Slam Dunk – Intense emotions and intense basketball

Hey guys what is up welcome back to my blog I’m so thankful that you guys took the time out of your day to read my blog post. Hope you all are safe and healthy. This manga I got recommended on Twitter (Where you should follow me because I post my thoughts on new chapters there all the time). I did well in picking up this manga because I like basketball and this manga was really good. Anyway, MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.

The story begins with Sakuragi Hanamichi being rejected by another girl in middle school bringing his record of being rejected up to 50 times. Now in highschool and hating basketball because the girl he liked, liked a basketball player, delinquent Hanamichi is approached by a girl, Akagi Haruko who seeing his strong build and height asks him if he is interested in basketball. Desperate to impress Haruko, Hanamichi decides that he too wants to join the basketball team. However, his road is not at all easy but Hanamichi perseveres and his growth from a petty delinquent to a proper player who loves basketball is the tough journey we will witness.

The main focus of the story, Hanamichi is developed quite a lot throughout the story which is good considering that he is the MC. He grows from an arrogant delinquent who knows nothing about basketball to a proper player and along the way he learns a lot. next is the ace of the Shohoku High basketball team, Rukawa, a star player who is a contrast to Hanamichi in skill and the direct opposite of him. We have the center of the team, Akagi Takenori who is the captain of the team and primarily the one who teaches Sakuragi. There’s also Miyagi Ryota and Mitsui, both problem children like Sakuragi. Then we have the supporter and Hanamichi’s crush, Haruko. The manager Ayako and last but certainly not the least, the amazing coach, Anzai. These characters all form the Shohoku High basketball team and all are well-written characters however this is more of the story of Hanamichi than the story of the basketball club.

This manga is extremely funny and the humor is played in really well with the intense basketball making sure that the pacing is kept fine and we get to experience all the highs of the plays in the game as well as get to replace in between those plays with a few antics especially the interactions between Hanamichi and Rukawa. The manga also has some really good basketball which I honestly did not expect. The plays seem real and the intensity of each and every game can be felt by the reader. The manga also gets into the inner conflicts within a team and that shows us a lot. The manga doesn’t fail to make you experience some real emotions and I guarantee that you will at least feel something by the end of it. There’s the art of the manga which is not the prettiest earlier on but that too improves over time.

Love for basketball is something that shouldn’t be forgotten. That is something that I saw even in Kurko’s Basketball but in Slam Dunk too, it is the love for the game that ultimately motivates the players of the teams and makes for a great story and the ending panel too reaffirms that in the end, it’s not winning or losing that matters, it was always just loving basketball.

The manga is finished at 276 chapters and while some may call the finale rushed I believe that it was not rushed and rather was an ending that gave us the most realistic outcome without ruining the true message of the manga which was the love for basketball. While the focus may be the entire team, in the end, this was the story of Sakuragi Hanamichi and that is what we get. For some intense basketball and some really deeply emotional moments do read Slam Dunk which I guarantee is at least a 7 out of ten.

So that is it for this post guys hope you got some value from this.  Thank you guys for reading to the end hit me up on Instagram and Twitter with your thoughts and if you have any ideas on what I should write about. Stay safe from the COVID-19. Thank you again and I’ll see you all next week.