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Plot Synopsis

No plot synopsis or other information available for Slam Dunk

Story & Characters

Slam Dunk was written by Takehiko Inoue about 8 to 9 years ago. Because of the immense popularity of the manga, it was immediately turned into a TV series. Afterwards, four movies were made, which were really just special episodes that were released in theaters. The manga ended a few chapters short of the manga's final story arc.
Slam Dunk focuses on high school student Hanamichi Sakuragi who has an all time record of being dumped 50 times by various girls during junior high. And who would ever want to go out with him? Hanamichi not only attracts trouble, he is trouble personified. If his mouth can't win him a fight, he'll let his fist(sometimes even with his feet and head)do the job. His record isn't enough to make him give up though. He persists on asking girls out on dates. One day, he meets a cute girl named Haruko Takenori who innocently asks hi if he likes basketball. Our fearless hero ignorantly answers, "Yes, I love basketball because I'm a great athlete!" Hanamichi, however, knows zip about basketball. He just said that to impress Haruko.
Thus begins Hanamichi's tale of basketball, love triangles, hardships, blood, sweat and some tears.
In the course of the story, Hanamichi must overcome three main hurdles: one, the hulking team captain who is not only Haruko's overprotective brother but is also one of the toughest captains there is; two, his team's number one player is Haruko's crush; three, he must learn all the rules of the game before his first match or Haruko will see that he was just bluffing. Though. But then Hanamichi's made of sterner stuff. It comes from being able to rebound after a girl dumps him and standing up and fighting some more after being beaten to a pulp by a whole gang of brawlers.
Speaking of which, rebounding and dunking become Hanamichi's specialties.

Rating

7 (above average)

Art

The visual presentation of the anime needs a little polishing.The red spot color disappeared! Once I got over the shock of losing this distinctive visual aspect from last issue (and adjusted to the realization that I wouldn't be able to pick out Sakuragi so easily), I quickly settled back into the romantic comedy antics of this series. I was amused by how Haruko's comfort with Sakuragi led her to reveal information that caused such emotional anguish for him. And the transitions back and forth between pathos and humor as Sakuragi's pals (and the series' creator, Inoue himself) pop in - first to rib him over his latest rejection, then to tear up when they realize just how crushed Sakuragi truly is over this heartache - were done extremely well.

Rating

5 (moderate)

Sound

The sounds are great too!!!
LOVE their songs... very good.. if you like rock, then you should hear "Kimi ga Sukida to Sekebitai".... "Sekai ga Owaru made wa" also is another good one... basically I have listened to both of these songs a lot of times.

Here are the lists of Opening and Ending songs:
1st Opening Song: / Kimi ga Suki da to Sakebitai / I Want to Shout "I Love You"
1st Ending Song: / Anata Dake Mitsumeteru / I've Got my Eyes Only on You

2nd Opening Song: / Zettai ni Daremo / Absolutely Not by Anyone
2nd Ending Song: / Sekai ga Owaru made wa... / Until the World Comes to an End

3rd Ending Song: / Kirameku Toki ni Torawarete / Caught by the Glittering Moment

4th Ending Song: My Friend

Rating

7 (above average)

Presentation

Unfortunately, I think this anime is bad in such a way that it's tough to write an entertaining smear review for it. It's just mindless and thoroughly uninteresting. The main character, you see, is a dumb macho jerk. He's big, though, big enough to slam-dunk a basketball. This must be a truly fascinating feat to the relatively, uh, gravitationally-challenged nation of Japan, and maybe it's enough to build a character around over there. But from an American perspective, um, whatever. So he can slam-dunk a basketball. Whoopee.

There's really not much else to the guy, it seems. His animal instincts, I suppose (there's not much evidence of an alternative attracting factor), draw him towards a rather airheaded female character (the word "bimbo" comes to mind). She is, like, wow, you can palm a basketball and, like, slam-dunk! You should, like, try out for the basketball team! Unfortunately, it turns out that he pretty much completely sucks apart from being big, so he tries to find some other way to get on the team. In his mind, I suppose the most straightforward path to getting on the team is acting like a total ass, because that's what he does. Complicating the situation is the fact that the team captain is the brother of the bimbo and our dumb macho jerk hero doesn't realize it until after making a further ass out of himself.

Anyway, I didn't get all that far into the series, so I guess it's possible that I've judged too hastily and am cheating myelf out of some quality animation. I'd rate that as a pretty remote possibility, though. Even if were to flesh itself out into a glorious saga by the end, it'd probably still be a glorious saga about a dumb macho jerk who's trying to prove how much better a caveman he can be than the next guy so he can win his choice of mate. The series would need to totally transform its characters into, well, worthwhile human beings, and it didn't strike me as the kind of show that would be able (or that would even try) to pull off this sort of character transformation.

Rating

5 (moderate)

Final Verdict

6.00 (average)

Reviewed by GsG9, 3y 1wk ago