Slam Dunk

Hanamichi Sakuragi, infamous for his temper, massive height, and fire-red hair, enrolls in Shohoku High, hoping to finally get a girlfriend and break his record of being rejected 50 consecutive times in middle school. His notoriety precedes him, however, leading to him being avoided by most students. Soon, after certain events, Hanamichi is left with two unwavering thoughts: "I hate basketball," and "I desperately need a girlfriend."

One day, a girl named Haruko Akagi approaches him without any knowledge of his troublemaking ways and asks him if he likes basketball. Hanamichi immediately falls head over heels in love with her, blurting out a fervent affirmative. She then leads him to the gymnasium, where she asks him if he can do a slam dunk. In an attempt to impress Haruko, he makes the leap, but overshoots, instead slamming his head straight into the blackboard. When Haruko informs the basketball team's captain of Hanamichi's near-inhuman physical capabilities, he slowly finds himself drawn into the camaraderie and competition of the sport he had previously held resentment for.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Slam Dunk
Side story:	Slam Dunk (Movie), Slam Dunk: Zenkoku Seiha Da! - Sakuragi Hanamichi, Slam Dunk: Shouhoku Saidai no Kiki! Moero Sakuragi Hanamichi, Slam Dunk: Hoero Basketman-damashii! Hanamichi to Rukawa no Atsuki Natsu, Slam Dunk: Ketsui no Shouhoku Basket-bu
Other:	The First Slam Dunk

Tsujitani, Kouji
Japanese

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Staff

Nishizawa, Nobutaka

Director

Kakudou, Hiroyuki

Episode Director, Storyboard

Takenouchi, Kazuhisa

Episode Director, Storyboard

Yoshizawa, Takao

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

	1: "Kimi ga Suki da to Sakebitai" by BAAD (eps 1-61)
	2: "Zettai ni Daremo" by ZYYG (eps 62-101)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Anata Dake Mitsumete'ru (あなただけ見つめてる)" by Ooguro Maki (eps 1-24)
	2: "Sekai ga Owaru Made Wa (世界が終るまでは...)" by WANDS (eps 25-49)
	3: "Kirameku Toki ni Torawarete (煌めく瞬間に捕らわれて)" by MANISH (eps 50-81)
	4: "My Friend (マイフレンド)" by Zard (eps 82-101)

Reviews

Jul 27, 2023

saintsinn

Recommended

Rating 7-8/10

I had it on the back of my list for a long while until the movie came out. Yes, I watched 101 episodes just to watch the movie...
The anime took me by suprise as it made me laugh so much throughout.
Animation: It looks very outdated and is the primary reason why I left it out for so long. That said, It really brought out some of the scenes and drama with the pauses...
Speaking of pauses, the reason I would rate it 7/8 is because they would stretch out an episode unnecessarily. There were 2 times that happened, the second time was even ... worst as they took probably about 10 or MORE episodes for 1 game. The anime would also decrease the anime for longer intros and outros going from 4 min (regular intro/ outro) to 6+ min (extended intro/outro). Plus the excessive flashbacks which for the most part are the same drawings from previous episodes.
These almost ruined extreamly important moments where you should have felt emotional rather than bothered from the pacing.
Luckly, you are able to skip stuff in the internet with ease rather than watching it on TV.

Music: The sound and music always brings you in. There are several instances they use no sound or a single sound to emphesize the importance of a single action.

Characters/plot overall: It was amazing to see how delicately the plot overall was. Generally you have 1 main character and that is all they focus on. Slam Dunk has Sakuragi Hanamichi as the main character but they also give plenty of time to all the basketball team. They also give plenty of time to characters from other basketball teams. The main character/main supportive characters are also NOT overpowered. The show does a good effort in making the anime very BELIVABLE.
It's not magic, it's real hard work, effort, team work, and determination.

Enjoyment: I really appreciated the comedy of this show. It does not rely too much on cliche' animeesque comedy. Example, watching Kuroko basketball was enjoyable as a teen but watching it again now I cringe at how the characters talk or make comedy out of it. Slam Dunk is 30 or more years old and it still dosen't feel like its humor or characters are outdated.
If you don't know anything about basketball, this show will educate you all about it without feeling boring. Very informative, even basketball players can learn a thing or two from it.
As somone who prefers shojou over shonen, I appreciated the times it was not just about basketball. Instead they would focus on bullying, selfishness, simply going out for fun, and growing as a graduating highschooler.

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Mar 19, 2021

Gaspar445

Mixed Feelings

Slam Dunk is a show full of colorful and memorable characters that is, ironically, slowed down by the basketball games they play in.

The main character, the genius himself, Sakuragi Hanamachi rides the fine line between lovable and insufferable. For 95% of the time, he is a loud and obnoxious goofball, always spouting about being a self-proclaimed basketball genius despite being a total beginner at the sport. However, because we see his constant failures and his relentless drive for improvement, Sakuragi manages to avoid being an arrogant and unlikable main character. Sakuragi's development as a basketball player is also impressive. Sakuragi's skillset is slowly built ... throughout the series and he doesn't magically become a highly skilled and well-rounded character like his rival/teammate Rukawa; his initial skill in jumping high for rebounds and endurance is realistically due to his naturally insane athleticism. These aspects of Sakuragi's character make him a character you want to root for. Despite his bravado, you want to see him overcome his obstacles and become a better player. His usual goofiness makes the short moments where he is serious and shows flashes of true brilliance that much more impactful and are the most anticipated moments of each basketball game.

The rough and tumble Shohoku High starting line up conists Akagi Takenori, Mitsui Hisashi, Miyagi Ryota, Rukawa Kaede, and of course Sakuragi. Each of them have unique personalities that entertainingly clash with each other. Their motivations and aspirations are interestingly explored, particularly Mitsui's story. Rukawa is an interesting foil to Sakuragi. The former is quiet and already an elite high school basketball player while the latter is bombastic and is just learning the game. Their rivalry is a source of lots of funny moments, but also a source of frustratingly drawn-out knuckleheaded plays by Sakuragi. The rest of the cast are entertaining as well, including Sakuragi's boisterous but loyal group of friends, Haruko, the object of Sakuragi's unnoticed love, and the opponents from other schools. The cast plays off each other very well and there is a very real sense of camaraderie built throughout the show.

Unfortunately for how much fun the episodes about training or exploring the various characters can be, the basketball games themselves tend to be not fun because of how long they are drawn out. So much time is taken up by the players on the court talking to each other, coach monologues, or a sequence where every single character in attendance react to something that happened. A large chunk of time is also taken up by Sakuragi daydreaming about how he'll embarrass Rukawa with his genius performance. These are the only times I am annoyed with how boastful Sakuragi is. The moments where the game isn't moving at a snail's pace, where something really cool happens, are teetering on few and far between. But the climaxes of each game are still satisfactory to even awe-inspiring. The highest highs of Slam Dunk are definitely found in the games, but not only after slogging through padded episodes with cool moments peppered throughout it.

If the amount of episodes for each game were at least cut down by a third, I would have enjoyed this anime a little bit more. Despite my complaints, there is still a lot to like about Slam Dunk. Slam Dunk is still a piece of anime history I don't regret watching all 101 episodes of because after watching it, it is clear that the genius basket-man Sakuragi Hanamichi's journey into falling in love with basketball set the standard that almost all sports anime afterwards go by.

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Aug 6, 2015

Toksic

Not Recommended

*Apologies for my english*

Slam Dunk is one of the best thing out there and for me is the best sport series. The intensity and heart pumping action it gives is unparallel to any other series. And when I say this, I meant the manga version of this series and not the anime version.(I watched the anime first btw)

Slam Dunk anime does not do the manga justice. Not even close. The reason this anime has high rating is mostly because of the nostalgic feel and "the past anime is better anime" thought process. Don't get me wrong tho, It's not totally bad. There are some shining ...

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Poll: Slam Dunk Episode 50 Discussion Jawaese - Jul 31, 2011	11 replies	by Sun_Chan »» Sep 13, 10:19 PM
Poll: Slam Dunk Episode 49 Discussion Jawaese - Jul 31, 2011	7 replies	by Sun_Chan »» Sep 13, 10:00 PM
Poll: Slam Dunk Episode 48 Discussion Jawaese - Jul 31, 2011	9 replies	by Sun_Chan »» Sep 13, 9:46 PM
Poll: Slam Dunk Episode 47 Discussion Jawaese - Jul 31, 2011	12 replies	by Sun_Chan »» Sep 13, 9:27 PM
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Slam Dunk

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