The character sheet for the famous basketball manga/anime series Slam Dunk.
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Shohoku
- From Zero to Hero: They went from barely a blip on people's radars to beating nationally-ranked teams in the span of a semester.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: The people they fight with the most are each other, but as a basketball team, there are few more cohesive or effective.
- Weak, but Skilled: Their starting lineup is a national-caliber team, but nobody else in the roster is even close to their ability. When Sakuragi and Mitsui have to be sidelined after getting injured, along with everyone else exhausted after pushing past their limits to beat reigning National Champion Sannoh, the team get trounced in their next match.
Hanamichi Sakuragi
Number: 10
Position: Power Forward
Height: 6 feet 2.5 inches (188 cm)
Weight: 182.6 lbs (83 kg)
Birthday: April 1
Shoes: Nike Air Jordan 6 note later the Nike Air Jordan 1 note
Voiced by: Takeshi Kusao [main], Subaru Kimura [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Robert Tinkler [Kaleidoscope dub], Scott Evans [Animax Asia dub], Ben Balmaceda [The First Slam Dunk] (English) note
Hanamichi Sakuragi is the protagonist of Slam Dunk, serving as Shohoku's power forward. At the beginning of the series, Sakuragi is a slacker, good for nothing other than fighting. He is the leader of the feared "Sakuragi's Gang", which consists of his four friends Mito, Noma, Ohkusu and Takamiya. After being rejected fifty times by girls, Sakuragi meets and falls in love with Haruko Akagi, a basketball fangirl. This and Haruko's encouragement lead him to join the Shohoku basketball team.
- Aborted Declaration of Love: A sincere variation. Basically, he stands up in front of Haruko during the final minutes of a match, and bearing the pain of a back injury, he declares his wholehearted love... of basketball, which indirectly tell his love for her.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Haruko seems to genuinely love him, just not that way until the the final quarter against Sannoh.
- Almighty Janitor: He is unskilled in basketball, but he uses his unique talents in order to compensate his skills while training in order to keep up.
- Animal Motif: According to Kiyota, he's like a monkey, more specifically an orangutan.
- Appropriated Appelation: A rare non-insult version, as Haruko comes up with the title "Rebound King" when he starts showing off his skill at catching rebounds during matches. Doesn't really qualify as Red Baron given that nobody (other than himself) calls him that way.
- Badass Adorable: Childish, sincere, gullible, and kind. Even moreso in his Super-Deformed mode.
- Big Eater: In the lunch breaks of his 20,000-shot training.
- The Big Guy: Despite being the protagonist, Sakuragi lacks the skill and speed of his other teammates to play an offensive role. Instead, his biggest contribution is in using his strength and leaping ability to catch rebounds, making him a defensive nightmare to his opponents and a secondary playmaker to his team.
- Boisterous Bruiser: He really wants you to know he's a BASKETBALL GENIUS!
- Boring, but Practical: His consistency in catching rebounds may not allow him to do a lot of flashy offense, but it does put a lot of pressure on his opponents to score, since if they don't, he'll catch that rebound and convert it to a point for his team.
- Butt-Monkey: If you see him loudly declaring his geniality (and he does that very often), it usually means he's about to make a very humiliating mistake.
- Catchphrase: "I'm a basketball GENIUS!"
- Character Development: From a Hot-Blooded ex-delinquent to a still Hot-Blooded but more mature player. It really shows during his shot training; before that, every time he dreamt (or daydreamed) about basketball, it was with him as the protagonist, Haruko fawning over him and the other players as Funny Animals. When he's sleeping in between the days of his special training, however, the match he dreams of has no cartoonish affectations (even though he's still the hero of the game in it).
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Sakuragi obtains his unusual strength from his experiences as a delinquent, which he uses to compete with the bigger guys than himself, such as Toru Hanagata, Jun Uozumi, Shinichi Maki, and Masashi Kawata.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Done as a way to encourage him during their Nationals games: Rukawa tells Sakuragi that despite losing to him, he made him go all out.
- Death Glare: Played for Laughs. At one point he asks Akagi if he has a secret to properly defend. Akagi, wanting to get him off his back for the time being tells him to "kill your foe's moves with your glare". Naturally, it only works during practice because the other Shohoku players quickly get scared of him, but in a real match his opponents aren't so easily intimidated.
- Determinator: Especially notable during the Sannoh game, where he keeps playing despite a potentially crippling injury.
- Disappeared Dad: Who died of a heart-attack when he was in junior high. Sakuragi misses him terribly.
- The Dog Bites Back: When Mitsui hits Sakuragi with the mop and Tetsuo beats him up along with the rest of the basketball team, Sakuragi wastes no time returning the favor by giving Tetsuo a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Dogged Nice Guy: To Haruko, acting pretty much like a puppy when he's around and hoping that someday she'll like him back.
- Don't Think, Feel: Fujima and Toru noted when Sakuragi blocks Uozumi's dunk, Sendoh's feint pass, and Fukuda's scoring attempt, he didn't think, he react with his body.
- The Dreaded: He's not called the Rebound King for nothing. Opposing teams are very cautious about missing shots because that will mean that Sakuragi will catch that missed shot.
- Dye Hard: An In-Universe example. He often dyes his hair red, even when he was in junior high.
- Evil Laugh: "Naa-hahahahahahaha!!"
- Face of a Thug: During the first chapter, Haruko's friends warn her not to get too close to Sakuragi because of this.
- Failure Knight: Because he was caught by a bunch of other delinquents who beat him severely... and he couldn't get help for his ill father, who ended up dying.
- Fiery Redhead: His hair is infamous In-Universe because of his temper and how he dyed his hair.
- The Fool: Subverted, since despite his potential he can't skip the basic training. Other players start treating him more and more seriously as he learns the basics of the sport.
- From Zero to Hero: He only played basketball for less than 6 months throughout the series, but in that time he earned the respect of national-level players, teams, and coaches.
- Game-Breaking Injury: Badly injures his back in the game with Sannoh that could have caused paralysis or worse, but guts through the match in order to ensure his team wins.
- Gentle Giant: He's much more friendly towards girls than males; if he has a crush on you, he'll go blushy and tongue-tied.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: During his fight with Ryota, Sakuragi knocks Norio out and uses him to unsuccessfully knock him down.
- Hard Head: He would be either vegetable or even more stupid than he already is were it not for this trope, considering his signature and preferred method of attack.
- The Heart: His teammates and quite a few opposing players and coaches note that while Akagi is the captain, Sakuragi is the real linchpin of the group, since his rebounds set the tempo of the game, while his never-say-die attitude and willingness to try something risky/stupid motivate his friends to think outside the box to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
- Heroic BSoD: Sakuragi has been in a major one after being rejected for the 50th time. He snaps out of it when he meets Haruko.
- Hot-Blooded: He covers his lack of skill with the extreme intensity of his plays, sometimes jumping several times to stop a throw after falling for a fake.
- Idiot Hero: Mostly because he's too Hot-Blooded to stop and think. When he does, he sometimes Subverts this.
- I Gave My Word: Once he makes a promise, he will keep it, fire or water.
- Important Haircut: After blaming himself for the loss against Kainan when he mistook the Kainan's center for Akagi.
- Indulgent Fantasy Segue: During a match, he becomes frustrated as he can't get rid of his markers, so he imagines himself headbutting them and leaving them knocked out. Cue him whimpering over the rules that forbid him doing so.
- Instant Expert: Averted, which frustrates him to no end. Still, it's rather impressive that he manages to develop into a strong and formidable player in just half a year.
- Ironic Echo: During the first chapter/episode, he says he loves basketball to get on Haruko's good side, despite never having played it. During the last match he says it again, but this time he means it.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A total sweetheart and teddy bear with the kind-and-innocent heart (and booksmarts) of a 5-year-old.
- Large and in Charge: He's the leader of his gang and noticeably taller than them.
- Large Ham: He's not pleased until everyone is looking at him.
- Lightning Bruiser: Very tall, VERY agile. Akagi trains him specifically to catch rebound balls at some point, and this becomes his main skill. He also manages to knock down Hanagata and Maki while dunking, despite the latter actively body-checking him.
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: He's asked out (and been rejected by) 50 girls.
- Love Redeems: Had it not been for his love for Haruko, Sakuragi would more than likely have ended up like Mitsui — if not worse.
- Manly Tears: Moreso than any other character. An especially poignant moment is when they lose to Kainan, thanks to a last-second blunder of his (which frankly, pretty much anyone could have done; Akagi even comforts him rather than getting angry and clocking him over the head as usual).
- Mr. Imagination: Usually done to boost his own ego. Done less frequently as the series goes on.
- My Greatest Second Chance: When Coach Anzai suffered a heart attack while training him, he was hit by the memory of his own father's death, which only spurred him, even more, to make sure he could save him.
- The Nicknamer: If you're not a female or one of his four friends, do NOT expect him to refer you by name or surname.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Shares his red hair, excellence in rebounding, and jersey number with Dennis Rodman. His debilitating back injury during a critical game and determination to keep playing draws comparisons to Scottie Pippen.
- No Indoor Voice: He has a loud voice as part of his Hot-Blooded and Large Ham characterization.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: With Rukawa and with Fukuda, with Sakuragi is the Hot-Blooded red.
- The Reliable One: Despite his bad attitude, numerous mistakes, and lack of experience, when it comes to his rebounds, Sakuragi's teammates will stake their lives on it. They will even make reckless shots knowing that if they miss, Sakuragi will catch that rebound.
- Small Name, Big Ego:
- He loudly proclaims he's a genius and The Ace of his team when he can't even dribble properly.
- Downplayed as the series goes on: he never becomes the star he believes himself to be, but he does become a noteworthy player, able to compete with stars who have more experience than him at the sport.
- Supporting Protagonist: Unusually for the main character of a sports manga, he is definitely not the star of his team, though he'll never acknowledge it. Sometimes he even becomes The Load, especially at the beginning, but over time, Sakuragi plays more of a key role in each match.
- Taught by Experience: Almost nobody recognizes it, but it's there. In the regional finals against Ryonan he recalls how they lost the practice match for leaving Sendoh unattended in the final seconds, and quickly runs off calling everyone to defend their basket. Then in the nationals against Sannoh, he uses the last few seconds to get ahead and attempt one last attack, which results in Shohoku defeating the reigning champion (with him scoring the winning basket, no less).
- Teen Genius: Self-described. While he's definitely not a genius, he unlocks his potential and develops his basketball skills, aided by his Super-Strength, in merely one semester.
- Took a Level in Badass: Eventually develops some genuine basketball skills and becomes a noteworthy player.
- Unknown Rival: To Rukawa, who actually is The Ace of the team. Rukawa does acknowledge his potential and determination towards the end, even if his skills still aren't up to par.
- Unskilled, but Strong: One of the recurring themes of the story is that he has the potential to be a great basketball player, but he lacks skill in many areas, especially because he started his training much later than his other teammates. He slowly but surely grows out of this as the series progresses.
- Use Your Head: His preferred method of punishment is to use his head to hit anyone who annoys him. In the match against Shoyo, he actually hits the floor this way to snap himself out of his fear of being expelled from the match.
- Wife-Basher Basher: Even though Youko rejected his love confession, he was was still going to dish out a brutal beating to Oda, her boyfriend (who plays for the anime-only Takezono), for slapping her.
- Wild Card: He may be the weakest member of the Shohoku starting lineup, but he is also the final key to their effectiveness. Besides being a defensive beast, Sakuragi is also pretty good with unexpected plays, often ambushing his opponents when they least expect him. Being a rookie with little exposure also has something to do with it, because nobody knows what he might do next, and it unnerves the other players.
- Wolverine Publicity: In one way or another, he's the only character who appeared in the covers of all 31 volumes of the manga - even during the Mitsui origin story arc.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Hadamichi is physically abusive to almost all his male friends and teammates, but never so when it comes to the ladies, even when they do far more to provoke his wrath.
- The Worf Effect: Part way through the series, he has a one-on-one match against Rukawa to see who is the better player. At first, it seems like Sakuragi might actually give Rukawa a challenge due his growing progress through the series. He instead suffers an utter defeat which briefly traumatizes him, which reflects the massive gap that still exists between them.
Kaede Rukawa
Number: 11
Position: Small Forward
Height: 6 feet 2 inches (187 cm)
Weight: 165 lbs (75 kg)
Birthday: January 1
Shoes: Nike Air Jordan 5
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa [main], Shinichirou Kamio [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Scott McCord [Kaleidoscope dub], David Lee McKinney [Animax Asia dub], Aleks Le [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Kaede Rukawa is the small forward of the Shohoku team, and Hanamichi Sakuragi's rival as well as his opposite; attractive to girls, skilled at basketball, and very cold and aloof. Although he does share some traits with Sakuragi in that they are not academically inclined and are good fighters. Although he regards Sakuragi as an idiot and the two frequently get into conflicts, he knows that Sakuragi can put his talents to better use.
- The Ace: Sakuragi will never accept it, but everybody else knows that Rukawa is the star of the team.
- Aloof Ally: He never shows friendliness towards his teammates, but when the team needs him he plays so hard that he collapses before the match ends.
- Animal Motif: Sakuragi compares him to a fox, probably because he always looks so sleepy.
- Berserk Button: Waking up Rukawa before finishing his naps will set him off. Norio Hotta and his cronies found that out the hard way when they discovered him on the school's rooftop and tried to wake him up.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Rukawa is aloof and not a people's person, but when it comes to fighting he can be just as dangerous as Sakuragi. It's made a point of how the latter met his match on Rukawa as he even took a headbutt from Sakuragi without flinching. To put things on perspective, Sakuragi was known to knock out people cold with a single headbutt attack.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Even though he's only 'brilliant' when it comes to basketball.
- Broken Ace: Basketball is his life. Social skills be damned.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's as good at basketball as he's bad at... everything else. Including staying awake while driving his bicycle.
- Catchphrase Insult: "Dumbass", usually towards Sakuragi or Kiyota.
- Chick Magnet: He doesn't seem to care, but girls adore him.
- The Comically Serious: Especially when it's shown that, in his own way, he is as dumb as Sakuragi.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- In Rukawa's first appearance, he curb-stomps Norio and his gang when they wake him up.
- Later in the series, he utterly defeats Sakuragi in a one-on-one match.
- Deadpan Snarker: How he reacts to his teammates' antics.
- Determinator: He plays with so much intensity that he sometimes collapses on the bench when he's subbed out. During the first game with Ryonan, he keeps playing despite having leg cramps.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He doesn't get along so well with his teammates, however he doesn't care.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: When he's not sleeping he's listening to his headphones. Justified since he plans on going to America one day, so his headphones are constantly playing English lessons or English music.
- I Work Alone: He is very individualist, especially when he feels rivalry towards his direct opponent. It seems to work well for him... until he meets an opponent he cannot defeat this way.
- Idiot Hero: He hides it better than Sakuragi or Miyagi, but he is definitely this.
- It's All About Me: His playing style is criticized as being selfish.
- Japanese Delinquents: Just as infamous as Sakuragi for a history of brutal violence.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- During the Shoyo match he shows shades of this towards Sakuragi, calling him out to get him out of his rut when he's scared of getting kicked out and encouraging him after his dunk.
- By the end of the manga, after the Nationals have ended and Sakuragi is now recovering from his back injury in the match against Sannoh. Rukawa passes by to greet Sakuragi, showing him his jersey of Japan's national team, for which Rukawa was chosen to be a member. Although it would appear that he does it to piss Sakuragi off, Rukawa actually does it to motivate Sakuragi into trying his best even harder after his recovery.
- Shows this even more in the anime, especially when dealing with Ichiro in the last movie. He does want to help, but prefers to put on the biggest facade ever to force Ichiro to give his all. And when it's all said and done, he gives in and hands the kid one of his jerseys, and donning his first smile EVER.
- Lack of Empathy: Part of his lack of people skills.
- Lightning Bruiser: He's both extremely fast and able to fight under the basket when it's needed.
- Married to the Job: He spends every second he has playing basketball.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Michael Jordan, if only in playing technique and the armband.
- No Social Skills: He's not very good with people, but he doesn't seem to care.
- Perpetual Frowner: Hanamichi tries to make fun of him for being "expressionless".
- Really Fond of Sleeping: Rukawa declares sleeping to be his hobby.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Rides a pink bike.
- Sleepyhead: To nearly absurd levels, such as falling asleep while riding his bike. It's implied he spends the nights practicing until very late, so he needs the daytime sleep. Oh, did we mention waking him up is a VERY bad idea?
- The Stoic: He almost never shows any emotion.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's a tall player with black hair, and definitely a Chick Magnet.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He's a pretty tall player, and definitely a Deadpan Snarker.
Takenori Akagi
Number: 4 (team captain)
Position: Center
Height: 6 feet 6 inches (197 cm)
Weight: 198 lbs (90 kg)
Birthday: May 10
Shoes: Converse Weapon Classic
Voiced by: Kiyoyuki Yanada [main], Kenta Miyake [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Martin Roach [Kaleidoscope dub], Victor Lee [Animax Asia dub], Aaron Goodson [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Takenori Akagi is Haruko's older brother, serving as Shohoku's captain and center. Along with Kogure, he is the only other player who stayed on the Shohoku basketball team for all three years. Before he met the current Shohoku members, he had to overcome ridicules from his classmates (for dreaming of winning the national championship), doubts from bystanders, and the frustration of losing his teammates, as they found Akagi's training to be too difficult and harsh.
- Academic Athlete: He is the most academically talented starter and is considered a model student.
- Animal Motifs: He looks like a gorilla, and the other players will not let him forget this.
- Big Brother Instinct: Very, VERY protective of little Haruko.
- Big Brother Mentor: To Sakuragi, who even refers to himself as "Gori's Younger Brother" during the Kainan match.
- The Big Guy: He's the center of Shohoku and one of the tallest and largest players around.
- The Captain: It's not easy to be this for a team like Shohoku, but he's very good at it.
- The Comically Serious: His angry reactions to his teammates' antics are at least as funny as the antics themselves.
- Genius Bruiser: Top student, super strong center player.
- Jack of All Stats: He's not the strongest or the fastest or the best shot of the team, but he has no major weaknesses, and is able to do everything competently.
- Large and in Charge: The fact that he's the only one strong enough to beat his teammates when they misbehave too much helps him being The Captain.
- Mighty Glacier: He has very good technique as a center and he's very physically strong, but speed is not one of his assets.
- Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: The Monster Brother to Haruko's Cutie Sister. While he's more the strict type and not outright violent, absolutely no one can believe he and Haruko are related.
- Mr. Exposition: Keeps explaining basket stuff to Sakuragi, especially when he has to teach him rebounds.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Patrick Ewing.
- Not So Stoic:
- He's actually far more Hot-Blooded than you'd think. Notable during the Kainan match, when he sprains his ankle but keeps playing, and during the Sannoh match, when he starts crying during a timeout.
- Sakuragi sometimes manages to push him into incoherent rage. The first time he completely files off the handle is when Sakuragi slam dunks on his head.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni:
- With Aouta, lampshaded by Kogure more than once.
- As well as with Uozumi.
- Him and Kogure as well.
- Scary Black Man: He has dark skin and has an intimidating presence.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Kogure's Sensitive Guy.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Haruko, in both physical appearance and personality.
- Supporting Leader: He's The Captain and one of the two stars of the team, but he's not the main character.
- Team Dad: As The Captain and the most mentally stable of his team, he often falls into this role.
- Unskilled, but Strong: During his first year he was almost as unskilled as Sakuragi.
- Worthy Opponent: With Uozumi. See his entry for more.
- Younger Than They Look: According to Maki, Akagi looks even older then him.
Ryota Miyagi
Number: 7
Position: Point Guard
Height: 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm)
Weight: 130 lbs (59 kg)
Birthday: July 31
Shoes: Converse Drive
Voiced by: Yoku Shioya [main], Shugo Nakamura [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Tim Hamaguchi [Kaleidoscope dub], David Bridges [Animax Asia dub], Paul Castro Jr. [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Ryota Miyagi is the point guard of the Shohoku team and Hanamichi Sakuragi's closest friend on the team. After an initial misunderstanding that caused conflict between them, both found comradeship in the fact that they had both been unlucky in love, although Miyagi, having only been rejected 10 times, still falls short of Sakuragi's record of 50 rejections.
- Affectionate Nickname: Called "Ryo-chin" by Sakuragi after they become friends in the original Japanese.
- Always Someone Better: He definitely faces some steep competition in regards to whose the best point guard in the series, with Maki and Fujima during the Regionals and with Fukatsu during the Nationals. He even Lampshades this before the Sannoh match.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Ryota and Ayako were this at age eleven (age was probably the key reason for this). Rather hilarious considering how much of a dogged nice guy Ryota becomes later on.
- Best Friend: To Sakuragi, at first, their meeting is awkward due to Sakuragi mistakenly thought to be dating Ayako, which he punches him also retaliated, worst of all, they were in the same club, as Miyagi berated Sakuragi for his arrogance and immaturity, however, when Sakuragi discovered Ryota's crush on Ayako, he gleefully teases him, as a result, they discovered that they were both have one thing in common; their misfortunes of love life, they became "best friends", so quickly as it shocked the whole Shohoku team (sans Rukawa) in disbelief of seeing the two troublemakers made peace to each other.
- Big Brother Mentor: To Sakuragi, being the member of the regulars that he's the closest to. Sakuragi's "Ryou-chin" nickname for him is actually an affectionate one.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: By far, the most analytical of Shohoku the players with a keen court awareness. When forced to study for his make-up exams, he picks up the material pretty quickly and is capable of getting good scores. In the 10 Days Later omake, he's shown going through a pile of books on how to be an effective leader (while skipping his actual classes).
- Courtly Love: Another way to see his devotion to Ayako, since he states he's satisfied as long as he can make her happy.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Introduced as one. He punches Hanamichi in the face the first time he meets him because he assumed he was dating Ayako (when all the two were doing was walking together).
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: He apparently becomes one after being made captain.
- Face of a Thug: And has the temper to go with it.
- First-Name Basis: Notably, he's the only member of Shohoku's team who calls Sakuragi by his given name, after they become friends.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Sakuragi. They actually bond over their bad luck at romance.
- I Will Wait for You: He built a sort-of secret spot in a cave near the sea to wait for his brother's return. He takes Ayako there after their... weird first meeting.
- I Wished You Were Dead: According to his backstory, Miyagi had an older brother who got lost at sea... and this happened right after Ryota said he never wanted to see him again because said brother didn't want to him to tag along.
- Indy Ploy: As a point guard, he's quite good at these.
- Japanese Delinquents: While not really one, he's got both the attitude and the involvement, having been a target of Mitsui and his gang's bullying prior to Mitsui's Heel–Face Turn.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He starts off as one but outgrows it pretty quickly.
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: He was introduced as one (although he never gets very far), but spends most of the series devoted to Ayako.
- Love at First Punch: Surprisingly enough, Ryota and Ayako were both this to each other in 6th grade (according to the prequel) - he slapped her twice, she slapped him back and bit him in the arm. Perhaps Miyagi's adorable side came with puberty.
- The Napoleon: A milder example: though he can still be sensitive about his height, the issue isn't brought up as much since he actually makes use of it.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Don't underestimate him for his size, he's a very good fighter.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to fellow point guard Yasuda's Sensitive Guy.
- She's All Grown Up: One possible explanation for Miyagi's deep infatuation with Ayako. It's revealed he first met her when he was 11, but at the time thought she was weird. Yet when he meets her again in high school, he's head over heels.
- Unknown Rival: Miyagi considered himself this to Fujima as a point guard.
- Wife-Basher Basher: When Mitsui is trying to start a fight, Miyagi refuses to fall for his provocations and tries to defuse the situation... until one of Mitsui's underlings hits Ayako.
- Would Not Hit a Girl:
- Completely snaps when Ayako is hit by one of Mitsui's gang members, kicking the culprit in the head and then beating him up savagely while yelling at him to not ever raise his hand against a woman.
- Zig-Zagged in his backstory. At age 11 he slapped Ayako without hesitation for throwing things into the sea thanks to his trauma about his missing at the sea older brother... but he is shocked when, after she hits him back, he pushes her aside and actually causes her a rather bad injury on her leg.
Hisashi Mitsui
Number: 14
Position: Shooting Guard
Height: 6 feet (184 cm)
Weight: 154 lbs (70 kg)
Birthday: May 22
Shoes: ASICS GT White
Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu [main], Jun Kasama [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Michael Pizzuto [Animax Asia dub], Jonah Scott [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Hisashi Mitsui is the shooting guard of the Shohoku team. Before the beginning of the series, he was the MVP in his final year at Takeishi. Despite having the opportunity to join more prestigious high schools like Ryonan, he chose to go to Shohoku because of Coach Mitsuyoshi Anzai. Anzai had given him the courage to win in the Junior High tournament by encouraging him during the last seconds of the match. However, an injury to his left knee in a training session in his first year at Shohoku interrupts his basketball career. An imprudent early return to the court severely injures the knee, leading to a basketball hiatus of over a year. Although he eventually healed, Mitsui was embittered by his exclusion from the court and quits basketball to become the leader of a gang.
- The Ace: He was this in middle school and during his first year. During the last match, he finally realizes that he can still act as this when the team needs it.
- The Atoner: After his Heel–Face Turn, he gives his all during practice and games partly because of this.
- Broken Ace: Even after returning to play, during the Shohoku vs. Ryonan match in the finals, he laments having wasted the past two years after he collapses of exhaustion on the court.
- Cassandra Truth: He has an argument with his mother when he tells her that he will study at Akagi's house to study for a remedial exam so that he can keep playing basketball. His mother doesn't believe him, leaving to an argument. Lampshaded by Sakuragi, who points out that his mother wouldn't trust him because Mitsui used to be a delinquent for two years.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: His fights with Ryota, Sakuragi, Rukawa, and Yohei end with Mitsui getting knocked down in one blow or getting a beating since his opponents are better fighters than him.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: After being forced to give up basketball, he never found anything else he truly cared about.
- Determinator: The lack of stamina makes more difficult to Mitsui. Every important match ends with him weary and tired, but this not stop him from continuing to shoot his three-point shots.
- Face–Heel Turn: After being in a basketball hiatus, Mitsui forms his own gang.
- Fallen Hero: He was once a well known MVP before he abandoned basketball completely to begin his path of being a delinquent. Fortunately, he gets better.
- Glass Cannon: His two-year long absence from basketball costs him most of his stamina. His shooting skill, on the other hand, remains untouched.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a small set of stitches on his chin, although they're usually only seen on closer inspection.
- Heel–Face Turn: After Anzai gives him a second chance and his friends push him towards it, he becomes a well-liked player once again.
- Heel Realization: Akagi and Kogure push him towards this, but it's seeing Anzai again that triggers it.
- Hero-Worshipper: He deeply respect Anzai because he was the one who gave Mitsui words of encouragement in his last middle school match, which allowed Mitsui to win the match. Part of the reason he wanted to take Shohoku to the Nationals was to pay him back. Even after becoming a delinquent, Anzai's mere presence resulted in Mitsui pulling a Heel–Face Turn that caused him to return to basketball.
- He's Back!: The reaction of the crowd when he shows he's still a top player during the Shoyo game.
- Important Haircut: After his Heel–Face Turn, he cuts his hair short to show his resolve in becoming a sportsman.
- Japanese Delinquents: He becomes this after leaving the team, while Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life.
- Kick the Dog: Not only did he and his gang instigate the fight with the basketball team, but he also uses the broken mop to hit Rukawa, punches Mito and slaps Kogure twice.
- Long-Range Fighter: Not only he's an excellent shot, but his specific speciality are three point field goals.
- Malicious Misnaming: When Sakuragi first meets Mitsui, he quickly refers to him as a "she-male" due to his long hair.
- My Greatest Failure: He considers his two years as a delinquent to be his greatest regret as he wasted two years that he could have spent playing basketball, resulting in him growing weaker by the time that he makes his return.
- My Greatest Second Chance: He views the fact that the team let him rejoin it as this.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Reggie Miller, if you take into account his three-point shooting and his consistent knee injuries.
- Paper Tiger: Despite being the leader of a delinquent group, Mitsui is not as strong of a fighter as he thinks he is. He lost a fight with Miyagi a year before the series that resulted in him being hospitalized. Both Rukawa and Sakuragi knock him down with one blow each at the beginning of the school brawl. And Yohei gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown throughout their fight. He only lands blows on the group because they let him hit them rather than because he was at their level.
- Red Right Hand: During his Face–Heel Turn stint, he loses his two front teeth courtesy of Ryota. He lost a third one from his lower teeth when Ryota accidentally elbows him in the face during a fight with Sakuragi.
- Toothy Issue: Has missing incisors that Ryota knocked out of his face while still a delinquent. He also loses one of his lower teeth when Ryota elbows him in the mouth while trying to fight Sakuragi. By the time he joins the team, he's already replaced them (most probably with bridges).
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: His impatience to listen to his doctor's advice when he injured his knee causes him to abandon his basketball career and become a rebellious delinquent.
- Wham Line: At the end of the brutal gym fight (not actually delivered by him, but still.)Kogure: Mitsui? Yeah, I know him. He used to be on the team.
Kiminobu Kogure
Number: 5
Position: Small Forward
Height: 5 feet 10 inches
Weight: 62 kg
Birthday: July 12
Shoes: Mizuno Wave
Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka [main], Ryota Iwasaki [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Christopher Ralph [Kaleidoscope dub], David Lee McKinney [Animax Asia dub], Zeno Robinson [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Kiminobu Kogure is Shohoku's vice-captain and a good friend of Akagi and Mitsui. Akagi and Kogure are friends and teammates from their middle school years.
- Alliterative Name: His first and last names begin with the letter "K".
- The Benchwarmer: The most notable one in Shohoku. He's a good player, but due to not being as specialized as the regulars, he is relegated to the bench, only filling in when someone gets injured or tired.
- The Heart: Plays this role in a team composed mostly of Japanese Delinquents.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: On one hand, he's extremely close to Mitsui and very devoted to him after his Heel–Face Turn. On the other, he and Akagi as the two have been inseparable since middle school and he's very devoted to him as well.
- Jack of All Stats: He's a pretty good shooter and can do a bit of everything else.
- Nice Guy: To the point of being a Rare Male Example of a Yamato Nadeshiko.
- Number Two: To Akagi in the basketball team.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers one to Mitsui after he tries to have the basketball team disqualified from competitions.
- The Reliable One: He lacks the talent and attitude his top-player teammates have, but he's still a good and experienced player.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: With both Mitsui and Akagi.
- Team Mom: A Rare Male Example, with Akagi being the Team Dad.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: He's a Rare Male Example. Think about it: He is handsome but not gorgeous, acts as sub-captain and Team Mom to Shohoku, defers a lot to captain Akagi, is very devoted to his close friend Mitsui, he tends to try defusing crisis with gentle words (i.e., the very rebellious Sakuragi adores Kogure and is very protective of him)... but when the Shohoku team is under fire, the steel comes out and Kogure proves himself to be mentally strong enough to do thinks like taking a slap to the face from the still not Heel Face Turn-ed Mitsui without flinching, and later telling him to NOT mess up with his team or scoring a three-pointer exactly at the moment when it's needed, being vital to the victory against Ryonan and letting Shohoku go to the Nationals.
Yasuharu Yasuda
Number: 6
Position: Point Guard
Height: 5 feet 5 inches
Voiced by: Masaya Onosaka (Japanese); Damon E. White [Kaleidoscope dub] (English)note
Yasuharu Yasuda is one of the minor players from Shohoku. Although Hanamichi picks on him (Hanamichi calls him "Yasu"), he is no pushover, as demonstrated when he stood up to Mitsui and Tetsuo when they were attempting to get the Shohoku team banned from competition for fighting. He is Ryota's close friend, and thanks to his mild and calm character he can manage to calm things down when the tension on the court starts to heat up.
- Alliterative Name: His first and last name both begin with a "y".
- Butt-Monkey: Especially in the early chapters, he's subjected to Sakuragi's abuse.
- Eyes Always Shut: It makes him look like a cat.
- Hidden Depths: He's brave when it counts.
- Nice Guy: It works to his advantage during the Toyotama game, where he calms his hotheaded teammates.
- Not So Weak: He's often pushed around but stands up for his team when it counts, and the other players know it and respect him for this. His most notable moment comes during the match against Toyotama, as he's the one who begins the counterattack that forces Toyotama to play rougher on Shohoku.
- Odd Friendship: With Miyagi. Timid little Yasuda warmly greeting Miyagi was probably the first indication that Miyagi wasn't such a scary guy after all.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: To Miyagi, whom he's known since middle school.
- Those Two Guys: Him and all the other backup players are this.
Ayako
Position: Team Manager
Voiced by: Eriko Hara [main], Asami Seto [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Caitriona Murphy [Kaleidoscope dub], Andrea Kwan [Animax Asia dub], Kelsey Jaffar [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Ayako is the manager of the team and object of Ryota Miyagi's affections.
- Age-Appropriate Angst: According to the one-shot, Piercing, she didn't take her mother dating again very well. She angrily tossed a gift her mom got for her boyfriend into the sea, and then Ryota got it back for her and slapped her for throwing stuff in the water.
- Cool Big Sis: Specially to Sakuragi and Rukawa.
- Cute Sports Club Manager: A subversion. While pretty and good-natured, she's much more assertive and tomboyish.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Ayako was this towards Ryota as children.
- Disappeared Dad: We see her mother in Piercing, but there's no word on her dad.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Piercing depicts Ayako as a pre-teen girl with long straight hair. In Slam Dunk proper it's quite wavier, so she probably perms it.
- Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Discussed. The things that Ayako threw into the sea was a pair of simple green earrings given to her mom, and she recalled how she thought her mom would look much better with shiny, big red ones. Her mom later explained that the green earrings were a gift for Ayako.
- First-Name Basis: We never know what her surname is. Following the info given in Piercings... it might be Sasaki, but only if her mother did marry her boyfriend Sasaki and Ayako took up his name.
- Paper Fan of Doom: Always carries one, and more than once she hits Sakuragi with it.
- Parent with New Paramour: When she found out that her mother started dating again, it didn't go well for her. As expected from a pre-teen girl, and made worse because she once spotted her mom and said boyfriend when she was with her friend...
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Haruko's Girly Girl.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: While she's already very pretty, at one point she dresses up for an outing and becomes a total knockout (to the point Sakuragi's friends didn't recognize her until she took off her sunglasses).
Mitsuyoshi Anzai
Position: Head Coach
Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura [main], Katsuhisa Hoki [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Carlos Díaz [Kaleidoscope dub], Mike Pollock [The First Slam Dunk](English)note
Mitsuyoshi Anzai is the overweight coach of the Shohoku basketball team, and one of the best coaches 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 nicknamed "White-Haired Devil" as a demanding college coach.
- Acrofatic: Not to fighting levels, but he's still an excellent shot.
- Big Fun: He is noted to have put on a lot of weight since retiring from playing and gaining a lot of levels in benevolence and patience (as seen with his tolerance of Hanamichi patting his chin), leading to his nickname "White-Haired Buddha".
- Big Good: Plays this role to the team, usually letting Akagi take care of things, and stepping in only when his players really need moral support.
- Dissonant Serenity: He only loses his cool once, and even then it's for less than a second.
- The Mentor: Plays this role to his players during the story. Notable before the Sannoh match, when he goes to every player and says just the right thing to get them into their perfect mental condition.
- Mentor's New Hope: He sees both Rukawa and Sakuragi as this, seeing great potential in both, and even prevents the former from making a mistake that could end very badly for him (like it happened with his former student Yazawa).
- Old Master: He's very experienced, both as a player and as a coach.
- Stern Teacher: Even more so in the backstory, where he bordered on Sadist Teacher.
- Signature Laugh: "Oh hoh hoh hoh hoh hoh..."
- Took a Level in Kindness: Was a Drill Sergeant Nasty in the past. Nowadays, he' a Reasonable Authority Figure.
Ryounan
Akira Sendoh
Number: 7
Position: Small Forward note
Height: 6 feet 3 inches (190 cm)
Weight: 174 lbs (79 kg)
Birthday: February 14
Shoes: Converse Weapon Black
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese)note
Akira Sendoh is Ryonan's ace and small forward who is considered one of the top players in Kanagawa. An easygoing person, Sendoh usually has a smile on his face whether on-court or off. He can be lazy at times and has a reputation for arriving late to practice sessions and matches. His tardiness is tolerated though, because of his abilities. His teammates trust him wholeheartedly, firmly believing that he can lead Ryonan to victory even if they are trailing. However he was outplayed by Eiji Sawakita back in junior high.
- The Ace: Sendoh is one the most talented players in the series. He's a good shooter, nice rebounder and also a strategist of the game. He's able to play fancy offense but also great defense to stop outstanding forwards such as Rukawa. Despite his height he's a very speedy and flexible player. His teammates sincerely believe victory is always an option as long as he's on court, no matter the opponent or the situation.
- Anime Hair: Has spiky hair.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: He does like basketball and practicing, but his extremely laid-back attitude means he sometimes takes things less seriously than his coach would like.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: One of the best players around and one of the most whimsical.
- Chick Magnet: Not as much as Rukawa but his looks, his skills and his Nice Guy attitude mean there are a lot of girls swooning over him.
- Hero Antagonist: By virtue of being on the Opposing Sports Team, and The Hero for his team, and still a Nice Guy.
- Lightning Bruiser: Goes hand in hand with being The Ace.
- Lovable Jock: Probably the biggest example in the series, as he's always polite and friendly to teammates and rivals alike.
- Nice Guy: He's always relaxed and nice, even towards his opponents.Sakuragi, just before the match: So, you're this Sendo guy, are you? I'm Sakuragi the Genius, and I will utterly destroy you.Sendoh, smiling and shaking hands with him: Pleasure to meet you.
- Odd Friendship: With the grumpy and Hot-Blooded Fukuda.
- Perpetual Smiler: He enjoys playing basketball even when his team is in a pinch.
- The Rival: He's Rukawa main rival for most of the series.
- Worthy Opponent: He and Rukawa consider each other this. Despite the difference in skill, Sendoh seems to consider Sakuragi this too because of his determination and ballsy attitude. Also forms a very Friendly Rivalry with Maki during and after their match.
Jun Uozumi
Number: 4 (team captain)
Position: Center
Shoes: ASICS Fabre GEL X TBF 734
Voiced by: Yukimasa Kishino (Japanese)note
Jun Uozumi is Ryonan's captain and center. He considers Takenori Akagi his rival, but has never managed to personally beat him, although Akagi considers him to be better. However their rivalry is not antagonistic, as there is a mutual respect that borders on friendship.
- Animal Motif: Either the gorilla or the orangutang.
- The Big Guy: He's the biggest regular player in the series.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Flashbacks reveal he's rather sensitive and he really loves his teammates.
- The Captain: Since he doesn't have Sendoh's charisma, he decides he'll be The Reliable One for his team instead of trying to get in the spotlight.
- Emotional Bruiser: He's a lot more emotional and Hot-Blooded then the other centers of the show (which works against him more than once), and is a Gentle Giant out of the courts.
- Evil Counterpart: This being a sports manga it's more of a Rival Counterpart, but he shares a lot of Akagi's traits and the two have a long rivalry.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Akagi. Uozumi verbally encourages Akagi when he sees the latter being pressured by Maki during the Shohoku-Kainan match. Also, after Ryonan's last game against Shohoku, which results in Shohoku qualifying for the Nationals and Ryonan being eliminated, both Uozumi and Akagi hug each other while crying out Manly Tears, as it's their last match against each other (with Uozumi retiring from basketball because it's his last year as a high schooler and Akagi following suit not too long afterwards).
- Hot-Blooded: Unfortunately he can't control this as well as other centers, and he often commits pointless fouls. When he manages to concentrate enough to prevent this problem, though, he becomes The Juggernaut.
- Large and in Charge: The largest player of his team and The Captain.
- Mighty Glacier: He's a more extreme version of Akagi, even stronger physically but slower and less skilled.
- The Rival: To Akagi, since their first year. Akagi was the only player capable of shutting him down and stop him from scoring.
- Supporting Leader: He is the team captain, but Sendoh is obviously The Hero of their team.
- Supreme Chef: His family owns a rather popular sushi restaurant and he's expected to inherit it.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Compared to the other regular centers, he's this. Flashbacks from his first year show this was even more extreme in the past.
- Worthy Opponent: Mostly to Akagi, although they both respect each other almost bordering on friendship. After their last game against each other, they hug while crying Manly Tears.
- Younger Than They Look: People have a very hard time believing he's only in high school. Masashi thought he was Akagi's dad.
Hiroaki Koshino
Number: 6
Position: Small Forward
Voiced by: Shinobu Satouchi (Japanese)note
Hiroaki Koshino is a shooting guard and one of Ryonan's main playmakers. Although not up to the level of Mitsui or Jin, he is still a good long range shooter.
- The Comically Serious: Very notable during his first game against Shohoku, when he reacts very seriously to Sakuragi's antics.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mostly shown towards Sakuragi when he's being too much of an idiot.
- Those Two Guys: With Uekasa, when compared to Ryonan's much more impressive front line.
Tomoyuki Uekasa
Number: 10
Position: Shooting Guard
Voiced by: Shinobu Satouchi (JP); Jorge Palafox and later José Arenas and Genaro Vázquez (LA)
Tomoyuki Uekusa is the Point Guard of Ryonan.
- The Heart: Made abundantly clear in the 10 Days Later. He's pretty much the only one who keeps everyone from killing each other.
Kiccho Fukuda
Number: 13
Position: Power Forward
Shoes: Converse Accelerator RS 1 HI
Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa (Japanese)note
Kicchou Fukuda is a power forward of the Ryonan team and one of their aces. His offensive power rivals many of the best players in Kanagawa. Fukuda is seen throughout the series doing alley-oops with Sendoh as the passer, but his defensive ability is weak and can be easily exploited. He has something of a rivalry going on with Sakuragi from the first time they learn of each other, when the latter was depressed over the loss to Kainan and was near a basketball court where Fukuda was practicing.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: For all his stoicism, he's actually very sensitive when given a chance.
- The Comically Serious: He never changes his expression, even when pretty strange thigs are happening during the game.
- Hot-Blooded: Actually his Fatal Flaw — he attacked Taoka when in a blind rage and that got him benched for several weeks.
- Jerkass: Although it's mainly towards Sakuragi... and this is Sakuragi we're talking about.
- Mirror Character: Although the two are polar opposites in personality, Sakuragi and Fukuda are actually very similar when it comes to basketball. They're both relatively new to the sport, quick learners, poor in defense, and are very prideful.
- Odd Friendship: He and Sendoh appear to be pretty good friends despite being completely different. Which provides a nice contrast to the very unfriendly rivalry Sakuragi and Rukawa have.
- Perpetual Frowner: To contrast with Sendoh's perpetual smile.
- The Stoic: He almost never reacts to anything.
- Unskilled, but Strong: As he's meant to be a Mirror Character to Sakuragi.
- Worthy Opponent: Despite his bad first impression, he comes to see Sakuragi as this towards the end of the game.
Ryoji Ikegami
Number: 5
Position: Forward
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese)note
Ryoji Ikegami is the vice-captain of the Ryonan basketball team, and its best defender. As a third year student, he retired along with Uozumi after Ryonan lost to Shohoku.
- The Generic Guy: Doesn't have much characterization compared to other Ryonan players, even more so than Uekusa and Koshino.
- The Stoic: Most of the time he's seen cool and collected. Uozumi can't even believe it when he remains cool and collected during his farewell speech to their teammates after graduation, while Uozumi broke down in tears not a minute before.
Hikoichi Aida
Voiced by: Masaya Onosaka (Japanese); Dave Bridges [Animax Asia dub] (English)note
Hikoichi Aida aspires to become a player like his Ryonan teammates but, not being up to their level, he stays with the reserves and acts more as a team manager than a full player, taking detailed notes during matches.
- Butt-Monkey: He's very often made fun of.
- Catchphrase: "Must take note of that!"
- Gratuitous English: "ANBIRIIBABURU-YA!!"note
- Keet: Tends to get pretty excited during matches, even when his own team isn't on the court.
- Hero-Worshipper: Mainly to Sendoh, but he also has a bit of this for Sakuragi (for his athleticism and quick growth as a player) and Miyagi (aspiring to become a Point Guard like him).
- Plucky Comic Relief: His main roles during matches of other teams, especially in contrast with Stern Teacher Taoka.
Coach Moichi Taoka
Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese)note
Moichi Taoka is Ryonan's coach and a contemporary of Kainan's Riki Takato, who is a year younger than he is. Both of them have known each other since high school. Both men are still friends, but are also rivals.
- Butt-Monkey: Off the courts.
- Fatal Flaw: He's very prone to make misjudgements in regards to his own players and the opponents. For example, he would often criticize Fukuda while praising Sendoh during trainings, resulting in Fukuda snapping at him. His underestimating of Sakuragi and Kogure results in Ryonan's defeat in the finals, costing them their shot at the nationals.
- Foil: To his contemporary Coach Takato. While Takato is pragmatic and patient, Taoka is prone to underestimating his opponents and have bouts of impatience, which cost him victory against Shohoku.
- Graceful Loser: On losing the chance to go to Nationals, Taoka openly admits that Ryonan's loss was all his fault, for underestimating Sakuragi and Kogure.
- The Rival: To Takato, ever since they were teenagers.
- Stern Teacher: So much that his Training from Hell makes everyone in Ryonan collapse upon the mere memories.
- Underestimating Badassery: Somewhat zigzagged in regards to Sakuragi. While annoyed by his antics and behavior, after the practice match he acknowledges internally that Sakuragi has a lot of raw potential and with proper training could become a great player. However, during the rematch in the finals, he dismisses Sakuragi's growth as a player and even considers him one of "Shohoku's weak factors". This would play a key factor in Ryonan's defeat.
Shoyo
The number two seeded high school basketball team of Kanagawa prefecture.- Crippling Overspecialization: Shoyo only relied on the height of its players which made them a monster of defense but not good on offense. It was only when Fujima joined did the team finally become more flexible.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: Shohoku vs Shoyo revolved around the idea that Shoyo was the favor to go to the regional finals. Shohoku's own school paper even used SHOYO DEFEATED as it's headline instead of something like SHOHOKU WINS.
Kenji Fujima
Number: 4
Position: Point Guard/Coach
Shoes: ASICS All Japan TBF 551
Voiced by: Kouji Tsujitani (Japanese)note
Kenji Fujima is the point guard and coach of Shoyo. As such, he only enters the court when his presence is really needed, such as when the team is behind and struggling.
- The Ace: He's the star player of his team.
- Always Someone Better: Fujima has always lost to Maki.
- The Captain: He's very good at motivating his teammates, both from the bench and on the court.
- Chick Magnet: During the Kainan/Ryonan match, some girls start swooning over him when they see him watching the game.
- End of an Era: Shoyo's defeat by Shohoku is said by Coach Taoka as the "end of the Maki vs. Fujima era".
- Game-Breaking Injury: In the last national tournament, he was elbowed by Minami of Toyotama, giving him a black eye and leaving him unable to play at his full potential, resulting in Shoyo's loss.
- Large and in Charge: Inverted. In a team that is (in)famous for its 190-Centimeter-minimum average-height, the positively tiny point-guard Fujima (178 centimeters) is The Ace. Not to mention his Lancer Hanagata defers to him completely.
- Lovable Jock: Is actually a Nice Guy despite having the looks and the sports skills that would make him the perfect Jerk Jock.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Larry Bird.
- The Rival: He and Maki were this during past tournaments.
- The Strategist: He spends most of his match on the bench, motivating his teammates and coming up with strategies to stop Shohoku's attacks.
Tooru Hanagata
Number: 5
Position: Center
Shoes: ASICS Fabre GEL-Foam TBF 736
Voiced by: Nobuhiko Kazama (Japanese)note
Toru Hanagata is considered one of the top centers in the Kanagawa along with Akagi and Uozumi. He mixes strength and tactical skill in his playing, being able to easily avoid defensive play.
- The Big Guy: He's the tallest Shoyo player and their center.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Mostly on the field. Off the field we see him as a rather serious but not super scary guy, as much a Deadpan Snarker.
- Genius Bruiser: He's the most agile and skillful of the main centers, and he often tricks Akagi with his fakes and his fade-away shots.
- The Glasses Come Off: Although that was due to Sakuragi accidentally breaking them during the match, he still made a rather passionate declaration to the effect after that happened.
- The Lancer: When Fujima is on the bench, Hanagata acts as The Leader on the court.
- Stoic Spectacles: Especially at the beginning, when Shoyo is in control of the match. He becomes less and less stoic as the game goes on.
- Sugarand Ice Personality: Despite being The Stoic, he's a good leader and motivator to his teammates, and completely loyal to Fujima.
- Team Dad: Acts like this when his teammates need to be shocked out of their rut.
- The Worf Effect: Despite getting the better of Akagi in their match, he finds himself completely outclassed by Sakuragi when it comes to rebounding, much to his shock.
Kazushi Hasegawa
Number: 6
Position: Forward/Guard
Voiced by: Kōzō Shioya (Japanese)note
Kazushi Hasegawa is the forward and has a personal history with Hisashi Mitsui.
- Anime Hair: Pretty noticeable spikey hair.
- Unknown Rival: To Mitsui, as he's the only non-Shohoku player who knows about his Dark and Troubled Past.
- You Are Number 6: Literally. His number is "6".
Kainan University
Shinichi Maki
Voiced by: Hisao Egawa (Japanese)note
Shinichi Maki is the point guard of the Kainan team and is reputed to be the best player in Kanagawa, and was crowned prefectural MVP twice.
- The Ace: Even more so than the ace players of the other teams, as he is regarded as the best point guard in Kanagawa — beating out Sendoh and Fujima — and one of the best players at national level (he is well known and respected to teams of other prefectures), Maki has it all; he is handsome, calm, smart, Kainan's spartan training has honed his body to perfection, giving him outstanding strength, speed and stamina, and he also has a sharp tactician's mind and as a third year, lots of experience up his sleeve. All of this gives him an imposing presence that commands great respect from teammates and rivals alike.
- Ambiguously Brown: Subverted during the Distant Epilogue. It turns out he's tanned due to his other hobby: surfing.
- Big Brother Mentor: To Nobunaga, when the latter is not acting like a Bratty Half-Pint. It mirrors the relationship between Akagi and Sakuragi.
- The Captain: He directs his team as their best player, their point guard and their motivator.
- The Comically Serious: When Sakuragi mocks him for having the face of a thirty-years-old man, Maki replies by pointing out with a straight face that Akagi looks older than him.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Stops slicking his hair back after the match with Shohoku, presumably to look a little less old.
- Genius Bruiser: Possibly the physically strongest point guard seen in the series, and a very competent strategist capable of drawing the entire opposing team's defense to him. He's large and strong enough to be a power forward, yet primarily plays in the position that's basically the on-court general.
- Lightning Bruiser: Physically strong, fast and skilled enough to be the best player in the district. He is able to outrun the likes of Sakuragi, Sendoh or even Miyagi when playing at his fullest. It's noted that he has the power, speed and skill to play virtually any position. Combined with the Genius Bruiser entry above, it goes hand in hand with his being The Ace.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Magic Johnson.
- Not So Stoic: Jin notes that his comeback about Akagi looking older than him is proof that Sakuragi's insults did sting a bit. Later, we get to see him sulking when Hanamichi's friends mistake him for the team's coach.
- The Rival: To Fujima, during past tournaments. He seems to find a new rival in Sendoh.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He used to dress like this when off the court (and out of uniform) before Sakuragi's comment that he looked old. After that, he decides to dress casual clothing more accordingly to his actual age.
- The Strategist: Being the point guard, he decides which plays the team executes. Or he just tanks the ''entire defense'' of the opponents' team.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: The tan only adds to it.
- Team Dad: Especially notable when he scolds Kiyota and when he encourages Miyamasu.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: It's not only his looks, he has a pretty mature attitude too.
- The Worf Effect: As strong and skilled as he is, Sakuragi still manages to outmuscle him on one occasion, where Maki falls down while attempting to fowl Sakuragi's dunk.
- Worthy Opponent: He and Sendoh come away from their match, seeing each other as this. Helps that Maki is levelheaded and calm and Sendoh is such a Nice Guy. He even offers advice regarding Shohoku.
- Younger Than They Look: Lampshaded by Sakuragi - he's 17/18, by the way. Please don't talk to him about it.
Nobunaga Kiyota
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese)note
Nobunaga Kiyota is the small forward of the Kainan team who closely resembles Sakuragi in attitude but has the skills to back it up.
- Animal Motif: Sakuragi considers him to be a monkey.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Before the Shohoku/Kainan game, he starts randomly showing off his dribbling skills.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Manages to pull this despite being 15/16 already.
- Establishing Character Moment: He jumps over a partition which establishes his athleticism, but he hits his foot. And then he walks into the Ryonan locker room by mistake.
- Foil: A bratty freshman starter who can jump high and competes against Rukawa. Now who could that be describing?
- Hot-Blooded: Notable during the Kainan/Ryonan game, when he manages to overcome Uozumi's defense and gives a big boost to the morale of his team.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Unlike Sakuragi, he's actually very respectful to his teammates and genuinely adores Maki even though he is a jerk to both Sakuragi and Rukawa.
- Keet: Although he's only short when compared to other basketball players.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The kid can dunk over Akagi and Oozumi.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Plays this role outside the courts and during his Small Name, Big Ego moments.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the Manly Man to Jin's Sensitive Guy when the two go scouting together.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Subverted. He really likes to show off and he openly challenges better players, but he's still a very competent player and deserves to be a Kainan regular.
- Smug Super: He is loud and boisterous, and likes to call himself a super rookie and constantly refers to how great he is, similar to Sakuragi.
- Unknown Rival: He openly challenges Rukawa on the court, but gets demolished.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Sakuragi, when they meet off the court.
Soichiro Jin
Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese)note
Soichiro Jin is the shooting guard of Kainan and one of the best sharpshooters in Kanagawa, matched only by Mitsui.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: He's quiet, relaxed and not flashy at all, but he's Kainan's second best player.
- Charles Atlas Super Power: A realistic variation. He shoots 200 baskets everyday after practice so it's no surprise he's the best three-point shooter in the series.
- The Determinator: His coach notes that most players would have quit basketball after discovering they have no talent for their position. Jin chose another position and became the best at that one.
- Long-Range Fighter: He's less versatile than Mitsui, but his shooting skills are unmatched.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the Sensitive Guy to Kiyota's Manly Man when the two go scouting together.
- Weak, but Skilled: He wanted to be a center, but his lack of physical strength got him almost booted off the team. He went Determinator and decided to train himself in long shooting.
Yoshinori Miyamasu
Voiced by: Shinobu Satouchi (Japanese)note
Yoshinori Miyamasu is known as the sixth man for Kainan.
- Geek Physique: He looks like an Asian Urkel.
- Lethal Joke Character: Small, unimposing, nerdy... and an excellent 3-point shooter.
- Nerd Glasses: The sport glasses he wears on the court are especially notable.
- Underestimating Badassery: His main advantage — His unimposing presence distracts opponents from his basketball skills, especially his reliable three point shooting, the accuracy of which is comparable to Jin's and Mitsui's. Yoshinori plays his first game when he is called in by Coach Riki Takato in order to shut down Sakuragi. Takato correctly deduces that Sakuragi will not take Yoshinori seriously enough to properly mark him, enabling Yoshinori to be effective.
- Weak, but Skilled: An extreme example in both dimensions.
Coach Riki Takato
Voiced by: Masaharu Sato (Japanese)note
Riki Takato is Kainan's coach and a contemporary of Ryonan's Moichi Taoka, who is a year older than he is. They have known each other since high school.
- Berserk Button: He's usually calm and collected, but he goes apeshit if his team is having a hard time.
- Paper Fan of Doom: He can break it if you push his Berserk Button hard enough.
- The Rival: He and Taoka have been rivals for at least twenty years, first as players and then as coaches.
- Team Dad: Kainan'’s training regimen is so tough that it weeds out half the incoming players within the first week, and another half within the first month. After a year, barely a fifth of the new players remain.
Toyotama High School
Tsuyoshi Minami
Voiced by: N/A
Tsuyoshi Minami is the captain of Toyotama High School and one of the two aces, the other being Kishimoto.
- The Ace: Of his team. He is the top scorer of the district Osaka. He is a good defender and also possesses great 3-point shooting abilities.
- Animal Motifs: Sakuragi calls him "chick-face" after the bird.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: He believes in the "80% offense and 20% defense" system taught by Jiei despite having a new coach to make up for the team's weak defense.
- Broken Ace: After that the former coach Jiei is forced to leave.
- Heel Realization: The night before the match against Sannoh, he gives Rukawa an ointment to help his eye heal.
- Hero Killer: A variant. His nickname is "Ace Killer" for his attempts to injure the opponents ace. He hit Rukawa in the face with his elbow as he once did to Kenji Fujima of Shoyo , leaving him with a black eye for the whole 2nd half of the game.
- Hot-Blooded: He is the most aggressive among the players, even going far as holding their coach to his neck.
Minori Kishimoto
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: As Minami he believe in this system.
- Jerkass: He is a very arrogant guy who shows no respect to others, except Kitano-sensei. He was even rude against Kainan's Maki.
- Smug Super: Minori is extremely arrogant, brash, violent and short-tempered and is fully aware that he is a good player.
Daijiro Itakura
- Jerkass: This guy has a lot of trash talks and made Miyagi losing his calm provoking him constantly on the great height difference between the two.
Sannoh
Eiji Sawakita
Voiced by: Shunsuke Takeuchi [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese), Alan Lee [The First Slam Dunk] (English)
- The Ace: The best one-on-one player in the entire series, able to wipe the floor with Shohoku's Ace Rukawa, and easily gets past 3 of Shohoku's defenders in one move.
- Always Someone Better: Proves himself to be even better than Rukawa.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Unless he's being challenged by a Worthy Opponent, he's very easily distracted.
- Brutal Honesty: Towards his former teammates, who he found boring. He suffered a lot for it though.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being the best young player in Japan, he's a goofy Butt-Monkey whenever he's not concentrating on the game.
- Butt-Monkey: He mostly brings it on himself though.
- Chick Magnet: Kawata mentions that a lot of girls in the school like him.
- Good Counterpart: He's basically the Rukawa of Sannoh. Ironically enough, he's actually much nicer then Rukawa.
- Good Parents: His father completely encourages and supports his passion without being a Sports Dad, and his mother seems to agree.
- It's All About Me: If Sawakita has one weakness, it's that he is a selfish player. Not in the sense that he wants all the glory, but he really is such a damn good player he doesn't need to rely on anyone else. It comes from playing alone with his father since the age of 4, and no one else being able to keep up with him until he joined Sannoh. Eventually Rukawa learns to exploit this weakness by not being selfish.
- Mirror Character: He and Rukawa are truly happy only when they are being challenged by a Worthy Opponent. He mentions this during the game.
- Victory Is Boring: Why he decides to move to America after the tournament.
- Worthy Opponent: He has been desperately searching for one without much luck, as the other best players in Japan are his teammates. He finally finds one in Rukawa, and somehow in Sakuragi.
Masashi Kawata
Voiced by: Mitsuaki Kanuka [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese), Daniel Walton [The First Slam Dunk] (English)
- Aloof Older Brother: Towards his younger brother Mikio. He's probably trying to toughen him.
- Always Someone Better: After losing every one-to-one, Akagi acknowledges that Kawata's level is higher than him.
- Animal Motif: Hanamichi decides he's "another Gorilla, just... more round" and nicknames him "the round Gorilla".
- Berserk Button: When Sawakita shows off or insults him. He's especially jealous about how popular Sawakita is with girls.
- Big Brother Bully: He sometimes acts deliberately like a Jerkass towards his younger brother, who sometimes relies on Masashi a little too much.
- Big Brother Instinct: Despite being a bit of a Big Brother Bully, he's always looking for Mikio and covers for him when he's outmatched.
- Big Brother Mentor: To Sawakita, as well his actual brother.
- The Big Guy: He's the regular center of his team.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Bald Gori. Guess who gave him that name.
- Genius Bruiser: His main asset as a center is that he has experience both as a forward and as a guard, making his playstyle extremely well-rounded.
- The Lancer: Plays this role to Sawakita, acting as The Ace of the team when Sawakita is not giving his all.
- Lightning Bruiser: His main strength as a center. It's mentioned that he could easily be a formidable small forward.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Masashi is stern, short tempered, and focused while Mikio is easy going, timid, and easily distracted.
- Stout Strength: He manages to push Sakuragi away during a rebound.
- Worthy Opponent: Akagi considers him this, to the point that he realizes that he needs to give up on defeating Kawata if he wants his team to have a chance to win.
Kazunori Fukatsu
Voiced by: Tooru Nara [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese)
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His Verbal Tics make him seem a pretty strange guy, despite his skill.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He sometimes starts thinking about which Verbal Tic would sound better during conversations.
- The Leader: To the point that during the last minute of the game, Sannoh's coach decides not to take a timeout and trusts everything to his judgement.
- Serious Business: He's even more serious about his speech style then he is at basketball.
- Verbal Tic: He used to say "man" at the end of each sentence, but now he says "yo". (in Japanese, it's respectively "besh" and "pyon").
Mikio Kawata
Voiced by: Bill Butts [The First Slam Dunk] (English)
- Apologizes a Lot: Partly because Masashi's always scolding him.
- The Big Guy: The tallest and largest player of the series.
- Big Little Brother: Literally, though he's overshadowed in every other respect.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Meatball. Provided by Sakuragi.
- Friendly Enemy: With Sakuragi. When Mikio apologizes after he pushes Sakuragi to the ground, Sakuragi actually encourages him to use all his strength.
- Gentle Giant: This actually becomes a weakness, as his playstyle mainly consists of pushing other players away with his body.
- Gonk: While not necessarily the ugliest character in the manga, he's drawn a lot less realistically then the other characters.
- Naïve Newcomer: Notable when he's scolded for talking with opponents during a match, and even laughing to Sakuragi's jokes.
- Nice Guy: He's actually trying to overcome this, as it makes it hard to use all his strength against his opponents.
- Shrinking Violet: Of the Weeping Willow kind. Some would say he's a genderflipped Huge Schoolgirl.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Masashi is stern, short tempered, and focused while Mikio is easy going, timid, and easily distracted.
- Stout Strength: His weight is actually the primary reason why he's so good under the basket.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He looks exactly like his mother.
- Unskilled, but Strong: He can only shoot when he's exactly under the basket, and even then he sometimes misses.
Satoshi Ichinokura
Voiced by: Marc Swint [The First Slam Dunk] (English)
- The Comically Serious: He's always 100% serious at all times, no matter how trivial the situation.
- Determinator: To the point of parody. He once insisted on finishing through all his exams despite having a severe case of appendicitis.
- Evil Counterpart: He and his direct opponent Mitsui are insane determinators. The only difference is that his specialty lies in defense while Mitsui's is in three-pointers.
- Foil: To Mitsui. Mitsui is a very good offensive player but has low stamina, while Ichinokura is a defensive Jack of All Stats with insane stamina.
Other characters
Haruko Akagi
Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu [main], Maaya Sakamoto [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Martha MacIsaac [Kaleidoscope dub], Emily Woo-Zeller [Animax Asia dub] , Abby Espiritu [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Haruko Akagi is Takenori's younger sister and Hanamichi Sakuragi's love interest. Sweet and with a captivating personality, she is always around to cheer on the players, especially her brother Takenori, who is extremely protective of her and taught her the basics of basketball, Kaede Rukawa and Sakuragi, whom she considers her best friend. Haruko often appears at matches together with Sakuragi's cohorts and her two best friends, Fujii and Matsui. She, like most girls in Shohoku, only has eyes for Rukawa, although he is unaware of her feelings towards him.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Between her, Sakuragi and Rukawa. Played for Laughs, obviously.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: One of her first moments has her trying to show Sakuragi some shoots... and ends up face-faulting on the floor, accidentally flashing her panties to Sakuragi.
- Hypocritical Humor: Regardless of how she thinks Rukawa's fangirls are rude to Sakuragi... she's not above lining up to them and cheer on Rukawa doing something cool. This is thankfully just for a few moments and more like Played for Laughs.
- Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: The Cutie Sister to Takenori's Monster Brother.
- Nice Girl: She even befriends Sakuragi despite his horrible reputation.
- Oblivious to Love: She never realizes Sakuragi's crush for her. Lampshaded by Mito.
- Plucky Girl: Not terribly bright in the love fields, but supports her friends with extreme loyalty.
- Tender Tears: She cries a lot during games. YMMV on whether it's cute or Inelegant Blubbering.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Ayako's Tomboy.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: One in training. Lampshaded by Youhei.
Rukawa's fangirls
Voiced by: Mónica Pavón, Norma Echevarría and Isabel Martiñón (Latin American Spanish)
A group of girls who are often seen cheering for Rukawa.
- Adapted Out: They never appear in the Arabic dub.
- Fan Girls: Of Rukawa. For them he is always perfect.
- Flat Character: They're just there in the background, cheering for Rukawa and sometimes insulting Sakuragi.
- Genki Girl: Two of them, the short-haired one and the girl with long hair.
- Girlish Pigtails: The leader.
- Jerkass: The three can be pretty annoying, but the leader takes the cake. She even slaps Haruko to the ground when she defends Sakuragi from their bashing.
- No Name Given: We never learn their name, as they're basically part of the background.
Sakuragi's friends
From top to bottom: Okusu, Noma, Youhei, Takamiya.
Voiced by:
Youhei: Toshiyuki Morikawa [main], Chikahiro Kobayashi [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Travis Ferris [Kaleidoscope dub], Yong Yea [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Takamiya: Kōzō Shioya [main], Masafumi Kobatake [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Bill Houston [Kaleidoscope dub], Brent Mukai [The First Slam Dunk] (English)note
Ookusu: Nobutoshi Canna [main], Masaya Fukunishi [The First Slam Dunk] {Japanese); Tim Hamaguchi [Kaleidoscope dub] (English)note
Noma: Yuji Mikimoto [main], Ken'ichirou Matsuda [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Brad Austin [Kaleidoscope dub] (English)note
Sakuragi's gang, also known as The Sakuragi Legion, act like a Greek chorus. It has five members consisting of Hanamichi Sakuragi, Yohei Mito, Chuichiro Noma, Yuji Ohkusu, and Nozomi Takamiya.
- '80s Hair: Okusu has a curly blonde pompadour.
- Ambiguously Brown: Takamiya could easily pass off as African-American.
- And the Rest: The whole gang is usually referred as "Sakuragi, Youhei, and the others —"Okusu, Takamiya, Noma: OI!!!
- Beware the Silly Ones: After they are presented as a bunch of silly kids, they proceed to utterly CurbStomp Mitsui's gang.
- Big Damn Heroes: They arrive at the Shohoku gym just in time to fight Mitsui's gang.
- Big Fun: Though Takamiya can get pretty annoying sometimes, he's still very kindhearted when push comes to shove.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Against Mitsui's gangsters. Specially noticeable when Youhei beats the shit outta Mitsui himself.
- The Dog Bites Back: When Mitsui's gang arrive at Shohoku, Tetsuo subjects Noma to a Cold-Blooded Torture so he can tell them where Shohoku's gymnasium is, but is unsuccessful. After Youhei beats up Norio's cronies, one of them tries to use a Shovel Strike on the former, only for the rest of Sakuragi's gang to knock him out. Then, the group helps Sakuragi defeat Mitsui's gang at the gym to prevent the basketball team's suspension from the nationals.
- Fast-Roping: They use ropes to enter the gym so they can fight Mitsui and his gang.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although they can be annoying jerks to Sakuragi, they are his True Companions who are not afraid to help him out while they can, and they always attend his matches to support him (if still making fun of him whenever he messes up).
- Malicious Misnaming: Tetsuo calls Noma "mustache" when he first meets the latter at Shohoku and tries to have him spit out where the gym is.
- Nonstandard Character Design: Takamiya is drawn as a round-shaped overweight guy.
- Only Sane Man: Yohei is less likely to goof around than the others.
- The Stool Pigeon: Yohei tells Mitsui's gang about the location of the gymnasium, which leads to their brawl with Shohoku's basketball team.
- True Companions: If Sakuragi does need their help, they'll be the first ones to rush to his aid. The fight in the gym was definite proof.
- Younger Than They Look: Noma is 15-16 and already has a thick moustache. Lampshaded when one of Mitsui's gangsters calls him "moustache dude".
Norio Hotta
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka [main], Tetsu Inada [The First Slam Dunk] (Japanese); Josh Holliday [Kaleidoscope dub] (English)note
- Heel–Face Turn: When Mitsui rejoins the basketball club, Hotta gives up on getting revenge on Hanamichi and Rukawa and becomes one of their supporters.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He starts off as an utter jerk to Sakuragi and his friends when they first meet. After the fight between the basketball club and Mitsui's gang, it's shown that he genuinely cares about Mitsui and becomes one of his supporters.
- Taking the Heat: After the fight in the gym, both Norio and Co. as well as Sakuragi's friends lied to the teachers and said that Mitsui wanted to return to the basketball team and they fought over it.
- True Companions: To Mitsui.
Youko Shimamura
Voiced by: Machiko Toyoshima [TV series], Yuko Minaguchi [first film] (Japanese); Kim Kuhteubl [Kaleidoscope dub] (English)note
- Ascended Extra: In the anime; she only appeared in the first frame of the manga.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Has the looks, is very kind and gentle, gets along well with someone as hard to handle as Sakuragi without much effort, and even if it doesn't work, she tries to stand up to Oda when she realises he's Not Himself.
Tatsuhiko Aouta
Voiced by: Hideyuki Umezu (Japanese); Robert Norman Smith, later Daveed Louza [Kaleidoscope dub] (English)note
- Butt-Monkey: His multiple failed attempts to get Hanamichi to join his judo club.
- The Captain: Of the Judo Team. And say what you will, he is great at it.
- Comically Missing the Point: He tends to regard Hanamichi's physical prowess to judo, despite Hanamichi never having practiced said sport.
- Hypocrite: Blames Akagi for using Haruko to lure Hanamichi into the basketball team, yet tries to bribe the latter with pictures of their common crush to convince him into joining the judo team.
- Insane Troll Logic: His later appearances mostly follow a pattern: someone, usually Sakuragi, does something; Aouta cites it as proof that he was born to practice judo; he's either called on this trope or completely ignored.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: With Akagi, lampshaded more than once. In the anime, during the first time they talk to each other, the background changes color: Aouta's half becomes blue (the "Ao" of his name can mean "blue"), while Akagi's becomes red ("Aka" can mean "red").
- Rousing Speech: Aouta's best moment in the series was giving a rather magnificent one to Akagi during the second Ryonan match. National Judo Trophy included.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Akagi. They constantly insult each other, but Aouta shows up to encourage Akagi during a decisive match.
Tetsuo
Voiced by: Masaharu Sato (Japanese)note
- Badass Biker: He is a biker and a gang leader.
- The Brute: The strongest and big member of Mitsui's gang. Tetsuo succeeds in knocking out five Shohoku players, among them Kaede Rukawa and Ryota Miyagi, but is brutally beaten up by Hanamichi Sakuragi.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: He and his fellow gang members brutally beat up Noma to get out of him where Shohoku's gym is.
- First-Name Basis: He always refers to his friends by their first name.
- Heel–Face Turn: He is motivated to turn only after being pummeled by Sakuragi and his friends.
- Japanese Delinquents: He's a member of Mitsui's gang.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's the only one out of Mitsui's non-Shohoku gangster friends who supports Mitsui's return to basketball.
- Kick the Dog:
- As Tetsuo and the rest of Mitsui's gang arrives in Shohoku, he spots Noma and forcefully tries to get him to spill the beans on where the gym is. Then, when Youhei tells Mitsui's gang where the gym is, Tetsuo beats him up.
- When he finally arrives in the gym, he uses his cigarette to burn the basketball to Ryota and Sakuragi's understandable outrage.
- At some point during the gym fight, Ayako tries to stop the mess despite having been slapped to the ground by another one of Mitsui's gang members. Tetsuo first asks if Ayako is coming to hit him and the others, then makes a lecherous comment about her being his type. The otherwise plucky Ayako is left shivering and terrified.
- Tetsuo also beats up every single one of the basketball team members during the fight, including Sakuragi. Unfortunately for him, this one ends up being a bad idea when Sakuragi returns the favor with a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He receives one from Sakuragi. A strong punch for every player beaten by Tetsuo before (aside Rukawa, naturally).
- Punch-Clock Villain: He has no personal beef with the Shohoku basketball team, he's just there to have a fight.
Yayoi Aida
Voiced by: Yuko Nagashima (Japanese)note
- Cool Big Sis: She teases her much younger brother Hikoichi a lot and cries when she sees him burst into tears after Ryonan loses to Shohoku.
- Ephebophile: She has a crush on Sendoh, who's 16... barely one year older than her little brother.
- Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: She sometimes wears a very nice pair of loop earrings.
- Plucky Girl: The lady isn't prone to give up on her purposes.
- Shared Family Quirks: It turns turns out they have the same Catchphrase (which Hikoichi may have picked up from Yayoi) and at least once they delivered it in exactly the same voice tone and with the same expression.
Ryuji Yazawa
Voiced by: Michio Nakao (Japanese)note
- The Ace: According to Anzai, he was one of the most talented players he'd ever trained in his life.
- Broken Ace: After he left for America, he fell into a deep depression, culminating with his death in a car crash.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: He was very talented for Japanese college standards, so he traveled to America thinking he would have more chances to show off his skills. Then reality struck him, hard.
- Posthumous Character: Died several years before the start of the story.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His death was the catalyst that made Professor Anzai soften up from his "Devil Coach" days.
Movie characters
Tatsumasa Oda
- The Ace: In the anime, he's shown to be this for his team.
- Broken Ace: Nears this in the fillers, due to his pathological need to shake off others's worry about him.
- Ascended Extra: In the anime; he was only mentioned by Youko in the manga, whose crush on him led her to Sakuragi's fiftieth rejection.
- Canon Immigrant: Initially appears in the first movie and after in the anime also.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: His Berserk Button.
- Game-Breaking Injury: Subverted in the anime. Prior to the Takezono vs Kainan match, he's shown to have an injured ankle, which he tries to keep hidden from the rest of his teammates. While it comes up during the match itself, it doesn't stop him from playing the match till the end, even though Takezono ultimately loses.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though the movie implies that his jerkass phase comes more from him being barely able to handle the pressure of being a titular in the Takezono team, as Youko recalls him being a genuinely sweet boyfriend before they reached highschool and only then turning sour.
Eri
Voiced by: Yumi Touma
- Canon Foreigner: Appears only in the third movie.
- Cute Sports Club Manager: Subverted, she may be the assistant of the coach but acts almost as if she was the coach.
- The Ojou: To the point that she's referred to as "ojousan" (a rather familiar nickname for girls of high status)
Michael Okita
Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa
- But Not Too Foreign: Half-American, and looking it.
- Canon Foreigner: Appears only in the third movie
- Chivalrous Pervert: He starts flirting with Ayako and even gets a bit touchy feely, but when Ryota gets super angry he backs off without any hard feeling
- Keet: A rather cheerful and carefree guy... As long as he's not your rival.
Ichirou Katsumi
Voiced by: Jun'ichi Kanemaru
- Canon Foreigner: Appears only in the third movie
Ichiro Mizusawa
Voiced by: Akira Ishida
- Canon Foreigner: Appears only in the fourth movie
- Fan Boy: Of his former sempai Rukawa
- The Last Dance: The whole match between his school and Shohoku is this, as this will be his last one before being operated on
- Shrinking Violet
Akane Mizusawa
Voiced by: Yoshino Takamori
- Canon Foreigner: Appears only in the fourth movie.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has blonde hair and is a Nice Girl.
