Application.
PLAYER
Name Ria
Age Finally legal
LJ ria-chan
AIM riatardedness
E-Mail riatardedness@live.com
Returning? HERE BE FRESH MEAT, ARRR!
CHARACTER
Name Koutarou Sasaki
Fandom Eyeshield 21
Chronology Yoinked a little bit after chapter 166
Class Heroic ace kicker! And keeping his dogs tags because they're smart!
Superhero Name Kick Shock
Alter Ego Doesn't have one.
Background First things first: Koutarou is Bando High School football team's ace kicker. Remember that! As for how he got there, let's go on a little ride. The world of Eyeshield 21 takes place is modern day Japan, no bells or whistles. Just your average Japan in your average Kantou region in your average high school called Bando. Beneath all the soccer teams and tennis and everything else, a fascination with American football runs deep. In the case of Bando, they didn't always pride themselves on a kicking team. No, they had decent players -- good players. So good that they used to taunt the kicking team and call it a waste of time. They were a purely offensive-defensive team; and good at it, too. Talent like that doesn't go unnoticed. The best players were recruited to Teikoku Academy, and suddenly Bando was left with only a kicking team.
Koutarou of course got an offer, don't get him wrong, it's just that kind of low recruiting ain't his style. He turned them down and vowed that Bando would build their strength through him, through the power of the kick.
Enter Hayato Akaba, one of the key players in Koutarou's life. Akaba's one that Koutarou insists he could do without. The guy goes on about music and plays the guitar, and for some reason Koutarou can't stand him. But that doesn't mean that he wasn't hurt when he found out Akaba also transferred into Teikoku. Koutarou's confrontation inspired Akaba to return and together they made Bando a power to be feared through the almighty kick. They resolved to qualify for the Christmas Bowl and show Teikoku just what they missed out on. They've also worked together to develop a codename for Koutarou kicks based on guitar chords, and Koutarou does have moments where he speaks that musical lingo Akaba's down with.
Now enter Musashi, also known as the "60-Yard Magnum". This is the guy Koutarou deems as his rival, an ace kicker like himself. He first appears on Deimon ground in search of Musashi, kicking it up like the guy has never seen before. What he finds out is that Musashi has given up football in order to help his father's business. Koutarou, devastated by Musashi's original reasoning (that he had left because Deimon was a weak team) deeply disturbs Koutarou.
Now Koutarou's not the kind of guy who just gives up. He pursues Musashi and implores that he return to kicking, not only to challenge him face-to-face, but also for the sake of Deimon as a team. Koutarou has done such reckless antics such as stealing microphones and screaming to Musashi over them or stalking Deimon games all in the name of a smart kicking ace. Koutarou finds Musashi and flaunts his kicking skills quite often.
Koutarou's strife pays out in the end. In the match against Deimon, Musashi finally returns, and Koutarou is given the opportunity to kick against the fabled 60-Yard magnum. He's up front about his fail proof strategies and the same tactics are employed throughout the match, showing how much of a one-track mind he has. In the end, the match is decided by one point; the Bando Spiders lose by a single field goal. Koutarou's absolutely crushed. It's his fault that Bando lost, he thinks. After all, he's the kicker. Just one kick and that outcome could have been different. Next year, he vows; next year Bando will win with the kick team. Akaba agrees.
Finally, there's Julie, the team manager and his childhood friend. He likes Julies, wants to go out with her. You know how it is when young love blossoms into something. The only problem is that Julie keeps turning him down; not rejecting him, turning him down. Good thing Koutarou's not the kind of guy who sits back and takes that for an answer. Thus far, he's asked her out three times.
Personality Let me restate something important: Koutarou is Bando High School football team's ace kicker. And he knows it. Sure, he's quick to show just how amazing his kicking really is and stake his name on the line, but he understands that he must do that or else face humiliation. That's not something he deals well with, but then again, he can't afford to lose; and he never does. His kicking precision? 100%.
But he has his not so amazing sides as well. For one thing, he's loud and passionate. This combination prompts him to announce all his plans and humbleness is foreign to him. He's confrontational, so very much. He's quick to declare rivalries and doesn't let them go even when the other party doesn't reciprocate. He's very proud; if rubbed the wrong way, he can hold onto a grudge like no other. He has a hard time saying sorry or thanks. He tends to eavesdrop on such things and just not talk about them.
He's pretty concerned about appearances. He's almost always seen flicking a comb in his hand or running through his hair. He does it a lot when he's angry, but it's also just natural for him to do so. If he's not combing his hair, you know it's serious.
Another dominant trait is the way which he speaks. He doesn't come off as the sharpest tool in the shed but that's alright because he isn't, however much he might like the word "smart". He downright abuses this word. Things he likes are smart, those he dislikes are not smart, and Koutarou is the smartest kicker of all and there isn't anything smarter than kicking.
His final reoccurring behavior is spitting, though this is mostly directly at Akaba. If Koutarou doesn't like somebody, he'll spit on them or their most prized possessions.
He's a die hard fan of kicking when it comes to football. He can appreciate a good kick even when it's not his own, and he jumps into self proclaimed kicking contests whenever he finds somebody worth his time. He'll even go out of his way to find them. He prides himself in being able to kick anything to a precise location every time. It's said that his kicks are most elegant.
Koutarou does, however much he may dislike a person, trust them as a teammate if they're on his side. He would never betray them and trusts they won't betray him, either. Part of the reason he's a successful kicker is because he relies so heavily on his teammates to know where the ball will land and take it from there. He'll also put people in their place when they put down their teammates or close ones as well, even if he doesn't know any of the parties in question.
Powers Koutarou has an affinity to kicking balls (pun noticed and I just don't care how it sounds because it's true) in the canon which breaks down into two "super" powers, though it's more of a superhuman enhancement of his regular strengths: strength and accuracy. The power of strength allows him to kick extremely heavy or large objects (cars, boulders, etc.) over an even longer distances than he would normally be capable of doing. His other "power", accuracy, is the 100% Probability. With this he really does have a surefire accuracy on any kick. Kicking is what he'll be utilizing the powers for, but the scope of their use isn't confined to just kicking.
By that I mean he probably won't be using his powers for anything truly useful, say...saving little Tiny Tim from a burning apartment building by kicking down the steel doors and grabbing him by the exact hair before the child is burned alive. No, he'll be using them for far more important things like kicking a fly on the wall at the precise location and putting a nice dent in the wall. He could throw a refrigerator exactly where he wants now but that just ain't smart.
Oh yeah, and his spit is now acidic. It burns. It won't melt metal or blind eyes in their sockets, but it'll tingle the Hell out of your skin and make paper bubble up. Super Acid Spit! It's smart!
SAMPLES
Community [ Audio in Japanese | Scrobbled to Text in English ]
If this is a joke, it's not smart! That music bastard made this set-up, didn't he? That's not cool. Anyway, what do superheroes or whatever got to do with anything? Don't make me laugh! I'm too smart to fall for something like that!
...But you know, there's just ain't something right about kidnapping. You think you can just take me whenever you want? I can't let you get away with that. I still have to beat Musashi! You'll see! The smartest kicker out there -- that's me, Koutarou Sasaki!
Oh yeah, if anybody does know where the bastard's at, you make sure he doesn't come anywhere near me. And I guess you should let me know. Smartly! [ . . . ] The bastard isn't smart enough to crack a joke. Whoever the Hell is in charge here, you can hear me right? I challenge you!
Logs "Welcome to the City, hero."
Koutarou decided that Akaba's Spider Poison felt much better than stumbling face first out of some damned machine the moment he woke up. "Not smart!" he hissed when he stumbled forward, hands latching onto some dog tags. For whatever reasons, he was a little disoriented, not even noticing he had laced the dog tags around his wrist, but one thing was clear on his mind: get out. That he did and rather quickly, too. By then he was already shifting his comb through that unruly black hair of his. As unfamiliar as this place was, it looked normal enough; not as smart as, say, Tokyo, but not bad. The sun was making him feel nauseated so he stuck to the alleyways.
C'mon, Koutarou! Think! What was the last thing you remember? Losing to Musashi.
It had been a smart duel of kicks -- the smartest there'd ever been! -- but that didn't stop him from feeling sick inside all the same. He should have kicked better, smarter. Just one! You know, this alleyway wasn't making him feel much better. The fresh scent of trash sickened him, however it may have complimented his sour mood. At least he didn't have Akaba's stupid guitar jamming ringing in his ears. Tch. Why the Hell did he just think that? Now he felt like spitting.
The urge was quickly replaced when he spied a dented can that had fallen out of a dumpster. Even though his stomach was tied in knots, even though he was just barely able to walk straight, even though Musashi and his kick were at the back of his mind, damn it at he still wanted to kick.
Across the street, there was a bar with a bull's eye theme going on, maybe a hundred, two hundred yards away. His eyes accepted the logo as a target the moment he looked up and his body and mind were synchronized perfectly in order to put his all into this one kick. He ran up to the can, assumed a kicking stance thoughtlessly, and did what he loved to do best. The can, in turn, shot out like a bullet through the alleyway and straight into the sign where it engraved itself between the bright colors of the pub sign and the brick wall behind it. Well that was new. And super smart. 60-Yard Magnum his ass.