Karakter & Staf

Hanamichi Sakuragi

Utama

Male

Height: 189.2 cm Jersey Number: #10 Position: Power Forward At the beginning, Sakuragi was a slacker, always trying to ask girls out but getting constantly rejected (the 50th rejection occurring at the start of the series). He then met Akagi Haruko, with whom he fell in love immediately. This passion led to him joining the Shohoku basketball team. However, as a complete beginner, he was not able to keep up with the rest of the team at first despite his physical attributes (great height, athleticism, stamina, speed and leaping ability). He regards himself as a genius though, with self-confidence that borders on arrogance. His most recognizable trait is his red hair, though he shaves his head as reparation for an error that led to the loss against Kainan. At first, Sakuragi was known for his poor basketball skills as a beginner; in his first few official matches, he fouled out every game. However, his basketball skills advanced throughout the series. First he developed his basic skills, such as dribbling and layups. Then, trained by Akagi, he became a formidable rebounder; his rebounding became his claim to fame throughout the latter half of the series. He also is seen more than once defining the match for Shohoku in the last seconds, for instance, by dunking a ball that Akagi would have missed in the league round match with Ryonan. His jump shooting was then developed by Coach Anzai, who had him make 20,000 shots in a week. He hit a buzzer-beating jump shot to win the match against Sannoh. However, he also injured his back during the match against Sannoh, and underwent rehabilitation after Shohoku's subsequent loss to Aiwa Academy. In spite of the setbacks he has had to face, Sakuragi displays a great deal of tenacity and determination that carry him through and help reciprocate for his other failings, both on and off the court. Although his love for Haruko and rivalry with Rukawa are the main driving forces motivating him to succeed in basketball, his injury during the Sannoh match makes him realize that he has actually come to love the game, leading him to give his all for his team and bring them victory.

Takeshi Kusao

Kaede Rukawa

Utama

Male

Height: 187 cm (6'2") Position: Small Forward, SF Kaede Rukawa is Sakuragi's rival as well as almost his opposite; he is attractive to girls, skilled at basketball, and very cold and unfeeling. The only traits they share are that they are not academically inclined and good fighters. He regards Sakuragi as an idiot and both normally fight. Actually, he knows Sakuragi can put his talents to a better use, but is ashamed to see the immaturity with which he deals with things. His hobby is sleeping, and is usually seen asleep whenever he's not on the court; he can even ride his bike while asleep often crashing with objects when doing so. Waking Rukawa from a nap is considered unforgivable, since he will almost automatically beat up the culprit. Unsurprisingly, he has also been in his fair share of off-court fights, but can hold his own. Rukawa's goal is to be the best high school player in Japan, and he considers Sendoh of Ryonan to be his greatest rival. A fact being that he is often nicknamed the "super-rookie", the "ace of Shohoku", even. Rukawa is extremely good at basketball, and possesses a wide range of skills to complement his height, athleticism and drive to win. Despite being merely a first-year high school player, he is the undisputed ace of Shohoku's team. In the Kanagawa Interhigh Tournament, he was named one of the top five players, the only first year player so honored. He has managed to change the course of many games, such as when he single-handedly brought Shohoku back from a double-digit deficit against Kainan (Rukawa scored 15 straight points for Shohoku in 2 minutes and 5 seconds just before the end of the first half). However, his style was criticized as being too selfish, and he sometimes comes into conflict with his teammates for various reasons; this was one of the reasons why Coach Anzai refused to give him his blessing when Rukawa told him that he intended to go to the USA, and told him to become the best in Japan before he even thought of it. When he was outplayed by Sawakita during the match against Sannoh Technical, though, he realized what Sendoh reminded him as a challenge: To defeat Sendoh, Rukawa had to change his style and pass the ball. It was his pass that led to Hanamichi's buzzer-beating shot, winning the match. Rukawa is subsequently named a member of the All-Japan basketball team.

Hikaru Midorikawa

Ryouta Miyagi

Utama

Male · Umur 16-17

Height: 168 cm (5'6) Position: Point Guard (PG) He joined the basketball team because of his love for the game in the first place. But soon it seems that he is also playing for the love of his life Ayako, the team manager. Although Ryonan's coach asked him to join the Ryonan Basketball Team, Miyagi chose for Shohoku because of Anzai. Miyagi is a problem kid, he gets into fights a lot and gets himself beaten up. Miyagi is a smart but kinda rude person, who is only nice and sweet to Ayako. He tried to date other girls to forget Ayako, but he failed to. So he can be a very sensitive person too. Miyagi is a bit short-tempered sometimes and hates when people make fun of his height.

Yoku Shioya

Ichiro Mizusawa

Utama

Akira Ishida

Mitsuyoshi Anzai

Pendukung

Male

The coach of the Shohoku High basketball team, and one of the best ones in Japan. Even the coaches of other teams call him "Anzai-sensei" with respect. His calm and collected attitude contrasts with the temper he had in the past, when he was nicknameed "White-Haired Devil" as a demanding college coach. A talented player, Ryuuji Yazawa, trained under him and was eyed with high regard by Anzai. However, Yazawa was unhappy about Anzai's tough training for him (especially the repetitive and strenuous basic technique training), and against the Coach's wish, left Japan to play in the USA, where he thought he would have better opportunities to show his talent. 5 years passed without any news, other than an unaddressed video tape showing Yazawa playing in a team, whose players had virtually no concepts of teamwork. One day Anzai learned from the press that Yazawa died in a high-speed head-on car collision, reportedly under drug influence. While visiting Yazawa's grave, Yazawa's mother gave Anzai a letter written 4 years prior, which Yazawa never had the courage to post back. In the letter, Yazawa expressed profound regret about his rebellious decision to leave, and the depression from his experience in the unsupportive American college basketball career. Anzai grieved deeply for the loss of Yazawa and resigned from college basketball coaching ever since. This also changed Anzai's former strict attitude to his now mild temper, for which he is now known as the "White-Haired Buddha." Sakuragi always calls Coach Anzai "Oyaji" (old man) and has the habit of jiggling his fat when hyped, which makes the others - Mitsui in particular - mad at him, as this is considered disrespectful. Anzai, however, appears to tolerate this and has not reprimanded Sakuragi for his behavior. However, Anzai did punish the four players (Mitsui, Miyagi, Sakuragi and Rukawa) involved in the fight against Mitsui's gang, by initially benching them during the first interhigh tournament match against Miuradai High School. However behind such an impassible demeanor is a brilliant strategist, who always knows how to turn the tide of a match for his team. Anzai like Haruko Akagi, realized Sakuragi's potential early on and decided to make him a starter even though some of his basketball skills were not yet par. Recognizing that shooting was Sakuragi's weakness, he made him make 20,000 baskets in a week to get ready for the national tournament. Anzai is also very charismatic and able to inspire his players to greater heights, as evidenced before the match against Sannoh, where he managed to bring down the insecurity within Miyagi, Mitsui and, to a lesser extent, Sakuragi. Although they were directly recruited by Coach Moichi Taoka of Ryonan, both Mitsui and Ryota turned him down, citing Anzai's presence at Shohoku as the primary factor. Mitsui respects Anzai the most, and once put a picture of him on the bench and prayed to it when Anzai was unable to come to the inter-high Shohoku-Ryonan match due to heart attack.

Ayako

Pendukung

Female

Ayako is the manager of the team and object of Ryota's affections. Strong-willed, somewhat tomboyish and good-natured, at first Ayako does not seem to reciprocate Ryota's feelings for her, which she knows of, and will not until the end of the series. She is directly responsible for sharpening Hanamichi's abilities for real matches, by training him in the basics, such as ball possession and dribbling. Her disciplinary style is midway between Akagi and Anzai - while not as soft as the latter, she is also not as hard as the former. Her last name is unknown. Curiously, Hanamichi treats her almost as respectfully as Anzai, even though she is in a lower position in the team; possibly because of her gender, since he is generally more respectful towards females. Ryota refers to her as "Aya-chan" because of his attraction to her, and she responds by calling him "Ryota" rather than by his surname.

Eriko Hara