Name: Akira Sendou

A.k.a.: The Genius, Ryonan's Ace Player

Age: 16- 17

Birthday: Probably February 14th

Highschool: Ryonan Highschool

Junior High: Kitazawagakuen Jr in Tokyo (source: anime slam dunk dot com)

Grade: 2nd

Height: 190 cm (6'3)

Weight: 79 kg (174 lbs.)

Position: point guard (PG) & small forward (SF)

Jersey no.: 7

Shoe Brand: Converse

Voice actor: Yoshitada Ohtsuka

Family and background:

We don't know much about Sendou's family. Somehow we believe that he's only child in a nice warm family. Despite his friendly character, he seems to be a loner. He could be friends with anybody though, everyone seems to like him so much. Soon after he joined the Ryonan highschool team he became the ace player because of his incredible talent and abilities.

Special abilities:

Sendou is one the most talented players around in Slam Dunk. He's a good shooter, nice rebounder and also a strategist of the game. He's able to play fancy offense but also great defense to stop outstanding forwards such as Rukawa. Despite his height he's a very speedy and flexible player. He ain't the Genius for nothing. Sakuragi likes to call himself the Genius, but Sendou is called the true Genius by others.

In his first year of highschool he was a small forward and literally a scoring machine (similarity with Rukawa), but in his second year he figured the fun of passing the ball and upgraded the whole team. His sight on the game is outstanding and his senses are very high; thanks to these facts he became the excellent point guard of the team, which is quite exceptional for such a tall player. But he does his job very well and is without a doubt the ace player of Ryonan. Along with Fukuda and Uozumi they form the strongest offense of Kanagawa.

Not only is he the ace player, he's also the mental support of the team, when things are going wrong, the team members keep having faith in their star player. Sendou is that kinda player that can bring up the best qualities of others. He's a very reliable player: when the team is behind, he'll show his scoring ability again without losing the focus on the game. He knows what the best is for his team. It's often said that Sendou is the true captain of Ryonan instead of Uozumi, because he has the ability to calm down the team, and also fire up and unify the team. When Uozumi retires from the game Sendou becomes the new captain.

Although Ryonan lost their game vs Shohoku and also their opportunity to play in the IH competition, Sendou was chosen one of the five best players of Kanagawa (of course). The other four were Maki, Akagi, Jin and Rukawa (of course).

Special features:

His spiky hair and ever disarming smile.

Personality:

Sendou is in contrary to most of the Slam Dunk characters a very nice and warm person. He always smiles and is friendly and modest, although he surely knows that he is a more than marvelous player. He never loses his temper and shows respect to strong players, but definitely won't give away any game! He's a fighter for victory no matter what. The only problem he might have is his lack of focus when he meets an opponent that's not very strong. His concentration is optimal when he's playing rivals such as Rukawa and Maki; such guys bring up the best in him. Although they are rivals, I believe that Rukawa and Maki truly have respect for this genius. And Sendou is that kinda person you can't resist, you just have to respect this guy.

But it happens that Sendou is not really caring about being in time... He was late at the practice game vs Shohoku, but his honesty ("Sorry coach, I overslept.") was so disarming that Ryonan's coach simply couldn't get angry at him... He was also late on the training right after the district games.

Sendou's biggest hobby, besides of basketball of course, is fishing. He is always alone. I think the fishing part is to relax from the tension, I mean the whole team is laying in his hands: he's the player the team leans on. Everyone needs a time to relax, Rukawa sleeps and Sendou fishes. (I will never understand geniuses...)