Top 25 Japanese Actresses on MDL
I remember watching Grasshopper with Ikuta Toma and taking notice of Yamada Ryosuke's character. An amoral killer for hire that has is emotionally attached to his "manager". Since then, as I complete more of his dramas and movies, I have begun to appreciate his acting skills. He boasted on Vs.Arashi: "Well, I am a Johnny's" and he is proving every sentiment that statement brings.
Did you know he has been on nine episodes of Vs.Arashi as of November 2017 when he was on with the FMA cast? In one episode, they even recreated his tightrope walking act he did for Hey!Say!Jump! Concerts for one of the games. Make sure to watch the whole video.
After that I watched Assassination Classroom, and I literally spent three days watching the entire anime, then both of the live actions, and Yamada nailed the Nagisa character. I can't rave enough about this adaptation.
Apparently, he was in 1 Pound no Fukuin but I would have to re-watch it to pick him out. I was too busy focusing on Kame trying to get Sister Meisa, I mean Angela, to marry him.
In Hidarime Tantei EYE he did extremely well and held his own with Yokoyama Yu and Ishihara Satomi. Cast as a middle schooler I thought this was going to be kiddy-fied and silly. It wasn't at all, although the mechanics to get the "visions" to come get tedious by the last few episodes.
Risou no Musuko was an interesting drama about becoming an adult from both the adult's perspective and the child's. A mechanic of animated animals representing each main character is used a lot better than one would think and doesn't distract from the stories.
Okaasan, Ore wa Daijoubu was a typical medical tragedy Drama Special. It seems every Johnny must do one.
Cain and Abel - This is a family-centered drama set in an office. Yamada Ryosuke did well on his part. With this one, I felt the portrayal of the older generation was done well.
Apparently, he also did Kyou no Hi wa Sayonara with Ohno Satoshi, but I haven't seen it yet.
Basics
Name: Yamada Ryosuke
Native Name: 山田涼介 (やまだ りょうすけ)
Nicknames: Yama-chan ( 山ちゃん), Yamada (山田), Ryosuke (涼介), Ryo-chan (涼ちゃん), Dayama (だーやま), Punyukichi (ぷにゅきち), Yamaryo (山涼), Yamamon (山もん), Yamada Son (ヤマダ―ソン)
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Early Life, Career Beginnings and Trivia
His family consists of a sister (1 year older) called Yamada Chihiro, who is a model, and got married in September 2016. You can find her story all over the internet. He has one younger sister called Yamada Misaki, as well as both his parents. This article talks about how close his family is and how important they are to him.
Ryosuke's mother was a fan of Kinki Kids and persuaded him to audition with an Official FiFa World Cup pin patch. The audition was aired on an episode of Ya-Ya-yah on August 12, 2004. He was 11 years old and in the 5th grade.
Ryosuke began working as a backup dancer for Tackey & Tsubasa, NEWS, Kanjani8, and KAT-TUN and appeared regularly on The Shounen Club from autumn 2004.
- Yamada Ryosuke provided the voice for Clumsy in the Japanese dub for The Smurfs.
- Hair: "It’s thin, I have so much of it and it’s wavy. Above all of that, its natural color is like a light brown. Even if I change it to black it’ll always go back to its original brown. Truthfully, my hair is really hard to handle." -quoted from Seventeen Magazine [Vol.7 “Body Talk” Ft. Yamada Ryosuke]
- "Oh yeah, also, if you look reaaaaally carefully, I have a scar on my right cheek. It’s a scratch from my younger sister that I got from a fight that we had when we were little. It wasn’t only that one time though, there’s been plenty more. But, as for that scar, I don’t know if it can be seen at a close distance. It’s a scar that only the person that gets to kiss me can see (laughs). It’s a special privilege that belongs to that person only. ♥" quoted from Seventeen Magazine [Vol.7 “Body Talk” Ft. Yamada Ryosuke]
- His senpai from Kanjani 8 often invite him to his house to play trump card with other friends.
- Often comes to Ninomiya (Arashi) to ask for advice or simply play a game. But, according to Chinen, when his senpai Ninomiya Kazunari (Arashi) couldn’t finish a certain game, he would ask Yamada for help and would say, “Yamada-san please help me”. Yamada would be on Do-S Mode and say, “There’s no choice, so I will help you” and act like a senpai to Ninomiya. Apparently, Yamada was on level 500 and Ninomiya was stuck on level 50 that time.
- According to his senpai Hideaki Takizawa, Yamada is one of the most talented persons in Johnny. Since he was junior, Takki felt that Yamada will be a shining star one day. He used to ask Kitagawa Johnny himself to make Yamada play little brother on stage. At first, Johnny-san declined that idea but he approved it later when Takki asked him again.
- His senpai Inohara from V6 said that Yama-chan is like kira-kira ouji (dazzling prince) that makes him easier to find. He also said that Yama-chan is kawaii.
- Yama-chan loves cooking and is good at it. It’s no surprise that this ikemen is good at making ryouri (cuisine) by hand. According to him, sakana (fish) is his speciality. He often makes his own dashi (like base soup in Japanese cuisine) rather than buying it in stores.
- He loves soccer but is really bad at the kicking games on Vs.Arashi. They love to tease him about it every show.
- Yamada is hikkikomori (a person who has the tendency to stay at house/room for long period). Besides his work, Yamada only goes out once every two weeks and that’s only for shopping or buying groceries. Yamada will buy a big amount of groceries (mostly food) and store them in his fridge.
- He gained 20 Jr. Awards in 2008 which broke Akanishi Jin’s (KAT-TUN) record of 16 Jr. Awards and is currently the record for most awards in a year.
- He had already done some modeling before joining Johnny's. He was already in a magazine when he was only 6 years old.
Music on and off the Stage
His pre-debut work as a back-up dancer includes: 2005 Jan - Feb Koichi Domoto's Endless Shock, 2006 January KAT-TUN, Kanjani8 Dream Boys (I have this on DVD), March - April Hideaki Takizawa's Takizawa Enbujyo and One!-the history of Tackey in September. Then in 2010 for Tackey again in Takizawa Kabuki as a guest.
His first musical venture was on the Chibikko Team of J.J. Express and it is unclear when exactly he joined but the group disbanded in 2007, a few months after Hey! Say!JUMP! debuted. He was in a temporary unit called Futari no Ryosuke-kun in 2005, every website lists it, but no one has any further information about it. Next, he was in Kitty, Jr. from July 2006 - March 2007. Members included Yamada Ryosuke, Kyomoto Taiga (Six Tones), Ito Takumi, Takino Yu, Tatsuoki Naoya, and Chinen Yuri in early 2007.
In September 2007 Hey! Say!JUMP! was formed consisting of the two units of Hey!Say!7 (Okamoto Keito, Yamada Ryosuke, Nakajima Yutoand Chinen Yuri) and Hey!Say!B.E.S.T (Yabu Kota, Takaki Yuya, Inoo Kei, Yaotome Hikaru and Arioka Daiki). In 2008, Ryosuke was part of a temporary unit called Takaki Yuya to Nakamatachi which did "Seishun no Kizuna", a medley of the popular songs from Gokusen "Kizuna" by Kamenashi Kazuya. Watch the video here.
In 2009, Ryosuke joined the NYC Boys -Yamada Ryosuke, Chinen Yuuri and Nakayama Yuma w/B.I.Shadow -as supporters of the Japanese Volleyball Team for the FIVB World Grand Prix 2009. Their single "Akuma na Koi/NYC" hit the #1 position on the Billboard charts.
On January 9, 2013, he made his solo debut with number one single "Mystery Virgin"(ミステリーヴァージン). The fact that Yamada Ryosuke was in his teens at the time when the single reached number one helped him set several new records in the Japanese music industry. The single debuted at number one in its debut week on the Oricon chart, making him the first teenage male artist in thirty-three years to have a number one debut single as well as being one of the only two artists in history to achieve this milestone.
The other debut single leader was Masahiko Kondo who released in December of 1980 "Sneakers Bullusu". He is currently the one and only male artist born in the Heisei period (the current era in Japan which started in 1989) to have a number one single. In Japan, although many teen boy bands frequently top the charts, the industry was lacking young male solo artists for over two decades and this is said to be another factor that contributed to his successful solo debut.
Music Videos not with HSJ!
Year | Song | Artist | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2005 | Shuuji to Akira |  | |
2006 | Tackey & Tsubasa | |||
Kitty GYM | ||||
2013 | Ryosuke Yamada | |||
Ryosuke Yamada |
and then there's this bit from School Kakumei! Making of and video.
Variety shows
Year | Title | Broadcast | Role | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2004 - 2007 | TV Tokyo | Himself |  | |
2004 - present | NHK | Himself | |||
2006 - 2007 | You Tachi! | NTV | Himself | ||
2007 - 2008 | NTV | Himself | |||
2008 - 2009 | NTV | Himself | |||
2009 - present | NTV | Himself | |||
2011 -2013 | Yan Yan Club | TV Tokyo | Himself |
Awards
I did mention he is the record holder for awards, right? Well, here they are.
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2016
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Sources: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13)
Make sure to check out the sources since they have sooo much more information that I could not include in this article. Yamada Ryosuke is definitely proving to be an up-and-coming Johnny's Star and I look forward to seeing what he does with Full Metal Alchemist, one of my all-time favorite animes (I own both versions on DVD). I'll be keeping an eye on his career from now on.
For past articles, follow this link.
Please let me know what you think or if you have a suggestion on which Japanese actor or actress you'd like the next Stalker's Guide to be about.
Thanks for reading!
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