Koji Yusa
Koji Yusa is an actor, born 1968.
Kyoto born, in Fushimi, and a late starter by the standards of his field: Koji Yusa came out of the Katsuta Voice Actor's Academy and debuted in 1993, then went freelance and stayed that way, adding narration and foreign-film dubbing to the anime work.
The casting shorthand for him is a smile you can hear. Gin Ichimaru in Bleach fixed it, and the same instrument runs through Lau in Black Butler, Tatara in Tokyo Ghoul, Easley in Claymore, Haunted in Anti-Magic Academy and Naoya Zen'in in the 2025 Jujutsu Kaisen film: a light, unhurried, faintly amused delivery attached to someone with no intention of being kind. Sonic X put that voice on Shadow the Hedgehog, which is why a generation of players outside Japan has heard him without knowing it.
The counterweight is Ergo Proxy, where he plays Vincent Law as hollowed out and permanently apologetic, with none of the polish the villain roles rely on. It stays the best argument that the smoothness is a choice rather than a limit. Shinji Kamuro in Mob Psycho 100, Renzou Shima in Blue Exorcist and Ouken in Ranking of Kings sit between the two poles.
The work has not slowed. Bastard!!, Undead Unluck, The Case Study of Vanitas and Seirei Gensouki all land in the 2020s, three decades after that first job.
Movies (51)
- JUJUTSU KAISEN: Execution (2025)
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea (2026)
- Detective Conan: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (2003)
- Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram (2024)
- Detective Conan: Strategy Above the Depths (2005)
- Crayon Shin-chan: Intense Battle! Robo Dad Strikes Back (2014)
- Gintama: The Final Chapter - Be Forever Yorozuya (2013)
- Blue Exorcist: The Movie (2012)
- Gintama: The Movie (2010)
- Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever (2018)
- Fairy Tail: Phoenix Priestess (2012)
- Donten: Laughing Under the Clouds - Gaiden: Chapter 2 - The Tragedy of Fuuma Ninja Tribe (2018)
- The Garden of Sinners: Paradox Spiral (2008)
- Kamen Rider Kiva: King of the Castle in the Demon World (2008)
- Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Wars (2012)
- Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Ultra Super Hero Wars (2017)
- Overlord: The Dark Hero (2017)
- Kamen Rider Den-O & Kiva: Climax Deka (2008)
- Yowamushi Pedal: The Movie (2015)
- Kamen Rider Saber + Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger: Super Hero Chronicles (2021)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island (2022)
- Detective Conan: The Scarlet School Trip (2019)
- OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders (2011)
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Intrigue 1 (2022)
- Farewell Kamen Rider Den-O: Final Countdown (2008)
- Super Kamen Rider Den-O & Decade NEO Generations: The Onigashima Warship (2009)
- Super Kamen Rider Den-O Trilogy - Episode Yellow: Treasure de End Pirates (2010)
- Eden of the East Movie I: The King of Eden (2009)
- Hakuouki: Wild Dance of Kyoto (2013)
- Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Trouble – Who’s the culprit?! (2012)
TV (103)
- Tokyo Ghoul (2014)
- Mob Psycho 100 (2016)
- Black Butler (2008)
- Ranking of Kings (2021)
- Blue Exorcist (2011)
- Blood+ (2005)
- Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles (2021)
- The Case Study of Vanitas (2021)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (2004)
- Kaiji (2007)
- Gate (2015)
- Terra Formars (2014)
- Claymore (2007)
- The Piano Forest (2018)
- Red River (2026)
- My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer (2023)
- Drop Kick on My Devil!! (2018)
- Flower and Asura (2025)
- Sonny Boy (2021)
- Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor (2017)
- Is This a Zombie? (2011)
- Undead Unluck (2023)
- Secrets of the Silent Witch (2025)
- Go! Go! Loser Ranger! (2024)
- The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior (2023)
- RADIANT (2018)
- Ergo Proxy (2006)
- Gatchaman Crowds (2013)
- Eyeshield 21 (2005)
- Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (2016)
Where to start with Koji Yusa
Begin with Ergo Proxy, which is both the best show in this filmography and the least typical role in it. Vincent Law is anxious, apologetic and barely holding together, and hearing Yusa play that before you hear him play anything smooth changes how the rest of the list sounds.
Then take the villains in order of enjoyment: Black Butler for purring opium-den charm, Claymore for cold aristocratic menace, Tokyo Ghoul for something colder still. Sonic X is the one non-Japanese audiences have already heard, since Shadow has followed him across that franchise for twenty years. Ranking of Kings is the best-looking of the recent shows, and Blue Exorcist is the easiest watch if the others sound too heavy.