SLAM DUNK is a sports manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue. The manga was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from October 1990 to June 1996, with a total of 31 volumes. In 2004, Inoue produced a short sequel named Slam Dunk: 10 Days After.

As of 2014, SLAM DUNK had over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history. In 1994, the manga won the 40th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shonen category. Considered a masterpiece of the 90s, SLAM DUNK was credited with pushing forward the first wave of basketball in Japan.

In 2006, Inoue partnered with Shueisha to create the Slam Dunk Scholarship program. The winning 17 to 18-year-old recipients shall receive fully paid scholarships to a university preparatory school in America. In 2010, Inoue received special commendations from the Japan Basketball Association for helping popularize basketball in Japan.

Following the manga’s huge success, an anime series was adapted by Toei Animation and aired from October 1993 to March 1996. It was later broadcasted worldwide and exploded in popularity in many Asian countries, Europe and America. Asides from anime adaptation, SLAM DUNK also inspired four films by Toei Animation from 1994 to 1995. In January 2021, Inoue announced on his Twitter that the series will be adapted into a new anime film, also by Toei Animation. The film is set to premiere in the fall of 2022.

The story of SLAM DUNK started with the main protagonist Sakuragi Hanamachi – a rather unfortunate and unpopular middle school boy. He confessed his feeling to a girl in school and got rejected. The scene was witnessed by a bunch of Sakuragi’s friends and they “congratulated” him for his consecutive 50th rejection. This time, Sakuragi was rejected for a basketball team member named Amano. Due to this embarrassing incident, Sakuragi turned to hate the sport even though he had never played it before.

After graduating from middle school and enrolling in his new high school, Shohuko High, Sakuragi’s feeling would remain unchanged. He was less bold than before and got angry whenever someone would mention anything close to the word “basketball”. The one that uttered this forbidden word near Sakuragi would be head-butted.

Sakuragi was walking in the hallway after class, feeling depressed and sadden while a beautiful girl approached him. She asked if Sakuragi like basketball after seeing his impressive height and frame. The girl, Haruko Akagi, was just his type. Sakuragi felt like spring has finally come for him and his life has really begun. Sakuragi forgot all about his hatred against the sport and declared that he was indeed an athlete that loved basketball.

In order to impress Haruko, Sakuragi would exercise out in the hallway and noticed that athletic people were considered cool and popular.

During his workout, Sakuragi bumped into one of the senior classmen. They teased Sakuragi for his red hair and challenged him to a fight on the school’s rooftop. These seniors belonged to a gang of school thug under the infamous Norio Hotta.

Sakuragi quickly regained his composure and faced the seniors head on. Thanks to his extraordinary strength, Sakuragi lifted one of the guys up by his collar and intimidated him. That was when Haruko appeared and calmed Sakuragi down.

Afterwards, Norio’s goons told him about what happened and that a strong freshman named Sakuragi Hanamachi had come into their school. Norio insisted on teaching him a lesson and went to wait for Sakuragi on the school’s rooftop.

Meanwhile, Haruko led Sakuragi to the school’s basketball court. She told him that she really liked basketball but wasn’t very athletic. Haruko used to play basketball in middle school but had to quit because she didn’t have any potential. She would still love to watch her brother play basketball and told Sakuragi that her brother was the captain of Shohuko High basketball team.

Being a complete novice at the sport, Sakuragi was really surprised when Haruko told him about her favorite shot called “Slam Dunk”. Haruko said she once witness her brother did a slam dunk in a middle school match and the whole gymnasium stood up to applaud him.

Haruko passed the ball to Sakuragi and urged him to try going for a dunk. Sakuragi didn’t know what to do so instead of dribbling, he held the ball in his right hand and ran towards the basket. He performed a super high jump that dazzled Haruko.

However, Sakuragi totally missed the dunk and bumped his head hard against the backboard.

Despite that, Haruko was still excited and told Sakuragi that he had great jumping ability and asked him to join the basketball team. “He is our savior, big brother!”, Haruko thought.

Meanwhile, Sakuragi had forgotten all about the challenge to fight on the school’s rooftop and left Norio waiting.

Will Sakuragi be able to join the basketball team? What did Haruko mean by saying Sakuragi was their savior?