Kotaro Yanagi

In November 2014, Yanagi announced he was taking a long-term hiatus due his health.

In 2007, he appeared as the main character in the musical Cooky Clown (Japanese: ミュージカル Cooky Clown ). In March of the same year, he participated as a guest in "Out of Order".

After recovering, he continued to play his role along with the second generation Seigaku cast, which featured most of the D-BOYS members. On March 29, 2006, Yanagi graduated from the role after his performance in Dream Live 3rd. Yanagi reprised his role as Echizen and reunited with the 1st generation Seigaku cast to perform in Tenimyu's Dream Live 7th to celebrate the end of Tenimyu's first season.

Yanagi was cast as Ryoma Echizen in Musical: The Prince of Tennis. In 2003, after leaving a rehearsal for Remarkable 1st Match: Fudomine, Yanagi was involved in a car accident. He had extensive damage to his body and vocal cords and was in a coma for two weeks. As a result of the accident, Yanagi now walks with a permanent limp, his voice is forever changed, and his speech pattern is slightly slurred.

Kotaro Yanagi (柳 浩太郎 , Yanagi Kōtarō, born December 21, 1985) is a Japanese actor.

Yanagi was born on December 21, 1985, in Berlin, Germany. He lived in Germany for three years before moving back with his family to Japan. His family moved to India for work, and he lived there for three years. However, in the fourth grade, he attended an American boarding school. Yanagi's family moved back to Japan where he finished school.