Name a sport and you can probably find an example of a sports manga and/or TV anime that serves as the definitive example of everything that the athletic competition has to offer. For basketball, that manga is Slam Dunk, a series by Takehiko Inoue that ran from 1990-1996 in the pages of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump. In the video essay below, Anime Explained explores the history of the series and its effect on the world of Japanese sports.
In the video, host Tim Lyu explores Slam Dunk from its outgrowth as an expression of author Takehiko Inoue's life-long love of basketball, its meteoric popularity, and how the manga helped inspire new generations of high school athletes. Along the way Lyu draws parallels between Slam Dunk and the real-life sports history of the NBA in the 1980s and 1990s, focusing especially on teams such as the L.A. Lakers and the Chicago Bulls, as well as the differences in basketball culture and sports fandom in Japan during that same time period and beyond.
If you'd like to experience the thrill and heartbreak of a classic sports story, Crunchyroll currently streams the Slam Dunk TV anime in the United States, and English language adaptations of both Slam Dunk and Real (another sports series by Takehiko Inoue, which focuses on wheelchair basketball) are available from Viz Media.
What's your favorite sports manga/anime? Let us know in the comments section below!
Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.
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Source: Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!
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