He’s actually popular with girls. Probably the most popular one in the team. However, they would all run away once they saw his pun books.
He had a total of 108 pun books. The first few ones were totally rubbish. There is one dedicated to his teammates names.
He lives with two sisters (one older one younger) and his mother. He probably has a father but we don’t see him. His mother and sisters all loves to make puns. We now know where he got that from.
Kiyoshi and Izuki’s family seems to be close. Kiyoshi ran into Izuki’s mother while he was jogging so their house must be close to each other too.
One of Izuki’s sister (older one) had a crush on Kiyoshi because he laughed at her puns and she commented that he was good-looking.
Izuki’s special skills it (no surpises) making puns. He said that he could make 100 puns consecutively. He was a judge when Midorima, Kise, Kuroko and Kagami had a pun contests which Midorima won.
He’s Seirin vice captain. (At first I thought i would be Kiyoshi but nope, it’s Izuki)
He’s actually very good at storytelling, especially horror story. There was one time where he freak Hyuuga out with school’s ghost story when they were searching for Nigou at night. (Even though he screamed with Hyuuga when something creepy happened.) In the novel, it says that he was the reason that Hyuuga developed psychological fear.
In all of the Seirin members, Izuki started playing basketball the earliest. He started at his second grade. Although he wasn’t very athletic compared to most of them. It was probably the reason why he knew a lot of strategy and movements enough for him to use eagle eyes.
Let’s face it: Izuki has been shafted to the side (or more like, he has been consistently overshadowed) ever since Takao’s Hawk Eye has been revealed to possess a wider range, of the whole court, as compared to his Eagle Eye.
Later on, Izuki is singled out by Kaijou (AND IT STILL BURNS) for being the weakest member of Seirin’s starting five, or more specifically, Seirin’s weakest point as pointed out (wordplay out of nowhere!) by Kaijou’s coach (AYO I AM SO ANGRY I CAN SMASH SOME FURNITURE). Hyuuga also lays it straight to Izuki that Kaijou is looking down on him the most in Seirin. And how does Izuki reply? “…Yeah, I know.” Izuki’s well-aware of how normal he is, how his abilities are overshadowed by the rest of his team mates.
But, as mentioned by Hyuuga, Izuki has put more into basketball than any of them in Seirin. AND TO FURTHER HURT MY HEART:
(Don’t mind that sound; it was just the sound of my heart SHATTERING.)
Izuki’s been into basketball since the second grade, so can you imagine how much effort he has put into the sport? Even though he is, as he admits, clumsy. Even though he has to practice many times more than most people. If Izuki had started out as a freshman in the current team, he would have probably been as demoralized initially like the freshmen trio…BUT. He also wouldn’t give up in the end. For his love of the game and acknowledging his role as the support tower for the team and not allowing his efforts put into basketball to be for naught.
Kasamatsu, who isn’t necessarily cocky, is well-aware of the difference in the level of their abilities and hence, he dismisses Izuki easily. WELL TOO BAD FOR YOU, KASAMATSUCCHI; THE JOKE’S ON YOU. After Izuki had successfully stolen the ball from Kasamatsu through Eagle Spear, he apologises to Izuki for taking him lightly.
AND THEN WE GET TO RAKUZAN VS SEIRIN. Who is Izuki’s point guard counterpart? Akashi Seijuurou. WHO DOES AKASHI NOT OVERSHADOW? Let’s be real. I honestly wasn’t expecting much of Izuki’s growth, because I was expecting the focus to be more on Kuroko, Kagami, and to a lesser extent, Kiyoshi, with him being one of the Uncrowned Generals and facing three others of the same title. (BUT I GOT MY WISH OF FURIHATA ACTUALLY PLAYING AGAINST AKASHI, so anything is possible, I suppose.)
So in the latest chapter, with Izuki going up against Hayama and his ridiculous dribbling, I was hopeful, but not very expectant. Hayama had gone up against another person (Kagami, was it?) and managed to pass him. And how does Hayama, an Uncrowned General, view his one-on-one with Izuki?
OF COURSE HE LOOKS DOWN ON IZUKI. If Kagami hadn’t posed much of a problem, what more Izuki, right?
He thinks that he doesn’t need much to face Izuki but decides to up the ante anyway with his four fingers dribble just to crush Izuki for being annoying in that moment.
But Izuki defies everybody’s expectations of him by managing to follow Hayama’s dribble speed with his Eagle Eye. And not long ago, Izuki was finding it difficult to keep up with Kasamatsu’s speed.
Naturally, everyone reacts with “Wha?” or “!” of various intensities because like Hayama himself, no one expected Izuki to be able to keep up with Hayama.
“It’s common for players that have stayed in relative obscurity to somehow renew themselves, and flourish as if they were completely different people.”
RELATIVE OBSCURITY- NOW JUST LISTEN HERE: IZUKI IS NOT BASIC OKAY; IZUKI IS NORMAL. (AVERAGE AS AN ADJECTIVE HAS A SLIGHTLY MORE NEGATIVE CONNOTATION TO ME IN A SPORTS MANGA IDK) NORMAL IN A TEAM WHERE THERE IS AN UNCROWNED GENERAL, A ROOKIE LIGHT-SHADOW DUO AND A CLUTCH SHOOTER CAPTAIN. BUT HE IS STILL CONSISTENTLY IN THE STARTING FIVE, REGARDLESS.
I don’t know about you, but this panel of Kasamatsu just killed me. NOT LONG AGO, KASAMATSU HAD DISMISSED IZUKI AS SEIRIN’S WEAKEST LINK. Here, he recognises Izuki’s ability and acknowledges his effort, though not perfect, in facing and marking Akashi. KASAMATSUCCHI I COULD JUST KISS YOU IN BETWEEN YOUR EYEBROWS
I’m tired so I’ll stop this post here. With Hayama going all out with his five finger dribble, I once again have no expectations.
BUT. Please recognize. Izuki is important. Izuki’s character growth is important.
(I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS OVER THE SEIRIN POINT GUARDS. LIKE FURIHATA TOO OMG I FEEL LIKE I HAVE AN ESSAY ABOUT HIM LURKING IN MY BRAIN SOMEWHERE- PRECIOUS BABY YOU WILL GO FAR I CAN FEeL IT IN MY BONES.)
Izuki Shun is smart, funny, and serves as Seiren’s point guard. An excellent strategist, he has the ability of Eagle Eye. He also has a habit of making puns, which greatly annoys both Hyuuga and players on other teams.
He is specialized in passing, dribbling, and stealing the ball on court, and off-court he is specialized in firing off 100 puns in succession. Izuki’s family–as in his mother and his two sisters–show the same tendencies in regards to puns. I think even if he wanted to, Izuki couldn’t stop saying puns because it’s so deeply ingrained in him.
Matter of fact, he is the most popular with girls out of the players on the Seiren team, but they run away when they see his joke books.
When we first meet Izuki, he’s handing out flyers to the underclassmen to try to recruit members for the team. He doesn’t seem that significant then, but that rapidly changes.
During the practice game with Kaijo, Riko calls him “calm and collected,” and adds afterwards that he has a strange sense of humor.
He is revealed to have started playing basketball during second grade, and therefore has very high technique in passing, shooting, and dribbling. Even though he isn’t extremely athletic like Kagami, he is agile, making him ideal for Seiren’s run-and-gun strategy while making fastbreaks, changing direction, or tricking the opponents.
He’s not that flashy of a player, but he’s the core of their offense with the nickname “control tower.” Without Izuki, they would be lacking in strategy and in observation on court. Matter of fact, without him, the team wouldn’t have gotten to the Winter Cup finals to begin with because of how important his steals and decisions are during games.
Even Kasamatsu acknowledges him as the playmaker of Seiren; he controls the court while watching with his Eagle Eye.
One of his greatest fights is when he guards against Takao in the Shutoku-Seiren game in the final of the Interhigh preliminaries. Takao, having Hawk Eye, has a more developed sense of the court than Izuki does. Although both Takao and Izuki are fast, he concentrates on beating Takao’s strength with the team rather than taking him down himself.
That’s really important to who Izuki is as a character. Even though he’s challenged multiple times by several different characters (Kasamatsu, Takao, Imayoshi, etc.), he never truly goes one-on-one with them before the team is aware. After Takao blocks Kuroko’s pass, Izuki tells Hyuuga about Takao’s Hawk Eye and the effect on the team before trying to take him down again.
Like all of the upperclassmen of Seiren, he has a great value for teamwork, which is what makes Seiren so successful.
During the Touou game, he’s challenged by Imayoshi. During the team meeting, he isn’t determined to take Imayoshi down but is rather determined to take Touou down with the Seiren team when he says that they’re stuck in a rough battle field.
His care for his teammates is partially due to his Eagle Eye, since he is constantly watching them on court. However, the majority is from how he is as a player. Because he’s not a very flashy player despite being highly skilled in technique, he requires teamwork to succeed. Out of the starting players at Seiren, he’s often labeled as the most unremarkable (even though that opinion often changes after Izuki steals).
Because he’s such an integral player while being cool and collected, he often calming the team while making several key plays.
Matter of fact, his ability to remain calm under pressure is one of the key reasons that Seiren wins over Touou during the Winter Cup.
Because of Riko’s dad, Kagetora Aida, Izuki was labelled “Pretty boy” and learned Eagle Spear. Although he also calls Hyuuga the “lifeline” of Seiren, I have to partially disagree because I really do think that Izuki calls the shots (pun intended) as much asHyuuga does in games.
Izuki is one of the most important characters to Seiren’s growth and development as a team. You have to love his jokes and the determination he brings to the table. His sense of teamwork is ridiculously strong and he balances the seriousness of Hyuuga and the “Ditzy boy” (Kiyoshi, as labelled by Riko’s dad). He is undoubtedly one of the greatest supporting characters in KnB, and possibly even the most important to Kuroko’s and Kagami’s sense of a true team.
Just for fun…
Fun fact…
interestingly enough, he is voiced by the same actor who voices Nigou.
just moving along like everyone else 