 On the team, Sakuragi meets Haruko's older brother, Takenori Akagi, who is also Shohoku's captain, and two other players with violent pasts that caused them to leave the sport, Ryota Miyagi and Hisashi Mitsui.Together these five players help make Shohoku one of the best high school teams in Japan.Inoue became inspired to make "Slam Dunk" as he had liked basketball since high school.