| Other Networks | |
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| スラムダンク | |
| Genre | Sports, Comedy, and Drama |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Takehiko Inoue |
| Published by | Shueisha (Japan) Madman Entertainment (Australia) Viz Media and Gutsoon! Entertainment (North America) Chuang Yi (Singapore) |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Jump |
| Original run | 1990 – 1996 |
| Volumes | 31 |
| TV anime | |
| Studio | Toei Animation |
| Directed by | Nobutaka Nishizawa |
| Written by | N/A |
| Original run | October 16, 1993 – March 23, 1996 |
| Episodes | 101 |
| Animanga Hub | |
Ending of Slam Dunk
Slam Dunk (スラムダンク, Suramu Danku) is a sports-themed manga series written by Takehiko Inoue about a basketball team from Shōhoku High School. It was first serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan from 1990 to 1996, and had also been adapted into an anime series by Toei Animation, which had been broadcast worldwide, enjoying much popularity, particularly in Japan, several other Asian countries, and Europe.
Plot[]
Slam Dunk centers around Hanamichi Sakuragi, who starts as a delinquent outcast, becoming the leader of a gang. Hanamichi, being very unpopular with girls, has been rejected by them fifty times. Yet, he finds out that Haruko Akagi is the girl of his dreams, and is happy when she's not scared of him like all the other girls he has asked out.
Haruko Akagi, who recognizes Hanamichi's athleticism, introduces him to the Shohoku basketball team. Hanamichi was reluctant to join the team at first because he had no previous background in any sports and thought that basketball was a game for losers (also because the fiftieth girl rejected him for a basketball player). Sakuragi, despite his immaturity and hot temper, proves to be a natural athlete with potential and joins the team in order to impress Haruko and prove that he is worthy of her. Kaede Rukawa — Sakuragi's bitter rival (both on the basketball court and love, even when Rukawa doesn't acknowledge Haruko's crush on him), the star rookie and a "girl magnet" - joins the team at the same time. Hisashi Mitsui, an ex-junior high school MVP (Most Valuable Player), and Ryota Miyagi, a short but fast player, both also rejoin the team and together these four struggle to complete team captain Takenori Akagi's dream of making Shohoku the national champion. Together, these misfits gain publicity and the once little known Shohoku basketball team becomes an all-star contender in Japan.
Characters[]
- Main article: Characters
The manga and anime series Slam Dunk features a cast of fictional characters created by Takehiko Inoue. The series takes place in Japan, with the main characters being high school basketball players from Kanagawa Prefecture.
It tells the story of Hanamichi Sakuragi, a teenager who falls in love with Haruko Akagi after being rejected by 50 other girls. However, as Haruko is in love with Kaede Rukawa, a popular and talented basketball player, Sakuragi decides to join the Shohoku High School basketball team to surpass Rukawa and make Haruko fall in love with him. As he starts learning how to play basketball, Sakuragi starts liking the sport and resolves to become the best player. On the team, Sakuragi meets Haruko's older brother, Takenori Akagi, who is also Shohoku's captain, and two other players with violent pasts that caused them to leave the sport, Ryota Miyagi and Hisashi Mitsui. Together these five players help make Shohoku one of the best high school teams in Japan.
Media[]
Manga[]
- Main article: Chapters
The series was originally published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from issue 40 of 1990 until issue 27 of 1996. The 276 individual chapters were originally collected in 31 tankōbon volumes under Shueisha's Jump Comics imprint, with the first being published on February 8, 1991 and the final volume on October 3, 1996. It was later reassembled into 24 kanzenban volumes under the Jump Comics Deluxe imprint from March 19, 2001 to February 2, 2002.
In North America, an English version of Slam Dunk was published by the now-defunct Gutsoon! Entertainment, which serialized the title in their manga anthology Raijin Comics from 2002 to 2004. Five collected volumes were published under Gutsoon's Raijin Graphic Novels imprint. They were released from July 2, 2003 until May 5, 2004. After Gutsoon! went out of business, the license for Slam Dunk was purchased by Viz Media, which published a preview of the series in the December 2007 issue of the North American edition of Shonen Jump. Slam Dunk began serialization in the magazine, starting with the May 2008 issue, as well as in tankōbon format with the first being published on September 2, 2008. As of December 3, 2013, Viz has published all 31 volumes of their translated edition.
In 2004, Inoue produced an epilogue titled Slam Dunk: 10 Days After, which was drawn on 23 chalkboards in the former campus of the defunct Misaki High School located in the Kanagawa Prefecture, which was held for public exhibition from December 3 to December 5. The epilogue, along with coverage of the event, was reprinted in the February 2005 issue of Switch magazine.
Anime[]
- Main article Anime
Cover of the first DVD from Slam Dunk published by Geneon and Toei Animation.
An anime series, consisting of 101 episodes, was produced by the TV Asahi terrestrial television network and Toei Animation and directed by Nobutaka Nishizawa. It was first aired on TV Asahi from October 16, 1993 to March 23, 1996. It was later aired on the satellite television network, Animax, in addition to four animated movies produced. The anime follows the manga storyline, but leaves out the National Tournament games. Toei compiled the episodes into a series of seventeen DVDs which were released in Japan from December 10, 2004 to May 21, 2005. Toei once again collected the series in three DVD boxes during 2008. All the three boxes have a total of seventeen discs.
Toei and Geneon briefly teamed up to release the anime on DVD in North America after the manga was discontinued, though this was also discontinued after only a few volumes. The first DVD was released on March 15, 2005 and volume 4 was the last one released on June 14, 2005 before they were cancelled. Various episodes from the series were also downloadable in IGN's Direct2Drive service. Toei is currently streaming episodes of the series online for a fee and for free through Crunchyroll. Joost also started airing all 101 episodes as of May 2009 on their website.
The music was composed by Takanobu Masuda (from episode 1 to episode 69) and BMF (from episode 70 to episode 101). Three CD soundtracks were published during the airing of the series in Japan. The openings, ending and other two themes were collected into the CD soundtrack The Best of TV Animation Slam Dunk, released on July 21, 2003.
Films[]
Four films were produced by Toei Animation from 1994 to 1995 while the manga and TV series were still running. They contain largely new material that is either only hinted at or is not presented in the manga. From August 1 to 4, 2006, NHK broadcast all four movies as part of its satellite networks NHK BS-2's Summer Anime Choice line-up, and TV Osaka aired the last three movies from January 3 to 8, 2007. All the films were collected into a DVD box named Slam Dunk The Movie which was released on December 10, 2004.
The first film, simply titled Slam Dunk, premiered on March 12, 1994. Set after Shohoku's practice game against Ryonan, the film focuses on a practice game against Takezono High. Before the game, Sakuragi runs into Yoko Shimura, the girl who rejects him in the very first scene of the series, and Oda, the basketball player she rejected him for. Zenkoku Seiha da! Sakuragi Hanamichi, released on July 9, 1994, is the second film from the series. It happens during Shohoku's 4th Round Qualifying game against Tsukubu High. The film features original characters including Godai, an old friend of Akagi and Kogure's, Rango, a wild show-off who is in love with Haruko and quarrels with Sakuragi, and Coach Kawasaki, a former pupil of Anzai-sensei. Shohoku Saidai no Kiki! Moero Sakuragi Hanamichi was released on March 4, 1995. Set after Shohoku's loss to Kainan, and during a practice match against Ryokufu High. Hoero Basukettoman Tamashii!! Hanamichi to Rukawa no Atsuki Natsu, which was released one June 15, 1995, tells that Rukawa's middle school kouhai Ichiro Mizusawa will be paralyzed soon and wishes to have one last game against Rukawa.
In 2007, a Taiwanese live-action film adaptation of Slam Dunk was announced. With a budget of $10 million, it was called the country's most expensive movie of all time.[46] The Taiwanese and Shanghai co-production was directed by Chu Yen-ping and stars Jay Chou. Kung Fu Dunk was released on February 7, 2008.
Games[]
Numerous video games based on the series, mostly developed by Banpresto and produced by Bandai, have been published for the Japanese market. Two basketball sims titled Slam Dunk Gakeppuchi no Kesshō League. and Slam Dunk 2 were released for the Game Boy. The Super Famicom had three games, Slam Dunk: Shi Tsuyo Gekitotsu, Slam Dunk 2: IH Yosen Kanzenban!!, and SD Heat Up!!. Slam Dunk games have also been released for the Game Gear, Mega Drive, and Sega Saturn. A Slam Dunk coin-operated arcade game by Banpresto was released in 1995. Characters of the series also appear in the Nintendo DS games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars.
Unofficial game modifications have been made by fans for NBA 2K13 (PC Version).
Reception[]
The collected volumes of Slam Dunk sold over 100 million copies by 2004, and over 118 million by 2012. The title had more than 120 million copies sold by 2013 and is Weekly Shōnen Jump 's fifth best-selling manga series. In 1994, it received the 40th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga. Until it was broken in 2002, volumes 21 through 23 of Slam Dunk held the record for initial printing of a manga at 2.5 million copies. The imprint version of Slam Dunk: 10 Days After was popular, having initially ranked 6th and then 15th in Oricon's weekly ranking of manga. The English translation of the series was listed as one of the best comics of 2008 by Publishers Weekly. Similarly, the Young Adult Library Services Association named the first volume one of its "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" in early 2009.
The success of Slam Dunk is cited as an influence in the increased popularity of basketball among the Japanese youth during the 1990s. The Slam Dunk Scholarship program was created in 2006 by Inoue and Shueisha. The winning 17-18 year old recipient receives a fully paid academic and athletic scholarship to a university-preparatory school in America if they pass the school's admission interview. In 2010, Inoue received special commendations from the Japan Basketball Association for helping popularize basketball in Japan and the scholarship program. In a poll of close to 79,000 Japanese fans for the 10th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006, Slam Dunk was voted the #1 manga of all time. In the Japanese government's 2009 Media Arts 100 Poll of the public's favorite works of art of all time, Slam Dunk took first place in the manga division. In a survey from Oricon in 2009, it was ranked first as the manga that fans wanted to be turned into a live-action film.
The anime adaptation has also been very popular in Japan. In TV Asahi's 2005 Top 100 Anime survey of multiple age groups, Slam Dunk ranked as the 8th most popular anime. In another poll from TV Asashi but developed by a website, the series ranked 10th. The home video release of the anime also had good sales, having appeared on Oricon's Japanese Animation DVD and Blu-ray rankings.
External links[]
- Slam Dunk Scholarship website at Shueisha
- Slam Dunk at Toei Animation
- Slam Dunk (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Slam Dunk (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia