Preface: Hey Thanks for reading my review of Slam Dunk just some quick notes. My review is solely based on how it affects me as a person and how my past experiences play a role in the overall enjoyment of this anime. Review will be broken down like so : Art Animation Story Characters Soundtrack Overall Enjoyment So lets get started I will avoid spoilers as much as possible but dont worry spoiler tags will be included https://i.ur.com/uh1sB7G.jpg Art 8.5/10 Gotta give credit where credit is due. Toei Animation managed to actually capture more or less Slam Dunks art style in the manga. Albeit slightly inconsistent. One thing I really love about Toei Animations adaptation is how they managed to encapsulate and elevate moments through by simply changing the art style. It actually emphasises the importance of these moments and gives us the viewer more of an emotional impact rather than it remaining consistently the same. My favourite out of these styles is the painterly look. It is a standout when its shown on the screen. I absolutely love how it looks aesthetically and captures iconic moments for the character and brings a sense of achievement not just for the viewers but the characters as well. My main problem with the art is how inconsistent it is while it is really good for the most part it really breaks the immersion of the audience. I get thrown off when the characters are just weird looking like a body double for the characters themselves. When it comes to basketball when they zoom out to take an overhead shot of the court I cringe looking at how weird the scale is. Sometimes the court looks twice the size it actually is and sometimes looks really small. As a basketball fan I watch a lot of basketball matches Go Spurs Go so seeing the wrong scale it kinda pulls me out of my immersion. Overall art is pretty solid. Animation 7/10 Oh boy Toei Animation notorious for reusing shots stills where the characters mouth is only moving copout inconsistent animation and just general cheap practices. This is the only point that really grinds my gears. Some comparisons : 59https://media1.tenor.com/images/a8e054ed9cfa2ec6390e99df34b68a16/tenor.gif?itemid=10303702 40https://thumbs.gfycat.com/IllinformedImpeccableAnophelesmosquitosizerestricted.gif The Gif on the left looks so buttery smooth. Makisan with a simple hesitation to the left which gets Ryota to move to the right only for Makisan to change directions with a simple crossover. It is so well done and looks like a legit crossover from a basketball game. This is an example of good animation from Toei. Now look on the damn right alright so Rukawa goes for a spin fake and drives to the basket to take a JUMP SHOT. I repeat just a jump.shot.. ALL WE GET IS A DAMN STILL IMAGE Youre telling me that the jump shot is harder to animate than the dunk. No way even though it is from the OP. At least animate the shot or movements of the players around him. It feels so lazily done when they just dont move and they use action lines to express movement. I might as well read the manga Lastly when they show a character driving in it just cuts to them being at where they planned to be motion and rhythm is absent on this show which is so disappointing. If you watch any basketball and see the highlights one of the biggest selling points for basketball is the cool movements of the players. I particularly chose that bit because it doesnt contain spoilers but I can assure you that the iconic moments of the show are plagued with this kind of poor animation. Its a shame as those moments still bring me excitement and glee when i watch it. I feel like if it was done better the show would be held in higher regard. I will not give them the reason of its from the 90s the 90s had some superb animation like NGE Cowboy Bebop Trigun and LOTGH. So really its Toeis fault. Budget is another thing Toei just takes popular IPs and just runs with it. They literally produce a crap ton of shows and the quality plummets. Toei is what a textbook Quantity Quality is. Sorry this bit really pissed me off. Story 8.5/10 It wouldnt be a surprise to say that Slam Dunk has a linear story. But with that said Slam Dunk has a lot of heart and is endearing to the viewers. Where the characters are well written and are realistic. It starts off with Sakuragi joining the basketball team because of Haruko and his interest in her. What I really like about his introduction to basketball is how shallow his reason for joining is. However the more he plays the more his love for the sport grows. We see him compete with other high school basketball teams to compete for a spot in the Nationals. You are brought along this experience of basketball through Sakuragis eyes. We watch him as he learns how to play basketball while also learning how to play it ourselves. The way the story is written masterfully relates to people who have not played basketball before. The audience is also well informed through Dr Ts lectures which are well thought out not taking too much time and bringing the point across in a comedic manner. We also see Sakuragis ups and downs and feel how he feels during those moments. When he scores a basket we get hype just as does and when he loses you actually feel upset and affected that he lost. We are touched emotionally because of how well the characters are written. Ill elaborate on this further onto the next section. This may sound biased but for me I constantly knew how they felt and how those key moments in the anime felt like. There was a certain moment that really hits close to home that I actually almost teared up. Watching Slam Dunk really brings me back to my competitive days and I feel like I get to relive that experience the good and bad the bad the whole shabang. Takehiko Inoue brings reality to this piece of fiction. You can tell he wrote this with a lot of passion for the sport. What I appreciate most about Slam Dunk is the fact that Takehiko Inoue was doing his part for society. He wrote Sakuragi as your standard anime delinquent loud brash absurdly strong and has coloured hair. Inouesensei was able to inspire delinquents in 90s Japan to get off the streets and do something worth their time like what Sakuragi has done. People may just look at this as just an anime but for some it could open new opportunities for delinquents who have lost their way. He shows how you dont have to be good at school but if youre passionate enough about something you can make a career out of it. You can tell he tries to sympathize with delinquents and bring them out of that life. This portion will contain spoilers regarding the ending so be warned Characters 10/10 Takehiko Inoue has a brilliantly written cast of characters all well written and are relatable. Starting off with the main character himself Sakuragi Hanamichi like i mentioned earlier Sakuragi is your run of the mill loud protagonist. However like I said I believe he was written this way to relate with delinquents in 90s Japan. Hes a very endearing character from the amount of effort he puts into his craft and just being a goof ball during games. Hes a talented beginner and is a projection of delinquents doing something worth their time in this case basketball. Love the relatability of Sakuragi. The Shohoku Basketball team arguably has as strong of an influence as Sakuragi does. We see Sakuragi form a toughlove relationship with Akagisenpai. The rivalry between Rukawa and Sakuragi is quite overrated and I believe that the older brotheryounger brother relationship between Akagi and Sakuragi is quite wholesome. There are times when Akagi is facing difficulties and Sakuragi shows everyone how hes Akagis younger brother and even claims it himself of how great he is because of Akagi. Its admirable how Akagi always criticises Sakuragi but recognizes his efforts and does praise him for it. Rukawa and Ryota are both similar in a way that they want to be the best for their respective positions. Rukawa wants to be the best player in Japan and Ryota wants to be the best Point Guard in Japan. They dont have super deep relationships with other characters other than Ryotas interest in Ayako. One thing I feel is overlooked in other sports anime is the role of the coach. Anzaisensei plays a massive role in strategizing how the entire team plays. He also inspires his players and he helps them grow as a person. This is driven home through the relationship between Mitsui and Anzaisensei. Mitsui and Anzais relationship is one of the reasons I believe Inouesensei wrote Slam Dunk this way. Minor spoiler below : Lastly i would like to mention Sakuragis Goon Squad. The Goon Squad is the kind of best friends everyone probably has. The ones that make fun of you and rejoice in your downfalls but is always there to help you when in need. Theyre not there to be a gag they actually affect Sakuragis basketball growth in surprising ways. Overall the characters in this anime are amazing. Soundtrack/Voice Acting 9/10 The OPs and EDs were perfectly chosen for this anime. The first opening Kimi ga Suki da to Sakebitai really gets me pumped before every episode starts. It captures the fun adventure we will be going through. My personal favourite song is Sekai Ga Owaru Made Wa its not an Opening or Ending song it was played during one of the key moments with Mitsui and got me moved. It just hit me more emotionally its quite funny how i dont understand Japanese but get overwhelmed with emotions listening to Sekai ga owaru made wa The voice acting was pretty good every voice perfectly suits the characters they play. A stand out would probably be Sakuragis as Takeshi Kusao sounds exactly what I expect Sakuragi to sound like. The foley in this anime is pretty good everything was quite in order and nothing too bizarre that pulled me out of the anime compared to the animation. Overall pretty pleased with the sound department. Overall Thoughts 10/10 and Miscellaneous Things I thoroughly enjoyed watching Slam Dunk there wasnt a moment where I felt I was forcing myself to watch the show. There were no unbearable characters and the development for every character was well done. Slam Dunk is a must watch for any anime and basketball fan as well as Sports fan. Its amazing how i always felt right at home watching Slam Dunk. Note: I apologize if it was long or quite messy but hope you enjoyed reading my review Note : Just imagine if MADHOUSE remade this. Art: 8.5 Animation: 7/10 Story: 8.5/10 Characters: 10/10 Soundtrack: 9/10 Overall Enjoyment: 10/10