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You play basketball with your body. And what moves your body are your muscles. As long you have muscles, everything improves!!!

—Eikichi Nebuya

Rakuzan logo

Eikichi Nebuya (根武谷 永吉 Nebuya Eikichi) is the center of Rakuzan High and one of the Uncrowned Kings who is known as the Herculean Strength (剛力 Gōriki).


Appearance[]

Nebuya has dark colored skin and a very short beard. He is very tall and has an extremely muscular body, which makes him seem older than he is. He has short black hair, that is styled with two stripes each at the sides of his head. He has been called a "muscle gorilla" by Kotarō Hayama before.[1] He plays with the blue and white Rakuzan High jersey with the number 8.

In Junior High School, he wore his team uniform and was noticeably thinner. He also had bleached blonde-brown hair.

Personality[]

Nebuya's appetite

Nebuya's appetite

Nebuya is a glutton who is shown to be able to eat comparable amounts or even more than Taiga Kagami. Nebuya even overeats before a game with the thought that meat makes him strong. He frequently burps and lets out gas, which annoys his teammates. He is often called a "Muscle Gorilla" and takes it as a compliment. He also loves to add the word "muscle" while playing such as 'muscle screen-out', 'muscle rebound' or 'muscle dunk', just for further exaggeration. He is quite rude and downsizes his opponents, which shows his too much pride on his strength and build. He also believes that "muscles improve everything" - the main reason he decided to get buffer.

Despite his "macho" personality, he has a softer side to him such as when he begged Teppei Kiyoshi to switch out Kōki Furihata from playing after seeing how much he was shaking at the sight of Seijūrō Akashi. Because of this, Kiyoshi noted that he was "actually pretty kind". He also checked in with Reo Mibuchi during the Final Round, asking what was wrong when he missed two free throws, showing he has compassion for his teammates.

History[]

Nebuya loses to Kiyoshi

Nebuya loses to Teppei Kiyoshi

Nebuya was a very strong and talented player back in Junior High school, but he was overshadowed by the Generation of Miracles. Despite this, he still earned the title of one of the five Uncrowned Kings. At one time, Nebuya was also defeated by Teppei Kiyoshi who complemented his play style but said that it is not just about power and encouraged him to polish his skills too to become stronger. Instead of accepting Kiyoshi's message, he choose the other way and decided to bulk up and build more muscle, hoping for a rematch one day.

Story[]

Winter Cup[]

Nebuya and his team won the early rounds and their quarter-finals without any trouble.

Semi-finals[]

Nebuya complains before the match

Nebuya complains before the match

Before Rakuzan High's match against Shūtoku High at the semi-finals of the Winter Cup, Nebuya is spotted by Kōki Furihata, Kōichi Kawahara and Hiroshi Fukuda, who were shopping for supplies. They see Nebuya in a restaurant, eating a ridiculous amount of food.[2] It is later revealed that he is one of the three Uncrowned Kings that belong to Rakuzan High.

As the match is about to begin, Nebuya belches complaining that he ate too much, only to be scolded by Reo Mibuchi. For the tip-off, Nebuya goes up against Ōtsubo. Midorima makes a quick three-pointer from the half-line and Nebuya is amazed.[3] Rakuzan does not fall back and after an inside pass from Seijūrō Akashi, Nebuya makes the easy basket. He yells at Hayama later for getting passed by Kiyoshi Miyaji so easily.

Throughout the game, he gave Taisuke Ōtsubo a hard time rebounding the ball and even overpowers him under the basket though he was outplayed sometimes, such as getting blocked and outrebounded. In the end, after a dare by Akashi, he and the others started to play seriously, assuring their victory.

Finals[]

At the warm-up, Nebuya made his longest blurp irritating Reo Mibuchi. He said that he ate his maximum since his matchup is Teppei Kiyoshi. At the beginning of the match, he loses at the tipoff against Taiga Kagami because of the latter's jumping ability. At Rakuzan's counter, as he was about to dunk, Kagami suddenly appeared and blocked him and made a Meteor Jam against Akashi entering the zone. With Kagami in the zone, he and the others had a hard time defending Kagami until Akashi shuts his zone down with an anklebreaker. So far, he is equal with Kiyoshi and is able to score from inside passes. But before the first quarter ends, Kiyoshi rebounds the ball with a vise claw from behind and passes to Junpei Hyūga who made a three pointer making the score tied.

At the second quarter, after Mibuchi wins against Hyuga in the shootout, Kiyoshi challenges him shifting the focus of the match to a battle of centers and also battle of two uncrowned kings. Nebuya uses his strength to pressure Kiyoshi in the post but the latter spins and attempts to dunk but he was able to block it.

Nebuya dunks on kiyoshi

Nebuya dunks on Kiyoshi

Realizing that Kiyoshi doesn't remember their first meeting, he reminds him of it and asserts that "muscles don't lie" - a logic that totally denies skill according to Tatsuya Himuro and Atsushi Murasakibara who doesn't agree with that. Apologizing for forgetting, Kiyoshi then decides to change his mind through basketball. From a miss, he boxes out Kiyoshi and not giving a space. Kiyoshi tries to use the "Vice Claw" through the mid-air battle but Nebuya proved to be more powerful as he rebounds the ball and pushes Kiyoshi through their contact in the air. At the counter, he calls for the ball in the post then spins and dunks on Kiyoshi with full power. However, Kiyoshi made a counter as he uses his "Right of Postponement" and passes it to an open Hiroshi Fukuda and scores. He continues to pressure Kiyoshi throughout the quarter and managed to dominate under the basket. 

The 2nd half starts with the match seemingly over for Seirin High. However, things started to change as soon as Tetsuya Kuroko has processed to 'overwrite' Chihiro Mayuzumi and eventually succeeded. Kuroko's return managed to change the flow of the game. Meanwhile, Kiyoshi has started to fight back against Nebuya. Seeing this, he taunted Kiyoshi and knocks him down after making a bank shot. Throughout the third quarter, Kiyoshi managed to hold on against him. 

The fourth quarter starts with Hyuga, making a three-pointer against Mibuchi. In Rakuzan High's offense, Hyuga managed to stop Mibuchi's "Earth" and the shot misses. Nebuya fought for position in rebounding, but suddenly felt that Kiyoshi got stronger and spins over him, getting the rebound. Seeing his agitation, Hayama tells him to calm down or he'll get outplayed even more. He also tells him that Kiyoshi is very powerful and is of the same standard as Rakuzan players, if not for his leg injury. Rakuzan's offense merely focused on 1 on 1 situations between the 3 Uncrowned Kings. Mibuchi's "Oblivion" is stopped by Hyuga and scores a three-pointer after a pass from Kiyoshi. What shocks Nebuya is Kiyoshi's way of playing against him that it would break his legs. The latter made a quick spin on him and dunks. Rakuzan's lead were reduced to 10. 

Seijūrō Akashi tells Mibuchi that the next possession would be the last for the rest of the team to attack, and strangely stayed on the other side of the court. Kagami steals the ball and proceeds to face Akashi alone with his "Meteor Jam". However, Akashi entered the zone and steals the ball before the latter could make his jump. Akashi makes his way to the other side and easily passes the remaining four Seirin players and scores. Seirin calls a timeout. 

Disappointed with his team, Akashi has now totally abandoned the concept of teamwork. Rakuzan's plays continues, solely focusing on Akashi who is dominating, whether offense of defense. However, Akashi is suddenly stopped by Kuroko who is revealed to have his own version of the "Emperor Eye". Akashi's abandonment to his team eventually backfired, as Kagami dunks and knocks him down. After that, Akashi started to become lame, being out in the zone, missing shots, giving bad passes and turning the ball over. Seirin is now only behind by 2 points, 90-92. 

Rakuzan had enough to the point that Nebuya even held Akashi in his Jersey. As Coach Eiji Shirogane decided to sub Akashi out, Mayuzumi steps in and voices out his complaints. His words reached Akashi and his 'real self' awakened. Strangely, Akashi apologizes to everyone in the team with a kind manner. Akashi tells them that he will need their strength once again. 

Everyone in the crowd were surprised that Akashi stayed in the game and what is more surprising is his perfect passes that boosted out his teammates' potentials. Seirin managed to fight back but all five players of Rakuzan are now in a 'zone-like state', wherein everyone in the team have just gotten stronger. The only one capable to put up a fight is Kagami but all 5 against 1 proved to be too much and he failed to stop Nebuya from dunking, eventually reaching his limit. Rakuzan's overwhelming strength left Seirin in despair again but regained hope as soon as Shigehiro Ogiwara fuels their spirit from the crowd, followed by those whom Seirin beat.

The newly found hope enabled Kagami to enter the 2nd door which is the "Direct Drive Zone" by synchronizing with his teammates while in the zone. The players of Rakuzan are unable to keep up with the directions of the passes. However, Akashi's 'other self' doesn't plan to make it easy for Seirin and shoots a three-pointer after ankle breaking Kagami. Hayama and Mayuzumi double-teams Kagami, but still managed to shoot a three-pointer, reducing the gap to 4, 101-105. In the next play, Izuki's prediction that the ball will be passed to Nebuya, since Kiyoshi is at his limit was correct and managed to steal the ball. With only 8 seconds left in the match, Izuki decided to pass the ball to Kagami, but passes to Hyuga instead. Remembering Mibuchi's posture after seeing it many times, Hyuga copies the "Earth" and successfully lured Mibuchi to a 4-point play. However, a possible overtime is not on Seirin's side, simply because Rakuzan have more bench players to spare and it is only natural to predict that Hyuga will miss the free throw on purpose. Everyone gets ready to fight for the rebound and Kiyoshi wins against Nebuya and Mibuchi. Kiyoshi quickly passes the ball to Kuroko. Akashi jumps to block him but the "Phantom Shot" turned out to be a pass to Kagami who dunks to end the game.   

Everyone in Rakuzan were shocked with their loss. Akashi congratulates Kuroko but tells them that Rakuzan will be the victors next time.   

Abilities & Skills[]

Physical Ability
 
10/10 Nebuya chart
Technique
 
8/10
Stamina
 
10/10
Mental Strength
 
9/10
Special Ability
 
5/10
Nebuya's-Power

Nebuya's Power

Apart from the other Uncrowned Kings who possess their own signature skills respectively, he doesn't have any aside from normal moves backed with raw power. He is a post up player that capitalizes his body in the post. Because of his very strong physique, he is a tough matchup, even against bigger players such as Taisuke Ōtsubo, even dunking and knocking him down. He also has a decent speed to back it up.

Not only that, but anyone (especially those who lack sufficient strength) that is matched up against him under the basket becomes easily exhausted due to a total mismatch in terms of power. Teppei Kiyoshi describes him as "like a boulder". Kenichi Okamura mentioned the secret behind it is the way Nebuya drops his hips and uses his arms. When rebounding, Nebuya uses his power to push a Center like Kiyoshi out of range on the ball, even preventing his Vice Claw through upper body strength. Furthermore, Nebuya has enough power to almost bring down the entire backboard with his dunk, surprising even Atsushi Murasakibara.

After Seijūrō Akashi granted Nebuya access to an almost Zone-like state, his movements improve drastically, and even dunked on Taiga Kagami, although Kagami's Zone had just run out leaving him with little to no stamina left.

Relationships[]

Seijūrō Akashi[]

As their captain, Nebuya always listen to and respects Akashi. He often yells "NICE PASS!" to him when gives him a good pass to dunk. During their practice match, he was awestruck when Akashi managed to single-handedly defeat him, Reo Mibuchi and Kotarō Hayama on a 3-on-1 match. Like his teammates, he was seen upset and shocked when Akashi initially entered the Zone and left them behind. When Akashi's mental state started to crumble, he became furious and told his captain to get a hold of himself, before storming off. When Akashi's true personality awakened, he questioned him at first, but was influenced by him to play better during the game eventually leading him to follow his captain and teammates to enter the Zone.

Rakuzan High[]

Nebuya seems to get along with the other Uncrowned Generals of his team, although he and Reo Mibuchi often get into arguments about his vulgar manners. Despite seeming self-centered and often showing off his masculinity with his muscles, Nebuya has been seen showing genuine concern for his teammates such as when he noticed Mibuchi was off when he missed two free throws, something that is not typical for him to do. In Seijūrō Akashi's Character DVD, he also encouraged Akashi to come to him and the other Uncrowned Kings if he had any trouble since they were teammates. Like the rest of the Uncrowned Generals on the team, he seems to have a strained relationship with Chihiro Mayuzumi as the three might have initially doubted Mayuzumi's abilities as a player.

Teppei Kiyoshi[]

During their middle school days, Kiyoshi defeated Nebuya and he couldn't accept the fact that the latter went down to PF just because he is the closest match to him. After his loss, Kiyoshi compliments his physical ability but should polish his skills a bit and he'll be a good player. However, he took the other way and instead decided to get buffer because of his belief that "muscles are everything". Taking the Center position in Rakuzan High is probably because he wants to compete with Kiyoshi when they meet again.

Quotes[]

  • "Yeah that's right! It's strength!! I've never used any kinds of techniques"! (when Taiga Kagami was amazed with his strength)
  • "In that case, I'll get even buffer. That's right"!
  • "That's wrong...! If were going to lose in power, then we have to get more powerful!! That's the only thing we need to train in to get stronger. Muscles don't lie"!!
  • "NICE PASS!" - Said to Seijūrō Akashi after scoring a basket

Etymology[]

  • The name Eikichi means "eternal" (永) (ei) and "lucky, good" (吉) (kichi).
  • Eikichi's surname Nebuya means "root" (根) (ne), "military, martial" (武) (mu/bu) and "valley" (谷) (ya).

Trivia[]

  • According to the CHARACTERS BIBLE PLUS:
    • His favourite food is karubi (Boneless short ribs).
    • His hobby is sumo wrestling. 
    • His specialty is posing (especially at his side chest).
    • His motto is: "A sound mind in a sound body."
  • According to KUROFES:
    • His best subject is Japanese history.
    • He isn't a member of any School Committee.
    • He has a mother, father, and 3 older brothers.
    • He is bad at arguments or thinking logically.
    • His favourite type of girl is a dominant one.
    • He spends his free time training his muscles and increasing weight.
    • He just somehow started playing basketball.
    • His best basketball play is muscle dunk, rebound and screenout.
    • The player he has his eye on is Kiyoshi.
  • Interestingly enough, none of the Uncrowned Kings occupy the Power Forward position. Although in middle school, Eikichi Nebuya used to play as Power Forward. It is unknown why he switched (most likely to have a faceoff against Kiyoshi or because he was tallest and strongest player in Rakuzan at the time.
  • Nebuya claims he gets more power when he eats meat; that's why he always bulks up before a match.
  • In Akashi's character DVD, it is revealed that Nebuya can control the volume of his belches as he was able to belch very softly. It's likely that he belches loudly intentionally as he said "What comes out, comes out".

References[]

  1. Kuroko no Basuke chapter 177, page 13
  2. Kuroko no Basuke chapter 174, page 12
  3. Kuroko no Basuke chapter 175, page 17

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