Where Are They Now?: Juken Sentai Gekiranger Part 2.

Welcome to Where Are They Now? where we see what happened to tokusatsu actors after their shows end. This time we will be continuing to look at actors from Juken Sentai Gekiranger. You can read part one here.

The Black Lion Rio was portrayed by Hirofumi Araki. He, along with fellow Gekiranger alum, Hiroki Suzuki, he is an active part of D-Boys. An acting/singing group a part of the Watanabe Company family. As a part of D-Boys he is regularly a part of concerts. This has been his main focus since leaving Gekiranger

Outside of concerts, Araki has been in a few television projects. He plays Mita Minoru in Sugarless, a TV series about rival school gangs trying to take the title the s best gang in the school.

He also stars in Heaven’s Flower playing the policeman Manaka Yuichiro. This TV series takes place in the year 2060. All plant life has stopped growing and the human population is trying to rebuild. An emotionless assassin named Ai comes across Yuichiro, and falls in love with him….

The devoted Green Chameleon Mele was played by Yuka Hirata. Since leaving Gekiranger, Hirata has had several small roles in other tokusatsu projects. She played Nurse Hirata in Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger, Kyoko Todoroki in Kamen Rider W, and most recently the human form of Himiko in Kamen Rider Ghost the Movie: The 100 Eyecons and Ghost’s Fateful Moment.

Outside of these tokusatsu roles, Hirata has continued to model.

Everyone’s favorite ringside commentator, Bae, was voiced by Akira Ishida. As with most voice actors we cover in this series, he has done an overwhelmingly large amount of work. Some of his most notable roles have been Gaara in the Naruto franchise, Zeref in Fairy Tale and Kotaro Katsura in Gintama.

Miki, the human mentor to the Gekirangers, was played by Kazue Itoh. She has had quite a healthy career after Gekiranger. In the realm of tokusatsu, she played Kyoko Shiraishi in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. She was the mother of the current Shinken Pink, and held the title before being injured by Dokoku.

Outside of tokusatsu, she has acted in several drama series and movies. She played Kaori in Kibagaoka no Hitobito. A story about a young family who loses its mother to terminal cancer. In a spur of the moment, the father Taijima moves into Kaori’s home with his two young children.

She also portrays Reiko Yuminaga in Ku no Kyoukai, a movie about a young high diver named Yuko who quits the sport during her prime. Due to her discovering her stepbrother (played by Kamen Rider Decade Alum Masahiro Inoue) murdered her step-father.

Finally, we arrive at the great dragon Long. The main villain of Gekiranger was played by Naoki Kawano. Quite like fellow Gekiranger alum Hirata, he has had a few roles in other tokusatsu series. He played Toru Kawai/ the Gene Dopant in Kamen Rider W. He also played Masanori Kizaki in Kamen Rider Wizard. 

Kawano plays Manichi in 125 Years Memory this story is divided into two sections, one in 1890, the other in 1985. The plots deal with Japan and Turkey helping each other’s citizens in crisis.

Kawano stars alongside Kamen Rider Den-O alum Takeru Satoh and Kamen Rider Kabuto alum Hiro Mizushima in Beck, a movie about five young musicians who have a go at being a professional band.