Behold, one of the most gorgeous guys my eyes ever laid upon!
Mackenyu. After the success of Chihayafuru, he decided that his screen name should be Arata Mackenyu, the ‘Arata’ coming from the name of the character he’s portraying. Most of his fellow actors and actresses call him Macken, though. Son of the actor, producer, director, and martial artist Sonny Chiba (whose works I haven’t seen yet), he is a Japanese-American who is born in Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, his English is good. He has a gorgeous voice, too! Another thing that I love about him is his eyes. They are expressive. Whenever he is acting, it’s like his eyes speak a lot of words, too. One look at those orbs conveys lots of emotions.
His first show that I watched is Aogeba Toutoshi. He played the character Kitora Ren. (Somehow, all the Ren from series that I watch and read are all attractive.) I did not know anything about him then. From the cast, I only knew Mikako Tabe, Akira Terao, Kentaro, and Nijiro Murakami. During his first appearance in the drama, though, he caught my attention because of his looks. Besides, his hair color stands out so it’s difficult to simply ignore him.
He does not wear much fancy clothes in the show, but, wow. He looks gorgeous even in plain white shirt. I cannot remember how many times I squealed “HE IS GORGEOUS!” and was shushed by my brother while watching the whole show.
And I am just simply happy for the fact that he’s not just an eye candy. He can act not like other actors out there who gets lots of big projects when they can barely act. (Yeah, yeah. I’m bitter about it.)
Not to say that his acting is already topnotch, but he is definitely one of the promising actors of his generation. More challenging roles and I think he can be versatile.
The next time I saw him, I did not recognize him. Since I got into Japanese stage plays, I wanted to see more of them. One time, someone shared Hana Yori Dango The Musical. I was initially surprised because I did not know about it. Since HanaDan is one of my guilty pleasures, I decided to watch it.
It was halfway the play when I decided to pause it to search about the cast and voila! It says that Mackenyu is Nishikado Sojiro. Well, his looks definitely suits him. I thought he somehow has a semblance with Matsuda Shota (the drama adaptation’s Sojiro), too! I guess his hairstyle there is the primary reason why I did not recognize him at first. I did thought that he is attractive, too. Of course, he did not have as much exposure as the Domyouji and Rui, but I can say that he was able to portray the character well.
Then, the next time I saw him is in Chihayafuru movies as Wataya Arata. I think Mackenyu will do great with romance dramas, so I hope he gets casted for one someday. (But that could be a shoujo adaptation, so I’m a bit conflicted. But I want to see him as a lead, so I don’t know anymore!) He seems like the type who can easily have chemistry with his onscreen partners.
He also has Cheer☆Dance which actually stars Hirose Suzu, the actress who portrayed Chihaya Ayase. Well, he’s the love interest, but the story doesn’t focus on romance and he’s just there for support.
Then, there’s Peach Girl where Mackenyu acts as Toji, the love interest of the main protagonist. The story is a shoujo formulaic story and it can be frustrating, but I still watched it for him. I ended up wanting to watch more of him just to see more of him smiling, though.
The second drama series I got to watch with him in it is Todome no Kiss. It’s a drama series starring Yamazaki Kento, Mugi Kadowaki, Araki Yuko, and him. I liked how the series got to show him in a character that has some interesting changes. The series was fun to watch, too.
Oh, and Mackenyu’s also casted for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. I haven’t seen the anime nor read the manga, but I’ll probably watch it since it’s going to be directed by Takashi Miike plus Mackenyu, Kamiki Ryunosuke, Okada Masaki, and Yamada Takayuki are included in the cast. Even if I read somewhere that the movie was a flop. Still, Kamiki and Mackenyu are there!
Skip to 6:10 for the bit about Pacific Rim: Rising and see how dedicated he is!
Early this year, Pacific Rim: Uprising is out on theatres and I badly want to watch it for Mackenyu! But I haven’t watched the first movie, so I’m still pondering about it. It’s amusing because in one show, it’s revealed that while filming Pacific Rim: Uprising, Mackenyu brought karuta cards to practice for Chihayafuru: Musubi!
Just look at how adorable these three are!
Chihayafuru: Musubi will also be out this 2018, so I’m definitely waiting for it! More Mackenyu, Nomura Shuhei, and Matsuoka Mayu! Yay!
OH! And he’s got Overdrive, too! Coming this year as well! It’s an auto racing-themed movie and Mackenyu looks so cool in it! And there’s Higashide Masahiro, Kitamura Takumi, and Morikawa Aoi, too! Looks like his character here is quite a hot-tempered guy. But he still looks so hot. Squeals. Just look at those abs.
He has such a sweet smile and sparkling eyes; I can stare at him all day! I’d love to see him in a drama or movie with lots of my beloved actors, too! Just look at that picture of him with Kamiki, Yamazaki Kento (not a fan of him, though okay, so this 2018 I got turned into a fan mainly because of Todome no Kiss), and Sakurada Dori (that face LOL)! He uploaded that on his Instagram account on Sakurada’s birthday. I guess they celebrated it together.
Speaking of birthdays, if there’s one thing that hurts me, it is him being months younger than me! It is even almost a year gap! As if I have a chance with him and as if age matters a lot. Anyway, this gap won’t be able to stop me from seeking his shows and from gushing over him. Now, I’m so excited for his future projects. Looking forward to his improments!
Updated 041018: Updated his name. Corrected bits about Pacific Rim: Uprising and added a lot of various things.
Treasure Box 
Hello 🙂
Couldn’tagree more with everything you wrote, I discovered Mackenyu a few months ago and I have watched everything I could find with him. Truly a gorgeous being and a good actor too. I was surprised he wasn’t more popular in Japan, I hope he gets some lead roles soon. I found him particularly mesmerizing in the short drama I’ll Fall in Love with you again Tomorrow, he was handsome and charming beyond description. What I like about him compared to some actors of this generation is that he does not overact, he inhabits his characters, very often you can’t tell that it is the same actor but he is very subtle and does not exaggerate like many young jactors, who are reputed to be good actors, do.
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do you know where can I watch “I’ll probably fall in love with you again” and “take a chance”?? I couldn’t find it everywhere. Dont care if it’s not subbed (even I dont understand Japanese too). Just wanna see him act 😀
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I want to add, what hurts me the most as a mackenyu fan is the absence of subs for many of his shows like Bokutachi ga yarimashita add to that that he hasn’t been in that many project so far so I fouond myself fangirling over him in interviews and variety shows ( slaying the short hair look for peach girl promotions) but even those are not subbed of course.
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