Yusaku Godai

Yusaku Godai is a young man living in Maison Ikkoku's Room 5. As the series begins, he is a ronin, or student that has failed the college entrance examinations, and has to wait an entire year before he can take them again. His neighbors taught him endlessly, and one day he becomes so fed up that he packs a bag and decides to move out. But as he reaches for the door, he meets.....her.

From the second he first saw her, Yusaku Godai fell in love with Kyoko Otonashi, Maison Ikkoku's new manager. At first his feelings of affection are boyish and immature, but as he grows up his ideas of what it means to be in love with a woman mature as well. He decides to prove his worth to Kyoko by getting into college, graduating with a decent degree and finding a great job to support her. Of course life gets in the way and makes all of these things more difficult.

To say that Godai makes mistakes is an understatement. He makes huge mistakes, most of which aren't always his fault, but when you live with the people he does, the smallest misunderstanding can turn into the Spanish Inquistion. His relationship with Kyoko becomes even more complex when Kozue Nanao becomes his full-time girlfriend. Godai is too spineless to ever break things off with Kozue, and so as their relationship grows, things with Kyoko become even more complicated.

The series follows Godai from being a young, immature boy to a semi-confident, hard-working man who is hopelessly in love with the woman of his dreams.

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The Meaning Behind the Name - 五代裕作

Yusaku (裕作) translates to "make abundance" while Godai (五代) means "five generations". Of course Godai has an abundance of nothing. Most significantly is that Godai has "five" in his name and lives in room number 5, which follows the pattern of the other characters in the series and their room assignments.

Voices:
Issei Futamata

Yusaku Godai may be Issei Futamata's biggest role, but he has appeared in many anime over his career. He has played Chibi in Urusei Yatsura, Ishida of One Pound Gospel, Hikaru Gosunkugi in Ranma 1/2, Kaido in YuYu Hakusho, Ootaki in Oh! My Goddess, and Sydney Arms of The King of Burning Desert Gandalla.











Jason Gray-Stanford & Brad Swaile

In addition to his work as Yusaku Godai, Jason Gray-Stanford has played numerous anime heavyweights, including Shinnosuke from Ranma 1/2, Raditz of Dragon Ball Z, Ran of Green Legend Ran, Joe Higashi from the Fatal Fury series and Haruhiko Kazama in Please Save My Earth.

Brad Swaile (pictured at left) took over the role of Godai with episode 37. One of the best known voice actors, Brad has played Mousse in Ranma 1/2, Quatre Rababa Winner in Gundam Wing, Amari Nobunaga in Inuyasha, and Amuro Ray in Mobile Suit Gundam, and Light Yagami in Death Note among many other well-known roles.