Atsushi Ootani

Atsushi Ootani is the main male protagonist of the Lovely Complex anime and manga.

Atsushi is from the Osaka Prefecture on Honshu Island in Japan. Ōtani has always been short for his age, standing only 149cm (4'9") by his first year of junior high and is usually confused for an elementary student even throughout high school. His height often prompts his teachers and classmates to refer to him as "All Hanshin."

Appearance
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.

In the manga, Ōtani's hair is seen as the light red color as well as a vibrant orange and light brown, while his eyes are seen as both brown and reddish-brown. His summer school uniform consists of a white short-sleeved polo shirt with a brown stripe on the collar and a pair of brown dress pants. The winter school uniform consists of a mustard yellow plaid long-sleeved button-up dress shirt and a brown tie, suit jacket, and dress pants. Ōtani is occasionally seen wearing his uniform in the manga, like when he's trying to reach the box in the faculty office in Chapter 01, but he is usually seen wearing casual clothes because Maido Academy is uniform optional.

In the game, Ōtani's hair and eyes are both light orange in color. His fashion sense is the same as seen in the anime and manga, and the school uniform he wears is the same as the manga.

In the anime, Ōtani has light red hair and brown eyes similar to Risa's. Ōtani wears a school uniform consisting of a short sleeved white dress shirt sporting a pocket, red star, blue and red buttons/patches, with a blue and green striped t-shirt underneath, brown pants, and blue shoes. He is usually wearing a sweat band around his wrist. During winter weather he wears the same basic uniform, but the white dress shirt is buttoned up, he has a red tie on, and a peach cardigan with a red star and stripes over top.

Personality
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.

Trivia

 * Otani can instantly drop angst, romance, or anything he's doing at the moment he sees swimming pools, rickshaws, or Umibouzu.