40-Yard Dash: 5.5 seconds
Bench Press: 65 kg
Position: Kicker
Jersey Number: 99
Blood Type: B
Birthday: November 30
Grade: 11 (2nd Year)
Koutarou is the kicker for the Bando Spiders and Musashi's main rival. He's famous for never missing a try-for-point kick—seriously, the guy has a legendary accuracy record. There's this story about him kicking a soft drink can off a bridge railing straight into a trash bin designed for cans, and it wasn't even empty. He can pull off field goals from 50 yards out without breaking a sweat, which is why Bando built their entire offensive philosophy around him. They basically became a kicking team because of how good he is.
That said, his predictability is his weakness. Because everyone knows exactly where his kicks will go, opponents can position themselves to return them. This vulnerability showed up big during the Deimon matchup, when the pressure got to him and he actually missed a crucial field goal attempt that could've sealed the win.
You'll catch Koutarou constantly combing his hair whenever he gets a spare moment—even during games. His go-to catchphrase is "That's smart" (or "That's not smart," depending on the situation), which he says constantly. He's not a fan of Akaba Hayato because the guy won't shut up about music. He once burned a timeout just to give Deimon a whole history lesson about the Spiders. Interestingly, his last name matches Sasaki Koujiro, the famous samurai rival of Miyamoto Musashi.
There's also some romantic subplot with Bando's manager, Sawai Juri, his childhood friend. He's asked her out three times, and while she keeps shutting him down with "Whatever, stop saying stupid things, moron!"—she notably hasn't actually said no.
A Japanese character poll showed he was the only non-Deimon player to win his matchup, beating out Taki in the "coolest character" category.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
