Slam Dunk Volume 3 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “T” for “Teen”

Because he’s so physically intimidating, Hanamichi Sakuragi, a first year student at Shohoku Prefecture High School, can’t get girls to go out with him, but he falls in love with Haruko Akagi.  She thinks he’d be a great fit for the school’s ailing basketball team, which is led by her brother, The Captain-Takenori Akagi.  Haruko’s loving gaze is actually for another first year student – basketball prodigy Kaede Rukawa.  Hanamichi is determined to prove himself at basketball, a game he’s never played, in order to capture Haruko’s heart.

In Slam Dunk, Vol. 3 (The Challenge of the Common Shot), Hanamichi refuses to accept that he is still a novice at the game of basketball and insists that he doesn’t need to learn the fundamentals of the game – like completing a lay-up.  He chafes under the tutelage of Captain Akagi, whom he calls “Gorilla” or “Gori.”  Shohoku’s first big exhibition game against Ryonan, a semifinalist in last year’s championship series, is just a few days away, and Hanamichi is already challenging Ryonan’s star player, Sendoh.  But will Hanamichi get to “suit up” for the big game?

[This volume’s “Slam Dunk Overtime” NBA player profile features New Orleans Hornets’ point guard, Chris Paul, aka “CP3.”]

THE LOWDOWN:  Ever a raucous comedy and teen romance, Slam Dunk’s success as a manga is in what makes graphic narratives like comic books and manga succeed, and that’s the art.  Creator Takehiko Inoue uses big panels filled with stout young men who exude physicality.  These young men are so bursting with raw, athletic energy, that even small panels have a hard time containing them, as Inoue frequently has arms, legs, and assorted body parts crossing the panel borders.  This artist knows the game.

It’s also interesting that while Slam Dunk is obviously set in Japan, Inoue draws his B-ball players as strapping Americans.  Inoue even depicts Captain Akagi as (for all intents and purposes) a brawny young black man – complete with a high-top fade haircut.  Inoue definitely has the American game in mind when he creates his Japanese basketball manga.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  No basketball fan that reads comics, regardless of age, nationality, or gender. should be without a copy of Slam Dunk.

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