Slam Dunk 11
Posted: August 8, 2010 Filed under: Slam Dunk Leave a comment »Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 31 volumes
As far behind as I am on several series, I just can’t help myself when a new volume of this comes in. I know it’ll be fast and good, and I’ll want more when I’m done. I still can’t get over how much I like such a simple basketball manga, but it really does get everything right.
Much like how they don’t actually play a basketball game until… was it the fourth or sixth volume?… I loved that an actual slam dunk, made by the main character, didn’t really happen until the end of volume 11. And the wait was not wasted. It was spectacular. I could not get over how drawn out the character reactions were. Even Hanamichi’s reaction was unexpected. It was spectacular.
Much like all the best action manga, I couldn’t read this fast enough. The last ten minutes of the game against Shoyo wind down and Shohoku has to make up the ten or so points scored by the ace of the other team. Various tactics and strategies are tried out, but I think my favorite thing is that nobody suddenly developed special abilities that won the game. Granted, the dark horse that hadn’t really been doing anything did finally live up to all the hype we’d seen a couple volumes ago, and that may count, but that wasn’t the deciding factor. It really was just teamwork and a positive outlook that helped Shohoku pull through, which makes this even more fun to read. They aren’t superheroes. They’re just playing basketball.
It doesn’t leave off on a cliffhanger, which is very kind. Admittedly, it’s not really about the anticipation of finding out what happens next , but more that I know I’ll love the fast pace, the characters, and the fun they’ll have. I’m also glad that things haven’t gotten completely serious yet, and everyone’s still able to step back and look at their Very Serious basketball situation objectively. It’s probably still behind Eyeshield 21 and Hikaru no Go for my favorite Shounen Jump manga (and One Piece, but that’s transcendent), but it’s not very far behind, and I really don’t think either of those would be around without Slam Dunk.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
