Slam Dunk Volume 16 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “T” for “Teen”

Takenori Akagi, captain and starting center of the Shohoku Prefecture High School basketball team, dreams of making it to the finals of Nationals.  This year’s team has the talent to do it, but this is Akagi’s last shot at a championship because he is a senior.  Players like superstar first year, Kaede Rukawa, and basketball novice, Hanamichi Sakuragi, are the new stars, but they are also problem children.  Do they have the dedication and discipline to be the best?

Slam Dunk, Vol. 16 (entitled Survival Game) opens with the aftermath of Shohoku’s loss to Kainan University Affiliate High School (the Kainan Kings!).  One of the team’s weaknesses is Sakuragi’s shooting.  Now, he has three days to improve his shooting, but will the intensive training improve his shot or wear him down?  Meanwhile, Kainan takes on Ryonan High School in a super match-up of high school basketball superstars.

THE LOWDOWN:  Can’t say I was crazy about the part of this story that dealt with Sakuragi’s training sessions to learn to shoot the basketball.  However, the depiction of the Kainan/Ryonan game is fantastic, which is more testimony to creator Takehiko Inoue’s storytelling ability.  Inoue is of course a master of character drama in comic books, as seen in Real.  However, his skill at action is as good as the work of the best superhero comic book artists that specialize is superhero battles.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers looking for a great basketball comic book and a really good comic book for young readers will find that in Slam Dunk.

A-