Name: Tenkawa Akito
The undisputed, but completely reluctant hero/love interest/pilot/everything of Nadesico, Akito is pretty much everthing to the storyline, so you better know about him.

A native of Mars, he was born into a family of scientists and was Yurika's best friend growing up in the Utopia Colony, but considering how she acted, you could swear they would get married someday.  On the day Yurika and her family left Mars to Earth (they were both about 5 or 6 years old), Akito saw her off at the airport and was heading off when he heard a large explosion.  That day, in that explosion, his parents died.

He grew up on his own in the slums of the South Pole of Mars until the major assault on the planet caused troubles for everyone.  When the Jovian Lizards came down to attack the people down below, Akito did his best to stop them using the nanomachine in his hand.  Unfortunately, the Lizards were too much for him.  During this attack, he bosom jumped to Earth, and continued to life his life as a below-average cook paralysed with fear whenever the Lizards fight above the Earth and haunted by the memory of Ai and how he couldn't protect her and the others.

He bumps into Yurika a year after the assault and, through the realization that she was Yurika and not just another pretty stranger, he heads off to the Negral base, where he is hired as a cook for the Nadesico.

He doesn't want to fight throughout the entire series, despite his major skills.  War does not please him, but in order to protect those he love, he must.  He usually gets some of his motivation from Genkigander.  Speaking of which, he did watch that show on Mars years ago.  He only turned into such a hard-core fan after spending a day or two with Yamada Jiro/ Daigogi Gai.  Gai becomes for Akito a sort of gardian angel after his death.

Akito, as well as the other characters from Mars, has the ability to bosom jump, an ability that no human could do without dying a horrible death.  What's more, he can perform this feat without the use of  Tulip. These abilities are very important and makes Akito very valuable in the scientific/militaristic sense.

Akito has a problem with the ladies, of course.  Although he is one among several eligible (and willing) men on board, he becomes the one most of the ladies cling to.  Yurika constantly shows her affection: not letting anyone love her darling, following him around, and even making him some "ugly food that stinks", to quote Rappers' Paradise.

Megumi fell in love with him sometime after meeting him and is basically second to Yurika in affection-showing.  She is also the first girl on board to kiss Akito.

Ryoko, who is one of the many follow-ups, began her chase for Akito around ep. 10 or so.  She, along with Yurika and Megumi, made Akito some special food.  She has more repsect that love for Akito.  Her constant reference to him as Tenkawa could be seen as proof of this, but why would she blush so much when Izumi and Hikaru make fun of her for it?

Erina is yet another lady interested in Akito, but she is much more of a lady than Yurika and Megumi to chase him down like they do (especially Yurika).  As the secretary of the president of Negral and a important figure in the company, she is interested in Akito because of his Martian origins.  He becomes the key to achieve human bosom jumps.

Ines also becomes interested in Akito, for pretty much the same reasons as Erina.

Even Ruri falls in love for him.  For no other reason than he is a pure-hearted person willing to do anything and face anything for his friends, Ruri loves him too.

As for his own love object, you don't have to go far.  He loves both Yurika and Megumi dearly.  He thinks they're both "keen", but he does choose Yurika in the end, as if we didn't see that one coming.