Slam Dunk Review
By sammo
Slam Dunk Review
Takehiko Inoue
Review Statistics
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- 1,413
- Comments
- 6
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Plot Synopsis
No plot synopsis or other information available for Slam Dunk
Story & Characters
Sakuragi Hanamichi is known throughout the prefecture as the trouble making delinquent. His auburn hair and his height that exceeds over 187cm prove to be intimidating, even for his teacher. Upon entering high school, the protagonist Sakuragi Hanamichi Hanamichi faces his 50th bitter rejection from his love interests. Fate has more in store for our protagonist, as the delinquent meets an attractive individual name Haruko. After finding out that Haruko is a big high school basketball fanatic, Sakuragi Hanamichi decides that he will also play basketball in order to capture her heart. After many trials with the team captain of Shohoku and the brother of Haruko, Sakuragi Hanamichi is able to become a starter with his natural-born talent. Despite his natural abilities as a basketball player, can Sakuragi Hanamichi compete against his rival, Kaede Rukawa, whom Haruko adores, and at the same time lead his team to conquer the nation? With the strength of Akagi, Miyagi, Kogure, Rukawa, and Mitsui, Shohoku's battle to conquer the nation begins!
- Rating
- 9 (very good)
Art
The artwork in Slam Dunk was most probably the best at its time, and perhaps even now. The movement of the character is fluid, and the detail of the characters' facial expression is noteworthy. Slam Dunk is often compared with Dear Boys, another basketball-based anime that employs latest CGing technique. Even with its advance technology, Dear Boys still show akward shooting posture and dribbling. None of this is apparent in Slam Dunk - from the flicker of the wrist to the muscle of the lower legs, everything is exactly as you would see in a real basketball game.
- Rating
- 9 (very good)
Sound
The audible presentation in Slam Dunk is not as noteworthy as that of the animation and humor factor. While the opening and ending songs are nice all in all (total of 2 different variation of the opening and ending throught its season), the music played during the show become dull and overplayed. From what i can infer, there are always 3 tracks from the OST that are played atleast once in every episode. The lack of variation may be its downfall, but the sound effects of the ball being bounced, the slamming of the basketball rim, and the voice acting is all top notch.
- Rating
- 8 (good)
Presentation
Slam Dunk is perhaps one of the most enjoyable anime ever created. It mixes the finer aspects of sports and comedy genre, with a hint of romance (although very little). The anime has many fine moments of laughter and could be considered more as a comedy anime rather than sports. There were also many scenes that made me get in the edge of my seat and replay it about three times each, examples being Shohoku vs. Shoyo and Shohoku vs. Kainan. It also provides tips and basic rules throughout the show from a person name Mr. T (no relation to Team A). Definitely one of the finer points of Slam Dunk as it makes the viewer watch it over and over again, thereby giving the presentation value a perfect 10 for Slam Dunk. In terms of origionality, it stands out even in the sports genre; unlike animes such as Prince of Tennis, it shows a more realistic side of sports as Shohoku does not always win its matches. Instead, it shows Shohoku learning from its mistake and evolving in to one of the best basketball team in prefecture and in the nation.
- Rating
- 10 (excellent)
Final Verdict
9.17 (very good)
Reviewed by sammo, 3y 47wk ago
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Yeah!!! I like this review, Slam Dunk was first one of the anime that I saw
i agree sammo, the offer orientated to the sport was very original and with a fictional touch it rubbed the perfection
ooh i saw slam dunk in grade school, i dont really like sport anime but this one is worth watching =p
Good review
Slam Dunk is the best basket anime I've ever seen, and maybe the best sport-anime !
The characters are really great and it's really fun to watch that anime ^^
I'm not key enough on the technical aspects of the anime, so I'll just add some of my feelings towards it. I'll probably write a lot...
I enjoyed slam dunk, i really did, but was still bothered by its weaknesses. Since there are over 100 episodes, these weaknesses had time to manifest itself into a real problem which got to the point where I almost felt like finishing the anime was a chore. It suffers from an extreme excess of filler ... granted this became a major problem for me as I watched the show 10 eps per sitting (probably not a big deal for those who watch one a week). Each game lasted a good 8 eps or so! Because of this, there were only a few games played in the entire 100+ ep anime. On this point I will have to disagree with sammo in saying that slam dunk has very little replay value - since only one significant thing happens every episode, you are forced to watch multiple episodes to actually "get into it again". The road to becoming a national champion just seemed a lot shorter, which i thought made it feel too easy. They only had to beat a few joke opponents to reach the top level, where they finally run into some competition with the top ranked teams in the country. unlike prince of tennis where the length of the season was much longer, allowing more time for skill development, slam dunk chose to go with a short time, and rapid skill development by sakuragi.
Of course, I have significant bias towards this show as I am an avid basketball player; I started watching this show expecting more basketball action and less basketball drama (ie prince of tennis), but hey, sakuragi made up for it - imo he's one of the most hilarious anime characters ever. On this point I think it's important to note that rarely do off-court events translate to on-court, especially at this high level (these guys might as well be pros). I guess I'm just trying to say that these guys think too much "about what happened the other day at school or whatnot" when they are on the court - while other people may say otherwise, I don't think this adds to the experience at all, but to a small degree insult the viewer's memory and intelligence. yea, too many fillers / flashbacks.
In the end it was the lack of subliminal realism (beyond the obvious fact that these guys were ridiculously tall and strong for japanese high schoolers) that got the better of me, resulting with slam dunk among my less-than-spectacular anime list. with the way the story, the teams, and the people were set up, i had the feeling that it couldn't have happened any other way. the shohoku team was a bit TOO perfect. miyagi is a pure point guard with mad speed, court vision and great off-ball defense by double teaming, always picking off passes - think earl boykins. mitsui is an ex-MVP pure shooter and ideal two guard with a well-balanced game that allows him to penetrate and dish (peja). rukawa at SF is all-rounded, able to drive and finish with a dunk, shoot the three, pass, etc (pippen). hanamichi at PF with ridiculous hops, a quick learner that loses focus but makes cruicial defensive plays in the clutch (rodman), akagi the behemoth center who is all power but has tremendous skill (shaq). a strategy-oriented sixth man who can hit the open 3. and nobody else to take playing time away. as this isn't a gag anime i expected more realism in this sense - how can you NOT win with a team like this? it felt to me as if it was only a (short) matter of time before these guys took the world basketball scene by storm - screw the japanese nationals, it should be too easy for them.
the moral of the story is that you aren't allowed to think and explore when watching slam dunk - it does it all for you. being a sports anime that is strictly confined to reality (unlike prince of tennis - triple counter wtf), slam dunk makes some compromises where it is merely convenient for it to do so.
i know i'm on the extreme side, and i've nitpicked way too much, but hey, that's how i watch anime. the sports genre is one of my favorites in anime (PoT, captain tsubasa) because of their ability to portray the fantastic - but for a sports anime to tout its unsupported realism like slam dunk did really took away from the experience. as the primary show referred to when dealing with animated basketball, i believe slam dunk could have done a better job.
genius rebound king sakuragi hah hah hah hah
Nice review.
Yeah I really like that Mr. T guy who comes out suddenly and explains the rules
Well. think you did a great job in bringing out the essence of Slam Dunk.
I must admit that i am one of those slam dunk die hard fans yea. Come to think of it, this anime really inspired me to continue my basketball career as I was in a pinch somewhat similar to that of the character Mitsui. Cos of this, I really admire the characters' spirit and all the important lesson's on friendship and teamwork in that show. It was so inspirational and I love it. Felt that the characters, soundtracks and plot was a good one. Especially with the loads of humor packed in the show. My fav characters were Sendo and Fujima, however, Shohuku was hell of a Cool team!
Felt the multiple dunkings those players made were a little unrealistic. But heck.. I LOVE the action! haha.. Anyway, I always hoped for a Part II after the whole 101 episodes of season 1. Hope it would be something the directers and artist would consider! =)
Anyway, This review has done the show justice, considering the fact it was one of the most early animations, by giving it a high rating. But i'll give it 10 though. HAha.