Slam Dunk 16

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2011 – 31 volumes

On one hand, I breezed through this volume pretty quickly, since the majority of the content is a game between two schools that are not Shohoku. I was a little surprised that the story spent so much time setting up the skills and personalities for characters that we will meet in the “future,” as if I should memorize all the members of both teams right now, since I’m going to have to watch them play Shohoku later.

Amazingly, Shohoku does play a game, but it lasts only one chapter, and Sakuragi doesn’t play in it. The tournament is a four-team tournament. By the end of the volume, one team is 0-2, two teams are 1-1, and the fourth team is 2-0. I suspect the rest of the series will be two more games for Shohoku, and it blows my mind that this will probably take all 15 of the remaining volumes.

In addition to the brief Shohoku game and the game between Kainan and Ryonan, there are a few chapters at the beginning of the volume covering a Shohoku scrimmage between upper and underclassman, and some shooting drills Gori forces on Sakuragi. The shooting drills are neat, because Sakuragi has resisted all the special training forced on him up to now, but the shooting drills are a pleasure to him compared to the running practice and other fundamental drills.

By the end of the volume, there are also hints that Shohoku’s biggest weakness is that they don’t play as a team. It’s true that all of them are definitely unique personalities that don’t work well together, and I’m curious to see how this weakness will be overcome. I just can’t see Sakuragi and Rukawa playing nice together.

On one final note, I couldn’t stop laughing at the first chapter’s title page, which was an illustration of “Slam Dunk” shaved into the back of Sakuragi’s head. That’s so early 90s it’s almost not funny, and I’m willing to bet that it wasn’t a trend that appeared anywhere outside America. The rest of the volume had a Boyz II Men accompaniment running through my head after that.

Slam Dunk 15

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2011 – 31 volumes

Only in a shounen manga can one minute and thirty seconds of game time take 120 pages to play out. That’s almost one page for every second. This series is so good that I didn’t even notice the ridiculous stretch.

You know why?

SLAM DUNK.

It was magical.

It took 15 volumes to happen. When it did, it was special. I loved that Haruko consoled him with it later, too. That made for an adorable scene.

And for as long as it took to happen, I love that that wasn’t even the most exciting thing about that game. It certainly got a double-page spread devoted to it, but the story didn’t even linger on it for one page more.

So, the game ends, and I was a little sad. I couldn’t remember what they did in this series before they played basketball. After all, this game alone has lasted over five volumes, right?

Well, I guess they practice for their next game. I suspect there won’t be a lot of downtime between events. I do hope we’re not going to have to sit through the Kainan/Ryonan game, though.

I was also a big fan of the reactions to Hanamichi’s haircut. Now he’s even scarier than he was before! Fantastic.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot to offer in the way of commentary here. They do just play basketball. But they do so in the most exciting, edge-of-your-seat way imaginable. I hate basketball, but I love reading this series. I was very amused by the author commentary in the front of the volume where Inoue responds to criticisms about how he’s taking too much dramatic license with the basketball games in this series. He says that real basketball games are way more exciting than he could ever make it, and you should watch one so you can see for yourself.

I don’t know about that.

Slam Dunk 14

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 31 volumes

It’s Takehiko Inoue catch-up day here, and I am tragically behind in Slam Dunk. It doesn’t really deserve it either, it’s enthusiastically addictive.

The Shohoku and Kainan game is still going on. You know, at this point, I’m pretty sure that the whole series is just going to be this one tournament. That’s pretty amazing. What’s even more amazing is that Inoue can make reading these interminable games so much fun. I really don’t want him to rush through it, because there’s so much utterly awesome stuff going on here. It’s genuinely exciting to read. I mean, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that every free throw, every basket, every fast break, and every foul is super-exciting, but it is. Inoue really knows how to pace and draw the action, and it doesn’t get bogged down with a lot of character drama unrelated to the game. It mimics the experience of watching your friends play high school basketball perfectly.

To that effect, I don’t have much to say about this volume, really. Gori plays through some pain as he goes back out on his injured ankle, and as the spotlight shines on more members of the Kainan team, we learn that they specialize in just about everything you can do on a basketball court. Strategies come into play that can block them, and Coach Anzai plays to Hanamichi’s ego to get him fired up. The teams trade the lead again and again, free throws are missed… you know. Pretty much everything happens that you would expect in a really excellent, close basketball game. And this volume simply does that very well.

That’s exactly why it’s worth reading. Though I hope next time I’ll have a little more to talk about. It… should be the last volume for this game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ran into volume 16.

Slam Dunk 13

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 31 volumes

Though Hikaru no Go has ended, I still have Slam Dunk to give me my sports manga fix (if Go can be considered a sport… in manga, it’s the same idea). I don’t like this series as much as Hikaru no Go, or even Eyeshield 21, but it’s still an awful lot of fun to read.

There’s not much to say about this volume. They play basketball vigorously. Shohoku is still fending off Kainan tooth and nail, and this volume barely makes it through the first half of the game. While, of course, the boys still have to work together as a team, this volume is all about Rukawa and his showboating. And to Rukawa’s credit, he is spectacular, and not really trying to show off. He’s just trying to win, and doing whatever it takes to get him there.

What’s really great is that everyone, players and audience included, still has such an extreme reaction to a slam dunk. I love that it’s the name of the series, so that every time it happens, it’s like saying a special password that causes everything to stop and go haywire.

There’s not a whole lot to the success of this series, it’s just really, really entertaining to watch the characters play basketball, and the volume’s always over in a heartbeat. Like most of the best sports manga, you get drawn into the enthusiasm courtesy of a handful of great characters. Even though I don’t care about basketball, I still really want to see Sakuragi play. He wants to play so bad. He does play here, and it is both entertaining and genuinely awesome.

I think it’s interesting that the game’s only about half over at the end of this volume. I’m willing to bet that it won’t end until at least volume 15. And that’s the halfway point of the series, meaning that we will have gone 15 volumes and only seen… really, two major games, right? That blows my mind. It’s crazy, but it works really well for Slam Dunk. I don’t know that many modern sports manga could pull something like that off. What’s even more interesting is that the only hints we’ve been given about the next opponent are some smarmy comments from the peanut gallery that almost reminded me of Prince of Tennis opponents. You know. The kind that are completely full of themselves, and you really want to see their smug faces pounded into the tennis court. Most sports manga I’ve read are all about showing off the next opponent, or the next series of difficult opponents so that you know just how hard the coming games will be, but not Slam Dunk. The whole focus is on the current game.

But yes. Still good, I promise. At this point, you’re either reading or you’re not, so I doubt this review’s going to convince anyone, but just in case… still not boring! Still great! Not my favorite, but still quite good.

Slam Dunk 12

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 31 volumes

It’s been awhile, but I’m definitely ready for some basketball again.

This volume contains most of the game between Shohoku and Kainan. Kainan’s a tough opponent, and of course there are players from another school sneering from the sidelines about how Kainan’s no match for their legendary team in the playoffs, but for the time being… this is some pretty thrilling basketball.

The blocking and offensive strategies are looked at in some detail, and I promise that’s not nearly as boring as it sounds. Inoue, like the author/artist pair of Eyeshield 21, has a gift for making even the most mundane tactical aspects of his chosen sport absolutely fascinating in manga form. It’s unbelievable that manga about football and basketball can hold my interest so well, and even more amazing that this manga is remarkably fresh for being… 20 years old at this point. The only things that date it is some of the bancho stuff, which doesn’t translate into English anyway, so it makes me happy to think of kids picking up this series and getting sucked in as much as I have.

Of course, a big part of the fun is Sakuragi’s showboating, and he gets to do it in front of a particularly cocky opponent this time. It’s pretty humorous considering he still has no real idea how to play basketball, and that’s actually his downfall here as his showboating comes to a stop as soon as the opponent figures that out. Sakuragi’s second match-up in this game had me absolutely rolling, not only because it was such an unlikely pair, but also because that kid was legitimately great at basketball, too. I liked that character a lot.

On to the next volume! I think the releases for this series are starting to slow down, which is a shame since this is the type of manga that needs to be consumed at top speed. It’s great. I still prefer Eyeshield 21, but this is a pretty close second.

Slam Dunk 11

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.

Slam Dunk 8

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 31 volumes

I’d skipped over this volume initially, so there wasn’t too much of a surprise story-wise here.  It picks up in the middle of the massive fight in the gym, then goes back in time to introduce a teammate gone bad.

Mitsui’s flashback is pretty standard fodder for a shounen series… former MVP, had high hopes coming into a new school, but then was injured and felt upstaged by Gori when Gori turned out to be a pretty amazing player.  He picked the fight with one of the members of the team in the previous volume, but it’s Hanamichi’s savage beating, combined with Kogure’s storytelling and Gori stepping in to see what’s going on.  It’s the coach that really throws the fear of god into Kogure at the end of the volume, though.

I do love Shohoku’s coach.  He’s a man of few words, and is definitely not the stereotypical high school basketball coach, seeming to prefer to take things easy.  He inspires the players anyway, which is another reason he’s great.

That’s about all I have to say on this one, since I’ve already moved beyond this in the story, but Slam Dunk is always worth going back for.  Even when we get an exposition volume like this, it’s somehow not boring at all.

Slam Dunk 10

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 31 volumes

Whoo!  Semifinals!  Sakuragi is Rebound King!  Go Shohoku!  Et cetera.

Seriously, though.  How is it that this series is so addictive when I don’t care one bit about basketball?  This isn’t even like a Hikaru no Go situation where I might get sucked into the strategy of the game, or am learning how to play something.  Basketball is impenetrable for me, and my brain shuts off whenever I try to pay attention to it.  But man, I love watching Sakuragi pick up those rebounds.

Little goes on aside from basketball.  There are eight teams left in the tournament, and Shohoku is playing Shoyo.  Shoyo is very tall, and Shohoku is very intimidated.  And then everything went blurry and the volume went by in thirty seconds.  Turns out Sakuragi is kind of awesome, though he seems to be doubting his genius at one point.  Honestly, I hope that he never gets humbled, because his enthusiasm is infectious.

On to the next volume!  This really is a series that would benefit from a long sit-down session with many volumes, though.  They just go by so fast it always leaves you wanting more.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.

Slam Dunk 9

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 31 volumes

I skipped a volume in here somewhere, but it doesn’t feel like it.  This volume opens with Sakuragi thinking about the aftermath of the fight, which must mean it took up volume 8.  Must’ve been an epic fight.

Anyway, this volume covers… er, most of the tournament the team entered.  The first game is covered in detail, then it skips over all the others in an awesome montage-like fashion to skip to the final 8.  Most of what’s going on is about the teamwork and everyone’s role on the court during a game.  Surprisingly, Sakuragi does have a place, but he’s not very successful since he can’t stop fouling out.

Again, I think one of the best things about Sakuragi is that he’s not an invincible, inherently talented main character.  He is, in a sense, since everyone keeps talking about how he’s something special, but he doesn’t know how to play basketball and makes a lot of mistakes, which I like.  Even better, he doesn’t use these mistakes to build character and mope around until something miraculously changes.  He doesn’t learn from these mistakes at all.  He just keeps doing them, to hilarious effect.  He fouls out through the whole volume until he decides to ask Akagi for help out of sheer embarrassment.  He is king in his mind, however, and all the praise that is normally lavished on the main character takes place entirely in his head.  He’s hilarious and extremely upbeat, which is why he works so well as the lead.  Volumes like this, that are just basketball, would be a whole lot less interesting without him.

I’m having trouble with the characters because of the skipped volume, unfortunately, even with the handy bios in the front of the volume and Haruko helpfully discussing each person’s strengths at the beginning of the book.  It also doesn’t help that the punk with a crush on the manager has gotten a haircut.  I get him and another one of the aces confused.  It doesn’t really matter, since the only thing I really have to know is that one of them is a punk who will hit on the manager, but it still confused me a bit.  That’s entirely my fault, though.

But yes.  Still awesome.  You can call Slam Dunk the bus driver, because it takes almost all other sports manga to school.  I can’t get over how addictive it is and how quickly the volumes go by.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.

Slam Dunk 2

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2009 – 31 volumes

Oh, Sakuragi.  I like Eyeshield 21 much better than this series, but they succeed for the same reason: they both have incredibly entertaining characters.  The ones in Eyeshield 21 are more characters in the “euphamism for weirdos” sense than the supporting cast in Slam Dunk, but Hanamichi is better than almost everyone but Haruma, and he’s the main character, which makes up for it.  I don’t have that much to say about that, so the rest of this is just me whimsically narrating the volume.  Or at least I thought it was whimsical.  I try not to do this, usually, since I hate reviews that are just summaries, but all I have to say is that it’s funny.  I’ve written six other reviews, so you can read more serious comments, many of which were not made at two in the morning.

This volume resolves his fake running away from the team plotline (which didn’t fool anyone considering there are 30 volumes of basketball left), and we get to see Sakuragi bounce off the walls at a scrimmage between first years and upperclassman.  He hates Rukawa, of course, but then does he have to root for Gori?  He lives a hard life, and Rukawa makes his lady love Haruko’s eyes turn into hearts, so the hate stands.  He gets to play for a few minutes, and he delivers a glorius slam dunk to the top of Gori’s head.

There’s a subplot in the second half of the volume that involves the Judo team (headed by a childhood friend/rival of Gori’s) attempting to recruit Sakuragi.  The best part of this is that Sakuragi delivers a firm “no” every time, and then gets to beat up the Judo team.  He bonds with the captain and they trade stories about how lame Gori is.  Gori watches, and tries to remember these bizarre slights from childhood.  It’s pretty funny stuff, and it nearly made me laugh out loud.  It’s hard not to root for Sakuragi, with his childlike logic and complete disregard for how uncool everything that comes out of his mouth is.  Calling himself a Basketballman is a good example.  I can’t tell if this was cool at one time, or if it was supposed to be something else in Japanese, but it’s so uncool, and he says it so seriously, that it fits him perfectly.

And a final note: possibly the best line of the series so far, from the captain of the Judo team about how he will snatch Sakuragi away from the basketball team: “He won’t be satisfied diddling with balls!”

Ahhhh.