Yuu Koutari

Yuu Koutari (神足ユウ, Koutari Yuu) is a supporting character in Black★Rock Shooter 2012 anime. Her other self is Strength.

Appearance
Yuu has hazel eyes and short tawny hair above the shoulders. She is very short in stature. She wears an orange hairclip on the left side of her bangs in the present day, whereas in the past, she wore a gray hairclip instead.

Personality
Throughout most of the anime, Yuu is shown to be a cheerful and supportive friend, especially to Mato Kuroi, whom she has been close friends with ever since kindergarten. She teases her from time to time, especially poking fun about her friendship with "her tiny bird" at the beginning of the anime. Yuu is fond of skipping classes in favor of drinking coffee at Saya Irino's consultation room. She secretly also knows of the Hollow World and its inhabitants very well, and sympathized with how much the other selves suffered on behalf of their human counterparts, though also understanding how necessary it was all the same. However, this personality was actually that of Strength's, who had switched places with Yuu prior to the events of the anime.

The real Yuu Koutari was a stoic and silent person who was constantly hurt by bullying at school and a neglectful family at home, though she never let on how much pain she was really in, not even to her only friend, Saya. The real Yuu had also known of the Hollow World, its inhabitants, and her own other self, Strength. Though her silent endurance made her seem strong, Yuu admitted she herself was not strong, but she believed she could bear the pain she went through in her life at school and at home knowing that her other self was fighting and taking that pain for her.

In the Hollow World, once it was revealed the real Yuu took the place of Strength and vice-versa, Yuu unleashed how truly angry and upset she was at everything she had suffered through in the real world, retorting at Strength trying to reach out to Mato within Black★Rock Shooter for words she viewed as hypocritical. However, Yuu also deeply feared going back to the real world and not having Strength to take the pain on her behalf because she didn't believe that she would find support in anyone else.

History
Yuu's life was one marked by suffering through constant bullying at school and neglect from her family at home. The Koutari family was even disreputable enough to have had gossip about them spread. But no matter what she went through every day, Yuu quietly endured it all and never outwardly expressed how much pain she was truly in. At some point, Yuu came to learn of the existence of the Hollow World and its inhabitants who fought on behalf of their human counterparts, including her own other self, Strength. It is unknown how she learned of them, but knowing that someone else was fighting for her and taking the pain for her was how Yuu could endure living every day in the real world.

There are two significant events that are central to Yuu's past prior to the beginning of the series. The first of these events is that one day, Yuu left school while soaking wet in her swimsuit (likely due to the actions of a group of girls who were snickering as she left). This caught a young Saya's attention, who was passing by at the time and decided to take Yuu back to her house. There, she gave her a change of clothes and served her soba noodles. When Saya went to get ice cream, her mother recognized Yuu as the "Koutari girl", and Saya learned from her about Yuu's family and what she went through both at school and at home. This made Saya determined to help Yuu and befriend her.

At the neighborhood waterside, Saya says that Yuu is strong for never letting anything bother her, whereas Saya claims to always be disturbed by even small problems. Yuu disagrees with her and tells her that someone else is strong for her; another girl who fights for her and takes some of Yuu's pain away, even if she cannot take it all for Yuu. She admits how much it hurts, but she believes that she can manage to get by with her, and smiles sadly at Saya. Although Saya didn't understand what Yuu meant at the time, she still wanted to be there for Yuu and try to understand her pain. Saya continued to meet up with Yuu after school and invite her over to her house.

Then, one night, a fire broke out at the Koutari residence. The fire was started by a lit cigarette that Yuu's stepfather had while sleeping, but Saya, after arriving at the scene, came to the conclusion that Yuu was the one who started the fire, out of revenge for what her family had put her through. Yuu asks Saya if she thinks she did it, and smiles sadly at her once more. She is then taken away in an ambulance while Saya realizes her mistake and tearfully attempts to chase after her to no avail.

The next day, Saya does not see Yuu after school. She returns to the burnt remains of the Koutari residence in the evening, wondering how she could make things up to Yuu. As she turns to leave, she finds Yuu sitting at the waterside to her surprise, and runs to catch up to her before she leaves. Saya apologizes profusely, saying she couldn't bear it if she lost Yuu, and pleads that she would do anything for her if she forgave her. Yuu replies that there's nothing more painful than being alive in their world. She assures Saya that she wouldn't think of doing anything bad, but goes on to tell her that her pain has become too much and has decided to let "that other girl" take it for her. Yuu decides to take Saya up on her offer and says she needs Saya to protect her. Yuu presses her forehead against hers and asks for her "other name". Saya doesn't know what she means, but Yuu learns by looking into her (with eyes identical to her other self's), and declares that name as Black Gold Saw.

The second of the events central to Yuu's past is when she contacted Strength for the first time, saving her other self from death. Hearing Yuu's voice allowed Strength to feel emotions for the first time and sense how much Yuu was truly suffering. The sensation overwhelmed her with such sadness to the point that Strength planned to let herself be killed by Black★Rock Shooter, whom she found mercilessly slaughtering other selves in an area of the Hollow World. Knowing that she could take Yuu's pain with her if she were to die, Strength hoped that Yuu would forget all that pained her that way, but Strength ended up not going through with her plan and left without being noticed.

Strength sat alone in a cathedral-like area, letting her wounds to heal almost instantly. Then, she heard Yuu's voice again, who was relieved that Strength did not die. Strength asks why she shouldn't die for Yuu's sake if it would allow her to forget her pain, but Yuu says that she'll never stop feeling pain for as long as she lives in the real world, which she called cold and vicious, and more trauma would only replace what Strength would be able to take away. Yuu believed that she couldn't survive without Strength, and goes on to express how simple and pure Strength's world is for being a place that does nothing more than battle. Yuu then decides to switch places with Strength, with Strength taking on Yuu's body in the real world and Yuu taking on Strength's body in the Hollow World. Between then and the beginning of the series, the real Yuu Koutari resides in the Hollow World under the guise of Strength.

Yuu's first appearance as Strength is during the beginning of The World I Once Dreamt Of Closes, where she is seen dragging Chariot's head and body with her to a colorless abyss. Black Gold Saw's eye appears in the sky and watches her toss Chariot into the abyss, disappearing afterwards as Yuu (who noticed Black Gold Saw observing her) turns back to leave. In Black★Rock Shooter (TV Anime episode), Yuu briefly appears in Mato's dream of the Hollow World before the scene changes to Black★Rock Shooter's fight with Dead Master. After Black★Rock Shooter goes insane and fights Black Gold Saw, Yuu passes by Dead Master's body and drags her away to the same abyss that she previously brought Chariot to.

In an attempt to reach out to Mato within Insane Black★Rock Shooter, Saya connects with Black Gold Saw and relays the memories of Saya's past with Yuu to Mato. After Saya's memories conclude with Black Gold Saw's name being declared, Insane Black★Rock Shooter shouts and breaks free from her restraints, rushing to attack Black Gold Saw with her King Saw. Saya makes one last plea to Mato as Black Gold Saw closes her eyes, seemingly accepting her fate, but the King Saw misses its mark as Yuu suddenly appears to save her. She catches her off-guard and sends her flying into a pillar. Insane Black★Rock Shooter wastes no time recovering and attempts to retaliate, but Yuu breaks the ground beneath them and takes Black Gold Saw to escape to her own area of the Hollow World. Insane Black★Rock Shooter gives chase until they all appear in Yuu's realm, a Rubik's Cube-style world with the cube structure floating in mid-air. Yuu sets the unconscious Black Gold Saw down, moving her elsewhere to keep her out of Insane Black★Rock Shooter's reach. Yuu and Insane Black★Rock Shooter then face off with each other.

In the real world, Saya wakes up and realizes that Yuu protected her despite having hurt her before; Strength tells Saya that she forgave her, but Saya believes she failed her duty to protect the Hollow World for Yuu's sake, and cries as Strength holds her close. Meanwhile, the fight between Yuu and Insane Black★Rock Shooter is underway as Insane Black★Rock Shooter fires her Insane Cannon Lance at Yuu, who avoids the attack and tries to punch Insane Black★Rock Shooter with her Ogre Arms, but despite her missing, a block part of the cube structure knocks her away into the wall of another block. Insane Black★Rock Shooter retaliates with her Insane Blade Claw, but Yuu simply grabs the sword and breaks it in half with her sharp tail. Now armed only with her Insane Cannon Lance, Insane Black★Rock Shooter tries to resume her assault, but Yuu switches places with a block and attacks Insane Black★Rock Shooter from behind, crushing her against the block. Yuu then brings both of her fists down on a heavily injured Insane Black★Rock Shooter.

As Strength discusses with Saya about how Mato's personality influences Black★Rock Shooter's behavior, Insane Black★Rock Shooter gains the upper hand on Yuu, having recovered from her injuries. Yuu takes cover from the Insane Cannon Lance's firepower when Strength suddenly connects with her and calls out to Mato, surprising Yuu. Insane Black★Rock Shooter attempts to attack Yuu while she is distracted, but narrowly misses as Yuu alters the cube structure to gain distance from Insane Black★Rock Shooter. She transforms her Ogre Arms into machine guns and gatling guns to rapidly fire at Insane Black★Rock Shooter, but this does nothing to stop the latter from advancing on her again. However, Mato regains consciousness after hearing Strength's voice, and pleads to Insane Black★Rock Shooter not to hurt "Yuu", unwittingly preventing her body from moving freely. Yuu takes the opportunity to knock Insane Black★Rock Shooter back. The latter fights back against Mato's control by firing at her own legs and attempts to attack Yuu again, but Mato keeps her from doing so until she starts to lose sense of who she is, giving Insane Black★Rock Shooter complete control of her body again.

The fight resumes as Yuu escapes Insane Black★Rock Shooter's attacks across the battlefield. Mato comes to a revelation about herself as Strength pleas to reassure her that it's fine to not want to be hurt because she's not the one running away. Yuu catches the Insane Cannon Lance lunged at her in her Ogre Arms, and speaks up to question who the one running away is, surprising both Mato and Insane Black★Rock Shooter. With the Insane Cannon Lance in her grasp, Yuu slams Insane Black★Rock Shooter on the other end into the ground, and angrily retorts at Strength over what she had been saying, believing it to be directed at her. Yuu violently gains the advantage over Insane Black★Rock Shooter as she talks back at Strength, reminding her that she is Strength. The battlefield explodes into flames as Yuu screams and gives rise to two additional Ogre Arms. Insane Black★Rock Shooter attempts to lunge her Insane Cannon Lance at Yuu once more, but Yuu catches it again and tosses it away while Insane Black★Rock Shooter is beaten around and tossed aside as well. The four Ogre Arms wrap around Yuu as she smirks underneath them.

Mato calls out to "Yuu" again, but the real Yuu responds instead of Strength. She reveals herself to be the real Yuu Koutari, and tells Mato that the "Yuu" whom she knew was Strength, her other self. Yuu continues beating up Insane Black★Rock Shooter while Strength tells Mato the truth about who and what she really is, and about the depth of Yuu's suffering to the point that she was eventually made to switch places with her.

<!-- Yuu's first appearance is when she walks home with Mato after school. On the way home, they discuss Yomi's last name, and Yuu guesses correctly that Mato wants to make friends with Yomi, or her "little bird". The next day, Yuu and Mato discuss the latter trying to befriend Yomi. They meet Saya in her counselling room and have coffee together. Later, Yuu applies for the position of team manager of the basketball club and comments on Arata Kohata overworking Mato while polishing basketballs.

After Mato dreams of the Hollow World, she visits Saya again and finds Yuu skipping class and drinking coffee. The three of them discuss Mato's dream.

Some time afterwards, Yuu finds Mato walking to school with Yomi, and reminds Mato to come to the club meeting with her. Unbeknownst to either of them, Yomi begins to gradually becomes jealous of how close Yuu is to Mato. After basketball practice, Yuu points out Mato's new friendship with her "little bird". They sneak a peek on Arata confessing to a boy in her class, but run off once Arata notices them.

As part of the basketball club, Yuu accompanies Mato to her training trip. During the bus ride, she introduces herself to Arata, who seemingly had never taken notice of her. That night, Mato wakes up after dreaming of the Hollow World again. Yuu talks with her about it and brings up Saya's previous words about "someone out there bearing Mato's pain for her." The next day, while they go souvenir shopping, they see Arata buying a present for the boy she likes. Yuu asks Mato if she wants a boyfriend, flustering Mato while Yuu teases her about her new "little bird". After they return to school, the two of them, along with Yomi, witness Arata being made fun of by other students due to her love letter addressed to the boy she likes being posted for everyone to see. Mato and Yuu empathically cry about it together, making Yomi realize how deep Mato and Yuu's friendship really is if they can cry together.

After Arata mysteriously collapses and recovers, Yuu tries to talk to her, but Arata doesn't seem to even notice her. While Mato is worried over Yomi acting strangely, Yuu becomes concerned as well and asks to text her as well. However, her text message only upsets Yomi further as Yuu is part of the reason why Yomi's dark feelings continue to grow stronger.

The next day, Yuu accompanies Mato to Yomi's house, and the three of them have an awkward walk to school together. On the way, Yomi gives an orange chain bracelet to Yuu to match with the blue bracelet she made for Mato, but Yuu discovers soon after that part of Yomi's hair was knit into the bracelet she gave her. Later, she confronts Saya about what she said to Yomi that caused her to mentally break down. Saya assures Yuu about what she did since Yomi "won't be in pain for much longer", alluding to Yomi's other self dying and taking Yomi's pain with her, which Yuu understands. It is then revealed that Yuu doesn't cast a shadow in the light of the sunset.

Gradually, other students start to forget about Yuu and stop realizing that she's there. Once Mato realizes she's also starting to forget, she recalls the memories she had of Yuu since they were little, and looks for her at the place she thought of as Yuu's home, only to find herself at the riverbank instead. There, she finds Yuu, who asks Mato if she wants to save Yomi. She begins to tell her the truth about the Hollow World and how the girl who takes on Mato's pain and fights for her indeed exists. Yuu explains what the purpose of the other selves are for and how their deaths ultimately frees their human counterparts from the pain they feel, stating that it's necessary for "the other Yomi" to die as well for Yomi's sake. She tells Mato that Yomi needs to forget about her as a result because Mato herself is the source of Yomi's pain, but Mato refuses to accept the idea that someone else has to die to solve her own problems, viewing what the other selves do and go through as horrible and insane. Yuu agrees with what Mato believes and tells her how she owes everything she is to Mato, who was the first and best friend she ever had; Yuu didn't know how to cope or deal with her own problems until she met Mato. She asks Mato if she wants to save Yomi once more and confirms her resolve to do so. Yuu then sends Mato to the Hollow World into Black★Rock Shooter's body. But the moment she did so, Black★Rock Shooter had already stabbed Dead Master, who Mato sees as Yomi from her point of view. The trauma causes Mato's body in the real world to cry, and Yuu apologizes to both her and Black★Rock Shooter.

As night fell, Yuu attempts to wake up Mato and return her to the real world. However, when she realizes that she wasn't waking up as she should have, Yuu takes her to Saya's apartment to ask for help. Once she explains what happened, she is slapped by Saya, who rebukes her for putting Mato through such a traumatic experience so suddenly and unhinging Black★Rock Shooter, awakening her power and making her capable of completely destroying the Hollow World as a result. In response, Yuu tells Saya how she didn't expect things to turn out the way they did and only wanted to awaken Black★Rock Shooter to help the other selves because she sympathized with how much they were all suffering. Saya then decides to try and reach out to Mato in the Hollow World, telling Yuu to stay while she goes and tries to save Mato.

Through her other self, Saya reveals memories from her youth that revolve around a Yuu who is rather different from the Yuu in the present day. The Yuu from Saya's memories was an impassive girl who quietly suffered terribly from bullying at school and a neglectful family at home. When Saya saw her get bullied by a group of students, she wanted to help her and be her friend. One day, when Saya said how much she admired Yuu for being so strong, Yuu tells her it isn't her who's being strong, but another girl instead who helps her through whatever causes Yuu to suffer, no matter how painful it is. Although Saya didn't understand what she meant at the time, she still wanted to be there for her. Then, one night, a fire broke out at the Koutaris' house and burned the place down. Upon seeing the blaze herself, Saya assumed that it was Yuu who burnt down the house in some act of revenge for what she was put through, but Yuu was shown to be alive, and she could tell what Saya thought she did. Yuu only weakly smiled as she was taken into the emergency vehicle. Saya, realizing that she had hurt Yuu, tried to run after her to apologize and cried out for her.

After that, Saya never saw Yuu at school again. One evening, when she was about to leave the burnt remains of the Koutaris' house after visiting, she found Yuu by the riverbank. She managed to catch up to her and apologize, saying that she would do anything for her if she forgave her. Yuu tells her how nothing's more painful than behind alive in their world, and while she wouldn't do anything bad herself, the pain she feels has become too much and has decided to let the "other girl" take it for her. Yuu asks Saya to protect her and identifies Saya's other self: Black Gold Saw.

Saya's attempts to reach out to Mato fails as Insane Black★Rock Shooter frees herself and attempts to attack Black Gold Saw, who falls unconscious, but she is saved by Strength. Saya wakes up and returns to the real world, wondering why she would have been saved by her when Saya believes she was so horrible to her in the past. Yuu comforts her and tells her that she had already forgiven Saya a long time ago. Yuu apologizes to Saya, to Mato for suffering while trapped within Black★Rock Shooter, and to Black★Rock Shooter herself.

As the fight between Strength and Insane Black★Rock Shooter goes on and Saya tries to connect with Black Gold Saw once more to no avail, Yuu decides that she must enter the Hollow World despite the risks, but is confident that Mato and the "other girl" will be alright. She thanks Saya and asks her to take care of her before leaving. Yuu connects with Strength in the Hollow World and calls out to Mato. Upon recognizing Yuu's voice, she responds and becomes conscious within Insane Black★Rock Shooter. Mato's consciousness interferes with Insane Black★Rock Shooter's body and actions, which briefly prevents her from fighting with Strength, but Insane Black★Rock Shooter forcibly regains control, and Mato, being told to deny Black★Rock Shooter to free herself, starts to lose sense of who she is. Yuu continues to call out to her and reassures how Mato isn't wrong or running away for not wanting to hurt or be hurt by others because she wants to live, but surprisingly, "Strength" begins to talk back to Yuu. Enraged, she overpowers Insane Black★Rock Shooter and retorts at Yuu for her hypocritical words, saying that she is the one who takes on her pain for her, and reveals Yuu's true identity as the real Strength.

As Yuu, Strength's body is found by Saya near the riverbank, who brings her back to her apartment. When Mato calls out to Yuu, "Strength" is the one who responds. She introduces herself as the real Yuu Koutari and tells Mato that the Yuu she knew in the real world was Strength, her other self whom she had switched places with. The real Strength confirms this and talks about how she used to fight for Yuu in the Hollow World. In the past, Strength had fought Black★Rock Shooter, and just when she was about to die after falling off a cliff, Yuu's voice called out to her, telling her she can't die. Then, Strength began to feel emotions for the very first time. She could sense Yuu's own suffering and how overwhelming it was, terrifying her to the point that it forced Strength to feel. Strength then planned to let Black★Rock Shooter kill her so she could take Yuu's pain and suffering with her, but this plan did not go through. Yuu was relieved to find that Strength did not die; although the latter wanted to put an end to how much her human counterpart was hurting, Yuu says that she'll never stop feeling pain as long as she lives in her world, and that more would only come to take the place of whatever would go with Strength into death. She admires that Strength and the others in her world only fight instead of argue, and switched places with her at that moment: The real Yuu took Strength's place in the Hollow World while Strength took Yuu's place in the real world.

Yuu continues to violently assault Insane Black★Rock Shooter to no end, hurting Mato more and more within the latter. Without any other way to free Mato, Strength makes the decision to sacrifice herself to save Mato and Yuu, and jumps into an abyss in the Hollow World. As she slowly begins to break apart, Yuu is interrupted as Strength's sacrifice begins to hold her back. Realizing what she's doing, Yuu pleads to Strength not to send her back to the real world, while Insane Black★Rock Shooter takes advantage of this opening and attempts to behead Yuu, but Mato cries out and refuses to let her hurt her friend, separating her from Insane Black★Rock Shooter and transporting them to Black★Rock Shooter's realm within the Hollow World while Strength and Yuu are transported to another gray realm in the Hollow World.

In the gray realm, Yuu cries to Strength about going back to the real world, saying that she would have nothing and be completely alone without her. Strength believes otherwise after seeing what Mato had done for the both of them. As tremors begin to occur in the Hollow World, Strength takes Yuu with her and later appears on the gray ray of light penetrating into Black★Rock Shooter's realm, alongside Black Gold Saw, Chariot, and Dead Master after they voiced their love for their human counterparts. After Black★Rock Shooter's realm is broken to become one with the other selves' respective realms, Mato and Yuu find Strength lying on the ground, continuing to break apart. Yuu begs Strength to get up, revealing how afraid she is of being alone and living in the real world, and that she couldn't be loved by anyone. Strength reassures Yuu that she already has friends in Saya and Mato. She comforts her by telling her that the other selves choose to fight for their human counterparts because they love them, including Strength herself for Yuu. After Strength thanks Mato for having shown her how beautiful the real world can be, she dissolves in Yuu's hands. The colors that arose from her dye the sky of the Hollow World in a million colors.

The real Yuu wakes up back at Saya's house. Saya hugs her and happily cries over the fact that she's okay. Yuu looks over and sees that Mato had already left. Yuu returns to school as a new student, seeing as only Mato remembers her, and instantly assumes the worst, but she notices Mato smiling at her and smiles back. Yuu is then seen joining Mato, Yomi, and Kagari for coffee with Saya. She receives a matching chain bracelet with the other three girls on the roof of the school, and is last seen with her friends walking home in the light of the sunset. -->

Trivia

 * Yuu's hairclip in the past was gray, whereas it is orange in the present time, just as Strength's eye color was formerly gray before turning orange.

Gallery

 * Full article: Yuu Koutari/Gallery