Shotaro

I. Introduction

Osaki Shotaro (大崎将太郎), known professionally as Shotaro (Hangul: 쇼타로), is a Japanese rapper and dancer. He is a rapper and dancer in NCT, but has not yet been assigned to a permanent position or a permanent NCT sub-unit.

II. Career

III. 2020-22: NCT

Shotaro was born in Kanagawa, Japan, on November 25, 2000. The creator of popular dance TikTok videos, Shotaro was cast in a SM Online Audition in 2019. He trained for only a few months before being introduced as the newest member in NCT on September 21, 2020. He made his first appearance in NCT on October 12, 2020 as part of NCT's rotating combination unit, NCT U. NCT U utilizes different members to match the song and its accompanying performance, as well as serving to debut new NCT members.

Shotaro participated in the NCT 2020 project, featuring all NCT members and debuting himself and Sungchan. This project also included a 2-part NCT full album, NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1 and NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2. He appears as a rapper on "Make a Wish," "All About You," and "I.O.U." He also appears in the combination single "Resonance," which combines multiple songs. The entire project also appeared on NCT World 2.0, a competition-focused show.

He also participated in a special stage at one of the KBS year-end shows, alongside Moonbin from Astro, Juyeon from The Boyz and Hyunjin from Stray Kids.

Shotaro participated in several specific dance videos for NCT social channels, including this one from July 2021.

Shotaro participated in the NCT 2021 project in December 2021, featuring all active NCT members at the time. This project also included a NCT full album, NCT 2021 Universe. He appears as part of NCT U combination units on 3 songs: the title track "Let's Play Ball (Universe)", "Birthday Party" and the vocally driven "Vroom." He also features in the all-unit song "Beautiful." As part of NCT 2021 promotions, he also appeared in a special short digital series EuMARKJUNGsim, co-hosted by NCT group mates Mark and Jungwoo, and NCT 2021 YearDream, around the group's lore.

In 2022, Shotaro began to increase his activities in Japan, including photoshoots and interviews. In March 2022, Shotaro featured with a dance performance in the NCT U "coNEXTion (Age of Light)" video, which was utilized in a public art display in Seoul.

In May 2022, he began a monthly column in Japanese magazine Men's No-No with fellow NCT member Yuta. In June, he launched a vlog series, SHOrt Trip, through the official NCT Japanese social accounts. He also appeared with Yuta in their own series Show You Our Journey on dTV.

He performed with Shotaro and three SM Rookies, Shohei, Eunseok and Seunghan, in SMTOWN 2022. In October, Sungchan and Shotaro debuted in a show "What's NCT?" on Japanese TV and Hulu, which is assumed to be pre-launch activities for the new unit. In November, he appeared in a new reality series with Shotaro, Doyoung and Jungwoo of NCT 127 and Jeno of NCT Dream that introduces the SM Rookies members to NCT. The series, Welcome to NCT Universe, featured all the NCT sub-units. The show followed Sungchan, Shotaro and the SM Rookies as they prepared for their first debut performance at SMTOWN, met other units and prepared for their debut.

IIII. 2023: New SM boy group

NCT Tokyo, the new unit, was confirmed in press releases and shareholder reports although the final members were not officially announced. He debuted in a new web show with Shotaro.

Although NCT Universe continued into 2023 and Shotaro was included in NCT content and merchandise until April, the company announced in May that he and Sungchan would be leaving NCT and would not debut in the new Tokyo unit. Instead they and the rookies introduced in the show would debut in the new SM boy group.

III. Videography

IV. Trivia

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- Shotaro is a native Japanese speaker who is learning Korean.

- Shotaro was in a hip hop dance troupe prior to NCT and posted many popular TikTok videos of himself dancing.

- As of May 2023, Sungchan has waited over 2 years to make his debut in a permanent NCT unit or boy group. However, the longest wait from debut in NCT to placement in a permanent unit is tied at 33 months between WayV's Kun and Ten, who debuted in the first NCT U units in April 2016, but did not debut with their permanent unit until January 2019.

- Shotaro's fans were called milk tea but he asked them to come up with a new name.

In NCT:

- His NCT emoji was an 🦦 (otter).

- He was the fourth youngest member of NCT.

- Shotaro was one of only four members of NCT who was not a part of the pre-debut SM Rookies group. The others include Chenle and Renjun of NCT Dream and Sungchan.

- His "Make A Wish" fancam was the most viewed NCT member fancam, as of May 2023

- SM released a video using the audio from NCT's MAMA performance that captures the journey of the members through their career.

- Members participated in a NCT 24 Hour Relay Cam that gives a snapshot of their daily lives.

- Members provided their "beautiful moment" in 2021 as part of Universe promotions.