We interviewed actor Ryuga Akabane, who plays Gavan Bushido/Aikokuin Setsuna in the first installment of Toei's new special effects series, "PROJECT RED," "Super Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity" (TV Asahi, Sunday 9:30 AM). We asked him about his mindset for playing Setsuna.
Akabane is 23 years old and hails from Nagano Prefecture, having been born on August 29, 2002. As a high school student, he gained attention for appearing on Abema's romance reality show "I Fell in Love Today - Akizuki Edition" (2020). He has since appeared as an actor in films such as "Romantic Killer" (2025).
He says that his motivation for entering the entertainment industry was his admiration for Yamada Ryosuke of the popular group Hey! Say! JUMP. He was moved by a live performance he saw with his older and younger sisters, and said, "I wanted to work with Yamada, so I aimed for this world. Right now I'm concentrating on my acting work, and I hope to work hard so that one day I can co-star with Yamada."
He began auditioning for special effects productions starting with the Super Sentai series "Batarou Sentai Don Brothers" (2022-2023), but went through a period of time without success. "I felt like I still had a lot to learn in terms of ability, but the more I auditioned the more I got enthusiastic, and I went in with the determination to get in! When I was finally selected and found out I could become a hero, I was so happy I thought my heart would burst!" he recalls.
He is currently appearing alongside Masahiro Inoue, who starred in Kamen Rider Decade (2009), on Kanagawa Television's information variety show Neko no Hitai Hodo Wide. At the time of the interview, the ban had not yet been lifted, so he had not yet spoken to Inoue, but he smiled and said, "I watched Decade when I was little, and Inoue is a big big senior in the special effects world. I hope he enjoys it."
Setsuna, the character he plays, is an artificial human created for war. He is set to have no emotions. "Because the character does not yet understand human emotions, I have reduced his movements and facial expressions. I basically keep a straight face and am conscious of appearing impersonal so that his emotions are not visible. I hold back even when I feel like laughing, and live as Setsuna," he explains.
This is his first time as a regular in a drama series. He has almost no experience in action scenes, and this is his first attempt at dubbing. "Everything is new to me, but I'm working on it while being taught one thing at a time. I feel like this is a period where I can grow a lot as an actor. It's a role that you don't get to experience very often, so I want to gain experience and do my best to one day be able to perform on a bigger stage," he said enthusiastically. Regarding his future dream, he revealed that "when people in his hometown of Nagano ask, 'When you think of famous people,' they would say Akabane Ryuga."
Regarding future developments, he said that the highlight will be the relationship between the protagonist Gavan Infinity/Doki Reiji (played by Nagata Kohei), and appealed, "Please look forward to the super exciting developments between Reiji and Setsuna!"
