#2
Slam Dunk
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Follows red-haired delinquent Hanamichi Sakuragi and Shohoku High from gym brawls to the greatest final minute in basketball storytelling.
Rejected fifty times in middle school, towering red-haired delinquent Hanamichi Sakuragi joins Shohoku High's basketball team solely to impress Haruko Akagi, clashing immediately with icy scorer Kaede Rukawa. Across 101 TV episodes and Inoue's Sannoh film, basketball becomes genuine obsession.
About Slam Dunk (1993)
Produced by Toei Animation and directed by Nobutaka Nishizawa across 101 episodes from 1993 to 1996, Slam Dunk adapts Takehiko Inoue's landmark sports manga following fiery freshman Hanamichi Sakuragi and the Shohoku High basketball team.
⛩️ Anime Details
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Premiere Year
- 1993
Also Ranks On
View canonical entity profile (2 lists) →Rejected fifty times in middle school, towering red-haired delinquent Hanamichi Sakuragi joins Shohoku High's basketball team solely to impress Haruko Akagi, clashing immediately with icy scorer Kaede Rukawa. Across 101 TV episodes and Inoue's Sannoh film, basketball becomes genuine obsession.
Key Metrics
Studio
Toei Animation
Release Year
1993
Episodes
101 TV eps + The First Slam Dunk
Director
Nobutaka Nishizawa / Takehiko Inoue
Source
Takehiko Inoue manga
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Transforms basketball novice Sakuragi through fundamentals—rebounding, box-outs, and twenty thousand jump shots—rather than instant genius
- Completes the Inter-High Sannoh match in Takehiko Inoue's self-directed The First Slam Dunk with pulse-pounding silent final-possession tension
- Gives Hisashi Mitsui's tearful return to Coach Anzai and Ryota Miyagi's grief-haunted point-guard backstory indelible emotional weight
- Sparked a nationwide real-world basketball boom across Japan and East Asia accompanied by 1990s Being J-rock anthems
Cons
- The 1993 television adaptation stretches Kanagawa qualifier games with prolonged bench flashbacks and static crowd pans
- Ends its 101-episode TV run with anime-original exhibition filler right before the Inter-High tournament begins
- Bridging the 1996 TV finale straight into 2022's The First Slam Dunk skips Toyotama's first-round nationals game
Eligibility
- Best for basketball fans and viewers seeking gritty 1990s underdog swagger capped off by a landmark modern feature film
- Ideal for audiences who love flawed, hot-headed teammates forced to trust rivals when exhaustion hits in the fourth quarter
Things to Watch Out For
- Viewers sensitive to slow 1990s weekly Shonen Jump television pacing will notice dragged possessions during the Kainan and Ryonan games
- The 2022 film shifts primary perspective from Sakuragi to point guard Ryota Miyagi with an entirely new voice cast
Photos (1)
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