SlamDunk! ^^

[:.Jessie Han.:]

SLAMDUNK

courtesy of: slamdunkhq.ionichost.com/home.htm


SYNOPSIS:

The manga series was made in 1990. But because of the popularity of the manga series it was later made into an anime on Aug. 16, 1993. The anime series totaled 101 episodes. Now the anime is actually about basketball but you won't need to know anything about basketball and you might just end up wanting to play the sport anyway. Takehiko Inoue even draws himself as a character, Dr. T, to explain some of the basketball rules and plays, which makes basketball and the series easier to understand, & well, FUN.

The series itself, starts with one of the worst high school basketball teams in Japan, Shohoku High, as it steadily rises to become one of the best teams. And at the very center of this team is the most unusual hero, a red-headed self-proclaimed tensai (genius) Sakuragi Hanamichi. Ryonan, Shoyo, and Kainan High are some of the other teams in the district of Kanagawa, and considered to be three of the four pillars of Kanagawa high school basketball (of course, Shohoku emerging as the fourth). They were unable to beat no. 1 Kainan High, but they beat all the other teams and are able to enter the inter high. Though they did not win the national championship, they were able to beat seeded No. 1 Sannoh High.

Our hero, Sakuragi Hanamichi, is a strange red head who has the unbelievable record of being dumped by 50 girls throughout his junior high school days, the last one dumping him for a basketball player. From then on, he hated basketball. He and his friends, also known as the Sakuragi Gundan (Sakuragi Army), enters Shohoku High. There our hero Hanamichi meets Akagi Haruko who asks him if he loves basketball. He immediately falls in love with her and so tells her that he loves it because he's a sportsman, just to impress her. But his efforts at a loss when he finds out that she likes Rukawa Kaede, the super rookie and one of the best basketball players from junior high. Hanamichi wanted to beat him up. He even got into a fight with the basketball captain Akagi Takenori and won against him in basketball with his inborn athleticism. He later finds out that the captain is Haruko's elder brother. So Hanamichi joins the basketball team to win Haruko's heart. Though he joined because of Haruko he eventually falls in love with the sport and shows unbelievable leaps in ability. He becomes an irreplaceable member of the team. Later, other members rejoin the team, Miyagi Ryota & Mitsui Hisashi. Miyagi was hospitalized after fighting with some gang members headed by Mitsui himself. And when he came back, he had a little trouble with Hanamichi but eventually resolved their differences. Mitsui's return was actually an accident. He had long forgotten basketball when he hurt his knee and was unable to play. He wanted to take revenge on Miyagi but ended up being beaten up. He eventually realizes that he still wants to play basketball. And so completes the line-up, Akagi - Center, Miyagi - Point Guard, Mitsui - Shooting Guard, Rukawa - Small Forward, and Sakuragi - Power Forward. And together begins their adventure in basketball and takes Kanagawa by storm and finally getting into the inter high, beating teams like No. 2 Shoyo and their rival Ryonan. The anime actually ends just before they head towards the inter high with one last game against the combined team of Shoyo-Ryonan. The manga continues in the inter high. There they shocked the crowd winning game after game until they came up against No. 1 in the country, Sannoh High.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

CHARACTER PROFILES:






Sakuragi Hanamichi

Jersey Number: 10
Position: Power Forward (PF)
Height: 188 cm (grew to 189.2 cm)
Weight: 83 kg (183 lbs.)
Year: Freshman
Age: 16
Birthday: April 1
Shoe Size: 280
Voice Actor: Kusao Takeshi (Trunks of Dragonball Z, Pahn of Record of Lodoss War)
Also Known As: Genius (Tensai) Basketman, Shohoku's Secret Weapon (Himitsu Heiki), Red-haired Monkey (Akagezaru), Rebound King (Rebaundo-ou)


Facts:

*After being dumped the 50th time by a girl who chose a basketball player named Oda during his jr. high (middle school) days, Hanamichi since then detests everything about basketball. This is clearly shown when he starts head-butting people in high school whenever he thinks he heard people mentioning the word "basketball." This however is stopped when a girl by the name of Haruko asked him if he likes basketball. To impress her, he goes on mentioning that he was a good athlete even though he knows nothing of basketball. His road to becoming a basketball player or even establishing himself as one is made though by the fact that he knows nothing about basketball, Shohoku's very strict team captain, Akagi Takenorii s none other than Haruko's older brother, and Shohoku's ace, Rukawa Kaede, is Haruko's biggest crush.
*As one would notice, with his temper, his often fouling out and great rebounding skills, Hanamichi is often compared to that of Dennis Rodman.
*His basketball skills would include his very strong stamina, fast running ability, high jumping ability, his rebounding skills, his famous "hun-hun" defense, his ability to learn new skills fast, and of course the slam-dunk.
*He is constantly bugged by Awuto to join the Judo club.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Rukawa Kaede

Jersey Number: 11
Position: Small Forward (SF)
Height: 187 cm (6'1")
Weight: 75 kg (165.3 lbs.)
Year: Freshman
Age: 16
Birthday: January 1
Eyes: Blue
Hobby: sleeping, biking, listening to music
Voice Actor: Midorikawa Hikaru (Tamahome of Fushigi Yuugi and Heero Yuy of Gundam Wing, Paikuuhan of Dragonball Z, Michael Grant of Marmalade Boy)
Also Known As: Super Rookie, Shohoku's Ace, Fox Man (Kitsune Otoko)


Facts:

*Rukawa is said to be Shohoku's ace because of his excellent talent in basketball. As a matter of fact, he was team captain of his jr. high school, Tomigaoka. Asked what position he played in before when he entered Shohoku, he tells everyone that he has no specific position. His talent is very much comparable to the likes of Maki Shinichi of Kainan and Sendoh Akira of Ryonan. He also ends up being among the Top 5 of the perfecture.
*Rukawa's dedication to basketball is evident with the fact that he spends much time practicing alone, and after seeing American skill in basketball (Slamdunk movie 3), he too wants to go to America and join the NBA. Coach Anzai however stops this when he tells Rukawa that he becomes number first in Japan.
*Rukawa's talent is comparable to that of Michael Jordan, except for his personality. His cold personality however doesn't stop a lot of people to be fans of him and some even forming their own cheering squad like the Rukawa Oendan girls who are forever present during his games shouting "L-O-V-E RUKAWA!"
*The only weakness it seems is the lack of dependence to his team members wherein you usually see him trying to change the flow of the game by himself. He even receives a remark once from Coach Anzai that he is behind Sendoh probably because he is not a team player. This however changes when he realizes it during a game against Sannoh (based on the manga).
*It's quite unclear (unlike Mitsui) why Rukawa opted to go Shohoku. It was once shown during the series that Shohoku was nearest to his house, much to the dismay of Ryonan's coach. In movie 3, he gets offered to Ryokufu but unfortunately, when the manager was talking to him, he was on his bike sleeping.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Akagi Takenori

Jersey Number: 4
Position: Center (C) and Captain of the team
Height: 190 cm (6'3")
Weight: 90 kg (198.5 lbs.)
Year: Senior
Birthday: May 10
Voice Actor: Yanada Kiyoyuki (Kagemaru of Virtua Fighter, Zabine Charcun of Gundam F-91)
Also Known As: Gorilla (Gori), Akagi-captain


Facts:

*Akagi is the team captain of Shohoku, and considered to be the best center in the perfecture (Kanagawa trials). As a matter of fact, he gets chosen over Uozumi of Ryonan, Hanagata of Shoyo, and Takasago of Kainan to be offered a basketball career in the number one Basketball College. He has however to prove and show that Shohoku could reach top eight in the National Championships. Being a cheeky fellow, he tells the college people that Shohoku will be number one. Though Shohoku did beat the former number one, it was not clear whether they maid top eight since they lost to Aiwa in the next game for being too exhausted. Akagi doesn't get accepted to the college that offered him, but both him and Kogure decide to go to colleges of their first choice (according to the manga).
*Akagi is famous for his "gorilla dunk" and his "fly-swat."
*Akagi is also among the top 5 players of the Kanagawa trials.
*Upon entering Shohoku, Akagi was not that good in basketball, so much similar like Hanamichi when he began (that was according to Kogure in the anime). But when he heard Mitsui say that his dream was the National Championship for Shohoku, Akagi was so inspired that he trained hard. When he succeeded as the next captain for Shohoku, his strictness caused a lot of applicants to the team to back out.
*He has this knack for cleanliness, obvious with the way he makes freshmen do court cleaning and ball shining.
*He got his butt shown to a lot of people from Shohoku High during his challenge with Hanamichi at the start of the series.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Mitsui Hisashi

Jersey No.: 14
Position: Shooting Guard (SG)
Height: 184cm (6')
Weight: 70kg (154.3 lbs.)
Year level: Senior
Birthday: May 22
Year: Senior
Nickname: Micchi, Mi-chan
Voice Actor: Okiayu Ryotaro


Facts:

*Mitsui's Story: During jr. high, Mitsui was the captain of his team, Takeishi. During his last game, their team was behind by 2 points and it was up to him to make his team win. In the game, he stumbles over some chairs where both Anzai and Ryonan's coach were there watching. Anzai-sensei picks the loose ball and hands it over to Mitsui and tells him that it the game wasn't over. Very much inspired, Mitsui shoots in a three to win the game and win MVP honors. He then goes to Shohoku because of Anzai-sensei, even if Shohoku's basketball team that time wasn't that good. He tells everyone in Shohoku (players and applicants) that he could bring Shohoku to the National Championships. During practice, he gets injured and is hospitalized for a while. Due to his too much obsession with basketball, he joins training again even if he wasn't fully healed. This worsens his injury. He goes to one of Shohoku's game when he sees Akagi shining with his plays. Later on, he's never to be heard of and wasted 2 years of not playing basketball. During those 2 years, he ends up with bad company (Hotta, etc) and even grows his hair long! He doesn't admit to anyone his longing to play basketball again and gets so jealous of Miyagi that he wants to beat him up. In attempt to seek revenge for Miyagi having broken his teeth, he goes over to the gym along with other bad company. Kogure who tells him to grow up, Akagi who gives Mitsui a slap on the face, and of course the sudden appearance of Anzai-sensei makes him realizes how much he wants to be back on the team. (He also gets a haircut and his teeth fixed when he started training again)
*Though he did not play for 2 years, Mitsui still has his talent, especially in 3-point shooting, but his stamina is shortened, since he is still used to the shorter games in jr. high
*Probably, the best game that Mitsui played in the series was against Shoyo when he proves to Hasegawa (who vows to limit Mitsui to only 5 points but is unsuccessful) that he still has his skill.
*He believes in a way that he is Shohoku's ace and not Rukawa.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Miyagi Ryota

Jersey No.: 7
Position: Point Guard (PG)
Height: 168cm (5'6")
Weight: 59kg (130 lbs.)
Year: Sophomore
Birthday: July 31
Nickname: Ryo-chin, Shorty, and Lightning Backfielder
Voice Actor: Yoku Shioya


Facts:

*His main reason for joining basketball was because of Ayako, Shohoku's team manager. He also gets dumped 10 times and his reason for deciding to go for other girls was because he wanted to forget Aya-chan.
*When Mitsui and company threatened Miyagi, he knew then that he did not have the chance against the whole gang so he decided to start punching Mitsui and make Mitsui loose his two front teeth. Mitsui's gang starts taking revenge on him which caused him to be hospitalized for quite a while together with Mitsui.
*His speed and ability to make plays and good passes despite his height made him an excellent player. As a matter of fact, he follows Akagi as the next team captain of Shohoku.
*Because of much similarity between Miyagi and Hanamichi (in terms of being a troublemaker and girl-wise) they have good chemistry together. Miyagi was responsible for teaching Hanamichi to feint. In addition, it's funny to note that Mitsui and Miyagi end up as good pals in the series.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Kogure Kiminobu

Jersey No.: 5
Position: Small Forward (SF) & Vice-Captain
Height: 178cm (5'10")
Weight: 62kg (136.7 lbs.)
Year: Senior
Birthday: July 12
Nickname: Glassman (Megane-kun), Edible Frog
Voice Actor: Hideyuki Tanaka (Makimura Hideyuki of City Hunter, Dr. Ballanche of Five Star Stories)


Facts:

*Kogure is the opposite of Akagi when it comes to temper. He also shares Akagi's dream of Shohoku being in the National Championships. This dream was further strengthened with the addition of Rukawa, Sakuragi, Miyagi, and Mitsui to the team.
*I could note 2 of Kogure's most excellent plays. One of course was during the game against Ryonan in the Kanagawa trials where he shot a 3-pointer that furthered Shohoku's lead and lasted an entire d**n episode in the anime. Another would be during the third movie which was set after Shohoku's loss to Kainan. Everyone was in hot and tight tempers during the game against Ryokufu that through his hustle in the game was able to shift the mood when he collapsed from exhaustion & injury (it seems).

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Ayako

Position: Team Manager
Height: 5'6"
Age: 16 or 17
Year: Sophomore
Nickname: Aya-chan, Lady-Gori (for a brief moment)
Voice Actor: Hara Eriko (Hiyama Hikaru of Kimagure Orange Road)



Facts:

*She always carries a large paper fan that she uses to slap people on their heads either for motivation or to get the attention.
*She came from the same jr. high as Rukawa. In Shohoku, she is Miyagi's love interest and also his classmate.
*Miyagi vows to be the best point guard after seeing how much Ayako would not stop cheering for Shohoku even if they were losing (this was before the arrival of Rukawa and others).
*She taught Sakuragi the basics. At one point (during one of the movies) she scolds Sakuragi then Sakuragi notices her always scolding him that she should be called Lady-Gori.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Akagi Haruko

Year: Freshman
Nickname: Haruko-chan
Voice Actor: Hiramitsu Akiko (Kobayakawa Miyuki of You're Under Arrest, Nene Romanova of Bubblegum Crisis)


Facts:

*It seems as though quite a few boys have developed crushes on her. These include Sakuragi, Awuto of the Judo Club, and Nango of Tsukubu (Movie 2).
*She has the biggest crush on Rukawa and is Gori's sister.
*According to the manga, she would end up as Shohoku's second team manager (although in the anime series, Ichiro, Tomigaoka High's basketball team captain after Rukawa, became the 2nd team manager) .
*She is so dense that she never realizes that Sakuragi has a big crush on her. She was responsible for teaching Sakuragi to slamdunk.
*Her friends include Matsui and Fuji.
aruk

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Sendoh Akira

Jersey No: 7
Position: Point Guard (PG), Forward (F)
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 79 kg
Year: Sophomore
Age: 17
Birthday: February 14
Shoe Brand: Converse
Hobbies: Fishing


Facts:

*Sendoh is an all around player like Maki and Rukawa, so if you get to watch the series carefully, you'd notice that each one or them barely stops each other. However, Rukawa lacks being a team player unlike the other two. Anyway, Sendoh already caused some waves over him when he started playing as a freshman. He was also able to be among the top 5 of the Kanagawa trials.
*Sendoh succeeded Uozumi as Ryonan's team captain. Though you always get to see him to be late at practice and some games, he could always be depended to deliver.
*Sendoh is also Yayoi's (Hikoichi's sister) huge crush that's why you get to see her write numerous articles about him. She even tells Hikoichi to be like him. Hikoichi, by the way, idolizes Sendoh.
*Though you get to see girls shout his name, some people refer to him as having a porcupine hair.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Uozumi Jun

Jersey No : 4
Position: Center (C) and Team Captain
Height : 202 cm
Weight : 90 kg
Year : Senior
Age : 17
Nickname: Boss Monkey


Facts:

*He is Ryonan's team captain who considers Akagi as his biggest rival. It's interesting to note that Uozumi was not good in basketball before. During try-outs, he usually gets tired during running exercises to the extent that you get to see Ikegami wanting to extend his help to him. He often gets referred to as just being a tall person. He even came to the brink of giving up until he got to get a serious talk with Ryonan's coach. He improved himself as a player and gets motivated to improve more when he gets to see Akagi play. It was of course painful for him that Akagi is considered the best center of the Kanagawa trials.
*Uozumi had quit the Ryonan team after the Kanagawa trials (so he won't be playing for the winter tournament) since he wanted to become a chef and take over his father's restaurant. Still, the urge to play was in him as well as his determination to beat Akagi. So for one last time, he got to play against Shohoku via the combined team of Ryonan and Shoyo at the end of the television series.
*During the national championships where Shohoku was against then number one team Sannoh, Akagi had difficulty playing against their center. Uozumi suddenly appears and gives much encouragement to Akagi. Akagi then started to improve his play.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Kiccho Fukuda

Jersey No : 13
Position : Power Forward (SF)
Height : 188 cm
Weight : 80 kg
Year : Sophomore
Age : 17
Nickname: Fukky (by Jin)


Facts:

*He's the guy with the thick lips who is an excellent shooter but a poor defender (during the game for second place in the Kanagawa trials wherein they were against Shohoku, Mitsui gets to guard him and of course stop him as well). Fukuda is considered to be a proud person who always wants people to praise him whenever he plays.
*So much pride that he hated it so much when he got subbed out after an amazing play of Sakuragi during the Shohoku versus Shoyo-Ryonan game. He hated it so much when Sakuragi told him that he won.
*In the past Fukuda played basketball on the streets and not properly in the high school. He wasn't a good player and yet he wanted to be Sendoh's partner. One thing Fukuda does have is the unwillingness to be defeated, and absolute will to get to the basket.
*He is a childhood friend of Jin.

[:.Jessie Han.:]

PICTURES!

[:.Jessie Han.:]

Hanamichi Sakuragi (Shohoku)

[:.Jessie Han.:]