This page contains detailed information on Rukawa Kaede and Sendoh Akira's basketball lifestyle, clothing, routines and idiosyncrasies.

Akira dons a handsome pair of pure black and purple Converse hi-cut basketball shoes, which is part of the Converse Athletes Basketball Edition. Curiously this brand’s slogan is “Keep it Real.”, with a star and angle head for it’s logo or sometimes just the word CONS. There are some posters from Toei which show him wearing a white pair of Converse Bashoes too…

As for Kaede, he’s a NIKE person. In the series, he’s always wearing his white hi-cut NIKE Air Jordan basketball shoes. The model was taken from series V of the Air Jordan Collection, which has red and black highlights in its soles. His shirts and duffel bags are also NIKE. How posh! Fittingly, NIKE's slogan is “Just do it.” flanked by the usually red check mark logo.

Sendoh often plays Power Forward and Small Forward. But in the Kainan game, he played Point Guard.

Rukawa’s normal designation is Small Forward but he is adept at handling any position, and in the practice game against Ryonan, he was immediately chosen as a starting member and played Power Forward.

Sendoh wears number 7 for Ryonan (will he get jersey number 4 when he becomes captain?) and still 7 for the SD All Stars. Exclusive to the series, he played in the double team up of Shoyo-Ryonan.

As the much-revered former team captain of Tomigaoka Junior High, Rukawa wore jersey number 4 (the Tomigaoka uniform was so kakkoi on him!). His original designation in Shohoku was 10, but the immature blockhead Sakuragi wanted his jersey (for some perverse imbecilic reason I’m sure…) so Rukawa ended up with number 11. Rukawa kept his number 11 for the rest of the series and Dr.T kept him with that number for the SD All Stars. Rukawa also becomes a member of the Japan All Youth Team.

In most doujinshi, Converse is Sendoh’s favorite brand, from his shoes to his sports bag, to his t-shirts… But that was shown only in doujinshi. As for Rukawa, it’s all NIKE.

In the Ryonan gym, Sendoh wears a light blue t-shirt and dark blue shorts. During his one-on-one with Rukawa he wore a dark colored shirt and loose jeans, which made him look extra boyish. For Kaede, it’s often the white sleeveless shirt over a midnight blue one with it’s short sleeves drawn up, or just the dark shirt minus the white one. Sometimes it’s just the plain grey NIKE t-shirt with his black (or blue) jogging pants or (his really short) shorts… (what a tease…) Outdoor practice however has most of Ruru covered up, he bikes to the nearest neighborhood court in his long sleeved and hooded purple sweater and jogging pants, while during his one-on-one with Sendoh, he wore a grey sleeveless shirt and a pair of loose-fitting jeans. No wonder Sendoh could not forget him, hehe… hook, line & sinker!

Sendoh trains with the Ryonan team, not as punctually as any team ace should, but other than that his personal training regimen remains a secret. I think it’s safe to say that Sendoh practices a whole lot too. When he advised Sakuragi to practice to death, that may have revealed as much about his own rigorous self-discipline. As for Rukawa, practicing to him is as vital as breath! He’s always at it! He practices with Shohoku before and after class for an hour or two, then after that, he stays behind for more intensive solo training in the gym… He even practices during weekend mornings, at the nearest vacant court he can find.

Aside from drinking Poccari Sweat & Aquarius Neo, Sendoh likes to suck on lemon slices during game breaks. Nope, this is not his favorite food, it’s a players way of keeping well-nourished during a game. As basketball can be a very dehydrating sport, players usually suck on a lemon to re-hydrate, because this can actually keep the body’s liquids in check longer than plain water. Not many players would take on the torture though, remember the cute scene when Sendoh sucked and cried out “too sour!” (Kawaii~!). As for Rukawa, aside from his laconic nature and hapless fits of narcolepsy, he has this cute “Pasukure (Pass Me the Ball) Syndrome” (at least that’s what I call it). He gets into this frenzied state at least twice in the series, where he looks like he’s trying to hypnotize you into passing him the ball, hehe cute! This happens when he’s more than eager to score… *cuddles Ruru* So utterly kawaii! (Ruru: zzzzz) Let’s not forget his hilarious “Ho-ho” mannerism which I love! He sighs a lot (only when being funny), plus take note that when he’s not doing something “basketball-related”, he reverts back to his narcoleptic tendencies. And if you try to wake him up, he might kill you for it, maybe if he was having a particularly peaceful slumber…

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