Slam Dunk

*NO SPOILERS

heyo! This is a review of Slam Dunk, one of my favourite manga or my favourite manga series. so here we go!

I read this Manga when I was 12 for the first time and it was so amazing, so I decided to read it again a while ago. And it is as amazing as I remember.

-this manga is about basketball, (I assume y'all know that) but it is not just for basketball lovers. As one who never played basketball back then, I enjoyed the series so much that I started basketball.

-Every game was thrilling, exciting. Every point scored makes you go like," adhsgcausjebgdnux..." and drove my brain crazy.

-The characters are really cool, tho some of them are just like "stereotypical sports anime/manga characters", they still made amazing use of the characters.

-The main characters has a lot of characters development and personality. The support characters are pretty good, they have less character development and less time in the book, they still had pretty solid personalities.

-The team is super lovable, I was so sad when I realised that I was on the last volume, I wish there was more of the story, I really loved the characters.

-The manga has some solid art in it, every character looks completely different and each of them gives of a different vibe even if you just give a look to them. Every play was drawn nicely, thanks.

-This is one manga that you can get obsessed over with your whole family, including that cousin that is 7. (well my dad recommended it for me, thanks dad) Or watching the anime with your family is also fun.

-This series is amazing and I recommend it 1000%! Please read it!

There are way too many 10/10 reviews for Slam Dunk so writing a review with actual criticism felt like an obligation.

Characters (0/10):

-Sakuragi: He is your typical dumb yet overpowered protagonist who relies on convenient scenarios and his plot armor. The entirety of his character consists of a tall teenager boy who falls in love with every single girl he comes across, bullies everyone for comedy's sake and is really stubborn. So basically, he digs his heels in making up with some girl who likes basketball and then joins the basketball team just to flirt with her even though he knows nothing about basketball. Of course, once he's already in, he plays the role of the prodigy who doesn't even know how make the ball bounce yet somehow manages to win a match against the captain of the team thanks to Inoue's asspulls. In addition, he also demands first class privileges inside the team such as being a starter, which makes no sense, since he is a beginner.
Ah, and he also harbors a really toxic envy towards Rurakawa just because he is the crush of the girl he likes (and because he is a better player than him).
I wonder what was Inoue thinking when he decided that Sakuragi's awful personality would be perfect to drag the story forwards- because, yeah, all the story consists of Sakuragi creating problems from nothing due to his unrelenting stupidity and the typical tournament-like structure that serves well as a lazy way of pushing the plot onwards.

-The gorilla whose name I don't remember (I think it was Akagi but I don't care enough to look it up): As expected from the cast of a show whose characters rely on lazy clichés, there is, too, a character who is, in a few words, your typical stubborn captain of the basketball team who is an airhead and goes insane whenever. it comes to basketball. That's it. That's the entirety of this character.
Wait, almost forgot, and he is the brother of the girl the protagonist felt in love with (you can imagine that cliché scene in which Sakuragi is trash talking about the gorilla in front of the girl he likes and then he finds out the person he's talking about, the girl's onii chan, is behind his back. You know, peak comedy).

-Rukawa: Even though he is the least ticking off character BY FAR, which is probably because he barely opens his mouth, we can't ignore the fact that he is just another simple character who is another rip off of the cliché character who is handsome, cool and overpowered and is liked by every girl in existence.

-The girl Sakuragi likes: Let us be honest, who cares about her? She is just an element used by our top tier writer, Inoue, to drag the plot forwards by making Sakuragi make contact with basketball.



Art (7/10):

Maybe I am being too generous with this score, but I've got to admit the anatomy of the bodies in some panels are really difficult to draw. The art is definitely the best thing about Slam Dunk, although it's a pity only a 10% of its panels are decent, as the panels are really inconsistent.



Story (0/10):

Disclaimer: I am judging the story regarding the 40 chapters I've read. I dont know, maybe by the 200th chapter Rukawa starts a gay relationship with Sakuragi and dies in a car accident right after breaking up with Sakuragi, which leads to a great drama I couldn't possibly know about, so don't mess around saying the latter part of the story is not about that and blah blah blah.

The story consists of Sakuragi training basketball and showing off that he is a prodigy in every sport ever whereas he repeats over and over the same interactions with his schoolmates- interactions which could be summarised in: sexually harrassing the girl he likes and being a show off with everyone he comes across. In addition, the "comedy" of this manga is based on the fact that the main character is a sexualy depraved bastard, a tyrant and a bully- but hey, it's comedy instead of drama because Sakuragi feigns ignorance after physically assaulting poor guys and because Inoue draws an innocent moe-blush panel afterwards. Inoue tries too hard to make comedy out of physical abuse.
Regarding the matches, they're just as bad (at least the ones I've seen are). Lazy, vague, strategies with no detail at all, typical match structures in which the main characters start losing and then they make a comeback thanks to the plot armor and Sakuragi messing around bothering everyone and acting like a moron 24/7.
Without any doubt, the Greed Island arc from Hunter x Hunter has much more interesting and original matches than Slam Dunk, even though it's not even about sports.



Conclusion:

I believe Slam Dunk is a manga that many elitist wannabes use to let their true, simple minded, self take over their shitty taste while avoiding getting called a moron with no taste, which is what they really are. Maybe I'm resting too much on my personal experience, but there's a bunch of people I know who are huge fans of Berserk, Monster and whatever elitist stuff while they also love Slam Dunk. Leaving personal preferences aside, if we compare either Berserk or Monster with Slam Dunk, we'll see that the both of them are much more (much, much more) complex and original than Slam Dunk.
Well, leaving this latter personal reflection aside, I wholeheartedly recommend you to stay away from this piece of garbage. It's the worst work of fiction I've ever read.

holy crap..! when im reading this i was so excited and i even got chills!!! Its one of the longest series ive read so far (POT 379 these two were my all time favourite sports manga/anime), & honestly, it never bored me... they were totally awesome and theres a part that i almost cried!!! (what?) no, what i mean is i cried from laughing b'cuz of Sakuragi stupidness & cute boastfullness..LoLz.. this is the best ever.. I mean this is my best anime/manga & my favorite.. I REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE THIS.. from the story line,characters, oh everything.. though Im not a basketball fan but through this Ive learned more about basketball.. the line art was awesome & the story were so cool.. oh man, Sakuragi is so funny & hilarious all the time & certainly hes my favorite character in this anime/manga i mean of all the characters.. hes my number 1..!! he really makes me laugh...I really love this.. Yeah.. SLAMDUNK IS GREAT.. it REALLY ROCKS.. m/ m/ m/.. Sakuragi is absolutely a tensai.. but an idiot tensai...Lolz.. still he's the best..hahaha.. ill give this one a 10/10 its all becuz I LOVE SAKURAGI that much.

- Great Comedy Aspects.
-enticing story and rivalry aspects.
-If you love traditional basketball you'll love this, stays true to the game without any gimmicks or super powers.
-The art is great and sometimes changes for more gag like frames of the manga.
-There is a great heroine who comes to like the sakuragi.
- this displays how sakuragi started to play basketball because of the girl that he likes to how he tries his hardest to not lose the gaems and make everyone proud.
- You see how Sakuragi's skills develop from a person who's never played basketball before to a key player in all of Japanese high-school basketball.


Overall id say its your perfect shounen/sports manga from the exciting matches to the climactic endings and hilarious gag scenes all the way to the development of the MC's skills, Love for the game, and never giving up attitude!!!!!

This sport manga about basketball is truly a classic. I watched the anime the first time back in 2010. Then I decided to read the manga in all one go. Here, I'm writing this review after 3 years. I have read this manga 4-5 times already. As I said, it's a classic. It never gets old! And once you start, you cannot stop on reading. The manga is better than the anime, as the pacing for the anime is quite slow, but it is also good watch.

Story: 8/10.
Of course, this story is about a man name Sakuragi Hanamichi who is a delinquent and plays basketball all because of one girl. She, obviously likes his supposedly rival. As the story goes on, his love for basketball grows more and more. Turning his attention more than just a game to get Haruko to like him. The story seems like it's been done before right? This was one of the earliest basketball mangas so I can't say it's cliche, but this manga has charm to it. Though it contains aspect of expected scenes, little scenes and parts to it make it up.


Art: 9/10 .
So, the art for this manga is good. I love how when they get serious, the art gets real nice. It shows lot of the emotions being carry out by the players. Also, especially to the chibi drawings. It really brings out the comedy effect when it needs to show that.

Character: 9/10.
I love Sakuragi's character growth in here. From being a childish newbie player to a more refined player who appreciates and enjoy basketball. How his character is from scratch to someone important or find some kind of value in life. I just love this kind of growth in characters. But also, tensai sakuragi's funny comments and his personality. The characters in here really stand out and has realistic feeling to them.

Enjoyment: 8/10.
As much as I like this manga, some parts were quite long. But then each time something amazing happens, it never fails to. It really keeps you going and next thing, you're done with the manga. XD

Overall, 9/10. No need to say more, what's been said above told it all.

First of all, I'm not a basketball player so my opinions on this would be from a more non-basketball accuracy manga reader. However, most if not all of the content look really accurate, especially with the manga reader being a long time basketball player.

Let's begin.

[Story:9/10]
As much as the story is realistic, with amazing detail and art, sometimes going frame by frame of how the basketball players play, as well as the story focusing on Sakuragi Hanamichi and the Sohoku team of how they progress, there is still some "too remarkable moments", especially early on.

This is pretty amazing already, given how most sports mangas like to perform "Giant Killing" using underdogs using a lot of willpower and/or strategy to blow away the rest of the teams/competitors. It's quite amazing how the story flows smoothly as well, given that there are multiple complications, climaxes and comedy. There is hardly one part of the manga that seems out of place, and from start to end as reality is, there are good times and bad times.

[Art: 10/10]
I would give 12 if I could, the art is just amazing, especially at various points of the last chapters, where there were a lot of different tones and styles used to highlight certain areas, and detailed skillful drawing of various basketball moves, facial expressions, background and so on.

[Character: 10/10]
This is another selection I would like to point out, the character characteristics and backstories of some characters are incredibly explored. However, for the few main characters (5 + 1 actually), a few of them were only touched on surface and there is still little understanding of how the "incredible rookie" could possibly be so incredible, aside from talent, a term which I believe every sports manga tries to exploit.

Still, the amazing portion of the characters might be character development, as we watch how the various characters grow through their toughest periods inside games, as well as what we can learn from their "experiences".

[Enjoyment:10/10]
I would give a 11 if I could. The emotional rollercoaster and growing potential of both the home team and competitor team alike gives great pleasure to the reader, very much like how I enjoyed reading "Zatch Bell". It is where you will not be able to predict much of what will happen next and the suspense hangs thick in the end due to improvements during battles/matches on both sides.

[Overall:10/10]
All in all, this manga is amazing, furthermore I had read that Slam Dunk was a manga that popularised basketball in Japan. This is amazing, since this meant that when it was starting, basketball is actually not a hot topic, but the manga managed to catch on to several volumes and even influenced culture.

^^

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’s popularity 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.

Everything about this was jus incredible, it was one smooth hilarious touching ride, one after the other.

Art: each character looks unique, can recognize each of them quickly (unlike some mangas where characters jus get a hair-style change and they call it another character). Gets better and better, quite realistic drawings compared with other mangas. The people look pretty real and the guys look damn cool when they're supposed to be. The girls are pretty cute too.

Story: Read to find out, don't wana give spoilers. Nothing feels extra in this, everything fits together. Be prepared to laugh lots and feel inspired with the characters' perseverance.

Character: If someone asks me whose my favorite character, I find it hard pressed to name one. Their interactions are funny to see and even the loss of a single character in the Shohoku team will surely be sorely missed. The whole Shohoku team combined is my favorite character.

I'm so happy to see so many reviews with such good vibes regard to this manga, it really makes me happy cus i just finished this like a week ago and i felt like crying when i got to the end, it was just too good, man. I initially started watching the anime, but i wanted more so here i am.
Basketball itself is such a beautiful sport, i mean, my dad used to play it and he told me all the rules about this, do's & dont's, but i didn't pay attention that much and i regret so bad i didn't play it too. The fact that i found this manga it made me love basketball even more.

The characters are so well constructed, each one with a different personality, especially the main ones, though my fav is mitsui; i just liked his character development, from good to bad to good again and being so strong mentally and physically. With his perfect 3points shooting, miyagi's agillity, the "ace" rukawa, akagi's desperate wish of winning, and our sakuragi who makes the most unexpected moves, manteining the team all together. Sakuragi evolved also as a character so much, he focused on basketball more and more and, i don't know if you guys noticed, but his appearance resembles michael jordan so much, even more after he shaved his hair. And not to forget his best friends who stayed with him when he was letdown and supported him. Best gang ever. Also all those chibi moments in anime and manga were damn funny, haha.

I must say that the art in this manga is just incredible, with a fine lineart, well contured and those shadowy parts just took my attention, made me see all these details every chapter offered me. Bless the artist. Inoue Takehiko's art it's just perfect.
After i finished SD, i started reading Vagabond, and everytime the main character is shown (Musashi), all i see is Sakuragi with long dark hair and his sword in his hand. Both of them have aprox. like, the same face's features and resemble each other so well. The artist leaves easily his signature in all his main characters. Takehiko work's in general just catches your attention instantly.

Overall, if you're into this sport, i say go ahead and give this a chance, cus it really deserves. I reccomend this to all basketball lovers and those who will probably be.

Slam Dunk is a great manga. When I first got into Slam Dunk I thought it was gonna suck mainly because I'm not much of a basketball fun and lost alot of interest in the beginning so I ended up dropping it. When I finished reading Hajime No Ippo I went back to this manga and fell in love with it, the story for Slam Dunk is phenomenal and the characters are impossible not to like especially the tensai xP. Though Slam Dunk is a great manga you will be disappointed, because you will not want this series to end.