as Yuuta Fuji), performing two duets with Aiba.

Track Listings

Track Listings for the Album:

1. "Tsubasa no Kizuna" (with Kenn as Yuuta Fuji)
2. "Shootin' Your Smile"
3. "Yume no Kidou"
4. "Instrumental ~ Fuji vs Ryoma"
5. "Yume wo Tsunage - Syuusuke Solo Edition"
6. "Hand in Hand"
7. "Instrumental ~ Fuji vs Akutagawa Jirou DL3. Kira★Kira ver."
8. "Instrumental ~ Fuji vs Mizuki"
9. "Run Run Run - Brother's Edition" (with Kenn as Yuuta Fuji)
10. "Aiba Hiroki & Kenn Message for you"

Other songs: futari dake no happy birthday:with Honey L Days and other bokura no hyoteishiki members Aonami yonaoshi (Blue Wave World Reformation) as ikenami ryunosuke"shinken blue" character song

Official DVDs

Musicals and stageplays

Voice acting

Games

• Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3 - Rocks (2011)

Anime

• Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince - Izuru Hitachi
• Shin Tennis no Oujisama - Irie Kanata

Awards

The 16th Junon Boy Judge's Special Award (3rd Place)

See also

• Tenimyu
• The Prince of Tennis Movie
• The Prince of Tennis
• Shusuke Fuji

References

External links

• Aiba's Official Blog
• Aiba's Official Profile
• The Prince of Tennis Movie Official Site
• Tenimyu Official site
• Switch Official Site
• BRIGHTS Official Site
• Hiroki Aiba at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Hiroki Aiba at the Internet Movie Database
• Spysee.jp profile (Japanese)