about a basketball team from Shōhoku High School. It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly

Shōnen Jump in Japan from 1990 to 1996 and was 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. As of 2012, Slam Dunk had sold 120

million copies in Japan alone, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history.

Inoue later used basketball as a central theme in two subsequent manga titles: Buzzer Beater

and Real. In 2010, Inoue received special commendations from the Japan Basketball Association

for helping popularize basketball in Japan.

Plot

Hanamichi Sakuragi is a delinquent outcast and leader of a gang. Sakuragi, being very

unpopular with girls, has been rejected by them 50 times. In his first year at Shohoku

High School, he finds out that Haruko Akagi is the girl of his dreams, and is happy when

she is not scared of him like all the other girls he has asked out.

Haruko Akagi, who recognizes Sakuragi's athleticism, introduces him to the Shohoku basketball team.

Sakuragi 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. 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. Later on, Sakuragi

realizes that his love for the sport equals that of his crush on Haruko. Kaede Rukawa —

Sakuragi's bitter rival, the star rookie and a "girl magnet" — joins the team at the

same time. Hisashi Mitsui, an ex-junior high school MVP, 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. Production

Inoue became inspired to make Slam Dunk as he liked basketball since his high school

years. After Inoue started Slam Dunk, he became surprised while receiving letters from readers

that they started playing the sport due to the manga. His editor even told him "basketball

was a taboo in this world." Due to these letters, Inoue decided he wanted to draw better basketball

games in the series. With the series, Inoue wanted to demonstrate the feelings from an

athlete such as their thoughts when they win, lose or improve at their sport. When he started

making Vagabond, he noted that when he was doing Slam Dunk he had a simpler perspective

on life as he focused more in victories and success.

With the series, Inoue wants the readers to feel achievements as well as love for the

sport. Thinking that his success as a manga artist being largely due to basketball, Inoue

organized a Slam Dunk Scholarship for Japanese students as he wanted to give back to the

sport by increasing its popularity in Japan. However, when asked about the response from

readers to basketball, Inoue commented that although Slam Dunk is technically a basketball

manga, its story could have been done with other sports such as soccer. He also added

that the artwork for the manga was very typical and mangalike in comparison to his newer works

such as Real. His experiences with basketball also influenced the story from Slam Dunk:

as a youth Inoue started playing basketball to be popular with the girls, but later became

interested with the sport in and of itself. 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. Media

Manga

The series was originally published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump since the issue 40 from

1990 until the issue 27 from 1996. The 276 individual chapters were originally collected

in 31 tankōbon editions under Shueisha's Jump Comics imprint, with the first volume

being published on February 8, 1991 and volume 31 on October 3, 1996. It was later reassembled

in 24 kanzenban volumes under Shueisha's 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 the 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 June 8, 2013, Viz has published 29 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 now-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

The 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 anime satellite

television network, Animax, in addition to four animated movies produced. The anime series

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 chose to release the anime on DVD after the manga was discontinued,

though the anime was also discontinued after only a few volumes. The first DVD was released

on March 15, 2005 and the 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 on-line for a fee and

for free through Crunchyroll. Joost also started airing all the 101 as of May 2009 on their

website. Each episode is in Japanese, with English subtitles.

The music was composed by Takanobu Masuda and BMF. 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.

Video 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.

Reception Slam Dunk has more than 120 million copies

in Japan as of 2013, making it Weekly Shōnen Jump's fifth best-selling manga series. In

1995, it received the 40th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen. The success of Slam Dunk

is cited as an influence in the increased popularity of basketball among the Japanese

youth during the 1990s. In a poll of over 79,000 Japanese fans for the 10th Japan Media

Arts Festival, Slam Dunk was voted the #1 manga of all time. The English translation

of Slam Dunk was listed one of the best comics of 2008 by Publishers Weekly. In a survey

from Oricon in 2009, Slam Dunk ranked first as the manga that fans wanted to be turned

into a live-action film. In the Japanese government's Media Arts 100 Poll of the public's favorite

works of art of all time, Slam Dunk took first place in the manga division. The imprint version

of Slam Dunk: 10 Days After has been highly popular in Japan, having initially ranked

6th and then 15th in a ranking of Japanese comics.

The anime adaptation has also been very popular in Japan. In TV Asahi's Top 100 Anime show,

Slam Dunk ranked as the 10th most popular anime. In another poll from TV Asashi but

developed by a website, the series ranked 8th. The DVD boxes from the anime also had

a good sale in Japan, having appeared in rankings from Japanese Animation DVD Ranking.

See also

J. R. Sakuragi — Japanese-American basketball player who coincidentally shares Sakuragi's

name

Notes

References

External links Slam Dunk at Shueisha

Slam Dunk at Toei Animation Slam Dunk at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

Slam Dunk at Anime News Network's encyclopedia