Year: 1st Year
Hikoichi's got the energy and enthusiasm for basketball, but he knows he's not quite good enough to be a real starter for Ryonan—so he's pretty much accepted his role as the team's unofficial manager, hanging around Coach Taoka and obsessively documenting everything that happens during matches. His trademark move is pulling out his notebook and going "gotta check it," usually followed by shouting "Unbelievable!!!" whenever something wild goes down on court.
He's a big admirer of both Hanamichi and Ryota, though for different reasons. Hanamichi won him over pretty quickly (honestly, Hanamichi just convinced him), while Ryota's the real inspiration—he's a starter for Shohoku despite being barely taller than Hikoichi himself, only about three centimeters difference. For someone his size, that's impressive.
His older sister is Yayoi Aida, a basketball magazine reporter, and fans often note the parallel between her note-taking habit and Hikoichi's obsessive game documentation. It probably runs in the family.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
