The First Slam Dunk

I'm not giving it ten points because the 3D crowd was pretty bad in some scenes. Other than that, it's a perfect movie! The pacing, emotion and tension are set up impeccably, and there are several seconds of silence towards the end of the movie where the whole theater was dead silent, some probably holding their breath.

Fans of the manga will recognize iconic scenes that last just long enough. With the same rhythm and comedic timing, you can tell that the manga's author is the director of the film.

It captures the charms of the manga beautifully, while also using the resources of animation to great effect, making it a masterpiece in its own right.

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.

It is a very challenging task to adapt a manga that had 100+ million copies sold, where lots of people have read and known all the plots and details of the story, and still bringing new materials and also fresh back lots of the classic moments into this movie for old and new audiences to watch and find all these excitements......and Takehiko Inoue really have done it at the perfect way EVEN this is his directorial debut.

I've been his long time fans since the beginning of the manga released, the passion of the sport and all these little moments in the stories really gave me such great memories of my childhood. However, hearing this movie released after 20+ years after the manga series ended, did give me little worries.

But after I watched it last night at a cinema, and nothing but want to give a salute to the creator/director Takehiko Inoue. He have done it perfectly, even this is his first directorial debut, but totally understood the concept of movie flow and storytelling, so he had to cut down lots of classic scenes and incidents from the manga.

Furthermore, while he knew and understood there are lot of fans who have read the manga, or even memories every single plot and scenes, while there may still some new audience attending, so he cleverly used a different narrator to bring a completely new and different perspective to look at this classic basketball story instead of the original narrator. It really gave us lots of new elements on the backstory and histories of the new narrator, but still bringing us back all these classic moments and scenes that gave us hooked. Takehiko really balanced these new and old materials in the films that even long time fans like me can still find new elements in the story and never get bored of it.

I also like to give a big respect to Takehiko is that he brings the whole story flow and atmosphere from the manga 100% into this movie version. All the intense moments and scenes, the flow of the stories and excitement of the whole environment, and funny moments and scenes from the manga, EVEN I have read all these scenes 1000 times from the manga, I KNEW what will happen after one to another, I could still feel those humour, those excitement, that passion of youth, and intensity that takes you out of breathe, all these can still feel in the cinema. This is just unbelievable.

Even you are a long time fans, or you never read this manga, you will still have really good time in this movie. ( even though for audience who never read this manga, you may find little confusing plots on some of the scenes, I recommend you watch the whole manga after finish this film, you will have a completely wide open perspective of this basketball story and why it becomes one of the classic in the Asia area for 20+ years even now )

Knowing that most of the audiences are fans who have read the manga + some new viewers, the director employs a different approach to bring the film to life, rather than introducing all characters from A to Z (that could be boring). It is definitely a very smart way of using a basketball match, supported by the backstory of Ryota Miyaki, to make the movie more solid and compact. On one hand, the fans get to find some classic moments and new elements in the movie, while on the other, new viewers get to know Ryota better.

Although we basically know what will happen at the end of the basketball match, the visual excitement and intense moments are all well presented and intact for your enjoyment!

I also like how the movie describes the relationship between Ryota and other characters. It's not too much or too less, but just enough to remind fans about the connections.

The movie has a few flaws as follows: Firstly, there are no behind stories about the characters and talents of Akagi, Sakuragi, Mitsui (a 3-pointer) and Rukawa (ace of the team), as a result new viewers may not connect well with them or enjoy the movie to maximum.

Secondly, Ryota's side stories are acceptable in the first half, but it becomes cheesy + too much in the second half, especially while the basketball match is on the line!

Finally, the emotional attachment is there, but the intensity is weak. We know what it means and we feel it, BUT it just doesn't touch one's heart at all!

I gave 7.0/ 10.0. Watching it without high expectations will allow you to enjoy it better! Of coz, with knowledge about the manga and characters is definitely an advantage!

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 🇮🇩