Atsushi Ōtani Husbando

Atsushi Ōtani (大谷敦士, Ōtani Atsushi, lit. meaning "big valley") is the boyfriend of Risa Koizumi. He is the deuteragonist of the original manga, anime, video game, and movie, as well as a support character in the sequel manga. Throughout the series, Ōtani would often act prideful and arrogant displaying a pseudo-Napoleon Syndrome especially when being praised in any manner. However he is actually a very kind and funny person. He greatly struggles with his short stature, which was made worse after his then-girlfriend, Mayu, broke up with him for someone taller. Ōtani has a very happy and carefree attitude when he is goofing around with Risa, and this is especially obvious when they are talking about Umibōzu or at an arcade. Despite his short stature, Ōtani is an aspiring basketball player. Even after his final season, he continues to show up to the basketball club and cheer on his teammates, and was able to play a scrimmage with them one last time before graduating. Ōtani loves basketball so much that he studied hard to get into a good University to become a teacher so he can teach children how to play basketball. Ōtani has a very gentleman-like personality when it comes to a woman who is upset, often assisting them in any way possible to cheer them up. This is seen when he gives up trying to date Chiharu so she can be with Suzuki and again when he is tricked by Hitomi Ōtani. Even though gorgeous Hitomi tricked him into spending the night at her house and attempted to seduce him, he never cheated on Risa and remains loyal to her. Much like Risa, Ōtani is not very intelligent and is very naïve when it comes to love. It took several confession attempts from Risa and Nobu point blank telling him in Risa's stead for him to finally understand Risa's feelings. Ōtani is easily embarrassed when Risa is too open about her love for him and will not repeat himself if he says anything lovey to her, often hitting her on the head and calling her names out of his own embarrassment. He shows an extremely jealous side when it comes to Risa, becoming very frustrated at Maity-sensei, Haruka, and Kohori for showing affection towards Risa, yelling at Seiko for kissing Risa on the cheek, and almost starting several fights with other men trying to protect her. He later shows that he is not very confident in Risa's feelings for him and becomes depressed at the thought of her not loving him as much as he loves her. Ōtani stands at only 156cm or 5'2" tall and is very lean muscled, being described by Risa as having a manly body despite his short stature. He can be found wearing a variety of fashionable clothing and having his hair down for everything other than basketball where his fringe is held out of his eyes with hair ties or a headband.