It has been announced that actor Akabane Ryuga will play Gavan Bushido/Aikokuin Setsuna in "Super Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity" (TV Asahi, Sundays at 9:30 AM), the first installment of the new special effects series "PROJECT RED," which will begin airing on February 15th. This was revealed during the "Super Production Announcement" streamed on YouTube on January 18th.
Akabane is 23 years old, born on August 29, 2002. He appeared in Abema's romance reality show "I Fell in Love Today - Osmanthus Edition" (2020), and later appeared as an actor in the film "Romantic Killer" (2025). He is a Thursday reporter on Kanagawa Television's information variety show "Neko no Hitai Hodo Wide." He is affiliated with the talent agency "TRUSTAR."
Setsuna plays Gavan in a silver combat suit from "Multi-Earth Lambda 8018 (Lambda Hachimaru Hito Hachi)," a different dimension from the universe in which the main character, Gavan Infinity/Doki Reiji (played by Nagata Kohei), lives. He is a silent swordsman who values the way of the warrior and fights with two swords. In fact, he is an artificial human created for war, has the ability to automatically repair wounds, and has lived for thousands of years. He is interested in human "emotions" and has mastered facial expression control, but is unable to cry as he is not equipped with the ability to shed tears. He longs for the act of "crying."
Akabane commented, "The color of the Bushido that Setsuna vaporizes is silver. I'm sure some of you are familiar with it, but the body has a digital-like feel and a design that is appropriate for the Reiwa era, so I'm excited that everyone will accept it."
"I had been struggling to pass auditions for a while, so when I actually got cast, I was deeply moved and honestly happy to think that I would actually be performing scenes that I had seen on TV as a child. I will do my best to act responsibly, be myself and be proud, and become everyone's hero," he said enthusiastically.
It was also announced that former AKB48 member and actor Anna Iriyama will be playing the role of Amou Rui, head of the Public Order Headquarters and Setsuna's superior, who is a member of the Galactic Federation Police of the same "Multiverse Earth Λ8018" as Setsuna.
"Super Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity" is a completely new "Gavan" that has been reconstructed using the latest visual and directing techniques while retaining the visuals and space-set sci-fi elements of "Space Sheriff Gavan" that aired from 1982 to 1983. The story unfolds in the worldview of "multiverse theory," in which there is not just one universe, but another Earth that is identical to Earth, and Gavan Infinity/Reiji Nojo solves cases set in a variety of dimensions.
