The manga and anime series Slam Dunk features a cast of fictional characters created by Takehiko Inoue. The series takes place in Japan, with the main characters being high school basketball players from Kanagawa Prefecture.
Creation and conception Inoue became inspired to make Slam Dunk as he had liked basketball since high school. With the series, Inoue wants to demonstrate the feelings of an athlete such as their thoughts when they win, lose or improve at their sport. As part of the character development, Inoue wants the readers to experience achievements as well as love for the sport. Inoue's own basketball experience also influenced the story: when he was younger he started playing basketball to be popular with girls, but later became obsessed with the sport. This is mirrored in the character of Hanamichi Sakuragi, who starts playing basketball to impress the girl he likes.
Basketball teams Shohoku High School has long been regarded as an underdog and a one-man team solely dependent on team captain Takenori Akagi, with no competition success whatsoever even at the prefectural level for two years running. It is not until Akagi's third and final year in the team that things begin to turn around for Shohoku, and they start to become a team to be reckoned with. They are the only non-seeded team to make it to the final four of the Kanagawa Inter-high Tournament, their sole loss being against eventual prefecture champion Kainan. Despite being the runner-up representative for Kanagawa, they are ranked as a C-class team and placed into a tough tournament bracket during the national championship, facing Toyotama and the reigning champion Sannoh. Shohoku favors a run and gun style of play and have a wide breadth of offensive capabilities. However, their major weakness is their weak bench, and as a result must rely completely on their starting lineup.
Hanamichi Sakuragi
is the main protagonist of Slam Dunk, serving as Shohoku's power forward. His jersey number is 10 and he is a freshman (grade ten) at Shohoku High. At the beginning of the series, Sakuragi is a slacker, good for nothing other than fighting. He is the leader of the feared Sakuragi Legion, which consists of his four friends Mito, Noma, Ohkusu and Takamiya. After being rejected fifty times by girls during junior high school, Sakuragi meets and falls in love with Haruko Akagi, a basketball fangirl who is also in grade ten. This and Haruko's encouragement lead him to join the Shohoku basketball team. However, as a complete beginner, he is not able to keep up with the rest of the team despite his outstanding height, athleticism, stamina, speed and leaping ability. He regards himself as a "genius" though, with self-confidence that borders on arrogance. Sakuragi's most recognizable trait is his red hair, though he later shaves his head as reparation for an error that led to a loss in the Interhigh Tournament against Kainan.
Takenori Akagi
is Haruko's older brother, serving as Shohoku's captain and center. His jersey number is 4, and he is a senior (grade twelve) at Shohoku. 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 regime to be too difficult and harsh.
Despite not thinking too much of Hanamichi Sakuragi (who addresses him as "Gori" due to his immense physical presence) at first, he realizes Sakuragi's potential as a basketball player. Serious and disciplined, Akagi's dream is to lead Shohoku to the national championship. His determination is shown in the match against Kainan during the Kanagawa Interhigh Tournament, where he played on despite a serious injury to his ankle. Akagi considers Ryonan's Jun Uozumi to be his biggest rival, though their rivalry is not antagonistic.
Akagi was aware of Sakuragi's crush on Haruko, which made him feel irritated over Sakuragi's advances towards Haruko in some times they were both together. He was also irritated at Sakuragi calling him "Gori", and his antics at court and off-court. Despite so, his relationship with Sakuragi was not entirely antagonistic. He had a caring side beneath his roughness, as shown when he consoled Sakuragi, who cried when Shohoku lost to Kainan by a narrow margin of 2 points (the match's final score was 90–88, with Kainan winning Shohoku by 2 points).
Regarded as the best center in the Kanagawa Prefecture, Akagi plays as a fairly typical center, using his height and power to score close to the basket. He also has a reputation for being a virtually unbeatable defender. He is also the most academically talented starter and is considered a model student. Before the final four of the Kanagawa Inter-high Tournament, the other four have to beg their teachers to be given the chance to retake some exams they had flunked, otherwise they would have been academically disqualified from playing in the national championship. Akagi, together with Ayako and Haruko helps the four in reviewing for their make up exams in which they pass.
Kiminobu Kogure
is Shohoku's vice-captain, backup shooting guard, and a good friend of Akagi and Mitsui. His jersey number is 5, and along with Akagi, is also a senior at Shohoku High. Akagi and Kogure are friends and teammates from their middle school years. Originally Kogure started playing basketball to increase his stamina, but he grew to love the game as he played alongside Akagi. He and Akagi are the only two players who have been on the team for all three years, as Mitsui left during their first year, and other players quit the team because they found Akagi's training regimen to be too strenuous. It was Kogure who inspired Akagi to continue on his journey to national championship, when Akagi thought about giving it all up after being insulted by his classmates.
Alongside Miyagi and Ayako, Kogure consistently works to bring out the best in Sakuragi’s talent. Gentle, empathetic, and friendly, he is rarely seen without his glasses, earning him the nickname "Megane-kun," or "glasses-wearing guy," from Sakuragi. Although he spends much of his time on the bench, Kogure provides experience and reliable scoring when he plays, often replacing one of the starters. While he lacks the natural talent of Akagi or Mitsui, his years of rigorous training with Akagi since middle school have made him a dependable player.
Hisashi Mitsui
is the starting shooting guard of the Shohoku team. His number is 14 and he was able to return as a senior at Shohoku High. Before the beginning of the series, he was the MVP in his final year at Takeishi Junior High. Despite being offered 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 compounded the injure in that 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 delinquent gang.
His gang fights with Ryota Miyagi during the latter's first year, and during one such fight, Miyagi beats Mitsui senseless before taking a beating himself, knocking out a few of Mitsui's frontal teeth and leaving the both of them hospitalized until after the practice match against Ryonan. Mitsui attempts to ruin the basketball team by instigating them into fighting with his gang, as the team would have been suspended from participating the Inter-high Tournament by school for fighting. In the end, Hanamichi Sakuragi's gang and Mitsui's friend Norio Hotta voluntarily take blame for the fight. When Mitsui meets Anzai again, all his adamant, seemingly unrelenting thoughts of revenge had vanished immediately and replaced by remorse; he tearfully begs to rejoin the team and vows never to fight again.
Mitsui is best known on the team as a three-pointer specialist, only matched by Jin from Kainan. His three-pointers help Shohoku catch up when they are 12 points down against Shoyo, and again when the team was 20 points down against Sannoh in the national championships. His defensive ability while playing center completely shut down Sakuragi during a practice match as well as Fukuda in the match against Ryonan. His greatest weakness, though, is his lack of stamina due to his long break from basketball. Thus, in the latter halves of games, he has not always been as reliable. Mitsui becomes the vice-captain after Akagi and Kogure graduate school and leave the team. At the end of the manga, instead of preparing for the college entrance exams he stays with the team for the winter tournament in an attempt to earn an athletic scholarship because he feels he is not smart enough to pass the exams.
Ryota Miyagi
is the point guard of the Shohoku team. His jersey is number 7 and he is in grade eleven at Shohoku High. After an initial misunderstanding that caused conflict between them, both Miyagi and Sakuragi 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. Like Sakuragi, Miyagi is motivated to play by his love for a girl: his best friend and classmate Ayako, the manager of the team, whom he refers to as "Aya-chan". He has been known to pose for Ayako during matches. Off-court, Miyagi has a reputation for being a bad boy. He was hospitalized for a while after his fight against Hisashi Mitsui's gang.
Miyagi is small for a basketball player, but makes up for it with incredible speed, skills and court awareness. His skills are typical of a point guard: strong passing, dribbling and stealing, as well as an understanding of the game that allows him to be a floor leader. He also shares a similar level of arrogance with Sakuragi, saying that he is the number one point guard in the prefecture, though popular opinion among characters in the series ranks him just behind Shinichi Maki of Kainan and Kenji Fujima of Shoyo. In the series he is often pitted against taller point guards but is able to beat them with his incredible speed. Miyagi becomes captain after Akagi and Kogure graduate school and leave the team.
Kaede Rukawa
is the small forward of the Shohoku team, number 11, and Hanamichi Sakuragi's rival. Both Rukawa and Sakuragi are in grade ten at Shohoku High. Yet Rukawa is the polar opposite to Sakuragi — 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 seems to realize that Sakuragi can put his talents to better use. Takenori Akagi's younger sister, Haruko, has a crush on him, though she does not confess it and he himself is completely unaware of her feelings. Rukawa's chief hobby outside basketball is sleeping, and he is usually seen asleep whenever he's not on the court because he spends his nights practicing further. Due to this, he is prone to falling asleep even while riding his bicycle. He has also been in his fair share of off-court fights, but can hold his own. Rukawa's goal is to be the best high school player in Japan, and he considers Sendoh of Ryonan to be his greatest rival. He is often referred to as the "super-rookie" and the "ace of Shohoku".