The man who stole Samurai Jack's shoes. Yuuichirou is just one of the many supporting characters of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon. He's a very special one, in my opinion, although the hard-hearted might write him off as a filler character created during the first-season anime's 'crystal carriers' plot-padding, which has no basis in the manga storyline beyond the fact that a monthly manga instalment doesn't give you enough material to make four half-hour TV episodes a month. It is interesting to note that more screentime is given to Yuuichirou and his relationship with Rei than to pretty much any romance in the anime not involving superpowered lesbians or anyone with odango hair. The only comparison I can think of is the Naru-Nephrite doomed romance, which forms a relatively compact, self-contained storyline. (See Greenstone: a memorial of love.) Yuuichirou is established as a character in the second half of the first season and continues to make appearances and be mentioned through to SuperS. So I think it's fair to say that some of the people involved in making Sailormoon must have had a soft spot for him too; they remember he exists more often than they remember, say, Ami's crush Urawa Ryo. Little concrete information on him is available, because he appears in so few episodes. As far as I know, he never received a formal 'write-up' in any of the various Sailor Moon print publications, although he's mentioned quite frequently by Rei in the Sailormars Fanbook (published in English by Mixx as a 'Scout Guide'), which, to me, confirms his importance to her. I don't know his age; in some places I've read references to him as about Rei's age, but he looks several years older than her to me. He seems about the same age as Mamoru and Motoki, which would place him in his late teens or early twenties. (He just looks too physically big to be Rei's age, especially when you compare him to the boys we see in the show who are the same age as the girls, such as Umino and Ryo.) If anyone could tell me for certain, I'd be grateful; but I'm not holding out much hope. It's also unclear why Yuuichirou was sleeping on the street when he first appeared, except for the obvious and immediate cause, that he was sleeping off a bender. Hitoshi Doi calls him a beggar, which suggests that Doi-sensei did not update his profile of Yuuichirou after seeing BSSM #38, which fills in a little of his background. He comes from a wealthy family, who own not only a palatial home in the mountains, but apparently a condo in Switzerland, which is where his parents are when he brings Usagi et al to stay. While his initial reason for signing on at Hikawa Jinja was to have an excuse to hang around Rei, he has stayed on out of a sincere desire to improve himself, and a loyalty to Rei's grandfather. Being the obsessive type, I've spent a lot of time wondering about this situation, and have come up with a scenario to explain it to myself. Since there seems to be no requirement for Yuuichirou, the son of a rich man, to go into a family business or anything like that, perhaps he's the second son of his family - not really required to fend for himself, but without a role in life set up for him. I've heard from friends who study Japanese that many Japanese kids, entering the comparatively laid-back world of university after the years of constant pressure to achieve in primary and secondary school, can't motivate themselves to keep working hard, and many kind of spin out.  You needed an image this disturbing in your day. Perhaps something like this happened to Yuuichirou; he partied a little too hearty and let his assignments slide. Seeing him become a bit of a waster, his parents threw him out, hoping this would bring him to his senses, but he didn't begin to pull himself together until that fateful night on the shrine steps. They're back on good terms, clearly, if he's allowed to bring friends to the mountain house when they're away. They're now kind of proud of him, although they still wish he'd get a haircut. Of course, this is pure speculation on my part! (And I do wonder whether they knew the friends were five teenage girls. *aHEM* Of course his intentions were pure!) Yuuichirou seems pretty happy at the shrine, where Rei's grandfather is training him in the ancient Shinto discipline. (Shinto is the native religion of Japan and is what you call animist, meaning they believe there are animal, plant and elemental spirits all around us.) He's a humble sort of person, addressing the old man as Osho-sama (a polite address for a priest) and Rei as Rei-san. They both push him around quite a lot, and Grandpa has been known to enjoy jokes at his expense, although I think he quite likes him and enjoys having him around. Rei, despite her frequent impatience and irritation with him, will always stick up for Yuuichirou and try to protect him if he's in trouble, and he will unhesitatingly do the same for her. Schuss! Schuss! Yuuichirou is pretty damn' good on skis, an interest he has in common with Rei. He's still a little lazy, at least by Rei's standards, but he really seems to be trying hard to do his duty at the shrine. He's kind of shy and awkward, too, especially in Rei's presence... or even if he just thinks too hard about her. Rei's friends like him very much and Usagi, in particular, would like to see them get together. In a way, he gets his own image song in Sailormoon S episode 99: 'Azusa Nigou,' originally performed by a 1970s J-pop duo called Kariudo. This is pretty unusual for such a minor character. The song has been tracked down by the mighty Michelle and you can download an mp3 from her site Sailormusic.net! Takeuchi Naoko has said that Chiba Mamoru is her ideal guy because 'I like men that I can't rely on'. Er... right. Personally, I like 'em reliable and reasonably uncomplicated, which is why I like the supporting-character guys in the anime so much more than the rather cold Mamoru, who, quite frankly, has some serious emotional problems (okay, less so in Naoko's manga; and okay, yes, he can be cute and funny). Dear old Motoki... and Umino may be a bit of a gimp, but he loves Naru dearly. For me, Yuuichirou is just the sweetest... and the cutest. Don't just take my word for it - read the History and discover why for yourself. Another thing to love about him - he is 100% natural, to the extent that he screws up embarrassingly if he tries to be sneaky. He has that kind of goofy Ashton Kutcher charm going for him (besides a haircut that would only really be excusable on That 70s Show). Yuuichirou does tend to get very corny when he's happy or excited, burbling 'This is a miracle born of love!' or 'See, nothing is impossible if you try!' Heck, I just think that's cute too. Obscure Yuuichirou Factoids His Japanese voice actor, Shimada Bin, was also the voice of Krusty the Klown in the Japanese dub of The Simpsons. You can learn a little more about him at Hitoshi Doi's Shimada Bin page. In DiC's Sailor Moon, of course, Yuuichirou was called Chad, a name that fitted well with the mildly trashed surfer voice they gave him. But did you know that in the Spanish dub seen in Mexico, he is called Nicolas, the French know him as Théodore Lambert, and the Italian dub calls him Yuri? (Sounds Russian.) Only the German dub appears to have preserved the characters' original names. Germans, go fig. If you are interested in details like this, I recommend Sheer Lunacy! a Nitpicker's Guide to the Sailor Mooniverse. Chad? That's more of an African country than a name. To bang on about names a little more, although I used to like to spell his surname Kamada, as people who visited this shrine in its early days may remember, I'm pretty sure now it's meant to be Kumada. And 'kuma' is Japanese for 'bear,' so there's a nice shaggy, cuddly association for his name. And an anime music video set to Elvis Presley's 'Teddybear' for anyone with too much time on their hands looking for a project... Information Entertainment Galleries Site Stuff Contact Home