Ryouta Kise

Ryouta Kise is a character from the Kuroko no Basuke anime and manga.

Ryouta was the Generation of Miracles' small forward who now plays at Kaijō High. He is well known for his copying abilities, as he can copy any techniques he sees, often with more power than the original. He also works as a model.

Appearance
Kise works as a model, so, naturally, he's considered good looking. He has yellow/blond, medium long hair and golden eyes. Another distinct feature he has are his long eyelashes. He also has a piercing in his left ear. He is tall and athletic. Out of games, he is often seen in his school uniform, which consists of a white shirt, black tie, gray vest, and formal pants. During games, he wears the dark blue Kaijō jersey with the number 7.

In LAST GAME, Kise's appearance has slightly changed, with the most noticeable one being his hair now cut short. He retains the piercing on his left ear. He wears the white Vorpal Sword jersey with the number 7.

Personality
To people whom he acknowledges, Kise often acts cheerful and outgoing while also being a bit dramatic. Like the other Generation of Miracles, Kise was exceedingly arrogant due to his skills, barely acknowledging Kagami’s existence until he was defeated by him and Kuroko. To those whom he respects he doesn't refrain from interacting with no matter how gloomy and distant they are (for example Midorima). Kise exclusively adds -cchi to the people who he respects (mostly the Generation of Miracles members) names, such as Kurokocchi (Kuroko), Aominecchi (Aomine) or Midorimacchi (Midorima), and has the habit of ending his sentence with the suffix -ssu.

Though easy-going when off-court, Kise can be very determined and serious while playing, especially when truly challenged. Because of the way Teikō Junior High played, Kise is a one-man player who would prefer to score himself than playing as a team. While playing against Aomine, he says that he just doesn't care about Kaijō winning, and that he just wants to defeat Aomine himself.

However, he started to change when Kuroko's team beat him as he tasted a loss for the first time. He began to train more, and has also witnessed his teammates' faith towards him during his match against Tōō. Moved by them, he succeeded on copying Aomine. Kise surprised everyone when in a counter-attack and in a one-on-one against Aomine, he tried to pass the ball to Kasamatsu instead of trying to score himself. In the semi-finals of the Winter Cup, Kuroko correctly predicted that if Kise was cornered, he'll pass the ball, which is not what the old Kise would do.

Because Kuroko was Kise's personal instructor in Junior High school when he first started playing basketball, and also because Kuroko is strong in his own unique way, Kise deeply respects Kuroko - almost to the point of obsession. He always tries to point out how amazing Kuroko is and thinks that they were the best of friends (and he was comically upset when Kuroko said the opposite). He claimed to have cried every night after Kuroko rejected his offer to play for Kaijō and once referred to this event as "Kurokocchi dumped me" although right after that Kuroko asked him to stop being so sarcastic at which the look in his eyes instantly changed.

Before getting into playing basketball, Kise was constantly bored and apathetic due to him easily being able to master any sport in a short time. It is mentioned in the manga that whenever he feels disinterested in his surroundings he starts hearing the wind. It was only when he started playing basketball at Teiko that Kise felt his skills truly tested against the other Generation of Miracles.

Abilities
Kise has excellent physique, he is very fast and strong. His copying ability requires one thing which is that he is somewhat on par with his target's physical abilities. This is why in spite of his career in basketball is short compared to his former teammates, he is able to gather an array of different techniques and skills. The fact that he was able to copy Aomine's movements, shows that he is approximately equally strong and skillful. Kise's skill is so great he was called the trump card of Team Vorpal Sword (a team made up of the Generation of Miracles).

Copying
The actual reason why he can play basketball is because he has the ability to copy someone's movements in no time due to his visual comprehension skill. He only has to see a technique one time to completely copy it and make it his own. His copying ability doesn't stop there as he copies the technique, but plays it with more power and speed than the original. This mean that when his opponent makes a move, he can transcend them easily. His ability of course knows some barriers, as Riko observed he cannot copy NBA or stronger players than himself, though he can use Perfect Copy to negates this. He had to see Aomine's movements multiple times and prepare himself mentally before he could copy them. This skill doesn't limit itself to basketball, he initially used it on many sports, like soccer, before basketball.

So far, he has been able to copy fast drives and turns, his strong dunks and fade-aways. In the match against Tōō, he is seen copying Sakurai's quick release shot and a number of Aomine's drive moves, like leaving the ball behind and grabbing it again while passing the opponent. In addition in the match against Fukuda Sōgō Academy Kise was able to copy Kazuhiro Mochizuki's scoop shot - an underhand shot that is difficult to block. Not only did he copy moves of his enemies, he also used a quick turnaround used by Kasamatsu. He also "stores" all these moves in his memory, enabling him to use nearly every basketball technique there exists. This makes him a very creative player and above all, a player with bottomless talent in basketball.

His copy-cat ability is also similar to that of Haizaki's, who Kise replaced during his second year at Teiko. Haizaki can copy moves, like Kise, but when he executes those moves, he does it in his own, slightly alter rhythm, somehow making it so the person who used it first can't use it anymore.

Perfect Copy
An extension to his copying ability, Kise can now copy every single move he has ever seen, with the limitations of his original copy no longer applying. The difference to his physical abilities and the abilities of the original user of the skill is neglected and Kise is capable of copying anyone even the Generation of Miracles. To use this, he has to fill the missing element the original user has with his own. Examples are holding more power to copy Midorima's full court shot and jumping higher for Murasakibara's impenetrable defense or Thor's Hammer.

He first used this against Aomine, whom he admired and overcame the obstacle by wanting to surpass him thus, activating it for the first time. He used it again, this time against Haizaki, starting with Midorima's full court shot by taking more time than usual to make the shot, similarly to how Midorima makes his. He can replicate Aomine's agility by lowering his initial speed. By using his jumping power and foresight, Kise can copy Murasakibara's impenetrable defense. He can even copy Akashi's Emperor Eye (though it has been noted that it is still not 100% perfect like Akashi's, it's still good enough to predict the future with astonishing accuracy).

Kise can also combine techniques that he has copied; he blocked Kuroko's Phantom Shot by using Akashi's Emperor Eye and Murasakibara's blocking. He also creatively merges Akashi's Emperor Eye again in combination with Aomine's acceleration for the ultimate ankle breaker. Kuroko's Ignite Pass Kai and Phantom Shot combined the arc of falling shot of Midorima are also been copied by Kise. Because this naturally causes great stress to the body, Kise can only hold on this Perfect Copy for five minutes; though the time limit has been forcibly extended by an extra two minutes by Kise (despite his injured ankle from his last match with Haizaki) during the Seirin vs Kaijō round. Upon it's activation, Kise's eyes glows. This ability is also one of the reasons he can cover all 5 positions for Team Vorpal Swords. Kise is also able to copy the level of play Aomine is at while in Zone, via his perfect copy, in the match against the Jabberwocks.

Zone
Kise enters the Zone during the 3rd quarter in the game against Team Jabberwock. He was able to do this after remembering the words of Kasamatsu before the match started. Those words were to win not for revenge, but to prove everything their seniors have done for the sport were all at worth, which is mostly likely the key for Kise to enter the state of Zone.

Kise makes use of Perfect Copy in conjunction with Zone, thus making him the strongest player on the court as stated by Midorima. But because both Zone and Perfect Copy drains a large amount of stamina from the user, Kise can only maintain his Zone for 3 minutes (while having already used Perfect Copy alone for 2 minutes beforehand).

While in the Zone, he is able to handle Silver all by himself and keep Team Jabberwock at bay at the same time. Like others, his speed and strength notably increases, as he was able to dunk over Silver, who is known to be one of the strongest and most violent players on court.

Trivia

 * On the first character poll, Kise ranked 4th, with 1065 votes. He ranked 2nd in the second character poll, with 1309 votes.
 * The kanji (Ki) in his name means yellow, hinting to his hair color.
 * Kise exclusively adds -cchi to the people who he respects (mostly the Generation of Miracles' members) names, such as Kurokocchi (Kuroko), Aominecchi (Aomine), Midorimacchi (Midorima), Murasakibaracchi (Murasakibara), Akashicchi (Akashi), Momocchi (Momoi), and Kagamicchi (Kagami).
 * Kise 'returned the favor' of ripping the rim off the backboard from a dunk, and he got trampled by Kasamatsu in the bloopers.
 * According to the CHARACTERS BIBLE:
 * If Kise had an alternate job it would be a pilot.
 * Kise's favorite pastime is to go sing karaoke.
 * His specialty is mineral water tasting.
 * His favorite food is onion gratin soup.
 * His type of girl is a girl that won't tie him down.
 * His motto is: "Be honest with yourself".[56]
 * The player he has his eyes on is Kuroko.
 * In the Replace novels, Kise has used his copying ability in Dance Dance Revolution, copying the movements and rhythm and reaching the highest score.
 * In the Q&A sections in the manga:
 * Kise hates earthworms and finds them disgusting.
 * His best subject (amongst all the bad ones) is English.
 * Kise has 2 older sisters, one of which got him into modeling.
 * Kise was 171 cm tall upon entering Teikō.
 * He dislikes Unagi, because he ate it once and a bone ended up being lodged in his throat.
 * He only has his left ear pierced because it hurt so much that he said he would pierce his right ear next time.
 * Kise had a "girlfriend", during his time at Teiko Junior High. However, she broke up with him after he lost to Haizaki, and began to hang out with the latter instead. Later on, Kise reveals that she only proclaimed herself as Kise's girlfriend because of his status as a model.
 * Kise's model work is often showcased in the lifestyle magazine Zunon Boy.
 * Kise is the oldest of the Generation of Miracles.
 * In Japan, the school year begins and ends in April having birthday cut offs before the start of the next school year in April, while in the U.S., the school year begins in September and ends in June with birthday cut offs being in September just before the school year starts; if the series was set in the U.S., Kise along with Midorima and Aomine would be a year older than the other Generation of Miracles due to their birthdays falling before the cut off day (being born in June, July, and August respectively).
 * Kise is usually cold-hearted, according to the commentary of Fujimaki; '"In this match (Haizaki vs Kise), I wanted to depict Kise isn’t necessarily a good guy. In my opinion, Kise in the Anime is little too soft compared to Kise in the Manga. I heard that when Kise used abusive words, one of the Anime staff was very in shock. I am NOT going to deny Anime AT ALL, but in my mind, Kise is a person who only affable to those he admitted & feel worthy after measuring with his own eyes. Other than that, he is usually cold-hearted. I’ve recognized him who has two faces. He is not completely good-boy, you know. That being said, please read Manga thinking Kise in Manga is bit different from Anime.'"
 * Kise starts to hear the wind when he becomes disinterested in something.
 * According to Kuroko, Kise’s grades are below average.