Slam Dunk

Before I start, I must point something out. If you're expecting something like Kuroko no Basket with Zone, 100% accuracy shooting, perfect copy and other supernatural powers, stop reading right now, because it has none of that. Also, SD focuses more on the whole team, rather than just 2 characters (Kuroko and Kagami). Now, onto the recommendation. The story follows Sakuragi Hanamichi, a delinquent who is in love with a girl named Haruko and wants to impress her in some way, so he decides to join the basketball club. That was his initial reason for joining, but he gradually develops a love for the sport andstarts working harder than anyone else. Starting off from the very basics like dribbling, lay ups and defense, slowly gaining experience, you can see him improving with every match that passes. The art looks rather simple at first, but improves after some time. The matches in particular, are really well drawn. Shots, dunks, passes, player movements - everything is drawn in a way you'd understand what's going on. The characters is probably the strongest point of this manga. Sakuragi is one of the most well-developed main characters I've seen in all of manga/anime. The same can be said for the rest of Shohoku's team members. Heck even the rival teams are so well-developed, you would have a problem chosing who to cheer for. My favourite non-Shohoku character is Ryonan's ace - Sendoh. He is such an amusing and fun character that you just can't help but love. As a sport manga, it's really beginner friendly. Even if you don't know much about basketball, this manga will teach you everything about the sport. From the basics like how to dribble, how to shoot a ball correctly, passing, to advanced skills like how to grab a rebound successfully, how to screen-out and set up screens, how to avoid the different kinds of fouls (double dribble, travelling, pushing and so on) and to use fouls to your advantage. Speaking of fouls, there are a lot of them in this manga, unlike in Kuroko no Basket where there was barely any contact between the players. If you get 5 fouls, you leave the game. Fouls bring more tension into the matches (which are already intense enough) and makes them more enjoyable. When the players are tired, they are tired. What I mean by that is that their movements slow down, shooting percentage goes down and the players become more vulnerable to mistakes. This is what realism is. I also have to mention the final game (don't worry, I'm not gonna spoil it). This manga probably has the best final game ever. It hit all the right points and it was so damny emotional. I was barely holding my tears in the last 4-5 chapters of the last game and I doubt any other sports manga can make me even tear up like this. Slam Dunk is the closest thing you'll get to a realistic basketball series. I also have to mention the humor. The humor in this manga is pure gold. I dare say it's near Gintama's humor level. It also references some things from real life, mostly from NBA. That is something rarely seen among anime/manga. Highly recommended for fans of: Hajime no Ippo (it's like its basketball equivalent), Kuroko no Basket (I love Kuroko, but KnB fans must feel the greatness of this manga), Haikyuu and sport fans as a whole. I also recommend this manga to people who want to get into basketball. This one will surely help you with your basketball studies.

If you're a regular basketball watcher, or a solid fan of the sport, then Slam Dunk is a must watch for you. This piece of work is skillfully written by the famous author Inoue Takehiko, also known for his other works such as REAL and Vagabond. Slam Dunk also had outstanding sales in Japan and a successful adaptation series (along with four movies) which were sold worldwide, thus inspiring young people to practise basketball passionately. As said above, Slam Dunk is for those who are into basketball. Inoue Takehiko himself has been a basketball player in his high school days, and he is an active NBAwatcher, so you don't have to worry about technical mistakes or poorly developed games, 'cause Takehiko truly knows how to write a basketball game and illustrate it, also adding as many intensity as possible, to make a thrilling and memorable game. (There are a few matches involving such great writing). Reason why I mentioned this is, this is the basic feature a basketball series should contain, to attract readers/watchers. The characters are Slam Dunk's strongest point. A meaningful quote (from a review) by Inoue Takehiko is: "I don't force my characters to do things their personality doesn't allow, even if it means to progress the story". I wholeheartdly agree with this saying, and this is possibly why Takehiko's characters have been a successs. Now let's focus on the actual story and characters of Slam Dunk. The main character of the series, which invests more time in him is Sakuragi Hanamichi. In the beginning, Sakuragi is a punk and delinquent who socializes with others of his kind and make troubles. He gets into fighting a lot and a notable characteristic of his, he gets rejected by every female he's confessed to. Heartbroken, Hanamichi stumbles upon Haruko Akagi, a pretty girl, who makes Sakuragi fall in love with her real quick. Due to her being the sister of the basketball club's captain, Hanamichi ended up in the basketball team and that's when his journey as a baskettoman (Hanamichi's pronunciation of basketball player). Simply put, Hanamichi starts a complete beginner, starting from the scratch, such as dribbling the ball, doing lay ups and rebounding. (Also to note that Slam Dunk explains almost every important and basic rule of basketball, via DR.T, a short and amusing tertiary character who has enough knowledge in basketball). And this said, Inoue Takehiko brilliantly develops Hanamichi's gradual growing love for basketball. The Shohoku team's members are all nicely developed. Starting from Akagi, a tough, gorilla looking young boy who is the captain of the Shohoku basketball tean. Akagi has an unbeatable spirit for the sport of the basketball. This very spirit drives along the team in high morale which is very helpful and basically the core of their accoplishments. His relationship with Sakuragi Hanamichi is also one of the best things in the show, they have a cat and mouse relationship in the beginning which develops into a long term friendship. Next, we have the megane kun, which is the essential characteristic to every sports series. A megane kun who is loyal to the team and boosts their morale in times of trouble. Kogure is the vice captain of the Shohoku team and the helping hand of Akagi. They both have known each other since childhood and have a trusting friendship between each other. Rukawa Kaede is the everlasting rival of Sakuragi Hanamichi. Rukawa is always one step ahead of Hanamichi, which irritates him the most and motivates him to actively practice basketball and get better at it. At first, Rukawa gives an impression of a popular, quiet, good looking guy who excels at what he does. And he really does excel at basketball. Though slow (very slow), his relationship wih Hanamichi gives fruits. (Not going to spoil). Also necessary to say, Hanamichi also considers Rukawa a rival in love. Unfortunately for Hanamichi, Haruko is all over and drools over Rukawa, not that the latter cares anyway. Lastly, the trouble makers of the Shohoku. Ryota Miyagi and Mitsui Hisashi. Both have been delinquents and have had constant conflicts with each other. Due to a fight, Ryota is sent to hospital, resulting in a long break in bball.Ryota's quite short, and this makes him a key player for Shohoku. He excels at dribbling the basketball and giving no look passes, cause he knows where his teammates are in the court. He also shoots two pointers at times and has an unmatched speed which comes to hand Shohoku plenty of times. On the other hand, Mitsui Hisashi took a different path from Ryota. He decided to stop playing basketball (reasons stated in his arc, which it's pretty spoiler heavy), but he eventually comes back at the team after an exhaustingly long mini arc (in the anime, mostly). Though those were the main characters, which are awesomely developed, Slam Dunk also focuses on the "opponents" of Shohoku. Aces such as Sendo Akira, Shinichi Maki, Kenji Fujima, Eiji Sawakita are all equally developed and sometimes you root for their team to win. The distinct art of Inoue Takehiko is also enjoyable to watch and read. Slam Dunk actually is one of his first drawn series, and it's a very good chance to watch Inoue Takehiko develop as an artist. Overall Slam Dunk is located at the 2nd place (of sports series). It was an undescribable ride with lots of fun, funny and sad moments. It clearly deserves a 10 in my book, as these kind of series are very rare.

Slam Dunk is the most popular and iconic basketball manga around, thanks to a dynamite main character and Takehiko Inoue's clear passion for the sport. Hanamichi Sakuragi, a red-headed delinquent and complete basketball neophyte, is the heart and soul of Slam Dunk. He's great at various things (beating up other delinquents, being tall, and being rejected by girls are chiefs among them), and while playing basketball is clearly not one of them, don't tell him that; in fact, Sakuragi's brand of unreasonable confidence and swaggery is a breath of fresh air in a genre usually populated by bland genius or meek underdogs as main protagonists.He's a very easy character to root for, and it's delightful to watch him slowly transform from playing just to impress a girl into being genuinely affected by all the feelings that the game entailed. Whether it's his one-sided rivalry with the prodigious Rukawa, his constant goofs in the court, or his endearing simple-mindedness, Sakuragi will make you laugh and face-palm until eventually he'll also make you fist-pump in pride as he successfully defended a dangerous opponent, secured a key rebound, ,nailed his first jump shoot, and many more. This might seems like an unnecessarily obvious statement, but there's really a lot of basketball in Slam Dunk. It's drawn at a very deliberate pace; Inoue likes to take his time, often going over two or three volumes to depict a single match (for the final match, he went all-out and spread the match through 6+ volumes). Although there's a significant amount of humor, rom-com triangle, and off-court basketball events in the initial volumes, once the main cast is assembled it's pretty much Basketball Action all the time. Non-playing characters like Sakuragi's love interest Haruko and his amusing band of delinquent pals are inevitably demoted into the role of spectators, and character development is practically confined in the realm of basketball court as the main cast (especially, but not limited to, Sakuragi) learned to utilize/expand their strengths, overcome their weaknesses, and develop chemistry with each other. It's safe to say that if you enjoy the entirety of Slam Dunk, you're already a big fan of basketball or on your way into becoming one. Inoue's art is a big part of what makes the matches, slow as they are, so enjoyable. You'd be hard-pressed to find more passionate depiction of a basketball game on manga pages; whether it's rim-shattering dunks, ferocious blocks, or gorgeous three-point swishes, there's a range of dramatic moments native to the sport that he successfully captured. It gets increasingly beautiful and detailed, too. Homages to the 1990s NBA are abound, from the players themselves (Sakuragi and team captain Akagi, for example, were clearly modeled after Dennis Rodman and Patrick Ewing respectively), some iconic poses, and jersey color schemes. There's also a sense of real-life plausibility within the games, as the players in Slam Dunk thrived with realistic skills and athleticism rather than over-the-top superhuman traits. Questionable tactical moments do exist (quad-teaming a single player, anyone?), but in terms of the general flow of the game,it's still a lot more faithful than your typical sports manga. Slam Dunk ends rather abruptly, covering only a single tournament season, and some potential future opponents/match-ups being teased ultimately never materialized. It could've become a long-running epic a la Hajime no Ippo, but apparently Inoue had other plans. Even then, it's still a powerful and memorable journey, led by a beloved red-headed brat.

Slam, motherfuckin, Dunk. You say those 3 words & they just begin to resonate throughout the room. That’s the power this manga has. Slam Dunk is a series that, I hate to use this phrase because I think it’s stupid. “Transcends manga”. I don’t necessarily use that because I think it’s the most well written, most clever, or best manga ever. Slam Dunk doesn’t even crack my top 10 of all time (but it comes pretty damn close). So why do I use that phrase? Because I honestly think Slam Dunk is a manga that appeals to everybody. Basketball is a universally understood concept. It’spopularity may vary across regions/countries (especially given that before Slam Dunk Basketball in Japan was not a popular sport) but it’s nevertheless something everybody understands. However if Slam Dunk being about Basketball was all it had going for it then it wouldn’t be as fondly remembered as it is & most certainly wouldn’t be the 7th & 9th highest rated manga on Anilist & MyAnimeList respectively. Want proof? Just look at Takehiko Inoue’s Buzzer Beater manga, while not outright awful it’s essentially a glorified advertisement for some ESPN website in Japan at the time & it’s not even remotely remembered as well as Slam Dunk is because being about Basketball is the only thing Buzzer Beater has going for it. So what does make Slam Dunk as good as it is. Well it’s quite simple really, Inoue himself does. Takehiko Inoue may just possibly be the most passionate Japanese Basketball fan of all time. So what does he do? He takes a concept as universally understood as Basketball, gives it some fantastic characters with a lot of charisma, charm, & identifiable traits. Then takes both & writes a straight-forward narrative with hype moments throughout, characters that we get to see grow throughout the narrative, at first bad art but it quickly becomes good, & then near the end of the series phenomenal, & packages it tight so that it keeps a fast pace that makes the series incredibly addicting to read. But that’s just a generalization of these concepts. As stated earlier, Slam Dunk’s plot is simplistic. It’s got the exact structure & story beats that you would expect out of a sports narrative. Because of its cast though, the story is excelled to greater heights that it would’ve obtained otherwise. We’ve got Sakuragi, the meatheaded shounen protagonist that gets heated easily but pulls his weight when it counts, has a strong sense of teamwork & loyalty under his rough exterior, & is passionate about Basketball. Then we’ve got Rukawa, the reserved member, the star player, the one who goes through giving into authenticity & opening up to his team mates. We’ve got Akagi, the captain, the really passionate Basketball player, & the guiding figure on & off the court. Even some of the characters that aren’t super important to the narrative like Sakuragi’s 3 friends offer some great comedy to the series & they play off of each other really well. I can go on all day but I think you get that Slam Dunk has some awesome characters that are one reason that really makes Slam Dunk as good of a series as it is. As mentioned earlier, Inoue is a passionate Basketball fan & with Slam Dunk his passion oozes throughout the pages but it never comes off as cheesy. Throughout the manga you really get to feel Inoue’s passion rather it be through his detailed art, his ‘Dr T’s basketball lessons” (remember Basketball was essentially not a thing in Japan before Slam Dunk). The already mentioned characters that have just as much of a passion for the sport as the author does. It’s just a huge love letter at the end of the day. What I think encapsulates the love Inoue has for Basketball is how he goes about representing games & getting to see the characters grow. The games in Slam Dunk ar always hype, never dull, paced perfectly, & house some of the most powerful moments of the manga. But through the games we always get to see these characters grow meaning there is always some form of progression that keeps the pace going. There’s moments in Slam Dunk like Sakuragi denying the Judo club because he really has grown to love the sport of Basketball by that point. A last second unexpected loss that destroys the team’s spirts, & getting to learn bits about Rukawa’s past that help make this manga for me. If you love seeing artist evolve overtime, then Slam Dunk is for you because you get to see it in just one manga that ran for 6 years, you don’t even need to read Vagabond or Real (though I’d recommend you do that but those are for different reviews). Slam Dunk’s art at first can honestly look quite bad. There’s hardly any shading, the compositional works can be weak, the characters look ultra simplistic, & the art in generally for the first volume can look derpy if I had to put it in one word. However the art quickly improves, Inoue’s compositional pieces become significantly better, his characters more detailed, his paneling better, I think you get the point. Then, it happens. Inoue’s art becomes phenomenal by the final 6 or so volumes. Not on every page mind you, but when it’s spreads, detailed character panels, & panels of that like. Inoue’s art gets to a point that I honestly think can rival early Vagabond. In conclusion, you get to see the artistic evolution of an artist in one work & that’s awesome, easily some of the best art that I’ve seen out of weekly shounen jump. Well there you have it. My thoughts on Slam Dunk. I love this manga if you couldn’t tell, I think it’s absolutely legendary & a series that everybody no matter who they are should give this manga a chance. There’s very little to outright hate about this manga it’s so likeable thanks to Inoue’s passion for the sport being used to craft a simple yet compelling narrative throughout 31 volumes, 276 chapters, & xxxx pages worth of material (if somebody wants to tell me how many Slam Dunk actually is feel free). This manga, while not necessarily being my favorite or a manga that I think is the best. This manga gets my highest recommendation above all other manga due solely to its mass appeal & likeability. If you have not read this legendary series, get on it.