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THIS IS A MANGA ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING BEYOND THIS CHAPTER.
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I watched the anime and decided to read the manga, very good choice. The last game was intense, I though there was no way in hell they would win. Too bad it ended, but Vagabond and REAL are very solid so far, he is not wasting his time.

I thought it would be better if you read the manga from the beginning even after you watch the anime. And yes, if Shohoku play Sannoh again, I would think Sannoh will come off top this time, at the very least they won't field the Year One player for the sake of accumulating experience. That's why the last game is such a beauty. 6 Vols to illustrate that match including 5 Vols dedicated just for the 2nd half.

just wanted to know but was there ever a resolution to the Haruko x Sakuragi romance issue that was going on in the manga?, saw the anime but i just cant remember if there was ever a conclusion to this...

Nope, there isn't.

Which is really sad
I honestly thought it was going to end in a cliche way that they would be #1, but this ending completely blew my mind. I just read like 6 volumes in one sitting. Amazing!!!
It's such a shame they lost to some no-namer and they Sakuragi didn't even get to fight that overpowered first year student! What was that buildup about?

The fact that they lost terribly after winning against the best team is really unfortunate, with the way things ended especially being a sport manga this could have continued on longer, It took sometime for me to get used to reading this but I enjoyed it and glad i read it, until next time!!!

Perfect way to end a series like this, open and bittersweet. Bro fist, Sakuragi and Rukawa!

just perfect, it's a shame the manga reach the end...i love it and the anime too.
and the 10 days after the final is great.

The anime was awesome, but the manga truly is a masterpiece!!!

First off let me say that i loved the anime/manga. This was one of the funniest shows/manga ive ever watched/read. I do wish they did continue the manga however. Like i find it hard that they got beat so badly in the game after the sannoh game, unless the game was in the same day which would make sense. But they seemed to build up the match vs the huge freshmen but he turned out to be completelyt irrelevant. Also i dont quite understand why akagi wasnt going to participate in the winter invitational when almost all other 3rd years were going to. I just wished they continued the series, it could have went on for alot longer :(

Slam Dunk is a great manga. The artwork is just incredible, even if it's published from 1990-1996, 2 decades ago. It's so well illustrated it bested most of the modern sports manga I'd come across. Inoue also did a incredible job in heightening excitement, he uses 'silent' panels, panel with no narration/words to bring out tension. This is even for more so for the last few chapters of Sannoh vs Shohoku match.

I, for one, was not that keen of a sequence or a continuation. Like everyone else, I initially felt a little disappointed with regards to the build-up against the OP first-year student, Hiroshi Morishige, also dubbed as the future star Japan first witnessed from the national tournament. It's also interesting to note that Meihou is on the opposite site of the tournament bracket, hence, it's implied that they were first. Sannoh, Aiwa, Kainan ( came in 2nd ), Toyotama were on the same side with Shohoku. It's a pity because I think the eng scanlation available online didn't bother to translate the tournament bracket in the manga and also made a few noticeable error while translating from chinese to english. Still, they did a great job bringing this masterpiece to the western audience.

With regards to why Shohoku lost so badly to Aiwa during the 3rd round, the fact that they used up every single arsenal they had, topped with going over their limitations against Sannoh , they were spent mentally and physically. The match against Sannoh was just 1 day after their game with Run-and-Gun specialist Toyotama. We can also assume Shohoku play and lost the game with Aiwa the very next day, without Mitsui Hisashi and of course Sakuragi. Granted Aiwa wasn't not exactly the top-tier, but at the very least, they were still top 4 based on previous national tournament, the same as Kainan. Since Kainan got 2nd in this year tournament, it shows Aiwa either lost to them or fail to face them. This means that Shohoku stood a far better chance had they faced Aiwa with their full-strength, especially since Shohoku vs Kainan was a close affair and Sakuragi as well as Shohoku has improved leaps and bounds after the regional qualification.

The series ended on the highest possible note, the theme and motive wasn't to crown Shohoku champions. Instead, it was to show the readers that with unwavering belief, perseverance this team, a no-namer in the basketball scene, can take down the 3-time champions ( also rumoured to be the strongest squad assembled in Sannoh's 20 years history ). What's more remarkable was Shohoku was forced to play catch-up twice. It's gratifying for the readers because we always knew Shohoku has potential. This match is legendary in the history of manga.

It has been almost a decade since I finished reading this manga, I'll end the post with this video.



Enjoy.

Amazing manga. Inoue Takehiko FTW, his drawings are just so dynamic and full of emotion. Last game is truly epic. The last 5 volumes or so are easily the most entertaining stuff I've read.

IT WAS AMAZING !!
I fooled, knewing 31st is the last volume and they are still in second round, I think they would lose in this round.. I never expected this will turnout to be like this. ><
I think this is the best possible ending rather than they lose in this round or they are become a champion ... They can proved that they can beat the strongest but in the other side in the end they still have a 'dream' that is not yet archieved ...

and especially last words in this series just the win :
"I am a tensai after all."
Sakuragi Hanamichi FTW !!! ><

Oh hey, now I can breathe again.

what a shitty ending

great ending for this great manga!Sakuragi really is a tensai!

The final was amazing even I think it would be better if the manga continue after that last game. Most of the chapters were exciting and hilarious, this manga is truly awesome.
And yes, Sakuragi is a tensai. (:

Was boss

I really enjoyed this series so much although I thought it ended prematurely. The last chapter just felt so rushed in my opinion. If it were up to me, I would've went on with Shohoku beating Aiwa, moving a bracket up and facing Kainan once again in the Semi finals (if possible) and finally defeating them. They don't necessarily have to be the National Champions, just winning a rematch with Kainan until getting ultimately beaten in the Finals, would've sufficed. That would've been the ideal ending for me.

But even though I yearn for a more detailed grand ending, I thought it's still brilliant to end the series in that arc. Just when an irreplaceable member of the team is about to depart. All in all, Slam Dunk in its entirety has been awesome and the illustrations were great. It's one of the few series that I'll never get tired of reading/ watching over and over again.

That last game...so draining. I was exhausted by the end of it, but in a good way.

I felt like it was a good spot to end it, the series just couldn't continue much further with Sakuragi getting injured and all. It would have been unrealistic to have him play through an injury like that, or kind of pointless to continue the games without the main MAIN dude (but not really of course because all of the characters are great and could probably carry the story without Sakuragi--though it wouldn't really make sense and it wouldn't feel right, you know?). Also, live2win brought up a good point about Mitsui not being in the Aiwa game either, which I think a lot of people forget. They were missing two key players and they were definitely dead tired after the Sannoh game, so having them lose the next game made the most sense out of any possibility haha.

I like that it stayed sort of open-ended. I would've liked to see a little bit more of what everyone was doing, but at least it did give some closure. I think my favourite aspect of it was seeing just how much Sakuragi has grown in a couple short sentences from him, but still seeing that he hasn't changed a bit ;___;

And that hi-five between Rukawa and Sakuragi...that was one of the most emotional scenes for me EVER OUT OF ANY MANGA THAT KILLED ME

Either way I cried like a baby hahahaha it wasn't even silent tears it was horrible gross sobbing all the way through the last 5 chapters. Loved the series so much.