Ruhana, also known as Hanaru, is the ship name for Sakuragi Hanamichi and Kaede Rukawa and it's been a pillar of BL culture for decades now! Its local and eastern fandom is immense and new doujinshi, fanfiction and fanart are still coming out to this day, now fueled even more by the release of The First Slam Dunk worldwide. In the west, it definitely has had a decline after the early 2000s with the shutdown of geocities and people moving on to newer media and is now just an unknown name in the sea of generic modern anime boy ships (sorry for calling them that...^^). It was bound to happen with western anime fans though since they're always looking for something new, but it being still a huge thing in Japan and other asian countries like South Korea and the Philippines (so proud of my country...) makes me really happy and contributes to the influx of new, more sensibly produced content now that fujo culture has dissipated a little and people are more thoughtful on writing healthy relationships.

NOTE: Throughout the shrine I'll be talking about some history of the ship utilizing the terms fujoshi, yaoi and discussing fujoshi culture so if you're uncomfortable with that, I'd advise you to skip the history parts or this shrine altogether. Also Slam Dunk spoilers lol.

Their relationship in canon

Rukawa is one of the first major characters Sakuragi gets to meet early on. He immediately takes a dislike to him because of Haruko having a crush on him and generally being, in his eyes, an arrogant prick who's there to steal his spotlight, steal the girl and generally be better than him. Rukawa initially doesn't really care but their first encounter spawns a heated and incessant rivalry that will persist throughout the story. Sakuragi, after joining the basketball team, will always strive to beat Rukawa and surpass his skills, consequently making him grow as a player.

Okay, but... don't they hate each other?

Dislike is probably not really enough to describe their feelings towards each other, most people talk about hate and picture them as two people who could never get along in a million years. I (and all the other lovers of this ship) tend to disagree with this statement since, yes, Sakuragi does dislike him and is always vocal about it, but Rukawa is generally nonchalant on the matter and never makes hating Sakuragi into a whole ass hobby like the other one does (lol). Rukawa seems to only mock and ridicule Sakuragi as a response to the hostility he receives and doesn't bother to take dislikes to other people unless they instigate conflict. Something people fail to see when they read SD is that Rukawa actually cares about Sakuragi as a player. He never once hopes he doesn't succeed. On the contrary, he recognizes his talent and limitations fully, considers him as a powerful asset for the team and even goes out of his way to tell him directly. Whenever Rukawa initiates a dialogue seriously, is always to tell him that.

Coincidentally, a lot of 'famous Rukawa lines' are the ones where he's provoking Sakuragi as a way to make him do better and bring out his real potential, for example the renowned "This isn't like you" (and everything he tells him after... T_T) when they were up against Shoyo and Sakuragi was purposefully backing down to avoid penalties or the even more famous "If you don't want to be subbed, then follow me with your life" in the vs. Sannoh match. The more hopeful reader might also say that Rukawa has some slight admiration for Sakuragi, which is kind of believable to me ^^ My delusion makes me write Rukawa as sort of secretly starstruck towards Sakuragi and has a crush he doesn't want to admit he has, but it's hard not to cultivate a headcanon like this when Rukawa is always staring in awe whenever Sakuragi does a big move. The first that comes to mind is his dunk in chapter 129 against Kainan in which the subbed out Rukawa gets up from the bench, throws his towel on the ground (there's. no reason at all why he should have done that, why is he so dramatic lmaoo) and cheers for Sakuragi. Then proceeds to act like it's no big deal, so cute.

We also know Rukawa worries about Sakuragi's back injury. Like everyone else, Rukawa realizes the gravity of the situation and the danger he might run into with an injury like that, he never once ignores these facts or turns it into an occasion to mock him. Speaking of, whenever these two are actually bickering it's never really depicted as an excessively violent or hate driven thing, but always as a silly gag featuring both of them being too proud to back down. It's especially funny whenever Rukawa also gets scolded when he hasn't even initiated anything. Whenever it's not played as a gag, it's always a serious (and overdramatic lmfao) matter, take for example my favorite chapter ever, "A matter of responsibility", THE GAY RAIN CHAPTER, where they get into a fistfight because both of them want to take responsibility for leading their team to a defeat. Which. sounds extremely dumb at first glance but I swear it's way deeper and emotional than it looks like. So deep and emotional there's like a shit ton of doujinshi and fanfiction inspired by this chapter alone. The consequence of this conflict as some of you know, is Sakuragi shaving his head and going buzzcut mode. Sometimes I smile knowing Rukawa is possibly the first one that saw him like that and, along with Haruko, is the only one who didn't make fun of his new hairdo, instead opting to just lament how stubborn Sakuragi is. sooo cute.

No, Rukawa is just gay as hell lol (fanon)

After realizing their hatred is not really that serious of a thing and that it's mostly one sided, you start to see things a bit different. Suddenly their smaller conflicts appear lighter and their big confrontations gain more importance and depth. By reading one of the first chapters and one of the last ones back to back, their development becomes evident, Rukawa has a newfound motivation and new goals and Sakuragi has matured at least enough to put their rivalry aside and collaborate, even if it's just once. I mean, their iconic high five is probably the most well known and famous panel of the whole manga and is referenced in many other spokon that take inspiration from Slam Dunk (i think haikyuu did it if i'm not mistaken. citation needed lol) and is a symbol of their personal growth as characters. To me, along with that beautiful beach scene where they're looking at the horizon together, it just represents a chapter of their life as players closing and a new one opening.

Another point I like to make is that Rukawa and Sakuragi have known each other for not even a full year and in six months have managed to work together in ending a beautiful match. They have all highschool and college ahead of them, who's to say they won't be an inseparable duo when they're older? I'm also basing this off of coach Anzai's prediction and him saying they'll shock the country together in the future, and he's regarded as someone whose word you won't doubt. He already knows. They will get married in their 30s.

I don't really know how to segue into this topic but it's also notable how Rukawa says that Sakuragi, along with Sawakita, is the only player that can bring out his full potential, which just makes me more curious about what they actually did in their 1v1. It's kind of intriguing how we never get to know how Sakuragi played against him but for them to be at their best whenever they're facing each other is something interesting to think about. And I'm not the only one who thinks that, seeing that there's so many fanarts of them being in different teams when they're in college! It really makes you wonder what kind of match it'd end up being. In general, I think Slam Dunk fanworks where people ponder what the characters will do in the future are always lovely to look at and offer many different and engaging perspectives.

Their retro appeal and doujinshi culture

I think an aspect that fascinates me the most about this ship is the culture behind it and the fact that it's been a fan favorite ships for doujin artists in the 90s, meaning lots of beautiful old artworks I now fondly look at. People with more extreme opinions on the internet tend to chastise fujoshi and their culture and only talk about them to turn them into a laughing stock but, even if yaoi is often characterized by problematic aspects and badly written relationships and dynamics, it's still something worth talking about and analyzing. People always make fun of fujoshi and the way they draw (see the infamous yaoi hands for reference) and I'll admit I've seen my fair share of trash even in the Ruhana doujin scene, but I just can't ignore how beautiful some of these artworks look. I feel like fujoshi bashing always comes with some degree of misogyny or a hidden enjoyment in making fun of teenage girls and young adult women (and yes, I'm very adamant on this opinion, I'm not backing down on this) but I hardly see people giving them credit.

Judging books from their covers exclusively, these artworks make my heart flutter in a way that couldn't be possible if they weren't made with a feminine sensibility behind them, this very sensibility generating these dreamlike elements in their artwork. It's all so sweet, with a tinge of 90s aesthetics, optimism and romance and silly guys being silly. I understand people's problems with yaoi and fujoshi, I didn't talk about these doujinshi's content for a clear reason, but I feel like it's a part of anime and manga culture people are too quick to dismiss or are always thinking about erasing. Whenever these dj aren't depicting sexual content at all and are written sensibly they're a pleasure to read and they always put a smile on my face. So yeah, people are definitely too comfortable making a blur of a movement that had variety and wasn't exclusively 'straight women thinking gay men are sexual objects'. I mean, did you know Umino Chika, author of Honey Clover, used to make Slam Dunk doujinshi when she was young? Her artwork is so pretty to look at, especially the traditionally-made (I think at least) covers. The colors are so bright and the way she draws these dumbasses is so cute, I really hope I can get my hands on one of her old works one day, I'm sure they won't disappoint.

When it comes to the western scene, there seemingly were lots of Ruhana fansites and the ship was at the top of everyone's lists, though not all of these sites are archived. My first and only fanfiction I've read on these two (sidenote, I have no idea why I don't read fanfiction more often. I used to read them all the time but whenever I'm interested in a new ship I get shy for some reason, lol) was written in 2001 and hosted on a very old fansite. It was super sweet (I even drew fanart of it)!! I remember it talking about Sakuragi and Rukawa being in a long distance relationship since they're going to college in different countries and Sakuragi being sad because Rukawa called him a bit late on his birthday... because he was actually on his way to come visit him!! Ugh, so cute, I need to read more fanfic.

Some doujin tropes

It seems like I wanted to do a mini section on common ship tropes both the western and eastern fandoms share but right now the first and only that comes to mind is the seemingly universally shared headcanon that Rukawa has a one sided love for Sakuragi and has to either come to terms with it or put his pride aside to confess to him. It's surprisingly really sweet when I see the rarer inverse of this happening in fanworks too, though. One of the doujinshi I own is all about Sakuragi being secretly jealous of the fact that Rukawa might have had an ex to whom he still talks to and it made me jump the first time I read it. Another common trope, although this is also canon, is communication problems, hooray! These two dumb fucks are so prideful and hard-headed they just can't talk like normal people!! Sakuragi being impossibly shy, even if it comes to someone like Rukawa confessing to him, is also a favorite of mine. I feel like I talked enough for a section in my Ruhana shrine on doujinshi and old fan-created content so maybe one day I'll expand on this topic, whenever I'll start working on my slam dunk fansite...

The "they literally hate each other" to "It'd be nice if they got along" to "In 2009 they will retire from the NBA and get married and live happily together" pipeline

It might be because of its large diffusion and popularity on twitter but, after hyperanalyzing them the way I did, it's a bit hard not to start falling down a rabbit hole. It really does start from being so convinced they couldn't like each other under any circumstance to eventually warming up to the idea that they could have gotten along better, if Sakuragi wasn't so hellbent on disliking him or if Haruko didn't have a crush on Rukawa (but I probably couldn't imagine it, Haruko is so fucking real for liking Rukawa). The discussion on their relationship is made of people having rose tinted glasses on one side and other people taking their rivalry waaay too seriously opposed to a more fun and silly recurring joke on the other. Not to bring them into the discussion, but didn't Miyagi and Mitsui know each other for some time until Mitsui decided that he suddenly hates him and beat the shit out of each other for two days then Mitsui said sorry and they were best friends the day after? And their quarrel was actually serious... I don't ship them personally but it does show how two characters that can't stand each other can come to terms. Though Sakuragi and Rukawa's prides are both so inflated it might take a while... That's why I'm always depicting them or seeking out content where they're adults and have already learned to get along, while still keeping the rivalry and competition up.

I'm kind of exhausted after writing all that but I have so much stuff I still would like to talk about! Unfortunately this shrine can only have so much and nobody has probably even read this far anyway. That's better for me anyway, I wrote some embarrassing things here. If you've read both the Sakuragi and Rukawa shrine too, I'd like to thank you in a particular way! Though I don't have enough gifts to offer yet like I had for the Rukawa shrine with its toybox. You can, however, go to the sd collection page to see the doujinshi I was talking about (I WILL scan and translate it one day, I promise!! If I got help with the latter it'd be better too since my japanese knowledge is limited) or the art gallery since I have my own Ruhana doujinshi there and I'm always drawing these two. Bye bye for now!

This little section serves a small compilation of my favorite Ruhana interactions throughout the manga, as means of self reference (and further spreading the word of the ruhana manifesto). This will contain even more specific slam dunk spoilers so proceed with caution.

• chapter 21, sakuragi is trying to learn layups and thinks about rukawa and his form when he's reflecting on why he can't do it like he does. After realizing he just thought about him, he gets flustered and hits himself in the head, all while Rukawa is witnessing in the distance, waiting for him to leave the court. He's very confused by all this. The anime makes this moment even more sus, as Sakuragi verbalizes his frustration and blushes, screaming for Rukawa to get out of his head.
• chapter 95, Sakuragi is in a pinch in the match against Shoyo and avoids blocking attacks under the ring to avoid his fifth foul and suspension. As he fails to defend, Rukawa out of nowhere, delfects the attack and takes a foul in his place. He later tells him right after that it's not like him at all to be so scared. The foul Rukawa takes in his place felt really romantic upon re-reading idkw
• chapter 97, after Sakuragi makes a dunk decisive for the match, he gets his fifth foul and leaves the game. Before leaving, Rukawa approaches to tell him that it's a shame that his score wasn't valid, considering his abilities.
• chapter 129, Rukawa cheers for Sakuragi's dunk, in the most dramatic way possible.
• all instances in which Rukawa does the :o face whenever Sakuragi's tries shooting. I'll document this properly one day.

(there's more but I don't feel like looking for them rn... ^^)