The First Slam Dunk

Shohoku's "speedster" and point guard, Ryouta Miyagi, always plays with brains and lightning speed, running circles around his opponents while feigning composure. Born and raised in Okinawa, Ryouta had a brother who was three years older. Following in the footsteps of his older brother, who was a famous local player from a young age, Ryouta also became addicted to basketball.

In his second year of high school, Ryouta plays with the Shohoku High School basketball team along with Sakuragi, Rukawa, Akagi, and Mitsui as they take the stage at the Inter-High School National Championship. And now, they are on the brink of challenging the reigning champions, Sannoh Kogyo High School.

(Source: GKIDS, edited)

Sakuragi, Hanamichi Main

Kimura, Subaru Japanese

Mitsui, Hisashi Main

Kasama, Jun Japanese

Miyagi, Ryouta Main

Nakamura, Shuugo Japanese

Rukawa, Kaede Main

Kamio, Shinichirou Japanese

Akagi, Takenori Main

Miyake, Kenta Japanese

Mito, Youhei Supporting

Kobayashi, Chikahiro Japanese

Anzai, Mitsuyoshi Supporting

Houki, Katsuhisa Japanese

Akagi, Haruko Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Ayako Supporting

Seto, Asami Japanese

Kogure, Kiminobu Supporting

Iwasaki, Ryouta Japanese

Inoue, Takehiko Director, Script, Original Creator

Kasamatsu, Kouji Sound Director

Kitada, Katsuhiko Episode Director

Miyahara, Naoki Episode Director

Reviews

Jun 4, 2024

Chinaz

Recommended

The First Slam Dunk is a film that serves as a model for making animation in cinema. A complete masterpiece!

To understand the context of this film, we need to know that the story comes from the manga and anime Slam Dunk, created in the 90s by master Takehiko Inoue. The story of the manga tells the story of a young man with red hair named Sakuragi who was rejected by 50 girls until he met a girl who likes basketball. From there, Sakuragi's character develops, starting from someone who had never heard of basketball until he became one of the best on his school team. ... The character is highly based on the player Dennis Rodman in his invasive style and fiery personality. All the characters on the court are based on famous NBA players from the 90s such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing, Kevin Johnson and Reggie Miller, among many others.

This film, The First Slam Dunk, is about the last game in the manga's story, where master and director Takehiko Inoue brilliantly managed to make it so that any viewer doesn't need to have any background on the story to know what the game is. For those who have read the manga, it is a masterpiece, for those who haven't read anything, it is a brilliant animation about a basketball game, animated magnificently, mixing 2D and 3D animation. Only this time, the protagonist is not Sakuragi but Ryota Miyagi, because Takehiko Inoue made a one-shot about Miyagi a few years before submitting the Slam Dunk manga to Shueisha called "Piercing". This story is shown through flashbacks in the film, giving a whole tragic background to the character. Since this story was not shown in the original manga or anime, it was the icing on the cake that the master puts in the film. The flashbacks are not cheesy, much less gratuitously thrown into the film. Quite the opposite, as a viewer, you want to know what happened and why Miyagi is so passionate about the sport of basketball. You want to know why he made a promise years ago and why he is Number 1 (a reference made in the film). You want to know who the mysterious woman is who appears in the trailer and later in the film, watching the game. You want to know the pain the character went through to give his all in the game. You want to have as much empathy as possible because you want the Shohoku team to win. The flashbacks serve to enhance dramatic moments on the court and not just to give us standard information.
Regarding the game itself, the sound effects are incredible; it feels like we are actually inside a closed room, watching an NBA game. All the sounds of the ball, the sliding of the sneakers on the court, the sounds of the basketball hoops, the audience, all in perfect harmony. Once again, the master Takehiko Inoue shows, through the film, his ardent passion for basketball. In an absurd transition from the pages of manga to the director's chair, the filmmaker does a masterful job regarding the visual compositions of a game and how to insert the audience in real-time into the basketball plays.

Inoue takes advantage of the high production value to transpose his beautiful work with a sense of movement in his layouts to a media where there are no constraints, capturing the game with great versatility and diversity, whether in more dynamic movements of running and feints on the court, in a panoramic view of a play and camera angles from the characters' point of view or the ground to emphasize the gravity of a dunk and especially the delirious outcome of the game.

The lessons we learn from the film are also almost infinite, both in the game itself and in the film's production. What leads Master Inoue to make a film about a work he has already finished? Could this be a sign of his other works? The truth is that Slam Dunk moved an entire generation, both inside and outside Japan. There are scholarships in Japan for players to have an opportunity to go and play in the NBA in the United States. There is a book about it that tells the story of all the players who have done this and who currently play in professional leagues.

I watched the entire film with a silly smile like a basketball fan, in pure satisfaction with Inoue's care with trash talk, psychological games, classic plays with his back to the basket or in transition à la Showtime Lakers, and several other characteristics that make basketball a beautiful sport. There is so much passion in this project for the way the game is played, how it feels, and how artistic it is that it is unbelievable, with the biggest highlight being the way Hanamichi Sakuragi is an infectious Dennis Rodman on the court, including a sequence that mirrors a famous play by the power forward who did everything to win as a team. In the end, the dramatic investment with the characters is so great and the euphoria with the capture of the game is so masterful that I found myself vibrating and cheering as if I were watching an NBA finals game, with a game-winner at the last second that would leave any viewer in delirium. I forgot I was watching a movie and could only breathe to say:
"Phew, what a game that was!"

P.S - I watched this movie like 3x times and I cannot stop. Gonna watch it again in cinema today :D

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 21, 2024

Zeemod155

Mixed Feelings

I can't say I recommend watching this movie as an introduction to Slam Dunk. Because I tried and got mixed results. That's not to say you can't enjoy this movie, in fact I enjoyed it a lot. What it does for 3D and sports action direction is something to be marveled. But the one issue is it's difficult to appreciate. And this movie deserves to be appreciated NOT just enjoyed.

To simply enjoy it feels like missing the heart of the chapters/episodes of drama and trauma, of build-up and expectation that are earned throughout these characters' life journeys. And so much of it is dedicated ... to that drama/trauma outside of the game compared to the game itself (the build-up and expectation part). And I struggled connect the pieces all the way. But also can't quite place the purpose of certain things like to structure of stopping the single match to have the entire backstory told piecemeal. Like who even knows if I'd find the flash-back-to-flash-forward style of storytelling more or less helpful after reading it all first?

So while I was under the impression that one could watch this as an introduction, this isn't a review so much as it is a cautionary tale. Perhaps others who have never read a page of Slam Dunk before got exactly what they wanted (and more?) but that should not be the expected outcome for everyone. And I do feel that having a super popular movie released years after the anime/manga is going to have the effect of garnering new attention from people like me who want to see what's up. So I hope this review is still "valid" in the minds of MAL readers.

Although I have to say I'm very interested in picking up the manga/anime now. So in a reverse intentional way "mission accomplished"? It will be interesting to see how manga/anime reads after experiencing this movie in full. It got engaged in the potential of the material which is something I couldn't have said had I never tried this movie out in the first place.

MAL requires me to give an overall rating which I feel uncomfortable doing since a re-watch seems to be in order after I fulfill my required reading (at least up to this point in the story). So this is an even split between how I feel now and how I think I'd feel after. Is that even okay? My actual score is blank so it's not like it will affect the aggregate score anyway :)

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Feb 4, 2023

aLotQuestion_

Not Recommended

Funny

Spoiler

To be honest, I think the "MC" of this movie is just so wrong. Why Miyagi of all people? Out of all 5 people the most mysterious is definitely Rukawa, he pretty much has ZERO background beside basketball is everything to him. We at least know some background about Miyagi already, the MC should be Rukawa instead for the reason why he is the most persistent against being the best of the best in basketball.

Half of the screen time is about Miyagi background and the a lot of the scene in the match has to be cut. For examples, the scene where Kawata did a ... slam dunk and look down on Sakuragi, the introduction of Kawata brother get COMPLETELY omitted, flash back of Kawakita became a random running scene without content...

For fuck sake, I don't feel shit about Miyagi background, even the 1 minute scene of Sakuragi's flask back is more sad than Miyagi's brother death, and even the few second scene of Sakuragi telling Anzai Coach he wanted to be back in the field is more hot blooded than Miyagi's.

I just don't understand why, not just Takehiko Inoue himself but almost ALL recent author love to do stupid decision or ending like this and ruin the show. The show is selling nostalgic ONLY. I really hope Oda from One Piece don't make stupid ending like this, one of my childhood...

Overall, I highly not recommended, don't waste your money to buy ticket, NOT EVEN FOR NOSTALGIC!

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: The First Slam Dunk Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) WeAllShineOn - Dec 3, 2022	77 replies	by LunyRem »» Yesterday, 2:44 AM
	Is this a sequel? Andrevenus01 - May 3	11 replies	by DracoXXX »» Jul 17, 9:14 PM
	Do you think more anime should be directed by the mangaka? APolygons2 - May 8	7 replies	by Rei_III »» Jun 7, 9:04 PM
	Blu-Ray when? HusaynTV - Aug 14, 2023	9 replies	by leftjoycon »» Apr 2, 9:56 PM
	『THE FIRST SLAM DUNK』Movie Blu-ray/DVD LIMITED EDITION + Standard Edition sold 234,764 copies in its first week deg - Mar 5	5 replies	by Otaku_4511 »» Mar 14, 8:48 AM