kōtarō bokuto.

Kōtarō Bokuto (Japanese: 木兎ぼくと光太郎こうたろう, Bokuto Kōtarō) is a third-year student at Fukurōdani Academy. He played on the volleyball team as the ace and captain. He is acknowledged as one of the top five aces in the country, barely missing the top three.

Bokuto has round, golden-colored eyes and spiky white-gray hair with black streaks; certain sections of it are done up as if to vaguely conform to that of an animal, strongly amplifying the uncanny resemblance he bears to a horned owl.

He has a playful, friendly, bombastic, and child-like personality and is described by his team as having "mood swings". Because of this, he is at times described as being 'simple minded'. His personality is very compatible that he gets along with many people similar to Hinata. Bokuto can at times be oblivious of other people's discomfort, seen with his interactions with Tsukishima. He also shows kind, just traits, leaning towards defensive during the 3-on-3 match during the summer training camp where Bokuto told Kuroo, Tsukishima, and Lev off for ganging up on Hinata when he was attempting to score. Bokuto often makes jokes about everything and acting rather dramatically about his plays, wanting attention or affirmation from his teammates.

Despite his general silly behavior, there are moments when Bokuto exhibits something akin to a wise form of intelligence, his words inspiring Tsukishima in Karasuno's game against Shiratorizawa, and helping to keep Yachi from over-worrying during the match against Nekoma. He has also been shown to have become a mentor figure toward Hinata and has given the younger teen numerous pieces of advice and showed him new tricks.

As the ace of a powerhouse school, Bokuto takes great pride in his position and is both admired and feared by his own team and opponents for his impressive skill and morale-boosting demeanor. However, Bokuto is well known to suffer mood swings that can affect his performance during games and can sometimes take a while or need something grand in order to return to peak form. When he makes a comeback from a slump, he clearly shows his pride as the ace and believes he is the "strongest". Bokuto eventually realizes that his weakness is not a trait that an ace should have and was able to get rid of himself of this fault which would lead him to start referring to himself as an 'ordinary' ace.

Bokuto is shown to have been interested and participating in playing volleyball since his early childhood. He is revealed to have been just as energetic during middle school which caused many of his teammates to at times take shortcuts and leave him alone during runs and not looking forward to being paired with him for drills.

When Bokuto was a first-year at Fukurōdani Academy, he had already gained a reputation for seeming to possess skills and power beyond his age but also having suffered from his mood swings at the same time. During his second-year, he would meet Akaashi when he joined the volleyball team. Having learned that Akaashi is a setter, Bokuto quickly jumped at the chance to ask Akaashi to spiking practice with him where he would praise Akaashi's sets as the best he's ever been given.

He is stated to be one of the top five aces in the country, only barely missing being in the top three. He said he only got hooked onto volleyball recently when he finally learned to use straight shots when his cross shots were starting to become predictable to opponents.

Bokuto is one of the top 5 aces in the nation of Japan, with it being noted that, when he gets serious, he is as strong as a top 3 ace. He is proficient in all areas of volleyball, from offense to defense and setting. Bokuto is often praised for his insane athletic ability, whenever he practiced, he would always go above and beyond, staying hours later than others after practice ended, and working harder during scheduled practices. This annoyed his teammates in both middle school and high school to the point they would actively avoid him and come up with excuses not to workout as no one could keep up with his stamina or skill. Kageyama has even commented that Bokuto has the ability to instantly analyze and assess a situation and has the physical ability to immediately adapt.

Keiji Akaashi: Despite Akaashi being a year younger, the setter appears to be Bokuto's closest friend and the two can normally be seen around each other during games, practice, and outside of volleyball activities. Because of this, Akaashi is the one who knows Bokuto best and how to handle the ace when he gets into one of his slumps. While in a game, Bokuto and Akaashi make a powerful duo although Bokuto tends to seek praise from Akaashi whenever he carries out a good attack but usually receives minor feedback or something he just wants to hear. Much like when Akaashi looks out for him, Bokuto does the same for the setter if he ever appears to be down or unsure of himself. Even after high school, the two continue to remain in close contact.
Fukurōdani Academy: While Bokuto normally tries to present himself as the confident "big brother" of the team, he is actually more known for being the "baby of the family". Before growing out of his mood swings, Bokuto tended to rely on the team for support when he was off his game. However, when the team themselves seem to be down in spirits, Bokuto would do his best to cheer them up. Despite this, the team tends to run off when Bokuto requests help for spiking practice since he is well known for stretching the practices for as long as possible. Bokuto also appears to be close to Yukie, whom he tends to borrow notes from but tends to forget to return them to her.

Kei Tsukishima: During the training camp, Bokuto became somewhat of an inspiring figure to Tsukishima when he helped the first-year middle blocker realize that he can have a better connection to volleyball when he has his special volleyball moment. During the practices, Bokuto developed a friendly relationship with Tsukishima and would begin addressing him as Tsukki, much to Tsukishima's displeasure. As Tsukishima's development continued, Bokuto continued to support the middle blocker and notices how much he's grown in skill.

Shōyō Hinata: During the summer training camp, Bokuto became acquainted with Hinata after the latter joined their free practice. Bokuto would teach Hinata a variety of different attacks and skills that the middle blocker would eagerly accept and use in many of his matches. Bokuto would happily accept all of the praise and admiration Hinata would give him for being one of the top five aces in the nation, but he also praises and supports Hinata for many things he does as well, such as performing the block-out during their 3-on-3 practices. Akaashi and Bokuto both claim Hinata is a disciple of Bokuto, and Akaashi knew Hinata's presence would help revive the ace during the match against Eiwa High School. In the Final Arc, the two are teammates on the MSBY Black Jackals and are shown to be as close as ever.

Tetsurō Kuroo (nekoma high): Kuroo and Bokuto seem to be close friends, as they are often seen pestering other people together and seem to know each other quite well in terms of being both friends and opponents. They have also been observed to have similar reactions to certain events, such as when Tsukishima asked them a question. Bokuto usually does extra practices with Akaashi and Kuroo, despite the latter being from another team. While the two are generally on friendly terms, they tend to have small contests against each other, though most of them are trivial; during the BBQ, they fought to see who could grab the most amounts of meat. When it comes to matches, they become full-on rivals. However, during matches, they also complement each other. For example, when Kuroo said: "As usual, he fires up the entire gymnasium", or Bokuto says: "Damn the demon cats and their godlike receives"

Kiyoomi Sakusa (Itachiyama Institute): Bokuto feels a sense of rivalry toward Sakusa due to the latter's status as one of the top three aces in the country, but it's unknown what Sakusa thinks of him in return. It's hinted that Itachiyama may have defeated Fukurōdani many times in the past with Sakusa on the team, so Bokuto intends on getting revenge. Sakusa either ignores Bokuto's shouts or doesn't hear him swear vengeance. Sakusa and Bokuto will eventually become teammates on MSBY Black Jackals.