Hanamichi Sakuragi

Hanamichi Sakuragi (桜木花道, Sakuragi Hanamichi^?) is the main protagonist of the manga Slam Dunk, and player number 10 of the Shōhoku team.

History

Hanamichi Sakuragi, a troubled and aggressive 15-year-old student who set a sad record of 50 rejections in high school. The last one was for a girl named Yoko, who had a crush on Oda, who was a member of the Wacon High School basketball team. This fact made Sakuragi hate to death everything that has to do with basketball.

Once at Shōhoku Hanamichi Sakuragi High School he meets Haruko Akagi (who would become his great unrequited love), who is a huge basketball fan. Haruko turns out to be the younger sister of the captain of the Shōhoku Basketball team Takenori Akagi, and she proposes to Sakuragi to enter the team, due to her physical condition, ideal for the sport. At first, Sakuragi joins the team just to impress Haruko and win her over. But over time he will realize that basketball is a sport that will demand the maximum and make him give his best.

In his early days as a basketball player, Sakuragi only causes problems and fights with the members of the team, especially with Kaede Rukawa, a skilled and asocial player, who is also Haruko's great love. Throughout the series, Sakuragi meets new players, both allies and rivals, such as Ryota Miyagi, Hisashi Mitsui, Akira Sendoh, Kenji Fujima, Shinichi Maki, etc... With whom he faces, both in fights and on the court, learning valuable experiences. Little by little, we witness the evolution of Hanamichi Sakuragi from a simple troublesome gang member to become a true pillar of Shōhoku, especially his confident and arrogant personality.

At the end of the manga, he becomes the trigger for Shōhoku in their dramatic victory against Akita's Sannoh, which is the best team in Japan, and the reigning three-time champion of the national high school championship. With his jump shots far from the basket, the simple shot, the slam dunk (dunks) and especially the rebounds, Hanamichi Sakuragi manages to restore the hope of victory to his teammates, who they had previously surrendered.

Ultimately, Shohoku would be eliminated by Aiwa High School in the third round of the tournament, a match that Hanamichi Sakuragi probably did not play due to the serious injury to his back he sustained during the death match against Sannoh.

Career as a Player

At the beginning of the story, Sakuragi completely hates everything that has to do with Basketball, mainly due to the last rejection he suffered at Wacon High School, from Yok, who had a crush on Oda from the Basketball club.

Already in Shōhoku High School, the first contact that Sakuragi has with Basketball directly, is the challenge he has with the team captain, Takenori Akagi, who gets angry with the rebel for having insulted Basketball. In this challenge, observed by the whole school and which consisted of Akagi having to score 10 baskets and if Sakuragi scored at least one he was the winner, Sakuragi shows his physical abilities, stealing the ball from Akagi and scoring a slam dunk , which gave him the win. This would be the start of the protagonist's career as a basketball player.

The first few days, Sakuragi had to face the life of a beginner, as he was forced by captain akagi to undergo training as a rookie, which the "Talented" Sakuragi couldn't stand it, which made him quit the team and Basketball. However, her love for Haruko and her desire to see her smile made him return to the team. One of his most important training sessions was the Rebound, which he did with Captain Akagi, who taught him the importance of this play in a Basketball game, from there Sakuragi learned the phrase: "the one who dominates." the rebound, dominate the game". With this impromptu training, Sakuragi and Shōhoku would soon hold their first challenge against Ryonan, one of Kanagawa Prefecture's top four teams.

Shohoku VS Ryonan, Chapter 1

The Shōhoku team travels to the Ryonan High School facility for a friendly match, which would serve both teams as preparation for the prefectural championship preliminaries. In this meeting, for the first time in history, the great youth star of Kanagawa Akira Sendoh is presented.

Before the game, Sakuragi gets angry with Principal Anzai and Captain Akagi for not being a starting player, which is not accepted by him, since he is a 'talented'. But after a falling out with Akagi and Rukawa, Sakuragi fails to make it as a starter, as he is "the secret weapon." Shōhoku, but he takes the number 10 shirt (which originally belonged to Rukawa).

Already in the match, Shōhoku made Ryonan more difficult than expected, and in the end, Shōhoku loses by one point. Sakuragi and Rukawa say goodbye to Sendoh, vowing to defeat him the next time they meet.

Ryota Miyagi

After the training game, Sakuragi faces off with another problem boy, second-year Ryouta Miyagi, a boy who was part of the Basketball team, and who was hospitalized due to a conflict he had with some high school students. Third year. Once recovered he returns to the school and the team. He initially had a big dispute with Hanamichi Sakuragi, due to a misunderstanding between Miyagi and Ayako, the team manager and Miyagi's great love. But in the end, they become good friends because they shared a common misfortune: they both held a record for rejections, even though Ryouta's record was much lower than Sakuragi's.

Hisashi Mitsui

Hearing that _Miyagi has returned to school, Hisashi Mitsui springs into action. This rebel kept a tragic past linked to Basketball. Mitsui had a grudge against Miyagi because during the fight they had that sent Miyagi to the hospital, he knocked out two of his front teeth. Mitsui, determined to get revenge, goes to the team gym with the intention of beating up Miyagi and the Basketball team.

The said fight took place in the team gym, where everyone was beaten up, but Sakuragi saved the day, remembering his troubled past. In the end, Mitsui ends up joining Shōhoku's team, which he had always wanted, and in this way they complete the team that would compete in the prefectural championship.

Shohoku VS Miuradai

It is Shōhoku's first match in the preliminaries where Sakuragi makes his official debut in a Basketball match, but fails to do much and is ejected for committing five fouls. In the end Shōhoku would win the match by a large score, and a new nickname would be born for Sakuragi: "The king of expulsions" because from that game on, he would always be sent off for committing so many fouls.

Shohoku VS Shoyo

Shōhoku would advance without much problem in the championship to be one of the best eight teams in the tournament, where they would face off against the second best team in the prefecture, Shoyo High School, who was managed both from the bench and inside from the court by the great player Kenji Fujima. After a very close match, Shōhoku would win by a slim margin and enter the finals as a top four. Sakuragi was sent off near the end of the match, after fouling out when he dunked Hanagata.

Shohoku VS Kainan

Shōhoku's first match in the finals was against the best team in the prefecture for 17 consecutive years, Kainan High School, which was led by Kanagawa's best player, Shinichi Maki. In this match, Sakuragi showed his skills as a rebounder when Akagi was injured midway through the match. In the end, Shōhoku would lose by one point difference, the most remembered play being Sakuragi's bad pass on the last play of the contest. For this fact, Sakuragi would blame himself for the defeat and shave his head as penance.

Shohoku VS Takezato

In the second match of the finals, Shōhoku faces Takezato, whom they defeat by a hefty score. Sakuragi did not play this match because he was late after he fell asleep after a 200-hoop practice he had previously done.

Shohoku VS Ryonan, Chapter 2

With a victory and a loss, Shōhoku and Ryonan reach the last and decisive match of the finals to define the second place in the tournament and representative for the national championship. Kainan had secured first place by winning all three matches and consecrating another year as the best in Kanagawa. In this match, Sakuragi faces a new and tough rival, Fukuda, who is a Ryonan striker and Sakuragi's brand.

After a close match Sakuragi becomes the key piece of Shōhoku's victory, as he stopped decisive plays from Uozumi, Fukuda and Sendoh, allowing Shōhoku to maintain an advantage over his rival until the end of the match. In the end, sakuragi would score the last basket of the match with a slam dunk, giving Shōhoku the victory who would become Kanagawa's second representative to the national championship.

The 20,000 Baskets

Having qualified for nationals, Shōhoku undergoes rigorous training ahead of the big national challenge. For this reason, the team attends a camp in Shizuoka against the representative of said prefecture, however Sakuragi does not attend at the request of Professor Anzai, since he would undergo special training to improve his annotations. Said training consisted of shooting 20,000 baskets in a week. He would do this training together with Haruko and her friends and he would complete it after a great effort. In this way, Shōhoku leaves for Hiroshima, the place where the national championship would be held.

The National Championship

During their trip to Hiroshima, Shōhoku's team learns of the difficult key that the draw had thrown them, their heaviest rivals would be, if they pass the first phase, Sannoh and Aiwa, the champion and runner-up of the tournament past. Sannoh was the three-time champion and best team in the country. But they would face them if they beat toyotama, their rival in the first phase. Also Shōhoku would have a dispute with this Osaka team on the train.

Shohoku VS Toyotama

The first match of the championship for Shōhoku would be against Toyotama from Osaka, which was an A-ranked team. Toyotama featured top players like Kishimoto and Minami, nicknamed "the star killer", however Shōhoku would show their capabilities as a team and Sakuragi the training result. In the end Shōhoku would win by 4 points difference, going to the second round where they would hold the most difficult challenge of their lives, facing the best team in the country: Sannoh High School.

Shohoku VS Sannoh

In the second round of the national tournament, Shōhoku would face Sannoh from Akita, who was the best team in the country and current three-time champion. Last year, Sannoh had beaten Kainan in the semifinals of the tournament by a margin of 30 points. Of that powerful team, there were still three important players: Fukatsu, the team captain, Masashi, the best center in Japan, and the star of the country's high schools: Eiji Sawakita, in addition to having high-level players. The battle was hard and at one point in the match it was practically doomed, when sannoh took the lead by 24 points, however it was sakuragi who changed the atmosphere in favor of Shōhoku with the rebound, lowering sannoh's lead to only 8 points. But the star Sawakita was in charge of putting things in order with his spectacular plays, however Sakuragi together with Rukawa managed to control it and turn the situation around.

Near the end of the match, Sakuragi injured his back after a risky move that was decisive in the score. However, this was not an impediment for him to show his sports skills. In this process, all of his classmates realized how decisive and fundamental that troublesome boy had become as a beginner.

at the end and in the last second of the game, Sakuragi gives Shōhoku the win with a jumper after a pass from Rukawa resulting from a spectacular previous play. The three-time champion and invincible Sannoh had been defeated by the third-rate team Shōhoku and their rookie Hanamichi Sakuragi.

That was as far as Shōhoku got at nationals, as they were crushed by Aiwa Gakuen in the third round. It is presumed that Sakuragi did not play that game due to his back injury.

Tab

Hanamichi Sakuragi (桜木花道, Sakuragi Hanamichi^?)

• Year: 1st preparatory year
• Age: 15 years
• Stature: 188 cm  189.2 cm
• Weight: 83 kg  83 kg
• T-shirt number: #10
• Position: Ala-Pivot
• Birthday: 31 May
• Shoemark: 1o Nike air Jordan VI Olimpic - 2o Nike air Jordan I
• Voice actor: Takeshi Kusao (Japan) René García (Latin America), Robert Tinkler (United States), Diego Sabre (Italy), Neil Yu (Philippines), Marc Zanni (Catalonia)