Blair Loveday
There is a basketball anime that is well regarded called Slam Dunk.
I never watched that, but when the follow up movie The First Slam Dunk released with a lot of acclaim and awards, I was intrigued so went into it blind. Can you enjoy this movie without having seen the series? Well I can confirm now, yes you can.
The First Slam Dunk follows Ryota Miyagi who is on his High School basketball team. His brother was a legendary player who unfortunately died. The movie starts showing him obsessed with playing hoops with his brother, and then it jumps forward to Ryota and his team playing a game against a top team.
The movie is then framed as this game takes place. Ryotas team are the underdogs and they are doing all they can to win the game. It then jumps back and forth from the game to the story outside of the game. We get some slices of the rest of the team, but the focus really is on Ryota. We see him dealing with the loss in his family and his family dealing with it.
What really makes the movie strong is the basketball game. Ryota’s team is constantly swinging from in contention for the win, to being outmatched and having to fight back in. The game shows their opponents having the benefits of more funds and great training. Ryota’s team on the other hand are more rag tag, and trying to prove themselves. Over the game they learn to work better together. What really stands out in the game is the incredible animation. The movie get these amazing shots that move through the court as the game happens. The animation really helps to make the game so damn thrilling as you watch.
Coming in with no experience of the series it is based on, I really loved this movie. The basketball game itself is intense and exciting, and then the story outside of the game smattered throughout is heartbreaking and touching.
It all winds up with a gripping movie from start to finish.
The Collectors Edition comes in a nice hard cover box, and includes a 36 page booklet, a numbered art card, a Folded A3 poster, and a sticker sheet. The weird thing with this collection is that the Bluray and the 4K UHD disc both come in their own cases.
It makes the hard box way bigger than it needs to be, which is odd. I like everything about this collectors edition except that. The disc also comes with a great behind the scenes special feature. What I really enjoyed was watching how they made the voice actors capture the sounds of playing like the grunts and breaths.
Whether you are into the series or not, The First Slam Dunk is a cracker of a movie. From the exciting basketball game, through to the serious story behind it, it’s a damn exciting and emotional movie. The beautiful animation deserves to be enjoyed in 4K where possible.
