Kagami Taiga (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ruby_sneakers) wrote2014-04-04 07:48 pm
ruby_sneakers) wrote2014-04-04 07:48 pm
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cityofariel BETA
→ OOC
□ Name: Alicia
□ Age: 27
□ Contact: saruzake on Plurk
□ Journal: http://saruzake.livejournal.com
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: Rei Ryugazaki from Free! Iwatobi Swim Club
□ Is this a re-application of a dropped character? If yes, when was the character dropped?: No.
→ IC
□ Name: Taiga Kagami
□ Journal: ruby_sneakers
□ Series: Kuroko no Basket
□ Canon point: Anime, end of Season 2
□ History: [CONTAINS SPOILERS]
When Taiga Kagami was in third grade, he and his parents moved from Japan to Los Angeles, California. Young Kagami didn’t fit in with his new environment and had a difficult time making friends, until one day he met another Japanese boy named Tatsuya Himuro.
Tatsuya was a year older and told Kagami that in order to make friends, he had to develop a skill at something. Kagami didn’t have any skills, or so he thought, until Tatsuya asked him to join in a basketball game with some other children. Kagami quickly showed an aptitude for the sport, so he and his new friend began playing together every day.
To symbolize their friendship, Tatsuya and Kagami bought matching rings, which they said made them brothers as well. They wore the rings on chains around their necks, to always remember each other. Soon after, they met a retired WNBA player named Alexandra Garcia, who took them on as students and taught them everything she knew.
With the help of his new ‘family,’ Kagami grew into a skilled basketball player, taking on anyone who would challenge him in street ball. When he was in eighth grade, at age 14, he and Tatsuya were separated when the older boy went on to high school. Kagami continued to play basketball until Tatsuya came back and challenged him to a game.
The two went back and forth, racking up wins and losses against each other until they were tied at 49 wins each. The next game was set to determine the true winner, and Tatsuya said that were he to lose, he wouldn’t be fit to be Kagami’s ‘older brother’ anymore.
The stakes were high, but on the day of their game, Kagami saw that Tatsuya had sustained an injury, and Kagami purposefully missed his last shot so he would lose. Tatsuya knew what Kagami had done and punched him for throwing the game, saying that the next time they met, they would no longer be brothers no matter who won.
But another game never came, as shortly after, Kagami went back to Japan, ostensibly to live with his father. However, his father was unable to return with him, and Kagami lived alone starting from his last year of junior high (equivalent to 9th grade in the West), and into his first year of high school. He tried to play basketball in Japan, but found it far too easy compared to what he had experienced in America.
The following year, Kagami started his first year (American 10th grade equivalent) at Seirin Private High School, a new school that was only in its second year of operation. At the activity fair, he signed up for their basketball team, not expecting much but wanting to play anyway. When he was asked why he left blank the part of the form asking about his aspirations, he claimed it was because basketball in Japan is “too easy.”
At the same time Kagami signed up, another form was turned in, this one by a fellow student named Tetsuya Kuroko. Kuroko had been a former basketball player at Teikou Middle School, which became famous for its “Generation of Miracles,” a group of students so talented at the sport that they were undefeated in every way.
In the first meeting of the basketball team, Seirin’s coach, Riko Aida, made all the prospective members take their shirts off so she could analyze their strengths and abilities. Her father is a sports trainer and she learned to analyze from him. She saw that Kagami’s statistics are extremely high for a first year, and she had faith that they would become a stronger team. Kuroko showed up to the practice as well, and everyone was surprised to see how short and unassuming he is, with practically zero presence. No one believed that he played with the Generation of Miracles.
After practice, Kuroko and Kagami ran into each other at the local fast food restaurant, and decided to go play against each other on an outdoor court. They played one-on-one for a while and Kagami saw that Kuroko didn’t appear to have much skill. They talked about strong players in Japan and Kagami brought up the Generation of Miracles.
During the next practice, Kuroko finally showed off his ability: extremely quick, almost unnoticed passes. Kagami began catching the passes and was able to show off his jumping and dunking abilities. He, Kuroko, and the other first years win their practice game against the second years.
After the practice game, Kuroko and Kagami went to get food and talk about the Generation of Miracles. Kagami asked how he would do against them in a game and Kuroko told him that he’d be crushed. Kagami accepted the challenge and became more determined to beat all of them. This led Kuroko to explain that his abilities make him a literal shadow, and that he becomes stronger when he has a powerful light to work with. He tells Kagami that if he’ll be Kuroko’s light, Kuroko will make him the best in Japan.
As the team begans to train together, they had to take part in a bonding activity where all new members had to go up to the roof of the school and shout out their goals for the year. If they failed in their goals, they would have to make a love confession in front of the school, completely naked. Without hesitation, Kagami went first, yelling out that his goal is to defeat the Generation of Miracles and become number one in Japan.
Kuroko and Kagami spoke again after school, and Kagami asked why Kuroko didn’t go to a well-known school like the other Generation of Miracles members. Kuroko explained that at Teiko, the only important thing was winning. He wanted to go to a school with a different kind of basketball, where the whole team relied on each other.
The team got their first opportunity to play a practice game against another school, Kaijou, which acquired one of the Generation of Miracles players, Ryouta Kise. Kise stopped by Seirin before the game to try to convince Kuroko to play with him, but was rejected. When they went to Kaijou, the coach only let them have half the gym because he didn’t take them seriously and wanted his other players to continue practicing. Kise also was not allowed to play against Seirin, despite his protests.
Kagami started the game by dunking so hard he breaks the hoop. This angered the Kaijou coach, making him give them the full court, as well as putting Kise into the game. Kagami learned that Kise’s ability is being able to copy the playing style of any opponent, and it was only when Kagami and Kuroko worked together that they were able to beat Kaijou with a buzzer beater move.
Seirin won enough games to pass on to the Inter-High tournament, where their opponent was Shutoku, one of the “Three Kings” of Kanto basketball. They also had a member of the Generation of Miracles, Shintarou Midorima, who has the special ability to score three pointers from anywhere on the court. With Kuroko’s powers of misdirection and Kagami’s power jumps, they were able to shake up Midorima and defeat Shutoku.
In the process of these games, Riko realized that Kagami was overextending himself on his jumps and was straining his legs. She was even forced to bench him at certain points in their games so that he didn’t injure himself. This led Kagami to be upset at himself and becoming more determined to overcome his limitations and grow stronger.
They then moved on to the finals, where they encountered a third member of the Generation of Miracles, Daiki Aomine, who is playing for Touou Academy. His special ability is his speed and formless style. After mocking Kuroko’s attempts to play basketball his own way, Aomine defeated Kagami, meaning Seirin was eliminated from the tournament. In the locker room, Kagami told Kuroko that they can’t rely on each other in games anymore. Kagami was benched for the next two games, which Seirin also lost.
Following their defeats, Seirin was dejected, but Riko told them that their next chance was the tournament leading up to the Winter Cup, the second most important challenge of the year. She also called Teppei Kiyoshi, one of the founding members of the team who had been out all year on injury, and he returned to help motivate the team. During practice, the team saw Kagami acting like he did when he first joined, not passing and trying to do everything himself. He and Kuroko weren’t speaking, either.
Kiyoshi challenged Kagami to one-on-one to see which one of them got to start, since Kiyoshi didn’t want to get the position purely on seniority. Kagami had to try to win, and when he did, his attitude began to change a little. Meanwhile, Kuroko was told by Kiyoshi that he could overcome his perceived limitations and become a stronger player. Kuroko realized that Kagami wasn’t trying to get rid of him, but implied that they both needed to become stronger on their own and not rely on their combined strength alone.
Riko announced that the team was going to go to a summer training camp, and she was going to make all the food. The problem was that she is a terrible cook, and everyone feared dying from her cooking. Kagami saved everyone by showing off his own cooking skills, and even tried to teach Riko what he knew.
Once they arrived at camp, Kagami got his own separate training from the others. His legs needed to be stronger, so Riko made him run laps up and down the beach, and had him practice his jumping to increase his reach.
While at the camp, they ran into Shutoku, who booked the place for the same reasons. They scrimmaged against each other, and Shutoku won all the games handily with Kagami not allowed to play. Midorima offered to play Kagami one-on-one, and showed him that he’d have to try and win an aerial battle to defeat the Generation of Miracles. By the end of the camp, Kagami could reach the top of the backboard and left a handprint there to prove it.
Seirin started to go home, but Riko told them that the Inter-High finals were going on nearby between Kaijou and Touou, and they all went to watch. During the game, they watched as Kise attempted to copy Aomine’s style. He almost had it down, but Kise passed to his teammates right at the end, something Aomine said he would never do. Kaijou lost. Following the game, Kuroko and Kagami went to an outdoor court and promised each other that they’ll get to the Winter Cup together.
At the start of the second season, Seirin was still training for the Winter Cup, but they got a day off. The first years and Kiyoshi decided to participate in a street ball tournament. There, Kagami ran into Tatsuya for the first time in two years. Tatsuya was playing for Yosen High School, alongside the fourth member of the Generation of Miracles, Atsushi Murasakibara. Tatsuya reminded Kagami of their bet, and they decided to settle the score right then and there.
They began to play, and each saw how much the other had improved since they last saw each other in America. Before the game went on for very long, it got rained out. Seirin and Yosen promised to play each other again at the Winter Cup, and Tatsuya told Kagami not to hold anything back.
The Winter Cup preliminaries began, and Seirin’s first match was against a team called Josei. This was Kiyoshi’s first game after returning, which ended up being good for the team, as Josei focused much of their energy ganging up on Kagami. Seirin won the match and proceeded to the next round. After another win, Seirin faced off against Shutoku again.
Kagami used his newly discovered leg strength to stop Midorima’s shots in midair, but he found out that Shutoku’s strategy was to wear Kagami out and then continue to make shots. In the second half of the game, Kuroko was put in and used the new move he’d been developing, the Vanishing Drive, which made it look as though he disappeared from view. The game ended with Seirin being given a chance to make 2 free throws, and Kiyoshi made the first, but the second was a rebound, which Kagami caught. But the game ended in a tie, so both teams advanced.
Next, Seirin was up against Kirisaki Daiichi, a team known for playing dirty and the team that injured Kiyoshi last year. They tried to injure the Seirin players until Kiyoshi started taking the brunt of their attacks to protect his teammates. Everyone was inspired by Kiyoshi’s dedication, and the team broke free of Kirisaki’s “Spider Web” defense and defeated them.
To celebrate their victory and advancing on to the Winter Cup, the team took a well-deserved trip to a hot spring, where most the boys got in trouble for trying to spy on the girls. Kagami and Kuroko got away from the others and talked about their upcoming games. It turned out that Touou was at the hot spring as well, and they let Seirin know that they would be opponents for the first game in the Winter Cup, since they were both representing Tokyo.
There was a month left until the Cup, and during that time, the rest of Seirin trained with Riko’s father while Kagami went back to America for additional training. He made it back just in time for the games to begin, and all of the Generation of Miracles members were summoned by their former captain, Seijuro Akashi. Kagami butted into their private meeting, and Akashi attempted to stab him with a pair of scissors, but Kagami was still not deterred and remained defiant.
The game began between Seirin and Touou. Because of his training and strengthening his abilities, Kagami was able to keep up with Aomine and even stopped him from making his shots. The game remained very close, and in the second half, Kuroko was finally put into the game. All of the Touou players are immune to his misdirection due to overexposure, but that was part of Seirin’s plan.
Using Misdirection Overflow meant that the opposing team could only focus on Kuroko, rendering all of his teammates invisible. They were able to close the gap but not pull ahead. In the fourth quarter, Aomine entered the Zone, which is a special ability that allowed him to function at 100% of his strength and speed. The gap between their scores started to widen again in favor of Touou. Kagami finally got a burst of power when he thought about how losing would make his friends cry again, and how he didn’t want to see them sad anymore. He was able to knock the ball out of Aomine’s hand and out of bounds. At that moment that Kagami too entered the Zone.
Aomine and Kagami turned the game into a one-on-one between them, both remaining in the Zone and completely bypassing all the other players. They continued to block each other’s shots until their reaction times and reflexes were maxed out. Aomine lost the Zone, but Kagami was able to make one last play, and passed while in the Zone to make Touou foul. This gave Seirin a free throw. They missed on purpose, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to continue in overtime if they tied it up.
Kuroko got the rebound and passed to Kagami, who dunked it in and so defeated Aomine 101-100. Aomine finally returned to his old self and accepted Kagami as a skilled player and a rival.
After the game, Kagami invited the team back to his house because he lived the closest. They discovered that he lives on his own and that the apartment is spotless. The captain remarked that all Kagami cared about was “eating, sleeping, and basketball.” Riko cooked dinner for the team, and it actually didn’t taste terrible. Kagami and Kuroko went to talk on the balcony, and Kuroko said that he was glad to have met Kagami. He then passed out. Kagami dragged him inside to find everyone else had fainted as well. He realized that the food had a time-delayed effect before he fell to the floor, too.
When they came to the following morning, one team member, Koganei, tried to find Kagami’s bathroom, only to discover a room with a half-naked blonde woman passed out in it. The woman woke up and walked out into the hallway in her underwear, greeting Kagami in English. She then kissed him in front of everyone.
Embarrassed, Kagami yelled at her to get dressed, and after she did so, he introduced her as Alex Garcia, the woman who mentored Kagami and Himuro as children. She came to visit him in Japan and see him play. The team and Alex went to one of the other games, and she was impressed with Japanese basketball. Following the game, Alex took Kagami off by himself to teach him a new technique she’d never shown him before.
Seirin won their next two games with both Kagami and Kuroko benched. They learned that their next opponent, Yosen, played two games in a row where their opponents didn’t score a single point. Seirin moved to the Final 8 game against Yosen, where they met up again with Himuro and Murasakibara.
Yosen’s defense was nearly impenetrable, thanks to having three extremely tall players. They easily took the lead over Seirin from the beginning, and Murasakibara proved that his height wasn’t his only plus, as he was able to quickly jump and turn on a dime to block opponents from making their shots.
Kagami then had to guard against Himuro, and saw his abilities for the first time. His childhood friend is greatly skilled at faking, and could make it appear as though he’s shooting the ball when it actually just goes straight up in the air. While the opponent tries to block the first shot, Himuro is then able to throw freely. He used this technique several times, and neither Kagami nor the rest of Seirin was able to stop him.
Riko could tell that Kagami was having trouble playing against his friend because he couldn’t keep his emotions separate, and so subbed him out. During a timeout, Kagami, still sitting on the bench, asked Kuroko to throw away his ring for him. He said that between Himuro and Seirin, he knew his new team was more important. He then got put back in the game.
Himuro attempted to use his Mirage Shot again, but after Kagami accidentally slipped on some sweat on the floor, he ended up jumping late, and so managed to learn how to predict the second part of the shot. Seirin got within 5 points of Yosen, at which time Yosen put Murasakibara into offense instead of defense. It seemed like he was unstoppable.
Murasakibara made his first dunk, putting so much pressure on the net that he broke the entire goal. The game had to be momentarily delayed while it got fixed. This further worried Seirin, especially when they had to go out for the last quarter with Kiyoshi benched for his injury yet again.
Kagami tried to go into the Zone again, but found he was unable to force himself into it. It has to happen without thinking. After getting some subtle advice from Kise, who was on the sidelines watching the match, Kagami threw himself into the remaining minutes of the game, unknowingly activating his Zone ability. He was able to see through Himuro’s fakes and match Murasakibara’s strength to score more points and get Seirin closer to a win. It was revealed that Murasakibara probably couldn’t enter the Zone because he hates basketball, and only those who love it more than anything else can activate their Zones.
Yosen took another timeout with 4 minutes to go, and Murasakibara said that he wanted to be subbed out, stating that no one can beat Kagami now. His flippant attitude caused Himuro to punch him and start crying, which Murasakibara responded to by saying that Himuro’s desire to win was disgusting. But since it meant so much to Himuro to defeat Kagami, he'd stay in.
Kiyoshi returned to the game with one minute to go, and Seirin was down by four points. They were able to score a three, and with 20 seconds left, they were only one point behind. Murasakibara got the ball and was about to slam it in when Kagami blocked him. They struggled for a moment until Kiyoshi added his strength to Kagami’s, and together, they pushed the ball back. Murasakibara then entered the Zone, something thought previously impossible, just as Kagami’s Zone was fading. No one thought Kagami would have a chance to stop him now.
Finally at his limit, Kagami tried for one last shot, leaping from the free throw line to slam the ball in, a layup technique called the Meteor Jam. This was what Alex privately taught him. With only a few seconds left, Yosen got the ball one last time and Murasakibara ran it down to the other end. Kagami was completely drained from his move and couldn’t even stand. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to stop Yosen.
But Kuroko had been prepared for this possibility, and he jumped to block the shot. He’s small, and wouldn’t have been able to do so if not for Murasakibara’s body finally giving in under the stress he’d put it through. He is too large to do all the jumping that he'd been doing, and his legs refused to let him jump once more. Kuroko smacked the ball out of his hands, and the final buzzer sounded. Seirin won, 73-72. Himuro congratulated Kagami at the lineup, and repeated his promise that they'd no longer be brothers. Kagami reluctantly agreed.
The team celebrated their advance on to the semifinals of the Winter Cup. Kuroko revealed to Kagami that he never threw the ring away, and gave it back to him, telling him that this wasn’t a good way to end things with Himuro. Kagami realized that Kuroko was right, and he ran off to talk to his “brother,” ring in hand.
□ Personality: Kagami begins the series as a typical hotheaded sports anime character. He's loud, brusque, competitive, and impulsive. He's the big eater of the series and is a virtual bottomless pit. It's easy for him to be baited by his opponents, and he's likely to be seen literally steaming when he's been insulted.
This outward appearance is only one facet of Kagami's personality. He's been independent from a young age, an only child of parents who appear to be too busy to be in the picture. As a result, he's had to learn to cook for himself and take care of his living space. It doesn't seem to bother him, and he eventually forms his own families, with Alex and Tatsuya in America, and the Seirin team back in Japan.
Basketball is Kagami's life, and his dedication shows. His natural abilities may give him an advantage, but he is constantly practicing. Even when he's studying for exams, he's only successful when he's holding a basketball at the same time, and doing drills. When he has to strengthen his left hand for games, he takes a ball with him wherever he goes, making sure to constantly move it in his hand. He tries to do everything he can left-handed when he's not able to practice with the ball.
Academics is not an area where Kagami excels. He routinely gets extremely low grades in all his subjects, and he doesn't have much faith that he can improve himself in that area. Even when his chances of staying on the team were in jeopardy from an upcoming exam, Kagami said that it was useless to try and do well. His only good subject is English, and even those grades are only mediocre, despite him living in an English-speaking country for so long. His excuse is that Japan "teaches English weird."
His closest friend and constant companion is Kuroko, and they balance each other out well. When Kagami gets too passionate in a game, or too argumentative with his teammates or coach, Kuroko is always there to bring him back to reality (even if it results in hitting him). Since Kuroko is so straightforward and honest, he tends to embarrass Kagami, especially when Kuroko says he's glad they met.
Despite his outwardly rough nature, Kagami still greatly respects the other members of his team. He tries to make his language more polite around the upperclassmen and Riko, leading to a strange mix of direct and formal endings of his sentences in Japanese. To people his own age and to his opponents, he has no such reservations.
Kagami's greatest fear is dogs. He was bitten by one as a child, and now can't stand dogs of any shape or size. Even though the team's mascot, Nigou, is just a puppy, Kagami refuses to have anything to do with him, and is perfectly willing to sacrifice his dignity to run away or hide from the animal. When he's forced to interact with Nigou, he visibly shakes.
□ Age: 16
□ Gender: Male
□ Appearance: At 6’3” (190cm) and 181lbs (82kg), Kagami looks much older than a high school student. He has a very muscular build, especially in his upper body and torso, from many years of athletic training. His eyes are red, and his hair is red with black underneath. While he's been banged up and bruised countless times in games and practices, he has no visible scars or permanent marks on him.
□ Abilities/Powers: Kagami has a set of learned abilities related to his sport. His main strength is jumping, which enables him to reach as high as the top of a backboard. He has also reached the Zone, which is a state a player can enter to use 100% of his skill and strength at once. Finally, as of his arrival in Ariel, he’s just learned to perform the Meteor Jam, a layup move where he can dunk from the free throw line.
□ Personal Items: His white Seirin uniform, his red basketball shoes, his chain necklace with silver ring on it, his cell phone, and a basketball.
□ First Person Sample: [Text] So this is how I do texts. In my head. This is freaky. It’s like an invisible computer screen.
[Audio] Now I talk out loud and people can hear it? Like there’s a phone inside my head. Yeah, yeah, I’m just trying it out. Don’t rush me.
[Video] [A tall redheaded young man is staring in a mirror that’s sitting on a desk. A harried counselor is pacing behind him.] And now I’m doing video? Weird. I can see myself at the same time that I can see myself! Can I switch back and forth?
[Text] It’s a text! I CAN EVEN TYPE IN CAPS!
[Video] [The counselor is yelling now and grabbing at Kagami, but he’s pushed aside.] Now it’s a video again! If I turn my head, the camera turns with it. Interesting.
[Audio] Just do voice now. Did it work? Stop yelling at me. You wanted me to learn to use this system, I’m learning!
[Text] Are all these counselor guys complete dicks? Oh crap, he can probably see this even though I didn’t say it out loud.
□ Third Person Sample: After getting released from the orientation or briefing or brainwashing or whatever it was, Kagami took his bag of things and slowly made his way into the city, still reeling from what had just happened. Only a couple of hours ago, he was celebrating his team’s victory over Yosen in the Winter Cup, and had just run off to talk to Himuro. Then, everything had gone white, and when he’d come to, he was sitting in a chair in that damn office, listening to a polite man with an empty smile drone on about some place called Ariel.
Kagami couldn’t think, and he certainly couldn’t process what was happening to him. The only way he could clear his head was to find a court and shoot some baskets. As soon as he’d been turned loose, he had opened the duffel bag he’d been given and found a basketball, among other things. That was at least a relief. Another relief was finding his ring and chain at the very bottom of the bag. He felt so stupid for taking it off in the first place, and slipped it back around his neck immediately, cherishing the comfortable weight of it.
Gripping the ring between his thumb and index finger for reassurance, Kagami wandered until he came across an outdoor court. It was the first familiar thing he’d seen in this strange new city, and he set his bag down on the sidelines, taking the ball out and bouncing it a few times.
He learned better when he was playing, he retained more information when he was shooting, and he was able to think when he was doing something he loved. So he took a few shots, running after the ones that bounced off the rim, and soon found his rhythm. His kidnappers had given him an apartment and some money, supposedly, though he hadn’t found a key or cash in that bag. He was told to “integrate,” whatever that meant, and about how pleasure was the most important thing.
He took another shot. When it came to pleasure, nothing beat this. Playing to his heart’s content, scoring, improving his endurance and skill, it was the most pleasurable thing he could think of.
□ Name: Alicia
□ Age: 27
□ Contact: saruzake on Plurk
□ Journal: http://saruzake.livejournal.com
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: Rei Ryugazaki from Free! Iwatobi Swim Club
□ Is this a re-application of a dropped character? If yes, when was the character dropped?: No.
→ IC
□ Name: Taiga Kagami
□ Journal: ruby_sneakers
□ Series: Kuroko no Basket
□ Canon point: Anime, end of Season 2
□ History: [CONTAINS SPOILERS]
When Taiga Kagami was in third grade, he and his parents moved from Japan to Los Angeles, California. Young Kagami didn’t fit in with his new environment and had a difficult time making friends, until one day he met another Japanese boy named Tatsuya Himuro.
Tatsuya was a year older and told Kagami that in order to make friends, he had to develop a skill at something. Kagami didn’t have any skills, or so he thought, until Tatsuya asked him to join in a basketball game with some other children. Kagami quickly showed an aptitude for the sport, so he and his new friend began playing together every day.
To symbolize their friendship, Tatsuya and Kagami bought matching rings, which they said made them brothers as well. They wore the rings on chains around their necks, to always remember each other. Soon after, they met a retired WNBA player named Alexandra Garcia, who took them on as students and taught them everything she knew.
With the help of his new ‘family,’ Kagami grew into a skilled basketball player, taking on anyone who would challenge him in street ball. When he was in eighth grade, at age 14, he and Tatsuya were separated when the older boy went on to high school. Kagami continued to play basketball until Tatsuya came back and challenged him to a game.
The two went back and forth, racking up wins and losses against each other until they were tied at 49 wins each. The next game was set to determine the true winner, and Tatsuya said that were he to lose, he wouldn’t be fit to be Kagami’s ‘older brother’ anymore.
The stakes were high, but on the day of their game, Kagami saw that Tatsuya had sustained an injury, and Kagami purposefully missed his last shot so he would lose. Tatsuya knew what Kagami had done and punched him for throwing the game, saying that the next time they met, they would no longer be brothers no matter who won.
But another game never came, as shortly after, Kagami went back to Japan, ostensibly to live with his father. However, his father was unable to return with him, and Kagami lived alone starting from his last year of junior high (equivalent to 9th grade in the West), and into his first year of high school. He tried to play basketball in Japan, but found it far too easy compared to what he had experienced in America.
The following year, Kagami started his first year (American 10th grade equivalent) at Seirin Private High School, a new school that was only in its second year of operation. At the activity fair, he signed up for their basketball team, not expecting much but wanting to play anyway. When he was asked why he left blank the part of the form asking about his aspirations, he claimed it was because basketball in Japan is “too easy.”
At the same time Kagami signed up, another form was turned in, this one by a fellow student named Tetsuya Kuroko. Kuroko had been a former basketball player at Teikou Middle School, which became famous for its “Generation of Miracles,” a group of students so talented at the sport that they were undefeated in every way.
In the first meeting of the basketball team, Seirin’s coach, Riko Aida, made all the prospective members take their shirts off so she could analyze their strengths and abilities. Her father is a sports trainer and she learned to analyze from him. She saw that Kagami’s statistics are extremely high for a first year, and she had faith that they would become a stronger team. Kuroko showed up to the practice as well, and everyone was surprised to see how short and unassuming he is, with practically zero presence. No one believed that he played with the Generation of Miracles.
After practice, Kuroko and Kagami ran into each other at the local fast food restaurant, and decided to go play against each other on an outdoor court. They played one-on-one for a while and Kagami saw that Kuroko didn’t appear to have much skill. They talked about strong players in Japan and Kagami brought up the Generation of Miracles.
During the next practice, Kuroko finally showed off his ability: extremely quick, almost unnoticed passes. Kagami began catching the passes and was able to show off his jumping and dunking abilities. He, Kuroko, and the other first years win their practice game against the second years.
After the practice game, Kuroko and Kagami went to get food and talk about the Generation of Miracles. Kagami asked how he would do against them in a game and Kuroko told him that he’d be crushed. Kagami accepted the challenge and became more determined to beat all of them. This led Kuroko to explain that his abilities make him a literal shadow, and that he becomes stronger when he has a powerful light to work with. He tells Kagami that if he’ll be Kuroko’s light, Kuroko will make him the best in Japan.
As the team begans to train together, they had to take part in a bonding activity where all new members had to go up to the roof of the school and shout out their goals for the year. If they failed in their goals, they would have to make a love confession in front of the school, completely naked. Without hesitation, Kagami went first, yelling out that his goal is to defeat the Generation of Miracles and become number one in Japan.
Kuroko and Kagami spoke again after school, and Kagami asked why Kuroko didn’t go to a well-known school like the other Generation of Miracles members. Kuroko explained that at Teiko, the only important thing was winning. He wanted to go to a school with a different kind of basketball, where the whole team relied on each other.
The team got their first opportunity to play a practice game against another school, Kaijou, which acquired one of the Generation of Miracles players, Ryouta Kise. Kise stopped by Seirin before the game to try to convince Kuroko to play with him, but was rejected. When they went to Kaijou, the coach only let them have half the gym because he didn’t take them seriously and wanted his other players to continue practicing. Kise also was not allowed to play against Seirin, despite his protests.
Kagami started the game by dunking so hard he breaks the hoop. This angered the Kaijou coach, making him give them the full court, as well as putting Kise into the game. Kagami learned that Kise’s ability is being able to copy the playing style of any opponent, and it was only when Kagami and Kuroko worked together that they were able to beat Kaijou with a buzzer beater move.
Seirin won enough games to pass on to the Inter-High tournament, where their opponent was Shutoku, one of the “Three Kings” of Kanto basketball. They also had a member of the Generation of Miracles, Shintarou Midorima, who has the special ability to score three pointers from anywhere on the court. With Kuroko’s powers of misdirection and Kagami’s power jumps, they were able to shake up Midorima and defeat Shutoku.
In the process of these games, Riko realized that Kagami was overextending himself on his jumps and was straining his legs. She was even forced to bench him at certain points in their games so that he didn’t injure himself. This led Kagami to be upset at himself and becoming more determined to overcome his limitations and grow stronger.
They then moved on to the finals, where they encountered a third member of the Generation of Miracles, Daiki Aomine, who is playing for Touou Academy. His special ability is his speed and formless style. After mocking Kuroko’s attempts to play basketball his own way, Aomine defeated Kagami, meaning Seirin was eliminated from the tournament. In the locker room, Kagami told Kuroko that they can’t rely on each other in games anymore. Kagami was benched for the next two games, which Seirin also lost.
Following their defeats, Seirin was dejected, but Riko told them that their next chance was the tournament leading up to the Winter Cup, the second most important challenge of the year. She also called Teppei Kiyoshi, one of the founding members of the team who had been out all year on injury, and he returned to help motivate the team. During practice, the team saw Kagami acting like he did when he first joined, not passing and trying to do everything himself. He and Kuroko weren’t speaking, either.
Kiyoshi challenged Kagami to one-on-one to see which one of them got to start, since Kiyoshi didn’t want to get the position purely on seniority. Kagami had to try to win, and when he did, his attitude began to change a little. Meanwhile, Kuroko was told by Kiyoshi that he could overcome his perceived limitations and become a stronger player. Kuroko realized that Kagami wasn’t trying to get rid of him, but implied that they both needed to become stronger on their own and not rely on their combined strength alone.
Riko announced that the team was going to go to a summer training camp, and she was going to make all the food. The problem was that she is a terrible cook, and everyone feared dying from her cooking. Kagami saved everyone by showing off his own cooking skills, and even tried to teach Riko what he knew.
Once they arrived at camp, Kagami got his own separate training from the others. His legs needed to be stronger, so Riko made him run laps up and down the beach, and had him practice his jumping to increase his reach.
While at the camp, they ran into Shutoku, who booked the place for the same reasons. They scrimmaged against each other, and Shutoku won all the games handily with Kagami not allowed to play. Midorima offered to play Kagami one-on-one, and showed him that he’d have to try and win an aerial battle to defeat the Generation of Miracles. By the end of the camp, Kagami could reach the top of the backboard and left a handprint there to prove it.
Seirin started to go home, but Riko told them that the Inter-High finals were going on nearby between Kaijou and Touou, and they all went to watch. During the game, they watched as Kise attempted to copy Aomine’s style. He almost had it down, but Kise passed to his teammates right at the end, something Aomine said he would never do. Kaijou lost. Following the game, Kuroko and Kagami went to an outdoor court and promised each other that they’ll get to the Winter Cup together.
At the start of the second season, Seirin was still training for the Winter Cup, but they got a day off. The first years and Kiyoshi decided to participate in a street ball tournament. There, Kagami ran into Tatsuya for the first time in two years. Tatsuya was playing for Yosen High School, alongside the fourth member of the Generation of Miracles, Atsushi Murasakibara. Tatsuya reminded Kagami of their bet, and they decided to settle the score right then and there.
They began to play, and each saw how much the other had improved since they last saw each other in America. Before the game went on for very long, it got rained out. Seirin and Yosen promised to play each other again at the Winter Cup, and Tatsuya told Kagami not to hold anything back.
The Winter Cup preliminaries began, and Seirin’s first match was against a team called Josei. This was Kiyoshi’s first game after returning, which ended up being good for the team, as Josei focused much of their energy ganging up on Kagami. Seirin won the match and proceeded to the next round. After another win, Seirin faced off against Shutoku again.
Kagami used his newly discovered leg strength to stop Midorima’s shots in midair, but he found out that Shutoku’s strategy was to wear Kagami out and then continue to make shots. In the second half of the game, Kuroko was put in and used the new move he’d been developing, the Vanishing Drive, which made it look as though he disappeared from view. The game ended with Seirin being given a chance to make 2 free throws, and Kiyoshi made the first, but the second was a rebound, which Kagami caught. But the game ended in a tie, so both teams advanced.
Next, Seirin was up against Kirisaki Daiichi, a team known for playing dirty and the team that injured Kiyoshi last year. They tried to injure the Seirin players until Kiyoshi started taking the brunt of their attacks to protect his teammates. Everyone was inspired by Kiyoshi’s dedication, and the team broke free of Kirisaki’s “Spider Web” defense and defeated them.
To celebrate their victory and advancing on to the Winter Cup, the team took a well-deserved trip to a hot spring, where most the boys got in trouble for trying to spy on the girls. Kagami and Kuroko got away from the others and talked about their upcoming games. It turned out that Touou was at the hot spring as well, and they let Seirin know that they would be opponents for the first game in the Winter Cup, since they were both representing Tokyo.
There was a month left until the Cup, and during that time, the rest of Seirin trained with Riko’s father while Kagami went back to America for additional training. He made it back just in time for the games to begin, and all of the Generation of Miracles members were summoned by their former captain, Seijuro Akashi. Kagami butted into their private meeting, and Akashi attempted to stab him with a pair of scissors, but Kagami was still not deterred and remained defiant.
The game began between Seirin and Touou. Because of his training and strengthening his abilities, Kagami was able to keep up with Aomine and even stopped him from making his shots. The game remained very close, and in the second half, Kuroko was finally put into the game. All of the Touou players are immune to his misdirection due to overexposure, but that was part of Seirin’s plan.
Using Misdirection Overflow meant that the opposing team could only focus on Kuroko, rendering all of his teammates invisible. They were able to close the gap but not pull ahead. In the fourth quarter, Aomine entered the Zone, which is a special ability that allowed him to function at 100% of his strength and speed. The gap between their scores started to widen again in favor of Touou. Kagami finally got a burst of power when he thought about how losing would make his friends cry again, and how he didn’t want to see them sad anymore. He was able to knock the ball out of Aomine’s hand and out of bounds. At that moment that Kagami too entered the Zone.
Aomine and Kagami turned the game into a one-on-one between them, both remaining in the Zone and completely bypassing all the other players. They continued to block each other’s shots until their reaction times and reflexes were maxed out. Aomine lost the Zone, but Kagami was able to make one last play, and passed while in the Zone to make Touou foul. This gave Seirin a free throw. They missed on purpose, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to continue in overtime if they tied it up.
Kuroko got the rebound and passed to Kagami, who dunked it in and so defeated Aomine 101-100. Aomine finally returned to his old self and accepted Kagami as a skilled player and a rival.
After the game, Kagami invited the team back to his house because he lived the closest. They discovered that he lives on his own and that the apartment is spotless. The captain remarked that all Kagami cared about was “eating, sleeping, and basketball.” Riko cooked dinner for the team, and it actually didn’t taste terrible. Kagami and Kuroko went to talk on the balcony, and Kuroko said that he was glad to have met Kagami. He then passed out. Kagami dragged him inside to find everyone else had fainted as well. He realized that the food had a time-delayed effect before he fell to the floor, too.
When they came to the following morning, one team member, Koganei, tried to find Kagami’s bathroom, only to discover a room with a half-naked blonde woman passed out in it. The woman woke up and walked out into the hallway in her underwear, greeting Kagami in English. She then kissed him in front of everyone.
Embarrassed, Kagami yelled at her to get dressed, and after she did so, he introduced her as Alex Garcia, the woman who mentored Kagami and Himuro as children. She came to visit him in Japan and see him play. The team and Alex went to one of the other games, and she was impressed with Japanese basketball. Following the game, Alex took Kagami off by himself to teach him a new technique she’d never shown him before.
Seirin won their next two games with both Kagami and Kuroko benched. They learned that their next opponent, Yosen, played two games in a row where their opponents didn’t score a single point. Seirin moved to the Final 8 game against Yosen, where they met up again with Himuro and Murasakibara.
Yosen’s defense was nearly impenetrable, thanks to having three extremely tall players. They easily took the lead over Seirin from the beginning, and Murasakibara proved that his height wasn’t his only plus, as he was able to quickly jump and turn on a dime to block opponents from making their shots.
Kagami then had to guard against Himuro, and saw his abilities for the first time. His childhood friend is greatly skilled at faking, and could make it appear as though he’s shooting the ball when it actually just goes straight up in the air. While the opponent tries to block the first shot, Himuro is then able to throw freely. He used this technique several times, and neither Kagami nor the rest of Seirin was able to stop him.
Riko could tell that Kagami was having trouble playing against his friend because he couldn’t keep his emotions separate, and so subbed him out. During a timeout, Kagami, still sitting on the bench, asked Kuroko to throw away his ring for him. He said that between Himuro and Seirin, he knew his new team was more important. He then got put back in the game.
Himuro attempted to use his Mirage Shot again, but after Kagami accidentally slipped on some sweat on the floor, he ended up jumping late, and so managed to learn how to predict the second part of the shot. Seirin got within 5 points of Yosen, at which time Yosen put Murasakibara into offense instead of defense. It seemed like he was unstoppable.
Murasakibara made his first dunk, putting so much pressure on the net that he broke the entire goal. The game had to be momentarily delayed while it got fixed. This further worried Seirin, especially when they had to go out for the last quarter with Kiyoshi benched for his injury yet again.
Kagami tried to go into the Zone again, but found he was unable to force himself into it. It has to happen without thinking. After getting some subtle advice from Kise, who was on the sidelines watching the match, Kagami threw himself into the remaining minutes of the game, unknowingly activating his Zone ability. He was able to see through Himuro’s fakes and match Murasakibara’s strength to score more points and get Seirin closer to a win. It was revealed that Murasakibara probably couldn’t enter the Zone because he hates basketball, and only those who love it more than anything else can activate their Zones.
Yosen took another timeout with 4 minutes to go, and Murasakibara said that he wanted to be subbed out, stating that no one can beat Kagami now. His flippant attitude caused Himuro to punch him and start crying, which Murasakibara responded to by saying that Himuro’s desire to win was disgusting. But since it meant so much to Himuro to defeat Kagami, he'd stay in.
Kiyoshi returned to the game with one minute to go, and Seirin was down by four points. They were able to score a three, and with 20 seconds left, they were only one point behind. Murasakibara got the ball and was about to slam it in when Kagami blocked him. They struggled for a moment until Kiyoshi added his strength to Kagami’s, and together, they pushed the ball back. Murasakibara then entered the Zone, something thought previously impossible, just as Kagami’s Zone was fading. No one thought Kagami would have a chance to stop him now.
Finally at his limit, Kagami tried for one last shot, leaping from the free throw line to slam the ball in, a layup technique called the Meteor Jam. This was what Alex privately taught him. With only a few seconds left, Yosen got the ball one last time and Murasakibara ran it down to the other end. Kagami was completely drained from his move and couldn’t even stand. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to stop Yosen.
But Kuroko had been prepared for this possibility, and he jumped to block the shot. He’s small, and wouldn’t have been able to do so if not for Murasakibara’s body finally giving in under the stress he’d put it through. He is too large to do all the jumping that he'd been doing, and his legs refused to let him jump once more. Kuroko smacked the ball out of his hands, and the final buzzer sounded. Seirin won, 73-72. Himuro congratulated Kagami at the lineup, and repeated his promise that they'd no longer be brothers. Kagami reluctantly agreed.
The team celebrated their advance on to the semifinals of the Winter Cup. Kuroko revealed to Kagami that he never threw the ring away, and gave it back to him, telling him that this wasn’t a good way to end things with Himuro. Kagami realized that Kuroko was right, and he ran off to talk to his “brother,” ring in hand.
□ Personality: Kagami begins the series as a typical hotheaded sports anime character. He's loud, brusque, competitive, and impulsive. He's the big eater of the series and is a virtual bottomless pit. It's easy for him to be baited by his opponents, and he's likely to be seen literally steaming when he's been insulted.
This outward appearance is only one facet of Kagami's personality. He's been independent from a young age, an only child of parents who appear to be too busy to be in the picture. As a result, he's had to learn to cook for himself and take care of his living space. It doesn't seem to bother him, and he eventually forms his own families, with Alex and Tatsuya in America, and the Seirin team back in Japan.
Basketball is Kagami's life, and his dedication shows. His natural abilities may give him an advantage, but he is constantly practicing. Even when he's studying for exams, he's only successful when he's holding a basketball at the same time, and doing drills. When he has to strengthen his left hand for games, he takes a ball with him wherever he goes, making sure to constantly move it in his hand. He tries to do everything he can left-handed when he's not able to practice with the ball.
Academics is not an area where Kagami excels. He routinely gets extremely low grades in all his subjects, and he doesn't have much faith that he can improve himself in that area. Even when his chances of staying on the team were in jeopardy from an upcoming exam, Kagami said that it was useless to try and do well. His only good subject is English, and even those grades are only mediocre, despite him living in an English-speaking country for so long. His excuse is that Japan "teaches English weird."
His closest friend and constant companion is Kuroko, and they balance each other out well. When Kagami gets too passionate in a game, or too argumentative with his teammates or coach, Kuroko is always there to bring him back to reality (even if it results in hitting him). Since Kuroko is so straightforward and honest, he tends to embarrass Kagami, especially when Kuroko says he's glad they met.
Despite his outwardly rough nature, Kagami still greatly respects the other members of his team. He tries to make his language more polite around the upperclassmen and Riko, leading to a strange mix of direct and formal endings of his sentences in Japanese. To people his own age and to his opponents, he has no such reservations.
Kagami's greatest fear is dogs. He was bitten by one as a child, and now can't stand dogs of any shape or size. Even though the team's mascot, Nigou, is just a puppy, Kagami refuses to have anything to do with him, and is perfectly willing to sacrifice his dignity to run away or hide from the animal. When he's forced to interact with Nigou, he visibly shakes.
□ Age: 16
□ Gender: Male
□ Appearance: At 6’3” (190cm) and 181lbs (82kg), Kagami looks much older than a high school student. He has a very muscular build, especially in his upper body and torso, from many years of athletic training. His eyes are red, and his hair is red with black underneath. While he's been banged up and bruised countless times in games and practices, he has no visible scars or permanent marks on him.
□ Abilities/Powers: Kagami has a set of learned abilities related to his sport. His main strength is jumping, which enables him to reach as high as the top of a backboard. He has also reached the Zone, which is a state a player can enter to use 100% of his skill and strength at once. Finally, as of his arrival in Ariel, he’s just learned to perform the Meteor Jam, a layup move where he can dunk from the free throw line.
□ Personal Items: His white Seirin uniform, his red basketball shoes, his chain necklace with silver ring on it, his cell phone, and a basketball.
□ First Person Sample: [Text] So this is how I do texts. In my head. This is freaky. It’s like an invisible computer screen.
[Audio] Now I talk out loud and people can hear it? Like there’s a phone inside my head. Yeah, yeah, I’m just trying it out. Don’t rush me.
[Video] [A tall redheaded young man is staring in a mirror that’s sitting on a desk. A harried counselor is pacing behind him.] And now I’m doing video? Weird. I can see myself at the same time that I can see myself! Can I switch back and forth?
[Text] It’s a text! I CAN EVEN TYPE IN CAPS!
[Video] [The counselor is yelling now and grabbing at Kagami, but he’s pushed aside.] Now it’s a video again! If I turn my head, the camera turns with it. Interesting.
[Audio] Just do voice now. Did it work? Stop yelling at me. You wanted me to learn to use this system, I’m learning!
[Text] Are all these counselor guys complete dicks? Oh crap, he can probably see this even though I didn’t say it out loud.
□ Third Person Sample: After getting released from the orientation or briefing or brainwashing or whatever it was, Kagami took his bag of things and slowly made his way into the city, still reeling from what had just happened. Only a couple of hours ago, he was celebrating his team’s victory over Yosen in the Winter Cup, and had just run off to talk to Himuro. Then, everything had gone white, and when he’d come to, he was sitting in a chair in that damn office, listening to a polite man with an empty smile drone on about some place called Ariel.
Kagami couldn’t think, and he certainly couldn’t process what was happening to him. The only way he could clear his head was to find a court and shoot some baskets. As soon as he’d been turned loose, he had opened the duffel bag he’d been given and found a basketball, among other things. That was at least a relief. Another relief was finding his ring and chain at the very bottom of the bag. He felt so stupid for taking it off in the first place, and slipped it back around his neck immediately, cherishing the comfortable weight of it.
Gripping the ring between his thumb and index finger for reassurance, Kagami wandered until he came across an outdoor court. It was the first familiar thing he’d seen in this strange new city, and he set his bag down on the sidelines, taking the ball out and bouncing it a few times.
He learned better when he was playing, he retained more information when he was shooting, and he was able to think when he was doing something he loved. So he took a few shots, running after the ones that bounced off the rim, and soon found his rhythm. His kidnappers had given him an apartment and some money, supposedly, though he hadn’t found a key or cash in that bag. He was told to “integrate,” whatever that meant, and about how pleasure was the most important thing.
He took another shot. When it came to pleasure, nothing beat this. Playing to his heart’s content, scoring, improving his endurance and skill, it was the most pleasurable thing he could think of.