Slam Dunk (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1990 to June 1996, with the chapters collected into 31 volumes. The story follows Hanamichi Sakuragi, a brash and impulsive high school student who joins a basketball team at Shohoku High School, located in the Shōnan area of Japan.
The manga was adapted into an anime television series by Toei Animation which aired from October 1993 to March 1996. The series has been broadcast worldwide, gaining popularity especially in Japan, Europe, and several other Asian countries. In December 2022, an anime feature film titled The First Slam Dunk was released in Japan.
Slam Dunk has 185 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history. In 1994, it received the 40th Shogakukan Manga Award for the category. In Japan, Slam Dunk has been regarded as one of the greatest sports manga series of all time and has been cited as a contributor in popularizing basketball among Japanese youth during the 1990s. In 2010, Inoue received special commendations from the Japan Basketball Association for helping popularize basketball in Japan.
Plot
Hanamichi Sakuragi is a high school delinquent and gang leader. He is very unpopular among girls, having been rejected fifty times. In his first year at Shohoku High School, Sakuragi meets Haruko Akagi, the girl of his dreams, and is overjoyed when she is not repulsed or frightened of him like other girls. Haruko recognizes Sakuragi's athleticism and introduces him to the Shohoku basketball team. Sakuragi is reluctant to play basketball due to his inexperience with sports and his belief that basketball is a game for losers. This belief came about because the most recent girl to reject him had favored a basketball player. Despite his immaturity and temper, he joins the team to impress Haruko, and proves to be a natural athlete.
Sakuragi later develops a genuine love for the sport despite initially playing because of his crush. Around this time, the star rookie and "girl magnet" Kaede Rukawa joins the team. Sakuragi views him as a bitter rival in basketball and romance, as Haruko has an unrequited crush on Rukawa. Shortly after, two additional members rejoin the team: Hisashi Mitsui, a skilled three-point shooter and ex–junior high school MVP; and Ryota Miyagi, a short but fast point guard. The four players work together to fulfill team captain Takenori Akagi's dream of winning the national championship. After defeating one of the powerhouse teams at the national high school championship, the misfits gain publicity, and the once little-known Shohoku basketball team becomes an all-star contender in Japan.
Production
Takehiko Inoue was inspired to create Slam Dunk from his love of basketball, which he has had since high school. Before starting Slam Dunk, he created a one-shot manga titled , which was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump Summer Special in 1990. The one-shot featured an early prototype of Hanamichi Sakuragi and Haruko Akagi, with a story and character dynamics that laid the groundwork for Slam Dunk. After he began working on the series, Inoue was surprised to receive letters from readers who had begun playing the sport due to his manga. His editor told him "basketball was a taboo in this world." Due to these letters, Inoue decided he wanted to draw better basketball games in the series. With the series, the author wanted to demonstrate the feelings and thoughts that some athletes might have when they win, lose or improve at their sport. When he began work on Vagabond, Inoue noted that his work on Slam Dunk had a simpler perspective on life as he focused more on victories and success.
With the series, Inoue wanted readers to feel achievements and love for the sport. Thinking that his success as a manga artist was largely due to basketball, Inoue organized a Slam Dunk scholarship for Japanese students as he wanted to give back to the sport by increasing its popularity in Japan. However, when asked about the response from readers to basketball, Inoue commented that although Slam Dunk is technically a basketball manga, its story could have been told with other sports such as football. He added that the manga's artwork was more "mangalike" compared to his newer works such as Real. His experiences with basketball also influenced the story of Slam Dunk. As a youth, Inoue began playing basketball to become popular with girls, but later developed an interest in the sport itself. This experience is mirrored in the character Hanamichi Sakuragi, who began playing basketball to impress a girl, only to later grow truly fond of the game. Inoue attended the NBA Finals in the United States and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona as "research" for the manga.
Media Manga
Written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue, Slam Dunk was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1, 1990, to June 17, 1996. The 276 individual chapters were originally collected in 31 volumes under Shueisha's Jump Comics imprint, with the first being published on February 8, 1991, and the final volume on October 3, 1996. It was later reassembled into 24 volumes under the Jump Comics Deluxe imprint from March 19, 2001, to February 2, 2002. A 20 volume edition was published between June 1 and September 1, 2018. On November 8, 2022, a book imitating an issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump and collecting 24 select chapters of the original manga was published under the title Slam Dunk Jump.
In North America, an English version of Slam Dunk was published by the now-defunct Gutsoon! Entertainment, which serialized the title in their manga anthology Raijin Comics from 2002 to 2004. Five collected volumes were published under Gutsoon's Raijin Graphic Novels imprint. They were released from July 2, 2003, until May 5, 2004. After Gutsoon! went out of business, the license for Slam Dunk was purchased by Viz Media, which published a preview of the series in the December 2007 issue of the North American edition of Shonen Jump. Slam Dunk began serialization in the magazine, starting with the May 2008 issue, as well as in format with the first being published on September 2, 2008. The 31st and final volume was released on December 3, 2013. In June 2026, Viz Media announced that it will release the series in a deluxe edition starting in Q2 2027.
10 Days After In 2004, Inoue produced an epilogue titled Slam Dunk: 10 Days After, which was drawn on 23 chalkboards on the former campus of the defunct Misaki High School located in Kanagawa Prefecture, and was held for public exhibition for three days between December 3 and 5. The epilogue, along with coverage of the event, was printed in the February 2005 issue of Switch magazine. A documentary of the event was released on DVD in May 2005. The epilogue was published in book form by Flower under the title Slam Dunk 10 Days After Complete on April 10, 2009.
Anime series
An anime series, consisting of 101 episodes, was produced by Toei Animation and directed by Nobutaka Nishizawa. It was first broadcast on TV Asahi from October 16, 1993, to March 23, 1996. The anime followed the manga storyline, but left out the National Tournament games. compiled the episodes into a series of seventeen DVDs which were released in Japan from December 10, 2004, to May 21, 2005. Toei once again collected the series in three DVD boxes during 2008. All the three boxes have a total of seventeen discs. To celebrate 20 years since its broadcast, the anime was released on five Blu-ray sets from July 11, 2014, to March 13, 2015.
Toei Animation and Geneon briefly teamed up to release the anime on DVD in North America after the manga was discontinued, though this was also discontinued after only a few volumes. The first DVD was released on March 15, 2005, and volume 4 was the last one released on June 14 of that same year, before they were cancelled. Various episodes from the series were also downloadable in IGN's Direct2Drive service. Toei made the series available for streaming on Crunchyroll in 2008. Joost also started streaming the series in May 2009.
The music was composed by Takanobu Masuda (from episode 1 to 61) and BMF (from episode 62 to 101). Three CD soundtracks were published during the airing of the series in Japan. The openings, ending and other two themes were collected into the CD soundtrack The Best of TV Animation Slam Dunk, released on July 21, 2003.
Anime films
Four anime films were produced by Toei Animation from 1994 to 1995 while the manga and TV series were still running. They contain largely new material that is either only hinted at or is not presented in the manga. From August 1 to 4, 2006, NHK broadcast all four movies as part of its satellite networks NHK BS-2's Summer Anime Choice line-up, and TV Osaka aired the last three movies from January 3 to 8, 2007. All the films were collected into a DVD box named Slam Dunk The Movie, which was released on December 10, 2004.
The first film, simply titled Slam Dunk, premiered on March 12, 1994. Set after Shohoku's practice game against Ryonan (before the second half of episode 20), the film focuses on a practice game against Takezono High. Before the game, Sakuragi runs into Yoko Shimura, the girl who rejects him in the very first scene of the series, and Oda, the basketball player she rejected him for. released on July 9, 1994, is the second film from the series. It happens during Shohoku's 4th round qualifying game against Tsukubu High (between the first half of episode 36). The film features original characters including Godai, an old friend of Akagi and Kogure's, Rango, a wild show-off who is in love with Haruko and quarrels with Sakuragi, and Coach Kawasaki, a former pupil of Anzai-sensei. was released on March 4, 1995. Set after Shohoku's loss to Kainan, and during a practice match against Ryokufu High (between episode 61). which was released one June 15, 1995, tells that Rukawa's middle school Ichiro Mizusawa will be paralyzed soon and wishes to have one last game against Rukawa (between the first half of episode 62).
On January 7, 2021, Slam Dunks author Takehiko Inoue announced on his Twitter account that the series would receive a new anime film by Toei Animation titled The First Slam Dunk. Inoue is the director and writer of the film, with Yasuyuki Ebara designing the characters. It premiered in Japan on December 3, 2022.
Video games Numerous video games based on the series, mostly developed by Banpresto and produced by Bandai, have been published for the Japanese market. Two basketball sims titled and Slam Dunk 2 were released for the Game Boy. The Super Famicom had three games, and SD Heat Up!!. Slam Dunk games have also been released for the Game Gear, Mega Drive, and Sega Saturn. Characters of the series also appear in the Nintendo DS games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars.
Other media A novel depicting an original story written by Yoshiyuki Suga was published on December 2, 1994. Illustrations from Slam Dunk are included in the art book Inoue Takehiko Illustrations, which was published on June 4, 1997, and Plus/Slam Dunk Illustrations 2, which followed on April 3, 2020. Slam Dunk Shōri-gaku, a book written by sports psychologist Shuichi Tsuji on the "Psychology of Winning" and using Slam Dunk as a reference, was published on October 5, 2000.
Reception Manga