On January 7, mangaka Takehiko Inoue surprisingly revealed on Twitter his legendary mangaSlam Dunkis back with a new anime movie. Inoue shared a teaser logo in his tweet, and the hashtag #slamdunkmovie. The movie is handled by Toei Animation, as stated in the Japanese press release sent by Toei and theofficial site. Anofficial Twitter accountfor theSlam Dunkmovie was opened as well. “Slam Dunk Movie” is the project’s tentative name. The movie will be fully revealed with an actual title at some point.
It’s interesting to note that Takehiko Inoue himself made the announcement. Rather than Toei. It’s possible he is deeply involved in the anime movie’s production.
Slam Dunkwas first published by Takehiko Inoue in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1990 to 1996. The series has over 120 million volumes in circulation in Japan alone. A TV anime series aired in Japan from October 1993 to March 1996.
Slam Dunkgreatly contributed to making Basketball more popular in Japan among school boys and girls. Even I, in France, personally know people who started Basketball thanks toSlam Dunk.
Be it in Japan or worldwide,ÂSlam Dunkis by far one of the most beloved manga of all time. The manga in itself goes way beyond the Shounen genre and Basketball, and was a huge influence on Japanese pop-culture overall. Inoue Takehiko is considered by many to be one of the greatest mangaka of all time. Moreover, several of the works he started afterSlam Dunkare also regarded as masterpieces:VagabondandReal.I personally strongly recommend readingReal.
Since the Snes era,Slam Dunkreceived several game adaptations throughout the decades, with the first game released in 1994. More recently,Slam Dunkalso received a mobile gacha game, in the same vein as several classics from the 80s and 90s getting a gacha game for the first time these past few years:Yu Yu Hakusho 100% Maji Battle,Hokuto no Ken Legends Revive,etc.
In 2006, a “Slam Dunk Scholarship” was also established in Japan to support young Basketball players. In 2018, a new print ofSlam Dunkwas released, with brand new cover illustrations, in 20 volumes in total. Lastly, in 2020, the series received a new artbook for its 20th anniversary, titledSlam Dunk Illustrations 2.
Takehiko Inoue was also the character designer of Xbox 360 JRPGLost Odyssey.
