Slam dunk is kind of forgotten nowadays and i dont see many people talking about it,my love still goes on for this series so im here writing a review about it at 1 am.

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Small resume:

We start with our protagonist Sakuragi Hanamichi getting rejected by 1 of the many girls hes asked out. Later on he meets the love of his life, Haruko Akagi. She asks him to play basketball and thats when the story starts of Sakuragi Hanamichi trying to steal Haruko's heart and

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potentially building up a love for basketball.

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Story: 9.1/10

The story is still great but its not that great compared to the other scores im giving out.The story is mainly the team working hard and thriving to win every game. This isnt that greatly expressed in the anime but in the manga you can see way more of the hard work they put it and its layed out better in my opinion.
A big part of the story is Sakuragi of course trying to make Haruko fall for him. but through out the series this is kind of forgotten due to

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Sakuragi building up a love for the sport and keeps on wanting to play.

The other characters dont really get alot of story behind them except a few which i will talk about later on. (they have incredible backstories)

What Inoue Takehiko has done incredibly well for this manga is the way he explains every move and all the rules in basketball. before i started reading this manga i didnt know anything about basketball let alone how much points a layup was. after reading this manga ive learned so much about basketball and built a really big love for the series.

The ending:

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The ending was kind of anticlimatic and dumb but after thinking about it, it was the perfect ending in my opinion. it showed us all that hard work doesnt always pay off and that theres always other people better than you at something. i was mainly sad about this ending cause the series ended not because it was a bad ending.

Overall a great story though, you will get hooked to it.

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Art: 10/10

Takehiko Inoue isnt known for his art for nothing, his art is hands down the best art ive ever seen in any manga. if you dont count his other series (Vagabond) then this is my favourite art. i mean the pictures below just explain it themselves, the sweat, the movement, and the skill moves all look so realistic and just incredible to my eye. (pictures have a tiny bit of spoilers but not really tbh)

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___ # Characters: 8.6/10 Im gonna give every character a rating in my own opinion on why i like them etc and ill just do the average from that and thats my character rating.

__Sakuragi Hanamichi : 9.5/10
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At the start of the story everyone just thinks hes a typical protagonist, loud, stands out and will become the best player bla bla bla.
No. thats not what this guy is. this guy is the synonym of hard work. through out the manga he completely despises basketball. but he still puts a crap ton of effort into the sport, hes a really funny character and also has a bit of a backstory unlike alot of the other characters thats why i like him alot.

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(hes known as a delinquent that gets shot down by every girl in school and a bit more is told about him later on in the story)

__Kaede Rukawa: 7.9/10
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Not as likeable as Sakuragi, alot because he basically reminds me of sasuke. real cool looking guy, every girl likes him etc. he doesnt really have a backstory either. but i didnt give him a very low rating mainly because his attitude and growth as a character is great. at the start of the manga hes got a really big ego and thinks of himself as the best basketball player. through out the series the works way harder and tries to become the best player in japan cause he knows hes not good enough yet. he had great character development overall.

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but what mainly made me like him this much is him and Sakuragi in the end after a big rivalry becoming friends. it was a sight to behold.

__Ryota Miyagi : 8.6/10
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He comes pretty late in the story, but hes still a incredible character in my opinion. he has a small backstory but hes alot like sakuragi and they become a great duo later on in the series.

I also really love his playstyle and ideology. hes one of the smallest players in the series but also one of the best ones. really love this man overall.

__Takenori Akagi: 6.8/10
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Pretty boring character in my opinion. he doesnt really change through out the series. hes mainly known as the captain of the team and being a real tank in defence... oh yea hes also known as Goril

__Hisashi Mitsui 9.8/10
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Mitsui's back story and story through out the series is hands down the best and most well written. as a character hes not my favourite i like sakuragi more but hes incredibly written. spoilers ahead:

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

Hisashi mitsui was an MVP for Takeishi junior high. He had the chances of joining other incredible schools like ryonan etc, he decided to join anzai because anzai inspired him to play and never give up even in the dying seconds of the game. but due to a injury on his left knee he couldnt play basketball for a while, after his injury he became the leader of a gang cause he wasnt in the main team of shohoku anymore. his gang got in a fight with miyagi and in that fight miyagi whooped mitsui. then after a while we see mitsui come to the basketball team and try to ruin stuff for them. in other words he tried to punch them and make them punch back so he can get them disqualified from the tournament. of course he got whooped by the basketball team. after getting whooped anzai comes and mitsui starts crying. ''I want to play basketball...'' and thats when mitsui comes back to the basketball team. altough his stamina is pretty bad through out the series hes still got his sharp shooting skill and can hit 3 pointers with ease.

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Enjoyment: 10/10

Overall, the series has been incredibly drawn, written , and the matches are all very entertaining and intense. The comedy on the part of this manga is also really funny and ive bursted out laughing multiple times. definently one of the key factors of this being one of my favourite manga. i would of loved to seen more matches but unfortunately everything has to come to an end. the characters were funny etc etc i just cant stop talking about this incredible series.
This manga has really made me into a big basketball fan and completely changed the way i look at the sport.