Atsushi Murasakibara

Contrary to the impression his height gives, Murasakibara acts very lumpish. He fools around at serious times, which is not always well received. He is mildly sadistic and childish. He claims that the only reason he plays basketball, is because he's good at it, he doesn't care for the sport at all. He has always told others that he dislikes, is bored by and even hates players who play basketball with passion, even when they are losing. However, it is hinted that he actually likes basketball from the bottom of his heart due to his activation of Zone.[1] In accordance with his childlike nature, he has a sweet tooth and is seen eating sugar-related foods all the time, except during a match. It is also mentioned that Murasakibara spends every single penny he has on all kinds of junk food. He dislike anyone attempted to take his food when he is willing to use violent to threat them such as Shōgo Haizaki.

According to Tetsuya Kuroko, Murasakibara isn't the calm type, and was actually quite the opposite while playing with the Generation of Miracles. He used to be very active in the attacking lineup during his junior high school days at Teikō Junior High, and even set a record of scoring 100 points in a single game when he was enraged. However, since basketball bored him, halfway, he became less aggressive and had been limiting himself to defensive plays only. His actual specialty is offense. During the match against Seirin High, Murasakibara was startled when Seirin managed to cut Yōsen's lead from 18 points to just only 5. Murasakibara claims that it is pointless for the weak to struggle any further and then switches to offense after being enraged.[2]

The actual reason of his lazy attitude towards the game is because if he gave his all and went all-out, he may hurt his opponents or even teammates with his huge size. But when he was matched up against Jason Silver who is bigger than him, he smiled for the first time in a game for he doesn't have to worry on anything while giving his all.

Murasakibara also has the tendency to be with people who can make decisions for him. In Teikō, he was always obedient to whatever Seijūrō Akashi ordered him to do. In Yōsen, he is seen listening a lot to Tatsuya Himuro's advice.

As one of the Generation of Miracles, Murasakibara skills are superior and unrivaled to any other high school center. Murasakibara is described as the most natural talented amongst the Generation of Miracles as his height is 208cm (6' 10"), which is the average height for a center in the NBA. He has a long wingspan, long legs, and even large hands. He relies on all of these aspects to get rebounds, block shots, and dunk. Because he doesn't "like" basketball, he prefers staying on defense; but even then, he doesn't feel like blocking if he doesn't want to.[32] At important matches like in the Winter Cup, he is forced to do his best and his skill is truly shown.

During the match against Jabberwock, Kise mentioned that Murasakibara could hurt his opponents or his own teammates, should he ever go all out, and until he met Silver, Murasakibara believed no one could match him in terms of physique and strength. With an opponent like Silver who has superior physical attributes, Murasakibara can go all out. He is shown playing with an expression that Kuroko described as "similar to Kagami's when he goes against a strong opponent." Unleashing his true strength was enough to instill fear to the Jabberwock center, thus intentionally injuring him in the process.

With Murasakibara's arms and legs being especially long, this allows him to take giant steps to catch up easily and block a shot. He has been seen blocking shots from Hyūga and Kagami when the ball is underway, so much higher than the take-off. He can also tower above all the team's centers and catch the rebound easily. The entire area inside the three-point is his domain, which means that no one can escape from his absolute defense. According to Aomine, Murasakibara is so strong that even he has difficulty bypassing him.

After being taught how to guard the post against bigger and stronger players by Okamura, he is able to block Silver's shots twice.

Like Kiyoshi, Murasakibara can use his big hands for rebounding the ball with only one hand. Instead of jumping towards the ball with both hands, he has gained the ability to rebound the ball with only one hand. This gives him the advantages of recovering the ball much quicker and with a longer extension. Murasakibara acquired this skill after watching Kiyoshi demonstrate it. It was easier for him since he already has the height advantage. [33]

Not only is Murasakibara capable of blocking and rebounding, he can also contribute for the offensive plays, with incredibly powerful dunks. His colossal size and juggernaut strength are more than enough to overpower three defenders and dunk over them, as seen in the match against Seirin. He has also been seen doing reversal dunks with ease, a feat that requires much more power than a normal dunk; facing away from the rim requires more strength to compensate for the momentum gained from running towards the basket on a normal dunk. At the peak of his destructive power, he was able to bring down the entire backboard.[34] A demonstration to his power is that he was able to lift Kiyoshi up with only one arm.

When Murasakibara was on the offensive, it was also seen that in contrast to his seemingly sluggish attitude and overwhelming size, he could easily sprint both short and long distances up and down the length of the court. He even outran Izuki and got back to defense easily. He is also shown capable of handling the ball on both ends all by himself. His scoring ability is so great he has scored 100 points in one game.

After being taught by Okamura on the post, he no longer uses wasteful movements that hamper him from using his full power. Murasakibara is able to overpower a player like Jason Silver, whose physical abilities are beyond genius basketball players, when he plays without holding back.

Murasakibara's signature dunk is known as the Thor's Hammer, and consists of a two-handed dunk combined with a mid-air spin. Its execution involves Murasakibara posting up under the basket, receiving the ball, and jumping and spinning 180 degrees in mid-air.[35] Because of the momentum from Murasakibara's size and weight during his mid-air turnaround, he is able to overpower opponents without losing altitude during his jump. Thor's Hammer has been seen to easily overwhelm three defenders simultaneously.

According to Aomine and Kise, in terms of ability, he meets the requirement to enter the "Zone" but unfortunately, he would never be able to because he was assumed to not have the most basic term needed, the love for basketball. However, they were proven wrong when Murasakibara surprisingly entered the Zone. At the brink of despair and exhaustion against Seirin High, including Kagami already in the Zone, Murasakibara opened the gates of the Zone. His power grew substantially and his speed was even greater than before.[36][37] Also, Kagami needed Kiyoshi's help to block his Thor's Hammer (though Kagami's Zone was coming to an end at that time). However, not much of this was shown, since Murasakibara's body was also near exhaustion and Kagami's Meteor Jam ended the game before Murasakibara could.

After the match, Murasakibara claimed to quit basketball, but broke down in tears not soon after. This makes it clear that Murasakibara does have a burning passion for basketball, in contrary to what was previously believed, which enabled him to enter the Zone. Furthermore, the main condition for him to enter remains unknown.