THE FIRST SLAM DUNK

Slam Dunk is one of the most loved sports manga ever made. Takehiko Inoue drew it in the 1990s, and it is a classic of basketball stories in Japan. The First Slam Dunk is a 2022 movie that Inoue wrote and directed himself. It came out in Japan on December 3, 2022, and runs 124 minutes. Toei Animation and DandeLion Animation Studio made it. GKIDS released it in the United States and Canada in July 2023.

The movie adapts the final big game of the manga: the match between Shohoku High School and Sannoh Kogyo, the strongest high school team in the country. For many fans, it was the first time they could see this famous game fully animated.

The film does something different with the story. Instead of focusing on the usual hero, the hot-headed redhead Hanamichi Sakuragi, it puts the spotlight on Ryota Miyagi. Ryota is Shohoku's point guard. He is small for a basketball player, but he is very fast, and he is good at reading the court. The movie adds new scenes from his past that were not in the manga. They show his childhood in Okinawa and his older brother Sota, a skilled player who first made Ryota love the game. These memories are mixed in with the game itself, so the match and Ryota's life story move forward together. The film also adds a new ending scene about Ryota.

The rest of the Shohoku team is there too. Takenori Akagi is the tall, serious captain. Hisashi Mitsui is a three-point shooter. Kaede Rukawa is the cool, quiet star who is Sakuragi's rival. Sakuragi is still loud, funny, and full of energy. Together, they are the underdogs against a team that almost never loses.

The look of the film is a big part of its fame. The basketball scenes use 3D computer graphics so the players move like real athletes, with true game speed and detail. The calmer scenes from daily life and the past use hand-drawn 2D art. The music matches the mood, with a rock opening song, "Love Rockets" by The Birthday, and an ending song by 10-FEET.

The movie was a huge hit. It earned about 279 million dollars around the world. It also won Animation of the Year at the 46th Japan Academy Film Prize in 2023. It works as a moving story about family and loss even for people who have never read Slam Dunk, and as a thrilling game for those who have.