BASKETBALL ONE ON ONE:
RUKAWA VS. HANAMICHI!
Most people would not see the need to compare Kaede Rukawa and Hanamichi Sakuragi. Most people think that the hot head, self-proclaimed "genius" Sakuragi is nothing against the cool super rookie Rukawa. Well, most people are wrong! I can't deny the fact that I am like most people sometimes. My attraction to Rukawa makes me biased, but even then I could say Sakuragi is one of a kind.
The two are first year students of Shohoku Senior High School. With heights almost 190 cm, both are in the basketball varsity team. Rukawa wears the number 11 jersey while Sakuragi wears number 10. Rukawa joined the team to pursue his dream while Sakuragi joined to pursue his dream girl, Haruko, who is pursuing Rukawa, who has no intention of pursuing her. And so the situation sparked the rivalry between the two men. What can I say; Rukawa's a girl magnet while Sakuragi's a chick repellant, being dumped by 50 girls in junior high, that's a difficult record to beat! In the basketball court, Rukawa is more experienced having played basketball for quite sometime, while Sakuragi is still green, since has just got into the game. Despite the differences both are excellent in their own style. Rukawa's ability to do a more than a dozen slam dunks in a game, to play any position like a pro, pile up scores and outshine other ace players earned him the title "super rookie" while Sakuragi with his unpredictability, strong stamina, and his power under the ring, all despite being a neophyte, gained him the respect of even the best players. On the other hand, Sakuragi also has a talent of collecting fouls; Rukawa rarely gets one. Rukawa may not be a troublemaker in the game, but like Sakuragi the two couldn't seem to get trouble off their tails.
Let's face it; in whatever aspect we look at, I can only say one thing…. They definitely rocked the Slam Dunk world!