Kento Kaku

The face of a risk

Kento Kaku had no plans to become an actor until a talent scout spotted a photo of him at a family gathering.

That lucky break in 2007 opened the doors of the industry to him with the film Shingari. But the shadow of his aunt, veteran actress Yoshiko Mita, put constant pressure on his first television roles. For nearly a decade he was typecast in supporting parts as a polished teen who never quite broke out at the Japanese box office.

Japan's entertainment industry tends to punish those who try to step outside their lane. Kaku chose to ignore that unwritten rule in 2018 when he agreed to star in the series Kyo Kara Ore Wa!! under director Yuichi Fukuda. He wore an outrageous blond wig and committed to aggressive physical comedy that bordered on pure hamminess.

And the gamble paid off.

That hit series gave him the freedom to choose projects in a way few actors of his generation enjoy. In 2019 he lent his voice to Simba in the Japanese version of The Lion King. But he didn't want to be limited to voice acting or teen-oriented visual gags.

She wanted total control.

In 2020 he took part in the police drama Nippon Noir to prove he could carry a dark story without losing the intensity he had honed in comedy. But the real game-changing move happened outside the film sets.

The Office and the Katana

In 2022 Kaku made the bold decision to leave the Amuse agency after fifteen years under contract. It is a risky move in Japan's rigid talent management system. But his goal was clear: he wanted to produce his own stories from the ground up instead of waiting for the phone to ring with generic offers.

The culmination of this process came in 2024 with the release of House of Ninjas on a global streaming platform. Kaku not only stars as the lead but also serves as executive producer and creator of the original story. He spent two years pitching the idea and refining the details of Shinobi mythology in the modern world.

And he pulled it off without the help of the major traditional studios.

The series was shot with a technical approach that prioritizes realistic choreography over digital effects. On the set in 2024, he personally supervised the action sequences to make sure the tone moved away from historical clichés. His production contract includes absolute creative control over the final editing of the episodes.