Slam Dunk (Manga)
Slam Dunk (Japaneseスラムダンクsuramudanku ) is a sports manga by manga artist Takehiko Inoue. He was first published in 1990 and aimed at boys, can thus assign the shōnen genre.
Action
Hanamichi Sakuragi gets its 50th basket in middle school by a girl. On the new high school everything will be different. In fact, it speaks to Haruko Akagi and he falls in love with her. That Haruko keeps him because of his stature for a basketball player, is not a problem for him. However, it is a nuisance for Takenori Akagi, the captain of the basketball team and Haruko 's brother. Because Hanamichi wants to be the star of the team, although he does not know how to play basketball. Kaede Rukawa with it is another first-graders and true professional in the team who is adored by all the girls, even by Haruko.
In the course of the manga is Sakuragi developed into a strong rebound power forward and, with Akagi center and small forward Rukawa one of the strongest front lines in Kanagawa. Later, the point guard Ryota Miyagi, and Hisashi Mitsui shooting guard are introduced. The aim of the team is participating in the final round of the Japanese university championships.
Figures
Main character of the manga is Hanamichi Sakuragi, a red-haired firebrand, the (German: Genie ) itself as " Tensai " means. He falls in love with the beautiful, shy classmate Haruko Akagi, who recruited him to the Shohoku basketball team at the local high school and encouraged him again and again. Thanks basketball is from the rowdy, childish Sakuragi a feared power forward who intimidates the opponents thanks to his size, athleticism and arrogance. Sakuragi is accompanied throughout by his manga about four best friends Nozomi Takamiya, Chuchiro Noma, Yuji Ookusu and Mito Yohei who themselves do not play basketball, but are used by Inoue especially for slapstick or action scenes and off the field.
Haruko himself loves the cool super- winger and heartthrob Kaede Rukawa, Sakuragis team-mate and intimate enemy. Although Rukawa ignores all advances, Sakuragi is constantly jealous, why Rukawa constantly him as " Dou Ahou " ( dt: idiot ) mocked. This love triangle is preserved throughout the entire manga.
Captain of the Shohoku team is the gigantic Takenori Akagi Center, Haruko's older brother. The strong defensive Akagi is strictly to himself and his colleagues and undisputed leader. As a running gag, he is Sakuragi like a clout if he misbehaves. Vice Captain is bespectacled rounder Kiminobu Kogure, who despite limited talent on the team also enjoys high reputation. Important supporting roles in the manga have Coach Anzai, a pot-bellied, taciturn, but wise strategist, as well as the spirited supervisor Ayako. In the course of the manga first will be added to the belligerent playmaker Ryota Miyagi, who is in love with Ayako, and finally throw distance specialist Hisashi Mitsui. Mitsui accepted once not that Akagi was better when he left, after a knee injury, the club and ended up on the wrong track to be able to forget without basketball. Sick with envy if he thrashes with Miyagi, before he rediscovered his love of sports. Extras in the team are the reserve players Tetsushi Shiozaki, Yasuharu Yasuda, Kentaro Ishii, Kaoru Sasaoka and Toki Kuwata.
Both playful and temperamentally similar to Sakuragi the eccentric NBA rebound king Dennis Rodman, the ambitious Super Player Rukawa has parallels to Michael Jordan and the strict, unconditional fighting leader Akagi is similar to the center legend Patrick Ewing, while distance throw specialist Mitsui the three-point specialist Reggie Miller and the little, fast Miyagi the Detroit Pistons Isiah Thomas playmaker are modeled.
Inoue makes the Shohoku team initially against three other teams from the Kanagawa area play: Shoyo, Kainan and Ryonan. Shoyo is the team of the draft strong center Toru Hanagata and Player Coach Kenji Fujima, Kainan the team with "# 1 playmaker " Shinichi Maki, "# 1 three-point launcher " Soichiro Jin, his frail backup Yoshinori Miyamasu and the arrogant but highly talented winger Kiyota Nobunaga, and Ryonan houses the gigantic Center June Uozumi ( Akagis friend and rival ), the offensively strong but defensively weak power forward Kicchou Fukuda and the brilliant all-rounder Akira Sendoh. Later games added to the schools of Toyotama and Sannoh. With all the games Inoue used the onlooking players ( eg in a Shohoku - Ryonan game, players from Kainan, are following the game in the stands ) to the (in Japan often Basketball ignorant ) readers get an expert commentary to leave.
Sakuragi has to prove the Spleen, players with more or less flattering nickname. He cites, for example, Akagi a "Gorilla " Rukawa a " fox " (which is meant as a synonym for " coward " ), Kogure a " cobra ", Uozumi a " Monkey King ", Miyamasu an "Alien" and Kiyota a "wild monkey ".
Background
Author Inoue explained in the epilogue of the last issue (# 276), that he himself was an avid basketball player in his youth. When he was 19, he published his first small basketball manga. When he opened the idea to slam dunk his publishers, they were very skeptical because unpopular in Japan basketball and " common sense " (quote Inoue ) hardly would attract buyers. As Slam Dunk had success, he got a lot of fan mail from " people who had never played basketball, my manga reading, even started with basketball, and learned to love the sport ."
Publications
Manga
In Japan, the manga was published from 1990 to 1996 in individual chapters in the best-selling manga magazine, Shonen Jump the. A total of 276 chapters were written. The Shueisha Publishing House published these individual chapters in 31 anthologies.
1999 translated Planet Manga Manga on the German and hired him after two issues. This expenditure had some spelling and translation errors. In 2002, the publishing house launched a revised edition and broke after eight volumes from again.
Anime
The television series of Toei Studio was sent in 101 episodes from 1993 to 1996 on TV Asahi in Japan. It also four OVAs were produced. The TV series covers about two -thirds of the manga chapter.
Reception
About.com gave the first volume of Slam Dunk four out of five stars. Blessed were the " gripping and voices Basketball representations that are loosened with a successful slapstick ," criticized the " rather weak female characters ", but pointed out that " would compensate the later works for the non-perfect initial volumes ".
Slam Dunk in Japan led to a sharp increase in interest for basketball in Japan.
Controversy
The illustrator Yuki Suetsugu was accused in the fall of 2005 to have signed some of the scenes in their works of Slam Dunk and other manga. She confessed to have signed, and was dismissed by his publishers. All her works were taken off the market. Shortly after this accusation of plagiarism were voices that claimed the author of Slam Dunk, Takehiko Inoue, have signed some poses in the manga of photos.
Success and Awards
Slam Dunk has been very successful in the 1990s in Japan and led to a high popularity of basketball. The band 21 had an initial print run of 2.5 million copies were sold on average over three million per band. The overall sales figure in Japan is 105 million copies. This Slam Dunk is the sixth most successful manga series in Japan. (As of March 2005)
The manga was in 1995 awarded the 40th Shogakukan Manga Award.