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Slam Dunk Review
TLDR: Read Slam Dunk, it’s great, it’s so hype. Even if you don’t like sports, give it a try.
I finished reading the Slam Dunk manga on the 14th of this month. I thoroughly enjoyed the series and I give it a 9/10. I think it’s underrated and should be talked about way more. Takehiko Inoue’s art and ability to make you care about all the characters is superb. I think this is probably my favorite finished manga as of now.
I have yet to find a story that made me as hyped to read the next panel as Slam Dunk did. One Piece has its moments, and I think it is my overall favorite story, but Slam Dunk had me grinning like an idiot when Shohoku would pull off a good play.
I really wasn’t sure if I was going to like a sports manga; the pictures aren’t moving, I don’t like sports, and how can high school basketball games be deep. I mostly wanted it to have something from Inoue in my collection. I was gladly proven wrong, I loved every minute of it. The entire story is great. It starts out being about a dumb guy who picks up basketball to impress a girl, and it morphs into a story about the entire team and their struggles, their strengths and weaknesses, learning to play effectively as a team all for this single goal that they share for different reasons. It’s a really beautiful story. Don’t let the fact that it’s a sports manga turn you off to it, I think it’s a genre that more people should try.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING
I think my biggest issue with Slam Dunk is the ending. This is mostly because it ended way sooner than I thought it could’ve and it didn’t end how I wanted it to lol
As I was reading and getting closer to volume 31 I realized the Sannoh game was probably going to be the last game we saw in full. Before I finished, I was on youtube and saw a video that was titled “Why Slam Dunk was canceled” (or something to that effect) which scared me because I really wanted to see how it ended. I realized there were going to be a few different ways this could end.
- The series just ends on a cliffhanger never having been fully finished. (Super doubtful, I hadn’t heard of Slam Dunk never having been finished.)
- They win this game against Sannoh and they ride that high to win the national championship. (Doubted it. Although Sannoh won the title last year, I didn’t think they’d have an easy ride for the rest of nationals. You can’t not show the last game.)
- They lose the game, but they’re happy with their progress and go on about their lives. (Not horrible, but I’d prefer they win)
The real ending is kind of a mix of 2 and 3. They win a very heated match against Sannoh, but because they literally gave everything they had to win it, they then lose the next match and are sent home from nationals. It wraps up by showing a little bit of everyone’s lives afterwards.
Sakuragi is pretty badly injured in the game against Sannoh when he goes for a loose ball and crashes into a table. His back is so badly injured he ends up doing rehab after the story is finished. You guys know I relate to that with my back issues lol, I didn’t think it was “cool” that he got hurt, but having something real like that in the story was cool to see. Sakuragi’s injury wasn’t explicitly explained, but it didn’t seem entirely serious because he wasn’t paralyzed, unlike another character in Takehiko Inoue’s series “REAL” who has his spinal cord severely damaged/severed.
I really wish they would’ve won nationals. They tried so hard and there were so many people who were beaten by Shohoku, I think it would’ve been nice to see them show up to the final game supporting them and their progress. I honestly could’ve read another 30 volumes just of nationals to finish it up. But, I read somewhere that Takehiko Inoue didn’t think he could draw another game that was as good as the one against Sannoh, which makes sense. They struggled so much in the games leading up to the game against Sannoh, they hit a wall. Akagi really wanted to win nationals, but making it to nationals and beating a team that had won it before was amazing to see.
I think I would’ve liked to see what happened in the year following Sakuragi’s first year. Akagi, Kogure and Mitsui wouldn’t have been at Shohoku anymore, but that could’ve been a new opportunity for more characters with their own struggles. I basically wish there was a Slam Dunk 2. I’m highly doubtful of that ever happening though since it’s almost been 30 years since the series finished. Haruko and Sakuragi never got together either. They were friends and she was writing him letters while he was in physical therapy, but that wasn’t what I wanted :'(
Overall the ending was fine and to be expected. I’ll just keep my own head canon about what should’ve happened. Very good series.
My Next Series
I’m not 100% sure what series I’m going to read next. I’m only 2/3 of the way through Goodnight Punpun, I got the Monster perfect edition volumes this month, I just got Vinland Saga 1-7, there’s a few different things I could pick up.
I got Monster spoiled like crazy by reading an amazon description of the perfect edition set. So, be careful reading descriptions on amazon I guess. My buddy says that it doesn’t totally ruin the story, so hopefully I still enjoy it.
I really need to slow down on my manga collecting. I checked my savings account the other day and it’s lower than what I thought it was going to be lol. Nothing major, I’m not bankrupt, but just kind of had a reality check. The past few months have been a little expensive outside of manga collecting.
I bought the last volumes of One Piece I need and I got a really good deal on volumes 1-7 of Vinland Saga, but overall that was pretty close to $350. I’m going to Galaxy Con Raleigh this weekend, which has a lot of manga and collectibles. I’m just going to have to exercise some self-restraint and not spend a ton of money.
Anyway, this blog post ended up being a little weird with its contents and structure. I’m going to end it here though. I want to make sure it gets out in July, and if I wait until next week there’s a chance it won’t. See you guys in August!