Slam Dunk

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Toei Animation (ended 1996)

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User Score: 1207
Slam Dunk
8.8
out of 10
User Rating
101 votes
8

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Episode Guide

S 1 :  Ep 105 Aired 7/15/95
S 1 :  Ep 104 Aired 4/3/95
S 1 :  Ep 103 Aired 8/20/94
S 1 :  Ep 102 Aired 3/12/94
S 1 :  Ep 101 Aired 3/23/96
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Show Summary

Sakuragi Hanamichi is a high school freshman who was dumped by 50 girls in his junior high. When he entered the Shohoku high school, he joins the basketball team to get close to the team captain's sister, Akagi Haruko. Thus, he begins his trial of learning to play basketball from the ground up and how to get along with the rest of his teammates.

Cast & Crew

Hikaru Midorikawa

Hikaru Midorikawa

Rukawa Kaede
Takeshi Kusao

Takeshi Kusao

Sakuragi Hanamichi
Hara Eriko

Hara Eriko

Ayako
Kouzou Shioya

Kouzou Shioya

Takamiya Anozumi
Kishino Yukimasa

Kishino Yukimasa

Uozumi Juun
Kouji Tsujitani

Kouji Tsujitani

Fujima Kenji
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Fan Reviews (8)

SUBMIT REVIEW

  • the best basketball anime out there.

    10
    By xanderodell, Jul 15, 2009
    for an anime where the basketball court seemed to go on forever and ever and ever. it was always funny when shohoku passed around the ball, start dribbling and passes it again, the court seemed so endless. but nonetheless of this weird scenes of ground infinity, this anime was truly amazing! it changed my life. focusing on our main character alone Hanamichi Sakuragi was a fun character to watch as he learned how to play basketball to impress a girl, in the end, Hanamichi learned to love basketball, and improved even more. I guess, like the other fans of Slam Dunk, we are still waiting for Slam Dunk 2, The Interhigh tournaments in animation. I, personally have read the comics almost a hundred times already. after that, Slam Dunk 3, National Tournaments. yey.moreless

  • One of my favorite anime...

    10
    By rockerz_rocks, Nov 24, 2007
    This anime would really makes me laugh sometimes. The show is really cool, I almost watch it every school days. Hanamichi sakuragi is really funny, He makes me laugh all the way. But sometimes he would take basketball seriously. The only thing whcih made him join the basketball team was beacuse of Haruko( Hanamichi's crush) that was the sister of the team captain that was once the enemy of sakuragi. But Haruko has a major crush on Rukawa which is also in the basketball team. The story is really confusing. hehehehehe just watch the show and you would understand what im saying ^^...moreless

  • Slam Dunk is truly one of the greatest animes out there. It's a classic story with memorable characters and exciting games. Despite a few flaws, it does the classic formula right and extremely well. I wholeheartedly recommend Slam Dunk.moreless

    10
    By armandoxhead, Jan 20, 2007
    Slam Dunk is truly one of the greatest animes out there. It's really hard to summarize how great this show. Slam Dunk has great memorable, extremely likable characters, from Hanamichi Sakuragi and his silly antics to Rukawa Kaede and his amazing skills yet tendency to fall asleep anywhere. Each of the characters have such distinct personalities and their interactions are hilarious, memorable, and sometimes even dramatic. Each character is three-dimensional as well, with the pasts of most characters shown. We get to really understand the feelings and thoughts of every single character. Even the personalities of the enemies are fleshed out. We aren't locked into the usual good guy vs. bad guy. The opposing teams the main characters often face are just as determined and honest as our main characters. Even when our heroes win, we feel for the team that has just lost as well. Also, the characters develop throughout the series, especially Sakuragi. They learn basic morals of determination, patience, hard work, and many others.



    The show is also incredibly hilarious, with much humor coming from Hanamichi's total cluelessness to basketball rules. Actually, a majority of the comedy is centered around the extremely likable personality of Hanamichi Sakuragi.



    The basketball in this anime is another one of the shows strongest point. They capture almost every aspect and strategy of basketball, and very well too. They cover basics like lay-ups, free-throws, jump shots, three pointers, rebounds, passing, and dribbling. They even cover the more complicated ones like zone defense, boxing out, drawing a foul, finger rolls, posting up, fakes, fade aways, turn around shots, full court press, and alley-oops. Some of the more complicated ones I just said are covered in the manga actually (I'll discuss later). Each of the games are incredibly dramatic, with lots of Oohs and Aahs in the shots and actions. This show is the first time where I actually cheer out when they make a block or a point. This is the first time when I have to hit pause just understand what just happened. Every game is amazing in its own way, where our heroes face different players, different strategies, and different ways of playing. No one is invincible either, where we learn weaknesses of our heroes as well as the enemies. Everyone isn't perfect either, with mistakes made every now and then.



    If the characters, drama, humor, and basketball games make up the triple chocolate layer cake, the frosting on the top is the awesome music. Not just the background music, but the Opening and Ending songs to the shows are outstanding. Hands down, the Slam Dunk songs are my favorite anime songs. (especially the 2nd and 3rd ending songs)



    Although I'd like to end here, I'd like to explain the 9.9 rating. To be honest, the show is not perfect. Keep in mind that these flaws don't completely take away from the show, it's just the show could have been a perfect 10. Firstly, as many have pointed out, some matches are long and dragged out. Then show almost what everyone is thinking, even characters I don't care about. They also heavily use flashbacks, which can be really annoying. These aren't brand new flashbacks, but flashbacks of episodes before. Also, the show is only 16 or 17 minutes long. Although the download may say 22 minutes, you take away the Opening and Ending song, and the 2 to 3 minute recap at the beginning of the episode, and there you have it. My biggest gripe is that the show ended, but the story did not. The anime barely even covered the championships, and to truly finish the show, you would have to read the manga, by the way, I read it. The manga basketball games are truly the best games in the entire series, and if they turned the final volumes into anime episodes, Slam Dunk would have surpassed all animes out there. If I had a chance, I'd make this 101 episode anime series to about 70 episodes, the final matches would be another 40 to 50 episodes. The final FINAL match in the manga was not even illustrated by the way.



    Despite these flaws, the pros of the show more than make up for the cons. When you get a chance, watch the entire series on youtube, finish the manga on mangaspot, and then proceed to buy the DVD's and mangas, which I am currently saving up for. However, I think the dubbed DVD's are discontinued (stopping at episode 20) as well as the English manga.



    Go watch Slam Dunk!moreless

  • Suffers from Dragonball Z syndrome, but you still have to appreciate the content.

    8.8
    By ZaleIsBackAgain, Nov 24, 2006
    Sakuragi Hanamichi is your normal high school delinquent. What separates himself from other delinquents is that he has been horrible with the women. So when he meets this cute freshman girl in Haruko, he's determined not to mess things up. He finds out she's a big fan of basketball, though the heart piercer is that she likes another basketball player who's bound to be on to the team. What does Sakuragi do? Joins the sport too. Though Sakuragi will realize the hard way how hard a sport basketball really is.



    Don't be fooled though; while Sakuragi's drive for playing basketball was because of Haruko, his love for basketball starts to develop rapidly once he was introduced to it, that he'd continue playing regardless of Haruko. At least that's how I saw it.



    The first episode when he first starts playing basketball presented a person that had no clue how to even play it. He didn't know how to dribble, do a basic lay up, etc. Though like all beginners, he eventually learned the basics, but even then, Sakuragi quickly learned that the basics covered more than he had anticipated. Throughout the course of 100 episodes, Sakuragi quickly learns the ins and outs of basketball, but even then, he still has a lot to learn.



    Though does it take Sakuragi 100 episodes to learn the basics of episodes? Is he just that slow? It's none of the above; basketball is actually a much deeper sport than most people, especially Hanamichi, would have believed prior to watching Slam Dunk. Slam Dunk actually does a thoroughly good job of not only teaching Sakuragi about basketball, but to the audience of those who are just as ignorant about basketball as Sakuragi. This is one of the charms of Slam Dunk; it does an amazing job of sticking to basketball, while in the process, presenting a very good and dramatic shounen anime.



    Throughout the course of the many matches in Slam Dunk, spectactors will break down and analyze different game situations to the person beside them who are curious what had just happened in that previous basketball sequence. Slam Dunk does a brilliant job of setting up uniquely the different opponents who'll be matching up against Shohoku in order to present different ideas, beliefs, and strategies, that are used in basketball on a consistent basis. It actually plays out like your normal and average fighting shounen anime, except replace fighting with basketball.



    People have been telling me only basketball fans like myself would really enjoy Slam Dunk, and while that may be true, it's amazing how education and smart Slam Dunk is. Even I learned a thing or two just watching it. Even if you're new to basketball, it's almost impossible to not understand what's going on, because it just does an amazing job of exploring ideas and explaining them.



    You can't only enjoy Slam Dunk for its basketball. This anime is actually pretty dramatic, and it's an effective drama too. Like most of us, the Shohoku players have pretty emotional pasts that'll more than likely touch your heart. There's also that "This is so awesome, I'm going to marathon it all!" feeling that you often get in good shounen mangas. 1/4's into the anime, there's a huge fight raging on between outsiders and the Shohoku players. Street fighting was portrayed perfectly in its utmost cruelty in these sequences. The fights weren't jaw dropping like Dragonball Z; they were those types of fights with feelings of pity and hotbloodedness.



    And it's not only that. Heart breaking losses in sports movies or TV shows have always been horribly executed. Slam Dunk is the only exception. They just weren't a matter of making a shot or missing it, though unfortunately, going further would spoil the fun.



    The characters are also of brag worthy material. Rukawa may seem like the quiet guy that always likes sleeping and excels at playing basketball, but as you progress with the anime, you see that his character isn't as shallow as you'd expect it to be. The coach Mr. Anzai is also pretty mysterious himself, and you'll learn more about him as the anime drives deeper into the series. And I can't leave out Sakuragi's delinquent friends. This is one of the most entertaining bunch of comic relief I've ever watched. They aren't overly involved with the anime, yet they provide humour.



    However, oftentimes, Slam Dunk likes dragging out its comic relief. In fact, it likes dragging things out entirely. This anime could have been a fifty to seventy series, yet it pulled a Dragonball Z because of obvious "catching up to manga" reasons. Between each sequence of plays during a match, the camera rolls into the mind of a non important character who thinks about trivial and unnecessary things. Some matches even last ten episodes or more because of this.



    The filler is pretty terribly dragged out, but the standalone filler not found in the manga were pretty awesome. Most of them directly involve Sakuragi's gang and how they try to get a job in order to watch Shohoku's upcoming game, fighting against other random delinquents, etc. There's also a studying episode that'll give huge Dragonball Z fans nostalgia of the awesome driving episode with Piccolo and Goku.



    Slam Dunk would have been one of the best animes ever if it weren't for the fact that the anime ended much too early, and the terrible dragged out filler. Some episodes, you just lay down there, wake up a couple minutes later, rewind to see what you missed, and realize you didn't miss anything at all. However, the anime is still a classic that's not only about basketball. Though if you're one that didn't enjoy Dragonball Z because of its length and habit of dragging things out, then you might want to think twice with Slam Dunk.moreless

  • Sakuragi Hanamichi has been turned down by 49 girls in junior high.When the 50th girl told him,"I like Oda-kun of the basketball club," he felt much anger towards basketball.Yet tides changed when he met Haruko Akagi,the senior basketball team's captain.moreless

    10
    By smile_seta, Jun 15, 2006
    Slam Dunk is my most favorite anime/manga of all time. I just can't get enough of it. It can make you laugh uncontrollably in every installment. On the other hand, it can also get you so excited that you have to hang tight unto your seat. I still shout, "Yehey!" when there goes a favored goal even if I've watched that scene a hundred times already. I still say, "Woah!" whenever a magnificent dunk is made through the pages of the manga. My sister still cries whenever she watches the Shohoku-Kainan match. I can still catch my brother glanced through the manga once in a while and laughing loudly.



    I wanted to choose many classifications but I'm just allowed one, so I'll say it here: Slam Dunk is a Classic, a Trendsetter, an Influential Show, Informative, Cutting Edge and Absolutely Fabulous. Please bring it back!



    Too bad, Inoue Takehiko did not finish the anime version. The SD II Petition has all been signed up...moreless
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Categories

Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Kids, Sports

Themes

Anime, Basketball, Tweens

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