Ranked #21

Slam Dunk (Manga)

Before reading the rest of the review, please take note that I might be a little biased in my review as I enjoy the sport at it's core personally.

Basis: Slam Dunk is a manga about the great sport of basketball. It is filled with comedy, fast paced action, and even teaches you basketball history to an extent if you're unknowing to the given material. As old as the manga is, it is still incredible.

Plot: The story follows a new high school delinquent (previously a junior high breed), Sakuragi Hanamichi. As Sakuragi is much taller (Around 6'2" ~ 6'3") then the average Japanese male, he sticks out easily and his red hair doesn't help that at all. He is being constantly denied a girlfriend wherever he goes until he meets Haruko Akagi (Will she be his girlfriend?). Haruko notices his height and asks if he plays basketball in a cheerful manner. As Sakuragi agrees and attempts to impress her with a dunk, everything falls into place. The story's school rivalries and drama were all there, I even found myself cheering on the team I wanted to win at one point. It's good but it's, overall, the same thing rewashed with a different team.

Score: 7

Visual: This is where the manga shines. The cover art of each volume tend to be drawn in a realistic fashion and amazing detailed it is fantastic. Even the pages, for their time, are amazingly well penned. If you've read Inoue Takehiko's other popular manga, Vagabond, you can see the resemblance in some characters; particularly Musashi and Sakuragi. The basketball poses are top notch, from form to release. It's easy to tell that these fictional players are extremely talented. It may seem meh to some people, but you have to consider when this was drawn and written. I have no bad things to say about this category really.

Score: 9

Cast: The characters are another standpoint in this series; perhaps even better. Sakuragi has the one comedic personality mixed along with his seriousness. Each member of the basketball team of Shohoku (The school Sakuragi goes to) brings something to the table. Rukawa, the arrogant silent bishounen chicks drool over, Akagi (It's Haruko's older brother) the tall (6'6") team captain who leads his pack to victory, and many more as they are introduced. Rival teams also have aces up their sleeves that add to the cast. Again, they are all unique and likable to some extent. My personal favorite outside the Shohoku roster would probably Sendoh Akira. Sendoh is somewhat of a genius at the sport, and is also quite tall himself (6'3"). His personality is that of "I want a challenge, but let's have fun." I've even considered buying a jersey of his! (Of course, along with Sakuragi's.) The cast is great, can't go wrong.

Score: 10

Enjoyment: Obviously I enjoyed this a lot (I personally gave it a 10 overall), and I'm sure you would get at least some excitement out of the read as well. The victories and losses give you a satisfying feeling no doubt. It may be hard to get used to the height of the characters (Japanese over 6 feet, one even nearing 7!) or the sport of basketball (maybe you might ponder why the court is shaped differently) entirely. This may not be for everyone though; but even then I still recommend it to the curious.

Score: 9

Overall: An excellent read. No need to summarize, read it.

Scores:
9.4/10
12/10 (Biased, that's right. Sue me. It's a joke people.) read more

Slam Dunk is probably the best manga ever published and the anime version is one of the best I have ever seen. Even though the series has ended more than a decade ago, many people wiill wholeheartedly agree that this franchise has stood the test of time.

The story is simple but the execution is incredible, each chapter is filled with humor, action, drama, comedy and a whole lot more. The anime series was good and worthy of being considered a landmark anime, but if you have yet to see the anime then you don't know what you're missing. However there are things that are not shown in the anime series which is why it is crucial for you to read this manga. The interhigh games are a blast!

Takehiko Inoue certainly knew how to end the series with a bang! The last game is so good, every character is at their best and certainly no other title can rile up the readers emotions like this, it really feels like your watching the NBA finals.

The artwork is simply great even though there are a lot of better looking manga out there, the decade old graphics still manages to go toe to toe with other more recent titles out there.

The characters of this title are by far the most fully developed in any title out in the market and I'm not just talking about the main characters, I'm also talking about the supporting cast even those belonging to rival teams. The character development is so good that it is difficult to choose one character as a favorite. Each character has a well told background even those who appear in just a few chapters have a very detailed and well executed background story. You'll probably remember the names of not only the Shohoku players but also the names of their rivals, most notably "Sendoh".

Overall Slam Dunk is one of the best Manga ever made and I'm sure that once you read it, you will agree with me. I guarantee that you won't be able to resist finishing the manga in a few days if not a few hours because it is that damn good. If you think the anime was great, try reading the manga and I'm sure you'll feel that the anime series could have been better, the interhigh games are one hell of a joyride!
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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. read more

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.