Kagami is very muscular for a high school boy. He is very tall, which gives him an overwhelming aura, some say he resembles a tiger (referring to his first name, Taiga is Japanese for tiger). He has dark red hair and red eyes. His eyes are also ver narrow and his eyebrows are split. He wears the jersey with the number 10. He is also occasionally seen with a metal necklace with a ring on it.
Personality
Kagami is very ambitious, stubborn and determined. He refuses to give up in a difficult situationand is very stubborn. He is also a glutton and is able to eat at least five times a normal meal. He is shown to be a great cook.
Story
Past
In third grade, Kagami moved to the States and attended school there. He had a hard time making friends because of his foreign appearance, but he met Tatsuya Himuro, who invited him to play street basketball with him.
Kagami meets Himuro for the first time
Kagami accepted and made his first friend. Kagami, who was still a beginner back then, admired Himuro's talent in basketball and how he made friends that way. When he asked Himuro how to get friends, Himuro told him it came because of basketball, and asked Kagami to play basketball and Himuro would train him. Himuro thought him a lot and Kagami quickly improved and he also made friends. Himuro and Kagami grew closer to each other Kagami saw Himuro as an older brother. In an act of kindness, Himuro bought two rings, gave one to Kagami and told him that those rings are the proof that they're brothers.[1]
Three years later, because Himuro was one year older than Kagami, Himuro graduated before him. They lost eachother out of sight, until they reunited one year later. Kagami was seen playing basketball and he was invited by some boys to play with their team. They told him he'd be of great value in the competition against another team, with the winner getting the court. The boys tell him that the other team recently got a strong player and Kagami is interested. He decides to join their match and is amazed when he sees Himuro there. Himuro tells hims to play fair and square, hinting that he shouldn't go easy just because they know each other.
Kagami wins against Himuro for the first time
Kagami agrees and he wins against Himuro for the firs time.[2] After that, they played every week and they each lost and won the same amount. After 98 games, Himuro tells Kagami that if he loses the next game, he won't see Kagami as his little brother anymore, because the big brother is always stronger than the little brother. In the 99th game, Kagami finds out that Himuro has injured his wrist. Himuro shoots, misses and Kagami runs for the fast break. He goes up for the lay-up, but couldn't bear to win against Himuro and misses on purpose.
Himuro punches Kagami
After the game, Himuro punches Kagami. He tells him that the next match, they'll bet on the ring that represents their friendship. He says to treat the previous game as a draw. And tells him that when he loses the next time, he will have to pretend that they never were friends. But before they had a rematch, Kagami flew back to Japan, noy seeing Himuro again for 2 years.[3]
Introduction
Kagami is first introduced at Seirin High School's opening ceremony, when he walked in on Koganei and brought him back to the basketball booth. He fills in a registration paper but doesn't write his future goals. When Riko asks him about that, he simply says that Japanese basketball is easy, and leaves.[4]
Riko uses her Scan on Kagami
On the first training, he is seen standing with the other Seirin players. Riko orders them to take off their shirts and she activates her Scan to examine their bodies. When she arrives at Kagami, she sees that his stats are exceptionally high and is very impressed.[5] So impressed, that she even drools at the sight of his muscles. Riko gets her act together and doesn't see Kuroko anywhere. Kuroko reveals himself and Kagami is very surprised to see a Generation of Miracles who looks this weak.
Skill
Kagami demonstrates his strong abilities by making a lightning-fast cut
He is a naturally gifted player that trained in the states prior to coming back to Japan. While he is a powerful all-around player, Kagami's unique skill lies in his ability to jump to great heights. This skill facilitates not only his most common move, the dunk, but also allows him to defend well against taller players; he even uses it to break Midorima's perfect shooting. While he generally jumps with his left leg in order to allow him the use of his more dexterous right arm, his right is far stronger, allowing him to touch the top of the backboard as opposed to just hitting the net. The drawback to this capability is that, like certain members of the Generation of Miracles, his body is still too underdeveloped in order to use his jumping prowess at great length without potentially damaging himself. Having trained extensively since the inter-high school championships, he can now dunk from the free-throw line, a feat that may have put him on a level with the Generation of Miracles.
Kagami dunks from the free-throw line
Lane up: A lane up is a dunk from the free-throw line. Kagami had the ability to dunk normally and very high, but in the Winter Cup, against Josei High, he ended the game by breaking though his defense, jumping from the free-throw line and dunking.[6] A lane up is very difficult, because being able to reach the basket after jumping such a distance is only possible with an extra-ordinary jumping strength, the kind that Kagami possesses.
Trivia
On the first character poll, Kagami ranked 3rd, with 1116 votes.
He went down to 4th place on the second poll, with 1036 votes.
His horoscope sign is Leo[7], indicating that his birthday is between 23 July and 23 August.
