Eto Koki

Eto Koki (衛藤 昂輝 Etou Kouki) is an idol under TSUKINO TALENT PRODUCTION. He is a member, and the leader, of the unit Growth.

Official Character Introduction
"A charismatic young man nicknamed “The Aloof Prince” by fans due to his cool exterior. But in actuality, he has a perfectionist side with high ideals. Despite all that, he is serious and sincere with his efforts. Also a clumsy person. Coming from a wealthy family, he lives alone in an apartment under his parent’s name. He’s very good with housework and cooking!"

Appearance
Koki is a young man of average height, with collar length blonde hair that has long bangs covering the left side of his face, and light blue eyes.

For his appearance in the second SOARA live action movie, I will. -Kimi ga Mirai o Aruku Toki-, his hair was changed to a brown color rather than light blonde so as to look more natural for the movie's setting.

Personality
Koki is a mild-mannered and sincere young man who looks stoic but is actually really friendly. He is described as cool by Yaegashi Kensuke, Sakuraba Ryota, Fujimura Mamoru, and his fans, but is actually very sweet and kind-hearted. He is even nicknamed "Ko-sama" by his fans due to his cool demeanor.

He is shown to be a little sentimental and values his friends a lot. He is ready to offer his help to his friends whenever he can. He loves doing housework and is very good at cooking, doing laundry, cleaning, etc.

He is a very good judge of character and is always ready to give people a chance, much like when he picked up Mamoru after overhearing a song that Mamoru was playing on his keyboard, and when he immediately agreed to make Mamoru a member of their unit.

Although he seems to be mature and in-control of his life, he still gets flustered and nervous when talking to new people. Just like the time when he was hesitating to call Ohara Sora who just gave Koki his phone number. The event troubled him so much that it even worried his friends and thought that he was suffering from love-sickness.

He is also a very deep thinker, is very smart, and is a little dramatic and poetic in nature according to Kensuke. He likes giving meaning to everything he does; just like when he came up with the name "Growth" for their unit.

History
Koki grew up as an only child, with his father being the president of a bank.

Despite having a relatively good upbringing, he apparently missed out on several experiences that are generally considered quite common, such as attending festivals. He wasn't forbidden from attending such events, but rather he felt bad about troubling his busy parents to take him to such things.

Plot
2015 = Koki, Ryota, and Kensuke were all juniors under an unnamed agency. They were all doing individual work like modelling, interviews, radio shows, etc. under their agency and were all doing their best to gain the debut they all wanted. He, along with Kensuke and Ryota, continued doing their daily work routines until Koki started having doubts about what their agency may have planned for them, and was thinking of what his future may be in his current agency.
 * Age: 18
 * Height: -

He was on his way home after doing an interview as a part of his job when he overhears a person playing a beautiful tune on a piano. He is instantly mesmerized and is immediately interested in the melody, even describing it as "...being a delicate melody but still giving extremely powerful feeling" and even admits that it is his first time hearing something like that.

The person playing turns out to be Mamoru and that's how they got acquainted. He takes Mamoru out to eat in his house after Mamoru almost collapses on the ground from being hungry. They begin to get to know each other more and Koki finds out that Mamoru has no home to go to. He offers Mamoru a place in his house in exchange for Mamoru making songs for him.

A few days after he takes in Mamoru, Koki informs Kensuke and Ryota who were in disbelief at first, telling Koki that he has no sense of danger at all. They visit Koki's house to meet Mamoru and to judge if he's worthy of living in Koki's house. They agree eventually after hearing Mamoru play his song.

A few more days after their meeting, Koki and the others find out that their agency posted an announcement about a new unit's debut. Koki and the others are in in disbelief after finding out and are a little bit upset since they've been juniors for quite a long time.

That's when Koki decided that he would quit his agency to look for another opportunity. Kensuke and Ryota follow him after Koki reveals that he's always wanted to debut with the two of them, and Mamoru shows them a flyer for an audition to join TSUKINO TALENT PRODUCTION. They then recruit Mamoru into their unit (per Ryota's surprising suggestion), marking the beginning of Growth. 2016 =
 * Age: 19
 * Height: -

2017 = In the anime; Growth, together with the other three units (SOARA, SolidS, and QUELL) are aiming to hold a wonderful performance at the Budokan to showcase their music. 2018 =
 * Age: 20
 * Height: -
 * Age: 21
 * Height: -

2019 =
 * Age: 22
 * Height: -

2020 =
 * Age: 23
 * Height: -

2021 =
 * Age: 24
 * Height: -

2022 =
 * Age: 25
 * Height: 177 cm

Growth
Yaegashi Kensuke - Together with Ryota, Koki and Kensuke have also known each other for quite a long time since they work under the same agency. Although Kensuke tends to tease Koki a little, calling him Ko-sama and telling him how dramatic he is sometimes, he is still shown to care a lot and is even a little protective of Koki. Koki values Kensuke's friendship and was delighted when Kensuke decided to join him and Ryota in a unit after quitting from their current agency.

Sakuraba Ryota - Koki and Ryota are good friends who have been working with each other for a long time under the same agency. They're both very mature and cool-headed. Ryota is shown to be protective of Koki (as shown when he had doubts about Mamoru living in Koki's house). Koki values Ryota's friendship a lot and has stated that he had always wanted to debut with him and Kensuke, and was noticeably happy (and surprised) when Ryota decided to quit their agency together with him.

Fujimura Mamoru - Koki and Mamoru first met after Koki hears Mamoru playing a song on his keyboard. He takes Mamoru home and they get to know each other, to the extent that Koki even offered for Mamoru to live with him in exchange for making songs for him. Since Mamoru is 3 years older than Koki, he tends to refer to himself as "Big Brother" when offering to help Koki with housework.

Mamoru respects and admires Koki a lot and is always offering to help Koki with anything he can do to help. Koki, on the other hand, likes Mamoru's company a lot and has great faith in Mamoru's "god-given" talents, although he doesn't trust Mamoru with any kind of housework since Mamoru's very accident-prone when it comes to housework (i.e. making an egg explode whenever he tries to cook).

ZIX
Sugai Makoto - Makoto has verbally said that he hates Koki. Koki was obviously shaken by it because he has never been told that he was hated. Though Makoto considers Koki a rival back when they were in the same agency, it was a one-sided rivalry for Koki who was oblivious to what Makoto was trying to do. However, as the series progressed, they've now acknowledged each other as rivals and have started respecting each other's career decisions.

Etymology

 * The name Koki means "rise" (昂) (ko) and "shine, sparkle, glitter, radiance, gleam, twinkle" (輝) (ki).
 * His surname Eto means "defense, protection" (衛) (e) and "wisteria" (藤) (to).

Trivia

 * His catch phrase for 2021 is "Have faith in yourself."
 * Koki and Mamoru share a kanji in their names (衛).
 * The song that he hears Mamoru playing, and the one that Mamoru plays for Kensuke and Ryota is a piano version of the first part of "My Gloria".
 * Koki was scouted by the former president of his old agency but he refused. He only agreed after the former president stubbornly pressed him to join, even following him to his house.
 * His likes include music, housework, learning, exercise, animals, his friends, and doing nothing.
 * His seiyuu, Toki Shunichi, plays a small role in the first SOARA live action movie, LET IT BE -Kimi ga Kimi Rashiku Aru You ni-; he appears very briefly as a newsreader.
 * Toki also appears in the second movie, however this time it is in-character as Koki during a phone call with Sora.
 * Koki's mother's name is Ayano.
 * He's not good with crowds, a trait he shares with his parents.
 * Koki shares his birthday with Eguchi Takuya, Takamura Shiki’s seiyuu.