Masaki Kaji

Masaki Kaji (加治 将樹) is a Japanese actor and singer.

He is known for his role as Takeshi Momoshiro in the Prince of Tennis musical series, Tenimyu, and the live film adaptation.

He was also part of a young men's stage acting troupe, D-BOYS, which perform in various skit-like performances.

He has appeared in a various number of TV shows, musicals and movies.

In October 2004, Kaji joined the Watanabe Entertainment group named the D-BOYS.

As a member of the D-BOYS, Kaji also keeps a blog, which he updates occasionally.

Being a part of the D-BOYS provided Kaji with a lot of opportunities.

Among them was to perform with the group of boys and expand his experience as a performer.

On August 6, 2005, Kaji, along with Hiroki Suzuki, appeared on the radio program, Marvelous Radio Vibration that was hosted by fellow D-Boys members Yuu Shirota and Kotaro Yanagi.

The D-BOYS so far have released two Photobooks.

The first photobook released on April 27, 2005, was self-titled D-Boys, while the second, released on March 15, 2006, was called Start, both which contain many photos of Kaji.

The D-BOYS have also starred in their own drama documentary variety series called, DD-Boys in which Kaji's appeared in a few episodes as himself.

From 2005 to 2006, he became the second actor to play Momoshiro.

He made his debut as Momoshiro on January 8, 2005, in the Side Yamabuki performance in Osaka.

That same year, his role as Momoshiro was carried into the live adaptation film of the manga.

During his run in the musicals, he was able to work with fellow D-BOYS members Yuya Endo, Kotaro Yanagi, Hiroki Suzuki, Masato Wada, Hirofumi Araki, Osamu Adachi, and former member Yuu Shirota.

On January 1, 2006, Kaji, with fellow D-BOYS member Hiroki Suzuki, appeared on the 43rd broadcast of Secret New Years' Performance Tournament "Young Man Colosseum", where Kaji displayed his acrobatic abilities.

As well, on November 1, 2006, he made an appearance on a variety show called Kachinko (カチンコ!) broadcasting on TV Asahi.

The show aired May 26, 2006, on Fuji TV.

The show was 24 episodes long and ran from April 10 to September 25, 2006.

On March 29, 2006, in the Dream Live 3rd live concert, he, along with the majority of the Seigaku cast, graduated from their roles.

Since his graduation, the role of Momoshiro has been played by Shinpei Takagi, by fellow D-BOYS member Tetsuya Makita, and by actor Toshihiro Nobeyama.

Kaji 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, 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 and marked Kaji's first major film debut.

After his graduation from Tenimyu, Kaji starred in the first series of the TV drama, ''Seishun Energy: Check It Out Yo!

in Tokyo (青春★ENERGY ~ チェケラッチョ!! In Tokyo''), which premiered on Fuji TV April 12, 2006, and broadcast until June 15, 2006.

The series was a spinoff from the movie, Check It Out Yo!! (チェケラッチョ!!), was 10 episode long and featured Kaji as Shingo Amida, one of the four main characters.

The show was about four 3rd year high school students with no direction in their lives, until they found rap, which then inspired them to take charge of their lives and their dreams.

In the show, his character, along with his three costars' (Masataka Kubota, Ryo Kimura, and Gota Watabe) characters formed ROM-4.

Later, Kaji and his costars (under ROM-4) recorded and released the CD single called "Keep It Goin' On", which was used as the show's ending theme.

Then, Kaji appeared in the TV drama, Regatta, which premiered on TV Asahi, running from July 14, 2006, to September 8, 2006.

The show revolved around a university rowing club, in which Kaji had the role of playing the freshman, Toshiyuki Hoshino, on the team.

Then on January 1, 2007, Kaji appeared again on the New Year's Day 44th annual broadcast of the Secret New Years' Performance Tournament's "Chinese Lion Dance" segment, with Hiroki Suzuki and fellow D-Boys members, Yuya Endo, Masato Wada and former D-BOYS member, Yuuma Minakawa.

He appeared as a member of The Tigers, in the TV drama, The Hit Parade, starring fellow D-Boys members Masato Wada, Yuu Shirota, Hiroki Suzuki, Hirofumi Araki, Yuya Endo and Koji Seto.

In June 2007, the D-BOYS starred in their very own musical together called, D-BOYS STAGE, which ran from June 3 to 10 at the Space Zero theater in Tokyo.

Kaji appeared in the musical as a regular performer for the run of the musical.

Kaji won the role of Takeshi Momoshiro, the friendly 2nd year regular of Seigaku Middle School's tennis club, in The Prince of Tennis musical series, Tenimyu.

Nearly after a year away from musicals, Kaji starred as Onigiri, member of the Kogarasumaru Air Trecks team, in the first Air Gear musical called, Musical Air Gear (ミュージカル エア・ギア), which debuted on January 7, 2007, and run til January 21, 2007.