Chances are if you’re an American, you’ve probably heard of the Slam Dunk manga or anime series at some point. Created in 1990 by Takehiko Inoue, the story followed Hanamichi Sakuragi, the red-haired gang leader who gets into basketball due to a crush on a girl during his first year at Shohoku High School. The creation of the 5-man team is a gradual one and the series takes special care to show how radically different & incompatible personalities can form bonds together and become a stellar competitive team.
This new feature-length debut from Inoue, the series’ creator, is nothing short of a revelation. The film takes us back to the beginning of the 5 players’ formation of their high school team, this time focusing on Ryota Miyagi, Shohoku’s point guard. Ryota never truly got the character development others in the series did, and the refocus on him for this film feels like a poetic restructuring on Inoue’s part. Ryota’s devastating story between him and his older brother, who also played on Shohoku’s basketball team, is delivered in various flashbacks from the present. Ryota and the present-day Shohoku team face off against the reigning victors of a championship game, the antagonistic Sannoh Kogyo High School team.
But Ryota doesn’t eclipse the other members of his team. In fact, each one of them gets their own time to shine during both the game and in flashbacks. The series could very well focus on different protagonists in potential follow-ups. Every one of them is so complex and fascinating and they all share the same drive towards their own success in the sport and for their team as a whole. The diversity of personality is the key to what makes this film such a slam dunk (if you’ll pardon the expression), especially once you learn exactly how far each of them have come to be a part of the team.
The film’s focus on the movements of each character and their strategies on the court are as intense and engrossing as each team member’s stories of how they got there. Even though we cut back and forth between prior events the details of the game is never lost on its audience, and the momentum never loses any steam. In fact each flashback adds to that momentum by fleshing out the stakes of its characters, showing us what matters most to every one of them. The First Slam Dunk strikes a perfect balance in showing what can make the sport so exciting. At the same time it delivers a gripping story that will charm you with its emotional trajectory, whether or not you’re even a sports or anime fan. Every successful block, pass, or shot earns the celebration that that team member deserves and revels in, and we’re right there with them every step of the way.
One immediately noticeable difference in the quality of Slam Dunk’s approach is its animation style. Hand-drawn character models have a kind of three-dimensional rendering when in motion on the court, lending their movements to more realistic qualities. It takes a little getting used to but when the game begins, the shifts from two- to three-dimensional animation are practically unnoticeable. Between the 1990s and now, the new updated look for Slam Dunk is so sleek and clean that every frame is so satisfying to behold. If we didn’t know Inoue himself helmed this adaptation, it would be safe to assume that someone else found a different perspective with which to tell Shohoku High School’s story. But since this is written and directed by the mangaka himself, it’s all the more impressive that Inoue reinterprets his story in such a fresh way. The way The First Slam Dunk reinvigorates its already-superb source material makes us feel that more may be around the corner. Do yourself a favor and get yourself a seat courtside for this however possible.
The First Slam Dunk is currently playing in theaters courtesy of GKIDS and Toei Animation. This film was viewed as a part of the Japan Cuts film festival.
The way The First Slam Dunk reinvigorates its already-superb source material makes us feel that more may be around the corner. Do yourself a favor and get yourself a seat courtside for this however possible.
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GVN Rating 9
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Andre is an avid film watcher, blogger and podcaster. You can read their words on film at letterboxd and medium, and hear their voice on movies, monsters, and other weird things on Humanoids From the Deep Dive every other Monday. In their “off” time they volunteer as a film projectionist, reads fiction & nonfiction, comics, and plays video games until it’s way too late.