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Alternative Titles

Japanese: SLAM DUNK

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 31

Chapters: 276

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 18, 1990 to Jun 4, 1996

Genres: Award Winning, Sports

Themes: School, Team Sports

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)

Authors: Inoue, Takehiko (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 9.09¹ (scored by 76,715 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #6²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #54

Members: 170,677

Favorites: 16,149

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 49 / 52

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Feb 5, 2009

kuglefang

Recommended

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 ...

Oct 5, 2014

marian11

Recommended

Before I start, I must point something out. If you're expecting something like Kuroko no Basket with Zone, 100% accuracy shooting, perfect copy and other supernatural powers, stop reading right now, because it has none of that. Also, SD focuses more on the whole team, rather than just 2 characters (Kuroko and Kagami). Now, onto the recommendation.
The story follows Sakuragi Hanamichi, a delinquent who is in love with a girl named Haruko and wants to impress her in some way, so he decides to join the basketball club. That was his initial reason for joining, but he gradually develops a love for the sport and ... starts working harder than anyone else. Starting off from the very basics like dribbling, lay ups and defense, slowly gaining experience, you can see him improving with every match that passes.
The art looks rather simple at first, but improves after some time. The matches in particular, are really well drawn. Shots, dunks, passes, player movements - everything is drawn in a way you'd understand what's going on.
The characters is probably the strongest point of this manga. Sakuragi is one of the most well-developed main characters I've seen in all of manga/anime. The same can be said for the rest of Shohoku's team members. Heck even the rival teams are so well-developed, you would have a problem chosing who to cheer for. My favourite non-Shohoku character is Ryonan's ace - Sendoh. He is such an amusing and fun character that you just can't help but love.
As a sport manga, it's really beginner friendly. Even if you don't know much about basketball, this manga will teach you everything about the sport. From the basics like how to dribble, how to shoot a ball correctly, passing, to advanced skills like how to grab a rebound successfully, how to screen-out and set up screens, how to avoid the different kinds of fouls (double dribble, travelling, pushing and so on) and to use fouls to your advantage. Speaking of fouls, there are a lot of them in this manga, unlike in Kuroko no Basket where there was barely any contact between the players. If you get 5 fouls, you leave the game. Fouls bring more tension into the matches (which are already intense enough) and makes them more enjoyable. When the players are tired, they are tired. What I mean by that is that their movements slow down, shooting percentage goes down and the players become more vulnerable to mistakes. This is what realism is.
I also have to mention the final game (don't worry, I'm not gonna spoil it). This manga probably has the best final game ever. It hit all the right points and it was so damny emotional. I was barely holding my tears in the last 4-5 chapters of the last game and I doubt any other sports manga can make me even tear up like this.
Slam Dunk is the closest thing you'll get to a realistic basketball series. I also have to mention the humor. The humor in this manga is pure gold. I dare say it's near Gintama's humor level. It also references some things from real life, mostly from NBA. That is something rarely seen among anime/manga.
Highly recommended for fans of: Hajime no Ippo (it's like its basketball equivalent), Kuroko no Basket (I love Kuroko, but KnB fans must feel the greatness of this manga), Haikyuu and sport fans as a whole.
I also recommend this manga to people who want to get into basketball. This one will surely help you with your basketball studies.

Mar 27, 2015

Klad

Recommended

If you're a regular basketball watcher, or a solid fan of the sport, then Slam Dunk is a must watch for you. This piece of work is skillfully written by the famous author Inoue Takehiko, also known for his other works such as REAL and Vagabond. Slam Dunk also had outstanding sales in Japan and a successful adaptation series (along with four movies) which were sold worldwide, thus inspiring young people to practise basketball passionately.

As said above, Slam Dunk is for those who are into basketball. Inoue Takehiko himself has been a basketball player in his high school days, and he is an active NBA ... watcher, so you don't have to worry about technical mistakes or poorly developed games, 'cause Takehiko truly knows how to write a basketball game and illustrate it, also adding as many intensity as possible, to make a thrilling and memorable game. (There are a few matches involving such great writing). Reason why I mentioned this is, this is the basic feature a basketball series should contain, to attract readers/watchers.

The characters are Slam Dunk's strongest point. A meaningful quote (from a review) by Inoue Takehiko is: "I don't force my characters to do things their personality doesn't allow, even if it means to progress the story". I wholeheartdly agree with this saying, and this is possibly why Takehiko's characters have been a successs.

Now let's focus on the actual story and characters of Slam Dunk. The main character of the series, which invests more time in him is Sakuragi Hanamichi. In the beginning, Sakuragi is a punk and delinquent who socializes with others of his kind and make troubles. He gets into fighting a lot and a notable characteristic of his, he gets rejected by every female he's confessed to. Heartbroken, Hanamichi stumbles upon Haruko Akagi, a pretty girl, who makes Sakuragi fall in love with her real quick. Due to her being the sister of the basketball club's captain, Hanamichi ended up in the basketball team and that's when his journey as a baskettoman (Hanamichi's pronunciation of basketball player). Simply put, Hanamichi starts a complete beginner, starting from the scratch, such as dribbling the ball, doing lay ups and rebounding. (Also to note that Slam Dunk explains almost every important and basic rule of basketball, via DR.T, a short and amusing tertiary character who has enough knowledge in basketball). And this said, Inoue Takehiko brilliantly develops Hanamichi's gradual growing love for basketball.

The Shohoku team's members are all nicely developed. Starting from Akagi, a tough, gorilla looking young boy who is the captain of the Shohoku basketball tean. Akagi has an unbeatable spirit for the sport of the basketball. This very spirit drives along the team in high morale which is very helpful and basically the core of their accoplishments. His relationship with Sakuragi Hanamichi is also one of the best things in the show, they have a cat and mouse relationship in the beginning which develops into a long term friendship. Next, we have the megane kun, which is the essential characteristic to every sports series. A megane kun who is loyal to the team and boosts their morale in times of trouble. Kogure is the vice captain of the Shohoku team and the helping hand of Akagi. They both have known each other since childhood and have a trusting friendship between each other.

Rukawa Kaede is the everlasting rival of Sakuragi Hanamichi. Rukawa is always one step ahead of Hanamichi, which irritates him the most and motivates him to actively practice basketball and get better at it. At first, Rukawa gives an impression of a popular, quiet, good looking guy who excels at what he does. And he really does excel at basketball. Though slow (very slow), his relationship wih Hanamichi gives fruits. (Not going to spoil). Also necessary to say, Hanamichi also considers Rukawa a rival in love. Unfortunately for Hanamichi, Haruko is all over and drools over Rukawa, not that the latter cares anyway.

Lastly, the trouble makers of the Shohoku. Ryota Miyagi and Mitsui Hisashi. Both have been delinquents and have had constant conflicts with each other. Due to a fight, Ryota is sent to hospital, resulting in a long break in bball.Ryota's quite short, and this makes him a key player for Shohoku. He excels at dribbling the basketball and giving no look passes, cause he knows where his teammates are in the court. He also shoots two pointers at times and has an unmatched speed which comes to hand Shohoku plenty of times. On the other hand, Mitsui Hisashi took a different path from Ryota. He decided to stop playing basketball (reasons stated in his arc, which it's pretty spoiler heavy), but he eventually comes back at the team after an exhaustingly long mini arc (in the anime, mostly).

Though those were the main characters, which are awesomely developed, Slam Dunk also focuses on the "opponents" of Shohoku. Aces such as Sendo Akira, Shinichi Maki, Kenji Fujima, Eiji Sawakita are all equally developed and sometimes you root for their team to win.

The distinct art of Inoue Takehiko is also enjoyable to watch and read. Slam Dunk actually is one of his first drawn series, and it's a very good chance to watch Inoue Takehiko develop as an artist.

Overall Slam Dunk is located at the 2nd place (of sports series). It was an undescribable ride with lots of fun, funny and sad moments. It clearly deserves a 10 in my book, as these kind of series are very rare.

Feb 4, 2015

Beobachter

Recommended

Slam Dunk is the most popular and iconic basketball manga around, thanks to a dynamite main character and Takehiko Inoue's clear passion for the sport.

Hanamichi Sakuragi, a red-headed delinquent and complete basketball neophyte, is the heart and soul of Slam Dunk. He's great at various things (beating up other delinquents, being tall, and being rejected by girls are chiefs among them), and while playing basketball is clearly not one of them, don't tell him that; in fact, Sakuragi's brand of unreasonable confidence and swaggery is a breath of fresh air in a genre usually populated by bland genius or meek underdogs as main protagonists. ... He's a very easy character to root for, and it's delightful to watch him slowly transform from playing just to impress a girl into being genuinely affected by all the feelings that the game entailed. Whether it's his one-sided rivalry with the prodigious Rukawa, his constant goofs in the court, or his endearing simple-mindedness, Sakuragi will make you laugh and face-palm until eventually he'll also make you fist-pump in pride as he successfully defended a dangerous opponent, secured a key rebound, ,nailed his first jump shoot, and many more.

This might seems like an unnecessarily obvious statement, but there's really a lot of basketball in Slam Dunk. It's drawn at a very deliberate pace; Inoue likes to take his time, often going over two or three volumes to depict a single match (for the final match, he went all-out and spread the match through 6+ volumes). Although there's a significant amount of humor, rom-com triangle, and off-court basketball events in the initial volumes, once the main cast is assembled it's pretty much Basketball Action all the time. Non-playing characters like Sakuragi's love interest Haruko and his amusing band of delinquent pals are inevitably demoted into the role of spectators, and character development is practically confined in the realm of basketball court as the main cast (especially, but not limited to, Sakuragi) learned to utilize/expand their strengths, overcome their weaknesses, and develop chemistry with each other. It's safe to say that if you enjoy the entirety of Slam Dunk, you're already a big fan of basketball or on your way into becoming one.

Inoue's art is a big part of what makes the matches, slow as they are, so enjoyable. You'd be hard-pressed to find more passionate depiction of a basketball game on manga pages; whether it's rim-shattering dunks, ferocious blocks, or gorgeous three-point swishes, there's a range of dramatic moments native to the sport that he successfully captured. It gets increasingly beautiful and detailed, too. Homages to the 1990s NBA are abound, from the players themselves (Sakuragi and team captain Akagi, for example, were clearly modeled after Dennis Rodman and Patrick Ewing respectively), some iconic poses, and jersey color schemes. There's also a sense of real-life plausibility within the games, as the players in Slam Dunk thrived with realistic skills and athleticism rather than over-the-top superhuman traits. Questionable tactical moments do exist (quad-teaming a single player, anyone?), but in terms of the general flow of the game,it's still a lot more faithful than your typical sports manga.

Slam Dunk ends rather abruptly, covering only a single tournament season, and some potential future opponents/match-ups being teased ultimately never materialized. It could've become a long-running epic a la Hajime no Ippo, but apparently Inoue had other plans. Even then, it's still a powerful and memorable journey, led by a beloved red-headed brat.

Mar 19, 2021

unimportantuser

Recommended

Slam, motherfuckin, Dunk. You say those 3 words & they just begin to resonate throughout the room. That’s the power this manga has. Slam Dunk is a series that, I hate to use this phrase because I think it’s stupid. “Transcends manga”. I don’t necessarily use that because I think it’s the most well written, most clever, or best manga ever. Slam Dunk doesn’t even crack my top 10 of all time (but it comes pretty damn close). So why do I use that phrase? Because I honestly think Slam Dunk is a manga that appeals to everybody.

Basketball is a universally understood concept. It’s ... popularity may vary across regions/countries (especially given that before Slam Dunk Basketball in Japan was not a popular sport) but it’s nevertheless something everybody understands. However if Slam Dunk being about Basketball was all it had going for it then it wouldn’t be as fondly remembered as it is & most certainly wouldn’t be the 7th & 9th highest rated manga on Anilist & MyAnimeList respectively. Want proof? Just look at Takehiko Inoue’s Buzzer Beater manga, while not outright awful it’s essentially a glorified advertisement for some ESPN website in Japan at the time & it’s not even remotely remembered as well as Slam Dunk is because being about Basketball is the only thing Buzzer Beater has going for it.

So what does make Slam Dunk as good as it is. Well it’s quite simple really, Inoue himself does. Takehiko Inoue may just possibly be the most passionate Japanese Basketball fan of all time. So what does he do? He takes a concept as universally understood as Basketball, gives it some fantastic characters with a lot of charisma, charm, & identifiable traits. Then takes both & writes a straight-forward narrative with hype moments throughout, characters that we get to see grow throughout the narrative, at first bad art but it quickly becomes good, & then near the end of the series phenomenal, & packages it tight so that it keeps a fast pace that makes the series incredibly addicting to read. But that’s just a generalization of these concepts.

As stated earlier, Slam Dunk’s plot is simplistic. It’s got the exact structure & story beats that you would expect out of a sports narrative. Because of its cast though, the story is excelled to greater heights that it would’ve obtained otherwise. We’ve got Sakuragi, the meatheaded shounen protagonist that gets heated easily but pulls his weight when it counts, has a strong sense of teamwork & loyalty under his rough exterior, & is passionate about Basketball. Then we’ve got Rukawa, the reserved member, the star player, the one who goes through giving into authenticity & opening up to his team mates. We’ve got Akagi, the captain, the really passionate Basketball player, & the guiding figure on & off the court. Even some of the characters that aren’t super important to the narrative like Sakuragi’s 3 friends offer some great comedy to the series & they play off of each other really well. I can go on all day but I think you get that Slam Dunk has some awesome characters that are one reason that really makes Slam Dunk as good of a series as it is.

As mentioned earlier, Inoue is a passionate Basketball fan & with Slam Dunk his passion oozes throughout the pages but it never comes off as cheesy. Throughout the manga you really get to feel Inoue’s passion rather it be through his detailed art, his ‘Dr T’s basketball lessons” (remember Basketball was essentially not a thing in Japan before Slam Dunk). The already mentioned characters that have just as much of a passion for the sport as the author does. It’s just a huge love letter at the end of the day. What I think encapsulates the love Inoue has for Basketball is how he goes about representing games & getting to see the characters grow. The games in Slam Dunk ar always hype, never dull, paced perfectly, & house some of the most powerful moments of the manga. But through the games we always get to see these characters grow meaning there is always some form of progression that keeps the pace going. There’s moments in Slam Dunk like Sakuragi denying the Judo club because he really has grown to love the sport of Basketball by that point. A last second unexpected loss that destroys the team’s spirts, & getting to learn bits about Rukawa’s past that help make this manga for me.

If you love seeing artist evolve overtime, then Slam Dunk is for you because you get to see it in just one manga that ran for 6 years, you don’t even need to read Vagabond or Real (though I’d recommend you do that but those are for different reviews). Slam Dunk’s art at first can honestly look quite bad. There’s hardly any shading, the compositional works can be weak, the characters look ultra simplistic, & the art in generally for the first volume can look derpy if I had to put it in one word. However the art quickly improves, Inoue’s compositional pieces become significantly better, his characters more detailed, his paneling better, I think you get the point. Then, it happens. Inoue’s art becomes phenomenal by the final 6 or so volumes. Not on every page mind you, but when it’s spreads, detailed character panels, & panels of that like. Inoue’s art gets to a point that I honestly think can rival early Vagabond. In conclusion, you get to see the artistic evolution of an artist in one work & that’s awesome, easily some of the best art that I’ve seen out of weekly shounen jump.

Well there you have it. My thoughts on Slam Dunk. I love this manga if you couldn’t tell, I think it’s absolutely legendary & a series that everybody no matter who they are should give this manga a chance. There’s very little to outright hate about this manga it’s so likeable thanks to Inoue’s passion for the sport being used to craft a simple yet compelling narrative throughout 31 volumes, 276 chapters, & xxxx pages worth of material (if somebody wants to tell me how many Slam Dunk actually is feel free). This manga, while not necessarily being my favorite or a manga that I think is the best. This manga gets my highest recommendation above all other manga due solely to its mass appeal & likeability. If you have not read this legendary series, get on it.

Jul 27, 2018

thizlas

Mixed Feelings

It is not rare for shounen sports manga to end up focusing more on the characters and on their evolution than on a careful representation of the sport they practice. Slam Dunk opts for the opposite approach, as it relies much more on the tension generated by realistically and extensively-depicted basketball than on character-development to offer an engaging experience. My opinion is that it only partly succeeds in this undertaking because it is brought down by some significant flaws.

This review will mainly be a critique of what I consider to be Slam Dunk's main weaknesses: its characters, its dialogues and the way its basketball ... games are structured. I will however start by mentioning the manga's visual representation of the sport, which I found to be its main quality.

Inoue's art, which is already above average at the start of the manga, consistently gets better and successfully brings the basketball games to life in a both realistic and striking manner. Along with the masterful way in which the panels are laid out, it effectively displays the difficulty of the moves it depicts and equally contributes to bringing suspense and strong payoffs to the games. The few text-less scenes are especially impressive, I found them breathtaking.

Apart from those strictly technical aspects, several other elements pertain to the ambition of the manga to rely on pure and realistic basketball: the rules and main moves are progressively explained to the reader at the same time as the protagonist is learning them, and many of those moves are as well-described as they are impressively showcased. Furthermore, legitimate tactics play a major role in the games. Even though the characters can be extremely talented at using some techniques, they don't have any of the nearly magical secret powers one can often find in shounen manga.

This being said, it doesn't mean that Slam Dunk is free of the usual shounen sports manga framework, as its main storyline is as typical as it gets: there is a steady escalation of stakes and powers, simplistic -though sometimes touching- flashbacks are regularly used to give scenes more emotional impact, and the humor, which is very typical of its time, sometimes works well but sometimes feels very heavy. More importantly, almost all characters often act, think and speak in a simplistic or even silly manner, which I find to be the one of the major weaknesses of the series.

The main character Sakuragi is extremely dense, hot-tempered and a bit of a delinquent, as a lot of shounen protagonists were in the nineties, but he is so naturally talented and has such an incredible learning speed that he quickly becomes a key player in his high school's basketball team. Rukawa, who is the ace of the team and another one of the most important characters, is rather boring and flat, other than the fact that he has a rivalry with Sakuragi which most likely inspired that of Naruto and Sasuke: the red-haired, hot-tempered guy with amazing potential wants to catch up to the apathetic, dark-haired genius. And that's about the extent of this manga's character writing. The characters mostly stay as they are for the entirety of the long story.

That is to say, Slam Dunk's character writing is quite weak. Even though Sakuragi and his teammates steadily grow as basketball players, they only ever change as persons on occasions that are so rare and sudden that they lack impact and feel artificial. The measly amount of character development the manga has to offer is therefore neither significant nor realistic. Where other shounen manga often rely on their characters to carry them in the long run, Slam Dunk's main cast lacks complexity and is not believable enough to stay interesting for 31 volumes. Some of the other characters like Akagi and to a lesser extent Kogure, Ryouta and Mitsui are much more likeable than Sakuragi and Rukawa, though they are also quite simplistic. The one thing that best managed to draw my empathy was actually the abstract but omnipresent entity of Shohoku (the name of the character's high school and team), which concentrates the passion and dreams of many, and thus has enough emotional weight to occasionally move a reader. As for the antagonists, when they are not ridiculously caricatural, they are about average. Not a single one of them is really interesting.

Slam Dunk's subpar characters, strong art and rather realistic depiction of basketball logically lead the reader to focus on the action, which thus constitutes the main interest of the manga. Regrettably, the weakness of the characters often bleeds onto the action itself. For instance, the way they speak during basketball games is quite unpleasant: they frequently shout across to their opponents and provoke them brashly, and their monologues are full of annoying ramblings about the importance of victory and their desire to be stronger. This kind of speech is fairly common in shounen manga, as the opponents are supposed to represent the inner obstacles that the characters have to overcome in order to grow, and as it further contextualizes the action, thereby raising its stakes. In Slam Dunk however, the caricatural personalities of the characters, the paucity and redundancy of the words they use and the recurrence of those passages make them feel tedious.

Another problem with the manga's action is the unnatural rhythm of its basketball games. They are almost systematically divided in sections in which one team tries to overcome a problem posed by the other team's way of playing. In order to do so, they need to implement a specific strategy that will either quickly succeed -in which case the section is generally entertaining-, or require a given player to surpass himself by mastering a new move or by managing to overwhelm his seemingly superior opponent. These moments, which can be found in most shounen battle series, are very frequent in Slam Dunk and extremely annoying, because they often include the aforementioned weak dialogues or flashbacks that interrupt the game and break its flow.
This unnatural rhythm strongly undermines the realism of the manga for the sake of cheap clichés and power-ups. Even worse, in order to create tension, several of those drastic changes in players' abilities often occur in the course of a single game and they are always accompanied by significant score gaps that are alternately bridged and widened by both teams.

Slam Dunk's length is its last weakness: the characters are not good enough for the emotional connection the reader builds with them over time to counterbalance the manga's repetitiveness; it makes elements that were funny, believable or dramatic in the beginning lose their effectiveness and ultimately feel unimpressive.

The ending of the manga is average, and so are the majority of the secondary characters such as Haruko, Ayako, Aota and the coaches: they are decent but basic, semi-effective in their role as comic reliefs, and are ultimately bound to stay underdeveloped spectators.

To put it in a nutshell, Slam Dunk is neither awful nor outstanding. It relies mostly on being purely about sports at the detriment of the characters, but despite its strong art, it doesn't really manage to excel in this domain due to a lack of realism that sometimes makes it hard to take seriously. Watching a real basketball game with real stakes, more consistent tension and actually interesting players is in my opinion a more interesting activity than reading this manga.

Dec 13, 2020

Soffth

Recommended

ENGLISH
- History: 10/10
The story follows a gang member who will join his school's basketball team just to hook up with a girl. Slam Dunk is a complex play that deals with self-improvement, romance, and comedy.
The series is not about impossible plays, dreams of greatness or epic moments, no, the series focuses on pure Basketball and its characters, characters that are nothing more than normal high school students with their problems, even the series leaves aside from sport and take the time to tell us about these.

- Art: 9/10
The Takehiko Inoue drawing is excellent, something known to all, detailed and expressive, Inoue knows how to transmit ...

Sep 6, 2020

PandaUwU

Recommended

Slam Dunk is the highest-rated sports manga on MAL, topping other manga like Haikyuu, Ashita no Joe, and Hajime no Ippo. It has sold 126 million copies, making it 9th best selling manga of all time. Does it hold up today? Does it deserve a top 10 spot on MAL?

The series' story overall is pretty a basic “we’re going to the Nationals and we’re going to win” kind of story. The main difference is its story other than it’s unique hook and good/surprising ending is that the win at the nationals is for everyone, not just their “senpai” that are going to graduate. The series' ... characters and basketball shine the most here. Something about the story that I do have to say though, is that it's realistic. You're not always going to get the match-ups that you want. A hyped team in a different bracket could end up losing. It's just the reality of the sport.

The main character, Hanamichi Sakuragi, is someone who has grown a significant amount. At the start of the series, you see him as a delinquent, someone who gets very physical and aggressive and doesn’t even know the rules. You see him evolve from this person who plays basketball to woo a girl, to someone who loves basketball. You see Sakuragi desperately fight for victory and grow/mature with each match. The manga is good at getting you attached to his growth and emotions. He starts with the basics (dribbling, passing, lay-ups, and rebounds), and Inoue (the author of Slam Dunk) builds up and develops his character with amazing pacing and gradually growing love for basketball. Sakuragi is an overconfident character that experiences growth and matures throughout the four months that is the story.

Sakuragi’s rival is someone who’s been playing basketball for a long time. He’s a top scorer in Japan and another person with a ridiculous amount of potential. Rukawa is someone that everyone in the game pays attention to, because of his ability to score about 30 points (10-15 baskets) in a game. Rukawa always shows up to practice and is hardworking.

Rukawa and Sakuragi don’t get along at all. They refuse to pass to each other and they hate working together, but they have to close this gap to win games and play together.

The rest of Shohoku is also well written. The captain, Takenori Akagi, is the pillar of Shohoku. He can raise the spirits of the rest of the team with his strong spirit. He keeps the morale of his team high, with beautifully written bond/friendship with Sakuragi, that grew constantly throughout the story, as Akagi relies more and more on Sakuragi.

The other two key members, Mitsui and Miyagi, are also delinquents. Miyagi is a point guard with a playful personality. Since he’s the point guard, he’s the shortest player on the court at most times. You see him overcome each obstacle alongside everyone else with his ability to jump high and outspeed everyone else on the court. He also can pass extremely well, and makes the right calls.

Mitsui is someone who quit basketball after suffering a leg injury. This caused him to hate basketball and join a gang. When he comes back to the team, you see him grow and surpass himself from junior high, into someone strong and able to consistently shoot threes.

Mitsui and Miyagi had a bit of a rough relationship in the past. A year before the show, Mitsui’s gang ganged up on Miyagi. Miyagi knew that he couldn’t take them all, so he only focused on beating up Mitsui.

These five characters come together and become one of the strongest basketball teams in Japan. They all grow and bond together, and they attempt to conquer Japan. They all grow through Sakuragi and become stronger together. They are well written and build a strong connection with each other throughout the story.

The basketball in Slam Dunk is somewhat realistic. Everything that they pull off in Slam Dunk is possible in real life, but wouldn’t be possible for a high school player to do. It’s not impossible, but you wouldn’t see high schoolers able to pull off the stunts they do in Slam Dunk. The way the players respond to fouling is well written, as they slow down and play safer when they get three or four fouls. The rules are accurate though, as Inoue is a big fan of basketball.

In Slam Dunk, everyone works together. The entire team plays basketball, and are strongest as the full team. It focuses on the bond everyone builds, rather than (using Kuroko no Basket as an example) just Kagami and Kuroko.

The art in Slam Dunk is pretty good. It is one of Inoue’s first drawn works, so it isn’t too “exceptional.” The moments that were supposed to be impactful were incredibly drawn and you can tell that Inoue put extra time drawing those moments.

Overall, Slam Dunk is a well-written piece of art, with amazing characters, good art, and well-crafted matches. It gets better and better with each match, and it could’ve been drawn out, but the author knew when to put an end to it, causing it to be a legendary manga about basketball and the characters that grew to love it.

Sep 25, 2020

Gruzownik

Recommended

Slam Dunk is one of the best selling manga in the history of Japan and one of the best rated manga on MAL (actually in the sports manga department it occupies the 1st place). Going into it I had absolutely no idea that the series I expected to be just a nice, enjoyable read would become one of my all-time favourite series of all time.

Story 10

First and foremost, we are introduced to the world of Slam Dunk through the character of Sakuragi Hanamichi (more on him later) in a very surprising way. Instead of our main character having a long-term goal/dream to achieve, we ...

Jan 31, 2015

AidoWand

Recommended

First of all, I'm gonna make a comparison, this is not Kuroko no Basket at all, it's a whole different concept. Slam Dunk is probably the best manga (in the sports category, although I can say it's one of the best in general) ever published and the anime version is one of the best I have ever seen.

The story is somewhat considered as simple, I mean, it's a sports manga, you don't need to make it complicated it, nevertherless, the execution is incredible, each chapter is filled with humor, action, drama, and comedy. The anime series was good and worthy of being considered a landmark ... anime. 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! One thing I can reproach to Takehiko Inoue (but that's a selfish thought) is that he could have make more chapters, its ending is quite, well, a full stop. You'll understand if you read it, I really recommend it.
You guys have to know that back then, in the 90's in Japan, Basket was considered as "taboo" in anything related to manga/anime, for the sole reason that basket wasn't developped at all in Japan's highschools and middleschools. The manga and animes which came later, every single one of them were inspired by Slam Dunk. This manga is so well known across Japan because it was the first to achieve so much success.

The artwork is simply fantastic, if we take in consideration that it was done from 1990 to 1994. I doubt you can find a lot more "realistic" manga out there, coming from those years. The characters have something, out-of-manga concept. They still have the general lines which defines a manga, but if you compare it to other ones, you'll understand, you have the impression you can see human faces under these tired and happy "basketmans" faces.

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!

Jun 9, 2019

Cosmicblaze454

Recommended

Frequently, the sports in sports manga has merely been used as a plot device to facilitate other themes such as friendship and teamwork. For example, Kuroko no Basket can easily be about any other team sport such as soccer or baseball with minimal changes. It's themes is universal enough and its superhuman abilities (and other shenanigans) can easily translate to another sport.

Slam Dunk is different.

Yes, it has themes concerning friendship or teamwork but it hardly emphasizes on that. Slam Dunk is not merely a sports manga, it is a basketball manga. While most sports manga uses its sport as a means to tell a ...

May 6, 2010

Gwilthyunman

Recommended

Everything about this was jus incredible, it was one smooth hilarious touching ride, one after the other.

Art: each character looks unique, can recognize each of them quickly (unlike some mangas where characters jus get a hair-style change and they call it another character). Gets better and better, quite realistic drawings compared with other mangas. The people look pretty real and the guys look damn cool when they're supposed to be. The girls are pretty cute too.

Story: Read to find out, don't wana give spoilers. Nothing feels extra in this, everything fits together. Be prepared to laugh lots and feel inspired with the characters' perseverance.

Character: ...

May 4, 2020

LRTmaknaE

Recommended

*NO SPOILERS

heyo! This is a review of Slam Dunk, one of my favourite manga or my favourite manga series. so here we go!

I read this Manga when I was 12 for the first time and it was so amazing, so I decided to read it again a while ago. And it is as amazing as I remember.

-this manga is about basketball, (I assume y'all know that) but it is not just for basketball lovers. As one who never played basketball back then, I enjoyed the series so much that I started basketball.

-Every game was thrilling, exciting. Every point scored makes you go like," adhsgcausjebgdnux..." and ...

Mar 25, 2009

Sirch456

Recommended

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.

Dec 28, 2012

gnulab

Recommended

The skills are pretty realistic, at least from a non player point of view.
Unlike some manga which the main character always win the fight, or manage to gain some realistically impossible secret moves (read: kuroko no basket), or even a super jutsu that is applicable to every situation (read: naruto & bleach), this develops the character real. They face ups & downs. They need to train to get better.

Now that's what I call story!

Dec 8, 2008

whoiam_me

Recommended

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 ...

May 22, 2020

Kelvin_0815

Recommended

Slam Dunk is one of the best manga I ever read.When i read it,I get very excited & wanna read more & more.This manga get me wanna grab a basketball and started playing it.The manga also affected got me easily emotionally ,I happy while they won,I almost tear up when Akagi told Sakarugi and him to Akagi not to cry.The humour also is good,laugh when within the team they doing stupid things or ark restless.

I don't know how to play basketball or the rules of it,but after reading it I had a better understanding about it.Properly the best sport manga that had been created,it ...

Sep 1, 2021

kiinntannn

Recommended

This is my second sport manga (first is KnB) and this one totally kills it. The story isn't like 'We winnin' highschool championship' and there aren't superpowers in it. OFC they exaggerated movements but they weren't THAT exaggerated. this manga feel so real, and as a basketball fan, I deeply love this manga.

CHARACTERS. The MC's character development is awesome. I really love hanamichi sm. He went from 'playing basketball for Haruko' to 'playing basketball bcs I like the game'. Hanamichi is very entertaining as an MC, with his character and traits, way of speech, expressions, etc. Other than Hanamichi, there are a handful of great ...

Dec 15, 2015

Dunkjoe

Recommended

First of all, I'm not a basketball player so my opinions on this would be from a more non-basketball accuracy manga reader. However, most if not all of the content look really accurate, especially with the manga reader being a long time basketball player.

Let's begin.

[Story:9/10]
As much as the story is realistic, with amazing detail and art, sometimes going frame by frame of how the basketball players play, as well as the story focusing on Sakuragi Hanamichi and the Sohoku team of how they progress, there is still some "too remarkable moments", especially early on.

This is pretty amazing already, given how most sports mangas like to ... perform "Giant Killing" using underdogs using a lot of willpower and/or strategy to blow away the rest of the teams/competitors. It's quite amazing how the story flows smoothly as well, given that there are multiple complications, climaxes and comedy. There is hardly one part of the manga that seems out of place, and from start to end as reality is, there are good times and bad times.

[Art: 10/10]
I would give 12 if I could, the art is just amazing, especially at various points of the last chapters, where there were a lot of different tones and styles used to highlight certain areas, and detailed skillful drawing of various basketball moves, facial expressions, background and so on.

[Character: 10/10]
This is another selection I would like to point out, the character characteristics and backstories of some characters are incredibly explored. However, for the few main characters (5 + 1 actually), a few of them were only touched on surface and there is still little understanding of how the "incredible rookie" could possibly be so incredible, aside from talent, a term which I believe every sports manga tries to exploit.

Still, the amazing portion of the characters might be character development, as we watch how the various characters grow through their toughest periods inside games, as well as what we can learn from their "experiences".

[Enjoyment:10/10]
I would give a 11 if I could. The emotional rollercoaster and growing potential of both the home team and competitor team alike gives great pleasure to the reader, very much like how I enjoyed reading "Zatch Bell". It is where you will not be able to predict much of what will happen next and the suspense hangs thick in the end due to improvements during battles/matches on both sides.

[Overall:10/10]
All in all, this manga is amazing, furthermore I had read that Slam Dunk was a manga that popularised basketball in Japan. This is amazing, since this meant that when it was starting, basketball is actually not a hot topic, but the manga managed to catch on to several volumes and even influenced culture.

^^

Nov 13, 2023

ba_mhd17

Recommended

"Slam Dunk" is the MVP of sports manga, and here's why: While the underdog-to-hero plot might feel familiar, the hilarious twists and turns keep it fresh and enjoyable. Predictable? Maybe a bit, but the charm lies in the genre's classic setup. The art style is slam-dunk perfection—dynamic and electrifying, especially during those heart-pounding basketball matches. Characters are like your basketball dream team—well-rounded with quirks, flaws, and strengths that make them unforgettable. Their reactions to situations? Totally relatable and realistic, adding an extra layer of fun. Even if sports manga isn't usually your thing, the universal humor, fantastic character development, and touching moments make "Slam Dunk" ...