In the 2022 anime film The First Slam Dunk he is voiced by Subaru Kimura in Japanese, and by Ben Balmaceda in the English version.

After being rejected fifty times by girls during junior high school, Sakuragi meets and falls in love with Haruko Akagi, a basketball fangirl who is also in grade ten.

Sakuragi's most recognizable trait is his red hair, though he later shaves his head as reparation for an error that led to a loss in the Interhigh Tournament against Kainan.

[9] However, Sakuragi's injured spine prevents him from competing in further rounds of the ongoing tournament; in the absence of one of its starting players, Shohoku loses its following match.

After Shohoku is eliminated from the tournament, Sakuragi enters rehabilitation in order to heal his spine so he can continue playing basketball, and is still in physical therapy in the series' final chapter.

[10] Sakuragi appeared in the 1994 film simply titled Slam Dunk, which focuses on a practice game against Takezono High.

This was mirrored in the character of Hanamichi Sakuragi, who starts playing basketball to be popular with the girl he likes, to later become truly fond of the game.

[22] Upon his introduction, The Fandom Post noted that Sakuragi was not written specifically as a basketball player but instead more of a gag character due to not feeling motivated to train in the team and instead spends his screentime being invited by another sport.

[23] Anime News Network's Carl Kimlinger called Sakuragi an "inspired choice" for a manga protagonist as he is a delinquent with a wild temper and the wrong motives, but who does the "apparently impossible" and balances sympathy and extreme arrogance thanks to comic scenes.

[24] Carlo Santos of the same website instead argues that although Sakuragi is not characterized by the "stunning superhuman abilities" that are normally associated with the protagonists, seeing him become a sportsman and a decent person is equally exciting.

[25] According to Crunchyroll, both Slam Dunk's Hanamichi Sakuragi and Vagabond's Musashi Miyamoto are similar protagonists being young and egotistical prodigies.

[26] According to Sequential Art, Hanamichi shows some character growth in later parts of the manga: "Not that he isn't still stuck on himself or being a rival to Rukawa, but he does at least make an effort to be a team player.

However, across the thirty-one volumes, Sakuragi gains appreciation for the sport as well as the Shohoku basket-ball team, comparing him to similar successors like Ryoma Echizen from The Prince of Tennis.

[32] Takehiko Inoue had given him a boundless charisma and resilience, of self-centeredness and team spirit in an impossible balance, of a touching talent and emotionality and of an irrepressible and enthralling personality to such an extent that only he was enough to have a reason to read the manga of Slam Dunk.

[32] Hanamichi is not the classic hero looking for redemption or with physical limitations but rather he is an aggressive and not too intelligent young man, which allowed him to be an unprecedented figure in the panorama in his debut reference.

[32] Korean voice actor Kang Soojin said "people who are in their 30s and 40s now still have memories from their youth of hotheaded, basketball-loving Hanamichi thanks to the anime film The First Slam Dunk.

[36][37] Inoue worked with Nike on a new pair of Jordans, prominently featuring Hanamichi Sakuragi, the two sneakers pay homage to the protagonist with limited-edition designs and manga-paneled shoeboxes.

The Air Jordan VI sneakers feature Sakuragi's jersey number embroidered on the outside heel, red uppers, and iconic scenes from the manga.