Hanamichi Sakuragi

He is tall and has red hair, at first he had long hair with the typical gangster hairstyle at that time in Japan, but later he shaved it (as self-punishment, feeling guilty for losing a match; specifically the qualifying match against Kainan), he has noticeably developed muscles and has a serious look.

Hanamichi during high school was a violent and serious boy who constantly spent his time fighting against entire gangs and defeating them without much problem, however, he also had a soft side as seen at the time of his father's death, looking nervous and desperate to save him. In his youth Hanamichi also had a great interest in getting a girlfriend, but due to various things, such as: his way of being, his reputation as an aggressive person and the unreciprocated feelings of the girls; he received a total of 50 rejections before high school, a subject that bothered and hurt him in a certain way. Even so, his interest in one of the girls he met (Haruko Akagi) was so great that he joined his high school's basketball team.

At the beginning of the series, Sakuragi is shown to be violent, extroverted, impulsive, easily angered, self-centered and determined. However, over time Hanamichi adopts a serious attitude in certain situations, such as important emergencies, tense moments or when someone tries to harm something he cares about, such as insulting basketball or hurting one of his friends.

His attitude changes a little when he is near Haruko, showing himself to be more innocent and weak, but maintaining his ego.

Initially, Hanamichi only felt an attachment to basketball because of Haruko, however, as the story progresses; Sakuragi develops a strong passion and love for this sport, showing himself to be tense and nervous in difficult moments and even crying intensely when making a bad play in a game that cost them the victory. Once they lose their first important game, Sakuragi shaves his hair as punishment for losing "because of him" according to him. From there, Sakuragi shows a much greater attachment and determination for the game, without even taking Haruko into account for it, showing that he now plays and practices for the love of basketball.

In the past, mostly during his high school days, Sakuragi was a juvenile delinquent who often got into fights with other students, even from high schools, seeing himself as being far superior to them despite the age difference. On one occasion, upon returning home, he found his father fainting due to an illness; to which he quickly reacted by running out into the street in search of a doctor, but his search was interrupted by a large group of delinquents who had recently had a conflict with Sakuragi and had appeared with more of their allies in order to defeat Sakuragi. Despite Sakuragi's attempts to let them pass, they prevented him from doing so and his father ended up dying.

At some point in his youth, Sakuragi would gather a gang of five members, including himself, Yohei Mito, Yuji Ohkusu, Chuichirou Noma and Nozomi Takamiya, members with whom he got along very well. These individuals became great friends who shared friendly banter and support with the protagonist.

His violent personality and reputation led him to a storm of romantic rejections, receiving a total of 50.

Sakuragi hates basketball because the last girl who rejected him confessed that she had a crush on Oda from the basketball team. It is not until a girl named Haruko asks Hanamichi if he likes playing basketball that he says yes, claiming to be quite the athlete. Sakuragi decides to join his high school team to try to get Haruko to like him, but Takenori Akagi, the team captain, is his brother and he does not get along very well with him at first, since both of them came to face each other in a game in which Akagi challenged Hanamichi to score at least one basket for him to be victorious. Hanamichi succeeds and is proud, since unlike everyone else, he is the only one who has managed to beat him despite his ignorance in the sport; there is also Rukawa, another rival of his with whom Haruko is in love. After a rough start on the team, Sakuragi manages to be one of the five most important players on the team.

Throughout the series we witness Sakuragi's character evolve from a simple gang member to a true athlete. Hanamichi always manages to motivate his team to win the game in question, and possesses a natural strength and talent that is admired by many. At the end of the manga, he becomes Shohoku's substitute, and a star, dominating the long shot, the single shot, and especially rebounds. In addition, he always comes out at the most opportune moment to prevent the opposing team from scoring. Nobunaga nicknames him "Red-haired Monkey".

Skills Great physical strength: Hanamichi possesses great physical strength, being able to severely injure other students of his age or older easily. Normally his fights seen did not go beyond a punch. Great Stamina: Hanamichi's best physical aspect is his physical stamina. He can withstand a large number of hits and impacts to his body and still play without any problems. High Jump: Due to his great height and physical strength, Hanamichi possesses great jumping power, managing to jump from several meters away from the basket and reach it while maintaining the jump height, and even increasing it. Skilled at rebounding: Proclaimed the king of rebounding, Hanamichi is very skilled at this aspect. He is arguably the one with the greatest rebounding ability in the entire Shohoku team. Agile with the ball: He has great skill when moving with the ball, having a great ability to evade other players, although he often loses the ball due to overconfidence. Determination: Hanamichi possesses great determination when it comes to achieving a goal, as seen throughout the series with the main focus on Haruko. This determination is also reflected in basketball.

Wear the shoes: Gym shoes→Nike Air Jordan VI (White×Red)→Nike Air Jordan I (Black×Red) Foot Size: 28.0 cm→30.0 cm He is 1.89m tall One of the biggest lies about him is that he actually existed. A photo of a teenager with a very striking resemblance to Sakuragi was leaked. Probably someone saw the photo, noticed the enormous similarity and spread it all over the internet, creating the legend. Years later, it would be revealed that the young man in the photo is Yoshiki (Drummer and Composer of the Japanese band X Japan), in his student years. He is inspired by Dennis Rodman, a former NBA player, with whom he shares many aspects that make Hanamichi unique, such as his aggressiveness on the field, his passionate fight to always get the ball, his innate talent for rebounding; as well as other characteristics such as the number on his jersey (#10), the color of his hair, etc. He calls himself the king of rebounding. This character bears a strong resemblance to Kazuma Kuwabara from the animated series Yu Yu Hakusho. His character could indicate that he suffers from depression.