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Slam Dunk (manga)

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Slam Dunk (スラムダンク suramudanku) is a 31-volume Japanese manga series written by Takehiko Inoue about a basketball team from Shohoku (Shōhoku) High School. It has sold over 100 million copies in Japan alone.

It was so popular that many Japanese teenagers began playing basketball after it was published. Inoue has also uses basketball as a central theme in two other manga series: Buzzer Beater and Real.

A 101-episode anime TV series was produced, as well as four animated movies. The anime follows the manga storyline, but leaves out the final games at the National Tournament. 4 animated movies are separate stand-alone stories.

Contents

Plot

The main character of this manga is Hanamichi Sakuragi who started out as an outcast who fights as a method to gain power and publicity, becoming the leader of a gang. Hanamichi, being very unpopular with girls, has been rejected by them fifty times. Yet, he finds out that Haruko Akagi is the girl of his dreams, and is happy when she's not scared of him like all the other girls he has asked out.

Haruko, who recognizes Hanamichi's athleticism, introduces Hanamichi to the Shohoku basketball team. Hanamichi was reluctant to join the team at first because he had no previous background in any sports and thought that basketball was a game for losers (actually because the fiftieth girl rejected him for a basketball player). Sakuragi, despite his immaturity and hot temper, proves to be a natural athlete with potential and joins the team in order to impress Haruko to prove that he is worthy of her. Kaede Rukawa, also Sakuragi's bitter rival (both on the basketball court and love, even when Kaede doesn't even aknowledge Haruko's crush on him), the star rookie and a "girl magnet", joins the team at the same time. Hisashi Mitsui, an ex-junior high school MVP, and Ryota Miyagi, a short but fast player, both also rejoin the team and together these four struggle to complete team captain Takenori Akagi's dream of making Shohoku the national champion. Together, these misfits gain publicity and the once little known Shohoku basketball team becomes an all-star contender in Japan.

Characters

Shohoku High School Starting Five Players

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Year: 1st Year
Height/Weight: 188cm, 83kg -> 189.2cm, 83kg
Jersey Number: #10
Position: Power Forward (PF)
Birthday: April 1
Real Life Player Resemblances: Dennis Rodman
Character Traits: At the beginning of the series, Hanamichi was just a slacker, always trying to ask girls out but keeps getting rejected time after time (50 at that time). That is until he meets Haruko, for whom he falls in love immediately, in spite of the fact she only has her eyes on Kaede. This passion led him to join the Shohoku basketball team, along with Kaede, much to his chagrin. But the matter is, he never ever played basketball before, so he isn't able to put up a decent performance compared to the rest of the team, despite his potential (like his amazing jumping impulse or his nearly unlimited stamina). He plays only to try and impress Haruko, always considering himself a genius who will inherit the position of captain of the team, although being too far from meek. If not by his poor display of basketball playing (in the first matches, when he kept being sent off for committing five fouls) or his impressive rebounding skills, he is mostly recognized by his bushy red hair (which he trims along the series). He has a special training with Coach Anzai before the championships. His training is the 20,000 jump shots. He mastered the shot and used it well in the championships especially against Sannoh. He hits a buzzer-beater jump shot to win the match against Sannoh (Rukawa passes the ball to him in the last two seconds). He injured his back when he try to save the ball and undergoes a rehabilitation after their loss to Aiwa Academy. He looks good at the end of the manga during his rehabilitation.
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Year: 1st Year
Height/Weight: 187cm, 75kg
Jersey Number: #11
Position: Small Forward (SF)
Birthday: January 1
Real Life Player Resemblances: Michael Jordan
Character Traits: Kaede is the complete opposite to Hanamichi - attractive for girls and skillful, though very cold and unfeeling. He first meets Hanamichi after he beats up a gang who wanted to beat Hanamichi up and, as the latter ascertains he is the guy Haruko told him about, he almost beats him too, creating a brief misunderstanding between Hanamichi and Haruko. He thinks way too lowly of Hanamichi, considering him a great buffoon (in this case, he thinks so of Ryota and Hisashi too) and inept for basketball (this is only directed to Hanamichi). When he is not playing, his sole activity is sleeping - he can even sleep while riding his bike, which often causes accidents of which he comes unscathed, thanks to his great endurance. A curious fact about this is that, when Kaede says his hobby is to sleep, Hanamichi finds it funny, saying that's the reason his expression never changes, which is true respectfully to the latter fact, as he is always with a serious face, not showing any other emotion. Rukawa wants to be the best senior-high player in Japan. He finds Sendoh as his rival in Kanagawa until he played against Eiji Sawakita of Sannoh technical in the second round of the championships. He is outplayed by Sawakita one on one. He realised that one on one is not the only offensive tactic in basketball as he remembered that words when he played Sendoh one on one. He changed his plays by passing the ball to his team-mates in the final minutes in their match against Sannoh. He also pass the ball to Hanamichi in the last two seconds of their game against Sannoh and Sakuragi never wasted the pass and shoots it to beat Sannoh Technical. Rukawa is named to be a member of the All-Japan basketball team.
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Year: 2nd Year
Height/Weight: 168cm, 59kg
Jersey Number: #7
Position: Point Guard (PG)
Birthday: July 31
Real Life Player Resemblances: John Stockton
Character Traits: Ryota is the closest to a friend Hanamichi found in the team. After a misunderstanding, he told Hanamichi about his frustrated relationships and, although not having a record on rejection (he was only dumped 10 times), they became good friends to each other - what doesn't mean they don't argue. Also like Hanamichi, Ryota too has a motivation to play because of a girl: Ayako, the assistant coach of the team. Despite being too short for a basketball player, Ryota makes up for it with his incredible speed, but tends to lose his focus on the match if Ayako praises him (just like Hanamichi for Haruko), although not entirely, as he manages to make nice passes at such moments. Hanamichi calls him "Ryo-chin", after a little while they befriend each other.
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Year: 3rd Year
Height/Weight: 184cm, 70kg
Jersey Number: #14
Position: Shooting Guard (SG)
Birthday: May 22
Real Life Player Resemblances: Reggie Miller
Character Traits: Before joining Shohoku, Hisashi was an MVP for Takeishi Junior High, and despite having high opportunities in other Senior highschools (like Ryonan), he preferred to go to Shohoku because of Mitsuyoshi Anzai, the coach of the team, who had always been an inspiration for him (also for giving him the courage to win in the junior-high tournament championship). However, an injury on his left knee in a training abbreviated his career by then. He wanted to be discharged from the hospital in time to join the team in the regional tournament, as he too dreamed on taking Shohoku to the peak of glory. But he couldn't, and this led him to have a grudge against basketball, being leader of a gang in Shohoku. Once, his gang got in a fight against Ryota just because he was to be his replacement in the team. Ryota beat Hisashi senseless, even taking two teeth out of him, but shortly after his thugs beat Ryota so badly that he spent two years in traction (actually, both did). Afterwards, he tried to put an end to the team with his gang (also because of previous turmoils with Hanamichi and Kaede), but was stopped by Hanamichi's own gang - Yohei, Takamiya, Ohkusu and Noma who, together with Norio (one of Hisashi's cohorts), took the fault on the fight, after Hisashi regretted his actions and promised to never fight again. He again proves to be a great addition to the team, being very skillful on long-range 3-point shots. His 3-pointers helped Shohoku to catch up when they are 12 points behind Shoyo and, furthermore, when the team is downed by 20 points against Sannoh. Hanamichi always calls him "Mitchie" (when he was a gang thug, Hanamichi called him "Onna-otoko" - woman man - because of his straight, then-shoulder-long hair which resembled that of a woman).
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Year: 3rd Year
Height/Weight: 197cm, 90kg
Jersey Number: #4
Position: Center (C)
Birthday: May 10
Real Life Player Resemblances: David Robinson
Character Traits: Haruko's older brother, he is the captain of Shohoku basketball team. Despite apparently not thinking too much of Hanamichi (who addresses to him as "Gori", because of his immense physical appearance, resembling that of a gorilla), he actually realizes his great potential as a basketball player. Being serious and disciplined, his highest dream is to take Shohoku to the nationwide championship, and he will do whatever it takes (as long as it's in the rules) to get there. Years of practice and playing made him a naturally great player, specially skilled as a virtually unbeatable defender, thus making him one of the best Centers ever seen in action in Japanese high school basketball. He finally met someone who is better than him against Sannoh, he meets Masashi Kawata, the best center in Senior High. He is intimidated when Kawata outplayed him, thanks to Uozumi's word he regain his confidence. He never minds if Kawata has downed him very much but his team is not going down.

Other players

Year: 3rd Year
Height/Weight: 178cm, 62kg
Team Affiliation: Shohoku
Jersey Number: #5
Position: Small Forward
Birthday: July 12
Real Life Player Resemblances: N/A
Character Traits: Kiminobu is some kind of second-in-command in the court, besides being a good friend to Takenori and Hisashi himself. He, along with Ryota and Ayako, is one of the people who always try to bring out the most of effort and playing talent of Hanamichi. He is very gentle, empathic and friendly towards everyone, and is almost never seen without his glasses on (being this why Hanamichi always calls him "Megane-kun", loosely translated as glasses-wearing guy). He once amazed the people doing three-point shot twice on their battle against Ryonan. Kiminobu despite his gentleness, is absolutely not a pushover; he showed an unexpected firmness when Hisashi, whom he formerly admired and cared for very much, came back to destroy the club, and was a key player into bringing him back.
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Year: 2nd Year
Height/Weight: 190cm, 79kg
Team Affiliation: Ryonan
Jersey Number: #7
Position: Swingman/Point Forward
Birthday: February 14
Real Life Player Resemblances: Magic Johnson,Michael Jordan
Character Traits: The top player for Ryonan High, Akira is an easy-going person, always with a smile upon his face. Despite never having to be able to play his best until he first meets Hanamichi and Kaede (who double-marked him in the first match seen in the manga), he still was one opponent to be feared for his amazing all-around skills. Outside of the courts, Akira is very lazy and always tends to arrive late at training sessions and matches, to which his excuse is usually oversleeping. One of his hobby is fishing, he likes lemons too. He is a calm player all the time that he can make his team catch up once they are trailing in the scores. He proved it when he carried Ryonan down only two points in their match against Shohoku. He is a great passer and scorer and even Coach Anzai stated that Rukawa is still no match to Sendoh. He once played against Eiji Sawakita as he tells Rukawa about it(he remembers Sawakita as Kitasawa) and Rukawa was surprised that there is someone who is better than Sendoh.
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Year: 3rd Year
Height/Weight: 202cm, 90kg
Team Affiliation: Ryonan
Jersey Number: #4
Position: Center/Captain
Birthday: N/A
Real Life Player Resemblances: Patrick Ewing
Character Traits: Jun is the captain for the Ryonan High team. He holds a rivalry against Takenori, for never being able to break through his defense, despite the victories over Shohoku, but they have a sportsmen behavior towards each other, with no resents. Still, Jun trains harder and harder day after day, in order to someday be able to beat his rival. Hanamichi refers to him as "Monkey Boss", because he's got as much a great build as Takenori. He supports the Shohoku Team especially Akagi when Shohoku played Sannoh Technical in the Inter-High-School tournament, and he also did so during the match with Kainan (during the last minutes of the match, when Shohoku was losing hope and letting Kainan hard-press them, Jun stood up and yelled at Takenori that he WAS able to defeat Shinichi, and the Shohoku team regained their spirits). It's later revealed that Jun used to be a very weak player and some of his seniors even bullied him more or less directly instead of helping him, so he was very close to stop playing, but Taoka helped him to regain his self-esteem and convinced him to continue playing. After the loss to Shihoku, Jun retires from the team as he realizes that Sendoh will be a better captain.
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Year: 1st Year
Height/Weight: 178cm, 56kg
Team Affiliation: Kainan University Affiliated High School
Jersey Number: #10
Position: Small Forward
Birthday: N/A
Real Life Player Resemblances: N/A
Character Traits: Nobunaga is what could be called the personification of arrogance. He is always bragging on how he is the real Star Rookie in Kanagawa, instead of Kaede, both in skills and in looks. He is usually underestimating other teams, especially Shohoku, because there is where Kaede plays, and also he makes fun of Hanamichi's patheticity (that is since he arrived at the Shohoku - Miuradai match in time to see him being sent off for committing his fifth foul, dunking the ball on the head of the opponent). One of Kiyota's great abilities is his ballhandling skills, jumping high, he dunks the ball on Uozumi when the Kainan and Ryonan played at the prefectural final. He plays for Kainan High. Since their first meeting in the Kanagwa Final League, Hanamichi calls him "Jungle Monkey" (because of his wild, long hair), to which Nobunaga retorts with "Red-furred Monkey". His admiration for his captain, Shinichi, is almost crush-like.
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Year: 3rd Year
Height/Weight: 184cm, 79kg
Team Affiliation: Kainan University Affiliated High School
Jersey Number: #4
Position: Point Guard
Birthday: N/A
Real Life Player Resemblances: Magic Johnson
Character Traits: Shinichi is the best player in the whole Prefecture of Kanagawa, who led Kainan High to the championship last year. Also for being a very energetic and muscular player, he is known as "The Monster". He sees in Kenji (see below) a great rival, but with sportsmanship, just like he treats other players, like Takenori, Kaede or Akira. He never underestimates opponent especially Shohoku and Ryonan. Hanamichi calls him "Old Man" since he looks older than he really is.
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Year: 3rd Year
Height/Weight: 178cm, 66kg
Team Affiliation: Shoyo
Jersey Number: #4
Position: Point Guard
Birthday: N/A
Real Life Player Resemblances: John Stockton
Character Traits: The main player for Shoyo High (along with Center teammate Tohru Hanagata), Kenji accumulates also the role of coaching the team. As such, he only finds necessary to enter the court whenever his presence is really needed, like when the team is behind in score and struggling for a better result. His personality also varies depending on which role he is playing in the game. As a coach and outside of the courts, he is calm, mild-mannered and friendly (he even personally deals weith his fans and is very kind to them), but he becomes someone else when he steps in the court: overconfident, high-spirited and even ruthless. As Shinichi says in issue #10, "as a player, he's far from rational".
Year: 2nd Year
Team Affiliation: Sannoh Industry Affiliated High School
Height/Weight: 189cm, 67kg
Jersey Number: #9
Position: Swingman/Point Forward
Birthday: 2nd July
Real Life Player Resemblances: Penny Hardaway
Character Traits: Though often resembled an innocent expression of a boy-next-door, Eiji, however, is actually the best all around player across the realm of Japanese High School's Basketball. He currently playing for Sannoh Industry Affiliated High School, the three-time reigning champion of the High School Basketball Series in Japan. A prodigy of basketball since his childhood's brought-up, armed with extraordinary buzz beater's skill cum an 'outrageous' superior stamina that already far surpassed the high-school's standard in Japan, currently there are hardly few (almost none of them) high-school player, especially those whom shared the same position as him, can actually put a true match-up with him, not even Maki, The Kanagawa Perfecture's best player. Rukawa challenges Eiji one on one in the second round of the Inter-High-School championship match, Eiji proves that he is the best player in Japan that no player can beat him one on one in an actual or non-actual match. He did play against Akira Sendoh back in junior highschool and beat him, as Sendoh admitted. His surname was misspelled by Sendoh as Kitasawa but he is referring to Eiji. Eiji has a the "best" lay-up that is so high when he released in so nobody can block his shot not even Hanamichi. However, Eiji finally met his worthy rival during the Sannoh-Shohoku Match-Up: Rukawa Kaede, in the second round of Inter-High-School Series...
Year: 2nd Year (Yasuda, Shiozaki, Kakuta), 1st Year (Ishii, Sasaoka, Kuwata)
Height/Weight: 165cm/57kg, 170cm/62kg, 163cm/50kg (Yasuda, Shiozaki and Kuwata), 180cm, 170cm, 172cm (Kakuta, Ishii, Sasaoka - their weights are unspecified)
Jersey Numbers: #6, #8, #9, #12, #13 and #15
Positions: Point Guard (Yasuda), Second Guard (Shiozaki), Center (Kakuta), Forward (Ishii, Sasaoka), Guard (Kuwata)
Birthdays: March 28 (Yasuda), September 23 (Shiozaki), November 4 (Kakuta), January 18 (Ishii), October 13 (Sasaoka), July 28 (Kuwata)
Real Life Player Resemblances: N/A
Character Traits: They are all Shohoku minor players. Out of them all, Yasuda ("Yasu" for short) seems to play the greater role in the series. He's Ryota's close friend, and thanks to his mild and calm character he can manage to make things calm and settle when a turmoil is getting to start up.

Non-playing characters

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Year: 1st Year
Character Traits: Haruko is Takenori's younger sister, and Hanamichi's love interest (and possible long-distance girlfriend by the end of the manga, some say). Sweet and with a captivating personality, Haruko is always around to cheer up the players, especially her dear brother Takenori (who is extremely protective of her and taught her the basics of basketball) and Hanamichi, whom she considers just as her best friend, together with his cohorts. She, like most girls in Shohoku High, only has eyes eyes for Kaede, although he never retributes it; in the anime series, she realizes on her own that Kaede is unintrested in her, and gradually starts to get over it. She was responsible to unveil Hanamichi's sports talent, after seeing him trying to dunk a ball at her request - she was impressed by the height of his jump, and then considered him good enough to join the team. She is always the one who Hanamichi listens to before anyone, due to his deep affection to her. Despite her cluelessness and sweetness, Haruko is not afraid to stand up for others when needed; she confronted Hanamichi when she mistakently thought he was bullying Kaede, and she also defended him many times from Kaede's most rabid fangirls (one of them even knocked her to the ground in the anime series).
Character Traits: He is the coach of Shohoku High, and one of the best ones in Japan. His calm and collected attitude contrasts with the temper he had in the past, as a severe college team trainer, when a talented youngster named Yazawa trained under him and, going againt his advices, departed to USA, just to die in a car crash five years later. This fatality was what changed his attitudes to his now mild temper. But behind such an impassible spirit hides a brilliant strategist, who always knows how to turn the tides of a match for his team. Hanamichi always calls him "Oyaji" (what makes others mad at him, for considering this a disrespectful treatment).
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Year: 2nd Year
Character Traits: Manager of the team. Strong-witted, somewhat tomboyish and good-willing, at first Ayako does not seem to reciprocate Ryota's feelings for her (which she knows of, yet), and won't until the end of the series. She is directly responsible for sharpening Hanamichi's abilities for real matches, by training him in the basics, like ball possession and dribbling. Concerning discipline, she is midway between Takenori and Anzai - while not as soft as the latter, she is also not as hard as the former. Her last name is unknown. Curiously, Hanamichi treats her almost more respectfully than Anzai, even though she is in a lower position in the team; possibly it's because of her gender, since he's generally more respectful towards females than males. Ryota refers to her as "Aya-chan" because of his passion, and she responds calling him by name ("Ryota") rather than by surname. She always calls Hanamichi by his full name.
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Yohei Mito (水戸洋平 Mito Yōhei)
Year: 1st Year
Character Traits: Hanamichi's best friend from childhood. He and the rest of his gang are always there to help him in whatever he needs, although Yohei (on the left) is the only one to be able to help with actual advice.
Chuichirou Noma (野間忠一郎 Noma Chūichirō), Yuji Ohkusu (大楠雄二 Ōkusu Yūji) and Nozomi Takamiya (高宮望 Takamiya Nozomi)
Year: 1st Year
Character Traits: They are always hanging around with Hanamichi and Yohei. Despite offering a hand whenever convenient, they often tease Hanamichi, for which they receive head butts on their foreheads. Noma (on the right) sports a mustache, Ohkusu (in the background) has a blond hair styled like a blend between Hanamichi's and Ryota's style, and Takamiya (in the foreground) is short, overweight and wears glasses. According to Yohei, they are known as "The Three Stooges of Wakoh Junior High" (the school from where they came with Hanamichi).
Year: 3rd Year
Character Traits: Captain of the Shohoku judo team, he is a childhood friend of the Akagi Siblings, since that time arguing with Takenori over which sport was better, if judo or basketball. This grudge kept on to their present age, where their feud is over which team will be Nationwide Champion first. He once tried to make Hanamichi join his team, because he considered his fighting skills over the top, and to do this he "bribed" him with some photos of Haruko when she was a child. Still, Hanamichi refused, saying simply, "because I'm a basketball player" (actually because he knew he would be closer to Haruko for real if he stayed with the basketball team). But Tatsuhiko does not give up on trying once in a while. Still, he's rather loyal to Takenori when the need raises, cheering on him when he's overworked and hard-pressed during the second Ryonan match.
Year: 1st Year
Character Traits: Haruko's classmates and friends from Junior High. They often appear together with or without her. They don't trust Hanamichi too much at first, but try their best on dealing with him, for Haruko's sake, and gradually become more fond of him. Fujii is shy, soft-spoken and has short hair, while Matsui has her hair tied in pigtails, thick lips and is rather sassy at times. Their first names are not known. It's speculated in fandom that Fujii, in the anime, may or may not have a slight crush on Hanamichi.
Year: 1st Year
Height/Weight: 165cm, 52kg
Character Traits: Cheerful and energetic, Hikoichi aspires to become a player like his Ryonan teammates but, not being up to their level, he just stays with the reserves (more specifically with the coach, Moichi Taoka) and acts more as a team manager than a 100% player, taking notes of every single happening of the match, thus his catchphrase is "gotta check it", aside shouting "Unbelievable!!!" every time an exciting fact happens in the match. He too considers Hanamichi a great player, because he was talked into it when they first met, and also idolizes Ryota because he's a regular in Shohoku despite his short height. He has an older sister, Yayoi Aida, who is a reporter for a basketball magazine (and from which Hikoichi might have gotten his habit of taking notes).

Trivia

External links

 

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