Ryota Miyagi  

Lightning, Ryo-chin, Ryou-chin, Shorty, 宮城 リョータ

There is not much known about Miyagis background. He joined the basketball team for his love for the game in the first place. But soon it seems that he is also playing for the love of his life Ayako, the team manager. Although Ryonans coach asked him to join the Ryonan Basketball Team, Miyagi chose for Shohoku because of Anzai. Miyagi is a problem kid, he gets into fights a lot and got himself beaten up. He was also the one who beat Mitsui up, but he had to pay the price of staying in the hospital for some time... Miyagi is quite short, but he has the greatest speed of all players mentioned in Slam Dunk. He has a great dribble and combined with his speed hes able to tear up the opponents defense and deliver excellent (no-look) passes to the free team mate. Hes also able to get a score at his own powers and his steals are just marvelous. Miyagi is a good point guard with a great sight on the game, hes also able to find his team mates without looking for them. Hes the strategist of the team, and thanks to this role and his own skills he becomes the next team captain as Akagi retires to focus on exams. By the way, he is also a good street fighter and has a very good flying kick. (Mitsui told) Coach Anzai says that Miyagis value to the team is his great speed and his keen senses. Miyagi is a smart but kind of rude person, who is only nice and sweet to Ayako... He tried to date other girls to forget Ayako, but he failed to. So he can be a very sensitive person too. In the beginning he mistook Sakuragi for Ayakos boyfriend and got into a fight with him immediately. Later when they found out about each others painful roads of love, they feel sympathy for each other and start to get along. Thats how they became good friends. Miyagi is a bit short tempered sometimes and hates when people make fun of his height. In the match vs Toyotama he gets angry with the opposing point guard, loses his view on the game and almost beats the guy. But in the second half he is able to remain calm again and show his true powers. His quite short length and the green earring in his left ear. He also wears sweat bands around his left wrist.