Apr 2, 2023
While Slam Dunk and Vagabond are two of the most well known manga series, and regularly rotate into many peoples top ten and favorites lists, few are aware of Takehiko Inoue's One Shot he created between these works. Instead of spoiling the plot, I can only say this manga is canonically related to Slam Dunk, and thus strikes me as a bit crazy so many have not heard about it. Given the subject matter it helps flesh-out some details of the characters in ways that heighten a reread of the original.
However this manga is not just a piece of canon, but also a fantastic work
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in it's own right. Rather than leaning on story beats and style found in Slam Dunk, this manga takes an entirely different approach and doesn't "feel" like it fits into that world which may explain why so many haven't read the One-Shot. The almost dreamlike nature of the story may throw a reader off, but it's one of the more well paced and structured One-Shots I have read.
Artistically Inoue was still morphing into his "Vagabond" self, but you can already see those early aspects of composition mastery, and attention to detail. Few are able to seamlessly encapsulate so many story beats within only a few pages. The size of this work is astounding due to how much content Inoue fits into the work. So much is communicated in so few pages with little fluff or wasted space.
I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who has read Slam Dunk, but even someone who hasn't would get a lot out of this work.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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