Joe Odagiri

This article is about an actor in Kamen Rider Kuuga.

Joe Odagiri
Born	(1976-02-16) February 16, 1976 Okayama, Japan
Agency	Dongyu Club
Role(s)	Yusuke Godai
Appearances	Kamen Rider Kuuga

Jō Odagiri (小田切 譲, Odagiri Jō), professionally written as Joe Odagiri (オダギリ ジョー, Odagiri Jō), is a Japanese actor who portrayed Yusuke Godai/Kamen Rider Kuuga in Kamen Rider Kuuga.

Biography

Odagiri was raised by his single mother and often went to the movie theaters with her, which inspired him to pursue filmmaking. After high school, he was accepted by Kochi University, but took the opportunity to attend CSU Fresno in California instead, where he intended to study film directing. However after flubbing on the application process, he ended up declaring a theater major and graduated as such, later making his stage debut in DREAM OF PASSION.

In late 1998, he auditioned for Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive, but was asked to leave after refusing to perform a transformation pose. A year later, he auditioned for Kuuga after changing his mind about appearing in a Tokusatsu, and secured the lead role of Yusuke Godai.

Post Kamen Rider

Opinion of Kuuga

Despite Kuuga going on to make later minor appearances in the franchise, including recent crossover films, Odagiri has yet to reprise his role, which sparked rumors that he may have disliked Kuuga, this coupled with the fact that the show was omitted of a credit from short written profiles of him in magazines. This was untrue as Odagiri later stated that Kuuga was not his debut role and did not want to give it special treatment over his other works.

In 2014, Odagiri clarified that it wasn't Kuuga he disliked, but rather Tokusatsu in general. He had only remained onboard the show because he became very good friends with the show's producer Shigenori Takatera, who helped him reinvent and change the franchise's image. Today, Odagiri remains satisfied with how Kuuga had turned out as a show, and continues to maintain close friendships with the former staff and cast members today, having attended reunion parties with them and acted in other shows produced by Takatera.

In 2022, Odagiri once again spoke highly of Kuuga, stating that he never forgot his time doing the show and recognizes the franchise as a gateway for new and upcoming actors to get their foot in the acting industry.

In 2025, Odagiri was announced as the navigator of Chou Kuuga Ten: Kamen Rider Kuuga 25th Anniversary Exhibition through an audio guide, marking his first involvement with the Kamen Rider franchise in 25 years ever since the end of Kuuga.

Personal Life

• Odagiri has been married to actress Yuu Kashii since 2008. Their first son was born in 2011, with a second son who was born and later passed away within a year in 2014. Their third son was born in 2016.
• Odagiri did not watch Tokusatsu as a child and initially had reservations about appearing in one until he was encouraged by producer Takatera to audition, and won the role due to his personality.

Notes

• He and Saki Kagami (Maya in Kamen Rider Kiva) co-starred in Platonic Sex, biopic film of the adult-film actress Ai Ijima.
• As a result of his starring in Kuuga, Odagiri became the namesake of the infamous television phenomenon known as the "Odagiri effect", in which a show primarily with a male demographic attracts a larger than expected number of female viewers due to the show's attractive male actors or characters.
• At present, Joe and Hiro Mizushima are currently the main Heisei rider actors to not reprise their roles in any form of media after their series end.
• With Kamen Rider Kuuga being the first show in the Heisei era and marking the revival of the Kamen Rider Series, Joe Odagiri is also the first actor who has played a Kamen Rider to have been born after the premiere of the original Kamen Rider in 1971.

External links

• Joe Odagiri at Wikipedia
• Official agency profile