The First Slam Dunk

This is a message to the creator of Slam Dunk and director of this movie (they happen to be one and the same).

Please let there be a second Slam Dunk. There can even be a third, fourth and fifth. I see so much potential in stories and events that haven't been told yet.

In my younger days I have binged a lot of anime. I've seen a lot, but Slam Dunk is my number 1 for all the right reasons. The drama, comedy and action is amazing even if you don't like sports. It was the series that inspired a nation. Often I wished the series could be recreated with better animation and graphics. This movie shows how great that could be, but I'm glad this movie tells part of the story that could have only been read from the manga as the anime series stops where the manga doesn't.

It was the only manga I ever read since I loved the series so much that I wanted to see more of it. The team of Shohoku is the fictional high school version of Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. This movie has saved the last dance for a very long time. But in my opinion it doesn't need to stop here. There is room to extend this to a series of movies that can even go beyond what has been given in the manga.

Takehiko Inoue, you have given us so much already. It would be selfish to ask for more, but it could keep the spirit of Slam Dunk alive for many more generations. If I was allowed, I would love to help with storylines and ideas :)

Although there's been a lot of advance reviews expressing disappointment mainly from die-hard TV series fans, this animation movie has just completely blown my mind. Being one of an original comic fan for more than twenty years, I am truly amazed how beautiful this animation is, which should come from incredible hard work of creators. Members of the opponent team are now animated and all the characters act lively, this could not been better. New stories added, at the same time, some original parts are effectively cut off or omitted, I think I should call it creativity. Without any knowledge about original series, or even rules of the sport, you will be satisfied with this realistic sports movie and teenagers' hilarious&touchy drama.

I gave this movie a 9/10 but to be honest, big part of the score goes to the original Slam Dunk manga, which is a legend, and big part of my youth growing up.

I seriously thought it was an April fool joke when I read 2 years ago Inoue-san announced he was going to make a movie version of slam dunk. And I've been looking forward to this then, and it did not disappoint.

The biggest headache for Inoue-san was probably how could he re-tell such a classic story, which the fans must have re-read hundreds or even thousands of times by now, without making the movie redundant and unnecessary. And he's made some really smart choices here. The smartest choice of all, imo, is to re-tell the Sannon battle from Miyagi's perspective, and adding a lot of backdrop stories.

And manga fans get to re-live the Shohoku - Sannon battle with new backdrop stories, and re-live all the monumental touching moments in the story. And for fans like me, the 2 hours in the theatre felt like re-watching my first love right in front of my eyes years later, feeling like it's just happening for the first time.

The movie is not without flaw. I think for people who have not watched the original manga, the movie will feel pretty choppy. The editing would feel awkward. Especially in the Mitsui story. That would feel so incomplete and even a lot of "WTH" moments. Or likewise when Sakuraki saw flashbacks from his past when he was injured. But maybe there isn't a flawless way to re-tell a 31 books manga (or even the Sannon battle is like 4-5 books?) in a 2 hours movie.

Which is not to say new audience cannot enjoy this movie, but this would simply be a good sports movie to those not being familiar with the original manga. For the fans though, this is an amazing movie.

I can only hope Inoue-san would come up with the Second slam dunk, the third slam dunk, the forth slam dunk .... but hopefully it won't take another 26 years.

First of all... Slam Dunk franchise is a life changer for me..

My love of Basketball, and My key illustration artsyles came from Inoue Sensei's Slam Dunk..

Wow! The first slam dunk is a 30 years of payoff, since this franchise hiatus from televison and theaters.

On top of it, we've been delivered a very epic and beautiful feature film in every aspect, the right portion of storytelling, and basketball animation that feel so lively.

The CGI and 2D Animation is combined beautifully, and very eye pleasing.

If i remember the original anime, the voice acting is 85 percent sound exatcly the same, only sakuragi that feels different, but it doesn't matter, their performances is top notch 👌.

The soundtrack, the music, SO EPIC, i feel the adrenaline rush. On the other hand, i start listening to other 10-Feet albums 😅.

The main character change from Sakuragi to Ryota is part of Inoue Sensei perfect exploration to build a storytelling that can be accepted by both sides (Old time fans, and Newbies).

Ryota is the only character who didn't have much background stories in manga and anime.

And i really don't have problem with it, in fact that i'm Sakuragi big fan.

The other characters also get a very right portion of stories and it sustain throughout the movie, and somehow, Sakuragi still feels like he's the main character.

Nostlagia let it be the nostalgia, we already know the whole story anyway..

I can't imagine if this movie is 100% the same as the manga's, the newbies will confused by it.

If theres any panel from the manga that didn't make it to the movie, that shows some reaction and moment from a character, all we got to do is just accept with an open heart... i believe Inoue sensei sorted it wisely..

Its an artwork, we can't please everyone..

I also think that this is part of the film business, thats why inoue packed it that way, so that the movie feels like new to both the newcomers and the old fans, in hope that the newcomers will love slam dunk franchise after it.

My words, to the old fans, if you can't move on, from the old anime graphics, we'll be like stucked in the past, which is not relevant to the market these days.

And that old anime, Inoue Sensei have some problems too back then.

Let the manga and anime became the greatest masterpiece legacy, and we embrace this movie as a new standalone masterpiece in the box office.

If theres any problem with the cut to flashback scenes, i feel like theres nothing wasted here, because those flashback stories never been in manga before.

And that kind of storytelling is also told in the manga, one of the japanese filmmaking style also, and to build a deep emotional story.

I can say that this is type of maturity of art vision that Inoue Sensei does in this movie masterpiece, i hope the fans understand this much as we also grew with Slam Dunk history.

Don't do much complain, if this movie doesn't match with the manga 100%, "the scene should exist" bla bla, we should be grateful..

remember, this movie never been in Inoue Sensei's mind, He's been proposed many times but he rejected it..

Overall, its 9/10, please watch it on theaters, the vibe will rushing through your souls, i guaranteed, still the best sports anime of all time 👌

much love from Indonesia 🇮🇩

Why I said that? I watched the movie with my 15 years old son who knows nothing about this story.

Like others said, this movie is from Ryota Miyagi's perspective. That's why you won't see many Sakuragi's funny moments or know why he plays basketball as the base story of this title. But Inoue created too much drama and deep story about Miyagi's background and it makes the movie pace slow down drastically many times. Inoue also remove Miyagi's crush toward Ayako. My son got bored in this part. For children this story is too hard to understand. That can be seen from movie rating that <18 audiences gave the lowest score.

Other members don't get enough introduction. For first-timer audience, they won't know that Akagi is so dominant under the ring, Sakuragi has extraordinary body, Mitsui is a 3 pointer or Rukawa the ace of the team. The relation between characters also won't be explain here.

For die-hard fans, this "side story" and Miyagi's perspective is interesting. The animation also amazing. You will get the feel of the match. Every characters look alive. And it's a great nostalgia for us.

The conclusion.is, I still prefer original story as its title The First Slam Dunk, so it also should be for first-timer. My son doesn't attach to this story and still doesn't want to read my Slam Dunk manga collection.