The First Slam Dunk may go down as one of the best basketball films ever made. Director and Creator of The Magna the film is based on Takehiko Inoue makes a stunning debut and a highwater mark in animation. New to Blu-ray from GKIDs.
The Film
It’s rare to say some wrote the book on a specific sports narrative fiction but Takehiko Inoue the writer/artist of Slam Dunk did just that with his monumental Manga series about a high school basketball team and its players. Inoue transitioning from Mangas to Anime as the writer/director of The First Slam Dunk has taken years of storytelling acumen and turned in not just one of the greatest anime debuts but one of the best sports films ever made.
The First Slam Dunk is an amalgamation of the 6-year run of Slam Dunk condensed into a single story of teamwork, loss, legacy, and finding your voice. Inoue took over twenty years to accept an offer to create the movie based on the anime and manga series – time to mull over the right story to tell. Which he found in this iteration of Slam Dunk. Inoue’s manga and anime both have a deep understanding of Basketball culture beyond the kicks, the moves, and the game… they both understand the personal drama the friendships, the rivalry, and the egos it takes to win a game.
By setting the film during a crucial elimination game between our heroes and the underdogs of Shohoku High School versus the reigning “state” Champions Sannoh Kogyo High School, the film allows for a story that feels basketball-forward but something we have not seen before. Most sports films are a win-or-loose narrative that singly drives the story. Here as in some of the best films about the sport (see Love and Basketball), that narrative drive is all but deflated. Yes, it’s there for the structure of the piece but the importance is on the personal driving force of each player.
The film intercuts between the game and the Shohoku’s undersized point guard Ryota Miyagi as he sorts through the fog of family drama in his mind and soul. Miyagi’s tragic life has both pushed him to be great and has stifled him from becoming the elite player he knows is within reach. As he finds clarity Ryota begins to find his rhythm. There is something so powerful about the way Inoue internalizes not just Ryota’s struggles but the entire team’s struggles with such specificity to them. It creates a narrative that never loses the sport but enhances it by being such a character-based study.
That is not to say that The First Slam Dunk isn’t a powerful driving sports film. The film does a great job of not just getting inside the heads of the players’ emotional lives but also their basketball mindset. Inoue gives the players the kind of decision-making internal voice-overs that someone like Kobe Bryant would have loved (see the great ESPN series where he breaks down a player’s game for the understanding of what I speak of). This coupled with the amazing animation style elevates the film into a piece of pop art unlike we’ve seen before. There is a care and deep understanding of the dynamics and back and forth that could never be made in live-action form and is specific to animation.
The Last Slam Dunk is an example of why animation is not a genre, as so many incorrectly name it as, but rather a filmmaking style and tool that can elevate a story in a way that live-action could never. Writer/Director Takehiko Inoue just didn’t create a great animated film he’s created one of the best sports films.
Yes.
One of the best sports films. Ever.
The Transfer
Another SLAM DUNK for Shout/GKIDS. The Anime blockbuster is as beautifully rendered on Blu-Ray. The beautiful mixture of CGI compositing and 3D cell animation style used by the filmmakers is a perfect example of why one must buy physical media and not watch a stream. The animation looks perfect on Blu-Ray the image without any pixelation, ghosting, or blur that comes with watching something via a stream. The First Slam Dunk in this Blu-Ray iteration is a prime example of how amazing a visual presentation one can get out of the format.
The Extras
They include the following;
Trailers & Teasers
Interview With The Director
Behind The Starting Line-up: English Dub Featurette
Color Commentary With The English Dub Team
Trailers & Teasers (2:14) – consisting of a 15-second teaser, a 30-second teaser, and the English language trailer
Interview with The Director (23:56) – the all-new interview with writer/director and creator of the original Manga series Takehiko Inoue. The director’s discussion begins with an introduction to the starters of the team that makes up the film. Takehiko goes on to discuss various topics including the differences between the film and the manga; working as a first-time film director – the collaboration with various other creatives; his passion for basketball and when it started – and also how it changed in the intervening years since he started Slam Dunk in the early 90s; how they constructed and the challenges that came with creating the amazing basketball scenes in the film – including the use of Motion Capture, sound, et. al.; and much more. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Behind The Starting Line-up: English Dub Featurette (11:41) – the all-new featurette delves into the English Dub and how the cast and crew led by English Dub Director Michael Sinterniklaas and Casting Director Stephanie Sheh go about assembling the cast and develop the English language track. This featurette is great for anyone who’s newer to the entire behind-the-scene process and how much is developed and sometimes adding more contextual “flavor” in the dialog and also techniques used to accomplish some of the style they were looking for in the film – including a great use of a toy basketball hoop and much more.
Color Commentary with The English Dub Team (2:05:21) – an entire commentary with the English Dub cast over the entire run time of the film. The track is filled with the impression of the cast as they watch the film. It’s a fun track but not filled with a lot of facts or information from the production. Add to the fact there is quite a bit of silence during the run time. One wishes they could have gotten the dub voice director Michael Sinterniklaas.
The Final Thought
The First Slam Dunk is one of the best films of 2024. Shout Factory and GKIDS have given us a great edition. Highest Possible Recommendations!!!
The First Slam Dunk may go down as one of the best basketball films ever made. Director and Creator of The Magna the film is based on Takehiko Inoue makes a stunning debut and a highwater mark in animation. New to Blu-ray from GKIDs.
The Film
It’s rare to say some wrote the book on a specific sports narrative fiction but Takehiko Inoue the writer/artist of Slam Dunk did just that with his monumental Manga series about a high school basketball team and its players. Inoue transitioning from Mangas to Anime as the writer/director of The First Slam Dunk has taken years of storytelling acumen and turned in not just one of the greatest anime debuts but one of the best sports films ever made.
The First Slam Dunk is an amalgamation of the 6-year run of Slam Dunk condensed into a single story of teamwork, loss, legacy, and finding your voice. Inoue took over twenty years to accept an offer to create the movie based on the anime and manga series – time to mull over the right story to tell. Which he found in this iteration of Slam Dunk. Inoue’s manga and anime both have a deep understanding of Basketball culture beyond the kicks, the moves, and the game… they both understand the personal drama the friendships, the rivalry, and the egos it takes to win a game.
By setting the film during a crucial elimination game between our heroes and the underdogs of Shohoku High School versus the reigning “state” Champions Sannoh Kogyo High School, the film allows for a story that feels basketball-forward but something we have not seen before. Most sports films are a win-or-loose narrative that singly drives the story. Here as in some of the best films about the sport (see Love and Basketball), that narrative drive is all but deflated. Yes, it’s there for the structure of the piece but the importance is on the personal driving force of each player.
The film intercuts between the game and the Shohoku’s undersized point guard Ryota Miyagi as he sorts through the fog of family drama in his mind and soul. Miyagi’s tragic life has both pushed him to be great and has stifled him from becoming the elite player he knows is within reach. As he finds clarity Ryota begins to find his rhythm. There is something so powerful about the way Inoue internalizes not just Ryota’s struggles but the entire team’s struggles with such specificity to them. It creates a narrative that never loses the sport but enhances it by being such a character-based study.
That is not to say that The First Slam Dunk isn’t a powerful driving sports film. The film does a great job of not just getting inside the heads of the players’ emotional lives but also their basketball mindset. Inoue gives the players the kind of decision-making internal voice-overs that someone like Kobe Bryant would have loved (see the great ESPN series where he breaks down a player’s game for the understanding of what I speak of). This coupled with the amazing animation style elevates the film into a piece of pop art unlike we’ve seen before. There is a care and deep understanding of the dynamics and back and forth that could never be made in live-action form and is specific to animation.
The Last Slam Dunk is an example of why animation is not a genre, as so many incorrectly name it as, but rather a filmmaking style and tool that can elevate a story in a way that live-action could never. Writer/Director Takehiko Inoue just didn’t create a great animated film he’s created one of the best sports films.
Yes.
One of the best sports films. Ever.
The Transfer
Another SLAM DUNK for Shout/GKIDS. The Anime blockbuster is as beautifully rendered on Blu-Ray. The beautiful mixture of CGI compositing and 3D cell animation style used by the filmmakers is a perfect example of why one must buy physical media and not watch a stream. The animation looks perfect on Blu-Ray the image without any pixelation, ghosting, or blur that comes with watching something via a stream. The First Slam Dunk in this Blu-Ray iteration is a prime example of how amazing a visual presentation one can get out of the format.
The Extras
They include the following;
Trailers & Teasers (2:14) – consisting of a 15-second teaser, a 30-second teaser, and the English language trailer
Interview with The Director (23:56) – the all-new interview with writer/director and creator of the original Manga series Takehiko Inoue. The director’s discussion begins with an introduction to the starters of the team that makes up the film. Takehiko goes on to discuss various topics including the differences between the film and the manga; working as a first-time film director – the collaboration with various other creatives; his passion for basketball and when it started – and also how it changed in the intervening years since he started Slam Dunk in the early 90s; how they constructed and the challenges that came with creating the amazing basketball scenes in the film – including the use of Motion Capture, sound, et. al.; and much more. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Behind The Starting Line-up: English Dub Featurette (11:41) – the all-new featurette delves into the English Dub and how the cast and crew led by English Dub Director Michael Sinterniklaas and Casting Director Stephanie Sheh go about assembling the cast and develop the English language track. This featurette is great for anyone who’s newer to the entire behind-the-scene process and how much is developed and sometimes adding more contextual “flavor” in the dialog and also techniques used to accomplish some of the style they were looking for in the film – including a great use of a toy basketball hoop and much more.
Color Commentary with The English Dub Team (2:05:21) – an entire commentary with the English Dub cast over the entire run time of the film. The track is filled with the impression of the cast as they watch the film. It’s a fun track but not filled with a lot of facts or information from the production. Add to the fact there is quite a bit of silence during the run time. One wishes they could have gotten the dub voice director Michael Sinterniklaas.
The Final Thought
The First Slam Dunk is one of the best films of 2024. Shout Factory and GKIDS have given us a great edition. Highest Possible Recommendations!!!
GKIDS Blu-Ray edition of The First Slam Dunk is out now.
Share this:
Like this:
Discover more from The Movie Isle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.