Seijuurou Akashi

Seijuurou Akashi is a character from the Kuroko no Basuke anime and manga.

Seijuurou was the captain of Generation of Miracles. He is the only person that the Generation of Miracles knuckles under. He is the point guard and captain of Rakuzan High and later on for Team Vorpal Swords as well.

Appearance
Akashi Seijuro has a rather small stature for someone who has captained the Generation of Miracles, as noted by Furihata, at only 173 cm tall, making him the shortest out of the Generation of Miracles. He has spiky red-maroon hair and large eyes with vertical pupils. His hair had longer bangs in Junior High school and during the events preceding the Winter Cup. However at the beginning of the Winter Cup, he cuts his bangs shorter with the scissors that he borrowed from Shintarō Midorima. Akashi's eyes change based on his personality: in his normal self, both his eyes are red-maroon, whereas the "other" Akashi has heterochromatic eyes, with the right eye being red and the left being yellow/orange. He wears the white and light blue Rakuzan jersey with the number 4. He usually wears his jacket over his shoulders.

In EXTRA GAME, Akashi's appearance mostly remained the same except for an increase in muscle and his hair growing longer. He dons the Team Vorpal Swords's white and cardinal jersey with the number 4, which signifies his position as the captain.

Akashi's appearance was not revealed for a long time. The times he appeared or was mentioned, only the lower part of his face or the back of his head was shown. It wasn't until Winter Cup that his full appearance was revealed.

Personality
Akashi when first appearing in the series is shown with an extremely intimidating and condescending personality. He is able to control the Generation of Miracles as their leader as they all submit to his requests. Akashi has a certain level of respect for all of his teammates, former and present, and has utter faith in their abilities. Due to the way Akashi grew up during childhood, he developed a strong winners-mentality, believing that winners get everything in life while losers are denied all. Because of the fact that he has never faced defeat before, victory itself is something that he is bestowed upon. Akashi views himself as absolute in power and skill and grows extremely violent when anyone disobeys his commands as shown when he tried to stab Kagami with the scissors he borrowed from Midorima when Kagami disobeyed him. However Kagami revealed that he could sense Akashi already knew he could avoid it.

Initially, Akashi's personality was that of a person who respected his teammates, while still holding that winners-mentality. Akashi also cared and appreciated his fans that gave him daily support and focused solely on teamplay with his team. He also referred people by their last name as a sign of respect and was overall less menacing. The original Akashi personality has red eyes.

In his Middle School years, Akashi developed a second personality that twists on the original personality. This personality showed extreme hubris and does not tolerate those that belittles him or defies him, stating that those who serve him or earns his respect can look him in the eye. He also stated that if Rakuzan lost to Shutoku during the Winter Cup, he would gouge his eyes out and give them to his teammates. The reactions from all of his teammates and Midorima implied that they knew Akashi would actually do it, something that Takao noticed. This personality first manifested at Teikō Middle School, where Akashi desired to kick Haizaki off the club. When the original personality of Akashi is confronted at the possibility of defeat against fellow teammate Atsushi Murasakibara, the second personaltiy becomes the dominant personality and also activates the Emperor Eye skill for the first time, allowing him to seize victory. This second personality would later sever core teamwork aspects and viewed that coordinated teamplays were not the way to victory, which eventually led to Kuroko leaving the team, and being soundly dominated by Seirin in his last moments of dominance over the original Akashi. He also referred to his teammates by their first name, rather than their last name. This Akashi personality has his right eye - red and his left eye - orange.

The real reason why the second personality manifested was due to the fear of the original Akashi fearing that he will be left behind by his Teikō teammates, who were then acquiring their newfound talents, and due to the amount of pressure his life had put on him to strive for absolute excellence.

The original Akashi personality manifests and returns once the second Akashi cracks and falls apart when his Emperor Eye was defeated by the coordination and teamwork of Kuroko and Kagami. Though the original Akashi wanted the second Akashi to fail and lose the match, he decides to take over his rightful place. Once reawakening, Akashi refers to his teammates by their last names once more, giving support (which shocked them) and compliments to their plays, and boosting their morale to the point where the Rakuzan Basketball team was able to enter the "Zone" alongside him. Alongside this, Kuroko notes that because he is the original Akashi, he has also become much more dangerous and stronger. Once being defeated in the Winter Cup, Akashi is hurt by his first loss, but thinks of it as a beginning for something much greater and swears that he and his team will become victorious in their next encounter.

Despite his figure being somewhat related to as the manga's biggest villain, Akashi was shown in the Kuroko no Basket: Kiseki no Game to be extremely caring and considerate towards his former teammates. He constantly reminds them of doing things the right way, even in the way they eat and take care of their digestive system. It was much near the point of nagging that Aomine even called him "mother".

Abilities
As captain of the Teikō basketball team, he led the team to consecutive victories and they would later be known as the Generation of Miracles. At Rakuzan High, he became the captain of the basketball team as a freshman. Miyaji comments that this is highly unusual as upper-class students would not normally surrender their position to a first year, and also the fact that the 3 Uncrowned Kings (who are known to be prideful individuals) follow his orders without question, this shows his exceptional leadership skills. Akashi is shown to be very fast and an excellent ball-handler.

According to Masaaki Nakatani, the way Akashi played in the first quarter of Rakuzan vs Shūtoku is similar to how one would play shogi, with Akashi assessing the situation before he makes his move, indicating that Akashi is a skilled tactician. Akashi's plays are extremely well-designed, as it was revealed in the Rakuzan vs Shūtoku match that everything that had occurred was all a part of Akashi's plan. During the match, Takao states that Akashi's perfection as a point guard is undeniable. Akashi has also been seen to successfully shoot three-pointers. In the same match Akashi beats Midorima in a one on one isolation with ease. Akashi has also similarly beat Murasakibara in a one on one easily. Akashi has also beaten Kagami in a one on one.

Upon reawakening of his real self against Seirin, Akashi displays his perfect playmaking by giving smooth passes. Takao compliments him as the 'ideal point guard' even if his shooting were not to be mentioned. Akashi is the only member of the Generation of Miracles who has awakened his ability forcefully. His awakening occurred during his one-on one-match against Atsushi Murasakibara where he activated his Emperor Eye, along with the second personality which resided within him. It would seem that the two personalities each have their own special skill.

Akashi's playing style differed based on what personality was the dominant one. Though the real Akashi personality has become the dominant one, his attitude when under pressure is like that of the second personality such as when Seirin successfully unleashed the "Direct Drive Zone".

In Kuroko no Basket: Extra Game Chapter 6, The real Akashi can switch to the other Akashi personality in order to use the Emperor Eye to its full power. In Kuroko no Basket Extra game Chapter 8, the other Akashi decides to vanish and transfer his full skill to the real Akashi which allows him to use the full power of the Emperor eye without needing to switch personalities with the other Akashi.

Emperor Eye
First revealed in the 3rd quarter of Rakuzan vs Shūtoku, Akashi's eyes are capable of observing every movement of his opponent, thus predicting the opponent's next move. When activated by the second personality, a glowing ring manifests in between his eyes. The Emperor Eye when used at its maximum potential, displays a glowing ring around the iris of the eye. Even without the glowing ring, Akashi is seen to still have Emperor Eye active.

According to Murasakibara, his Emperor Eye can see the smallest details of a person's movements, including their breathing, heartbeat, sweat, muscle contractions, etc. With this, he can time his actions perfectly to nullify the opponent's movements, sabotaging whatever tactics the opponent tries to execute. All offenses are predicted beforehand and all defenses crumble before his eyes. In short, he can "see the future of his opponent's moves."

It's revealed in Chapter 6 of Kuroko No Basket: Extra Game that Akashi cannot fully utilize the Emperor Eye like the other Akashi. However, the original Akashi can still utilize Emperor Eye as well but to a lesser extent, to the point where the glowing ring around the iris is almost never shown and only shown for a moment before disappearing again. This is because the Emperor Eye isn't the original Akashi's special talent but rather the other Akashi's talent. In order to use the Emperor Eye to its fullest potential, the real Akashi must switch to the other Akashi personality.

Complete Emperor Eye
In the fourth quarter during the game between Team Vorpal Swords and Team Jabberwock, both of Akashi's personalities thought that the Emperor Eye was inferior to Gold's Belial Eye. However, the other personality thought otherwise, stating that the Emperor Eye isn't inferior but rather incomplete because the two were split apart. In order to stop Gold, the other Akashi decided to vanish and transfer his full skill to the real Akashi in order to access the full power of the Emperor Eye without needing to switch personalities. The other Akashi stated that once the Emperor Eye merges with the real Akashi's court vision used to make perfect passes, he will gain a power equal to or greater than Nash. Afterwards, Akashi was able to predict the future even further than Gold's Belial eye. With his Complete Emperor Eye, Akashi was able to perceive the best possible pattern from Gold's movements which lead Akashi to successfully steal the ball from him.
 * Wide Field of Vision: Akashi can easily see openings in defenses, as shown when he passed the ball through Kazunari Takao's guard. Also, similar to the Hawk's Eye, Akashi's vision covers his blind spots, allowing him to easily avoid a screen from Shinsuke Kimura.
 * Triple Threat Penetration: Akashi's eyes can capture the moment when his opponent goes into Triple Threat, the most basic form in basketball. It is the form that sets up all three motions: shooting, passing, and dribbling. Almost any move a player attempts to make will start from that stance. By using his Emperor Eye, Akashi can read the opponent's movement and proceeds to intercept the ball before they can react. Against Akashi's superb speed and reflexes, the opponent can't even afford to move.
 * Ankle Break Dribble: Akashi can perform the Ankle Break, a high-level speed dribble that disrupts his opponent's balance and makes them stumble to the ground. This situation occurs when the opponent's center of gravity is on their pivot leg while they're turning. Players collapsing due to this rarely occurs under normal circumstances. However, with his Emperor Eye, Akashi can predict the moment his opponent is unbalanced, allowing him to perform this technique with little difficulty.

Zone
Similar to Aomine, Akashi has displayed the ability to willingly enter the Zone. This was first shown in the fourth quarter of the final match during the Winter Cup, where he was able to stop Kagami (who was also in the Zone) when he was starting his dunk, revealing his increased reaction and accuracy time. Additionally Akashi in the Zone was noticed to be able to outrun Kagami (who was also in the Zone) on a fastbreak. It was also shown that like Kagami's Zone, Akashi's Zone also possess a sphere of defense of equal size.

The trigger for Akashi to enter the Zone is when he decides to stop relying on his teammates to win and instead wishes to grasp victory by himself.

Perfect-Rhythmed Plays
Compared to the rest of the Generation of Miracles, it is revealed that Akashi has a second ability. An ability that is on par with or even greater than the Emperor Eye. According to Midorima's hypothesis to Kuroko, the Emperor Eye was forcefully activated by Akashi through pressure against the one-on-one with Murasakibara during their third year in Teikō. It is speculated by the latter that this skill belongs to the other Akashi, instead of the original Akashi. However, the original Akashi can also utilize Emperor Eye as well to a lesser extent to the point where the glowing ring around the iris is almost never shown and only shown for a moment before disappearing again.This happens because of ownership, rather than not being able to use it. The real Akashi needs to switch places with the other Akashi to gain it's full power, as it is, in fact, the other Akashi's skill.

Against Seirin, Akashi awakened his second ability that is Perfect-Rhythmed Plays. With his Emperor Eye and perfect playmaking, Akashi can grasp the situation and send accurate passes at whim. Though it appears that this is just a normal play, the real thing is when Akashi sets his teammate for good looks and throws a perfect pass, he creates a perfect rhythm in them. In other words, his second ability is to draw out his teammates' true potentials.

The trigger is the exact opposite of the other Akashi's Zone; instead of abandoning his teammates to grasp for victory himself, the real Akashi grants his teammates access to a Zone-like state. This is because Akashi's playmaking ability has drawn out the full potential of the other four though it is noted it's only around 90%, a step before the Zone. It is also worth noting that when Akashi enters the zone, he emits an aura that surrounds him while making perfect passes, which is probably the 'Zone distribution' to his teammates.

Streetball Handles
Akashi can dribble the ball at a very high level that is hard for the defender's eyes to follow, making it very hard for them to steal. This technique is very similar to the one Gold uses as it also has the ball moving at such a high pace with the use of many feints, confusing the defender. This helped him pass the ball out of the range of Gold's Demon Eye, by passing the ball behind his back to Aomine. The crowd described Akashi as a natural born streetballer when he preformed this. He also had flashy passes based on streetball, notably the elbow pass to Eikichi Nebuya.

Additional Attributes

 * Situational Analysis Speed: Akashi's mental prowess when judging a scenario and making split second decisions is extremely fast. This allowed him to switch from a lay-up to a pass almost instantaneously against Midorima.
 * High Physical Prowess: Aside from being highly intelligent on- and off-court, Akashi also possesses an extremely good physique, which accounts for his jumping power. This is proven when despite being only 173 cm, Akashi is still capable of performing an alley-oop with Chihiro Mayuzumi to dunk the ball in. Notably, he scores over both Kagami and Kiyoshi, who are at least 15 cm taller than him, though he did catch both off guard due to Mayuzumi's misdreaction. He is even able to use his jumping power for defense to stop Kiyoshi's dunk (while being in the Zone).

Trivia

 * On the first character poll, Akashi ranked 29th, with 26 votes, before he even made his appearance. He ranked 18th on the second poll with 263 votes and on the third poll, Akashi ranked 1st with 6276 votes (Kuroko ranked 2nd with 3505 votes). This is the first time someone other than Kuroko has come first.
 * Akashi is probably based on the NBA players Jason Williams and Steve Nash since all three are excellent in passing and handling the ball.
 * The kanji (Aka) in his name means red, hinting to his hair color. The next kanji (Shi) means office, as in a department of government.
 * It was revealed that the names of his father and mother are Masaomi and Shiori respectively.
 * In the original datebook, CHARACTERS BIBLE, an early character concept sketch of Akashi is seen. His current hairstyle and the one in middle school are drawn, together with three other alternate hairstyles.
 * At the time when Akashi's face hasn't been revealed yet, he sometimes appeared very mysterious and cool with his face covered, e.g. throwing a shogi piece in that air and catching it dramatically. This was made fun of in the bloopers, when he failed to catch the piece. Other intimidating actions also failed in other bloopers.
 * In the manga, Akashi's full face wasn't revealed until chapter 113, in the anime, his full face could be seen in the 2nd Opening and a reference in episode 22 made by Izuki (with both eyes red).
 * In the second drama CD, Akashi states that he dislikes beni shoga (pickled ginger).
 * It is shown through a flashback that Akashi can play both the piano and the violin.
 * Akashi addresses the other Generation of Miracles and his Rakuzan teammates informally, calling them by their first names. This is notable because most of the characters always address each other with their last or family names, with very few exceptions.
 * Akashi can perform Jason Williams' elbow pass.
 * According to Fan Disc 2, his type of girl is elegant.
 * According to the CHARACTERS BIBLE:
 * Akashi's alternative job choice is to be a professional shogi player.
 * His hobbies are Shogi, Go (Wei-qi), and International Chess.
 * His specialty is horse riding.
 * His favorite food is tofu soup.
 * His motto is "Quick and decisive".
 * He hates disobedient dogs because they don't listen to him.
 * His type of girl are girls who have dignity.
 * According to KUROFES:
 * The player Akashi has his eye on is Kuroko.
 * Akashi and Kuroko were planned to be siblings before Fujimaki canceled the idea. The two have similar hairstyles due to the original concept of them being related.
 * In a Q&A section in the manga, it is revealed that:
 * Akashi was 158 cm tall upon entering Teikō.
 * Akashi lives alone with his father, who is extremely wealthy and raised him with 'excellency-in-all-areas' mentality to be called deserving in their household.
 * Akashi's best subject in school is labelled as everything.
 * Akashi says that he often goes horse-riding on days off.
 * He started basketball because he finds it fascinating how a player has to use both intellectual and physical skill to play the game.
 * He got along with Midorima the most during their days in Teikō Junior High.
 * When he was asked who he got along with the least, he answered Aomine, since Aomine's rowdiness was often difficult to deal with.
 * He said that he doesn't have a specific fond memory in junior high, and that he enjoyed hanging out with the basketball club.
 * In his current club, he gets along the most with Mibuchi.
 * He often plays shogi, with an opponent or solo.
 * When asked about his weakness, he says that he doesn't have any in particular.
 * Akashi concludes with saying that basketball is a way to improve himself.
 * He hates wakame, because he dislikes seaweed.
 * Despite being a first year, he is the student council president at Rakuzan.
 * The horse he always rides is called Yukimaru, a white horse that was born on a snowy day and is of the same age as Akashi.
 * In volume 30 of the manga, it revealed Akashi is unable to make jokes.
 * In Q.266 of the Manga, it is revealed that:
 * The Akashi family, according to tradition, has always been strict. It was an Akashi's duty to achieve victory.
 * Akashi's father is extremely strict as well.
 * Akashi started his education at a very young age. His work load was so much that even adults would’ve complained bitterly. He also didn't have his freedom.
 * His mother was his moral support and got him through a cruel childhood. She convinced his father to give him a little bit of freedom. His mother eventually died when Akashi was in his fifth year of elementary school.
 * After the death of Akashi's mother, his father became stricter than before. His school training increased as well.