In 2011, he made his feature debut in “Kamen Rider OOO Wonderful: The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals” as Gentaro Kisaragi and Kame Rider Fourze, however, he simply auditioned for both roles to please his parents, who are major fans of the “Kamen Rider” franchise.
Sota was chosen to play the lead character in “Kamen Rider Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie War Mega Max,” as well as the next four “Kamen Rider” films released in 2012 and 2013.
The “Kamen Rider” franchise helped Sota become a prominent actor in Japan, and he went on to gain main roles in films such as “Enoshima Prism” in 2013 as Shuta Jogasaki, and “As the Gods Will” in 2014.
He received plaudits for his performance of Takatoshi Minamiyama in the 2016 film “My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday,” and he went on to star in the final film of the “Kamen Rider” franchise, “Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Rider.” His most recent film performances were in “The Fable” in 2019, and “Kaiji: The Final Game” in early 2020.
So far, he has received two awards: an Elan d’Or Award for newcomer of the year in 2014 and the 38th Japan Academy Film Prize for newcomer of the year in 2015.
Appearances in television series
Sota made his TV series debut in “Misaki Number One!!” in 2011 and subsequently appeared in “Shima Shima” and “Kamen Rider Fourze” the following year. In 2013, he was cast in “The Clinic on the Sea,” and in 2014, he played Kimiyasu Akaiwa in “Baseball Braniacs” and Yuto Tanokura in “I’m Taking the Day Off.” In 2015, he was cast as Aoi Miura in the film “Koinaka,” which follows Aoi, who has an uncertain nature and dislikes summer, and who meets Akari Serizawa, his childhood friend and first love, just before she mysteriously disappears.
His most recent TV series appearances were “My Lover’s Secret” in 2017, “Heaven? Gokuraku Restaurant” in 2018, and “Marigold in 4 Minutes” in 2019.
