In news that’s tangentially related to the Saturn, the latest movie in the Slam Dunk franchise is coming to U.S. theaters next week after it debuted to critical acclaim and financial success in Japan last year.
Called “The First Slam Dunk,” it’ll be in theaters July 27 through Aug. 3. It marks the directorial debut of the manga artist who created the Slam Dunk franchise, Takehiko Inoue.
A Slam Dunk game released exclusively in Japan on the Saturn in August 1995 at the height of the franchise’s popularity — its manga ran 1990 to 1996, four short animated films were released in 1994 and 1995, and an anime, which the game features clips from, ran from October 1993 to March 1996.
For those searching the Internet for the Saturn game — to buy a legal copy from eBay, perhaps — its full name is “From TV Animation Slam Dunk: I Love Basketball.” It was published by Bandai and developed by BEC, a partnership that yielded two more Saturn games: Dragon Ball Z Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu — released in France, Spain and Portugal in 1996 — and Mobile Suit Gundam Gaiden: The Blue Destiny, released in Japan in 1997.
Readers may recall that Traynoco played Slam Dunk: I Love Basketball live on the Shiro Show last year after Peter wrote a #BestOfSaturn article about it earlier in the week.
And speaking of Traynoco, he spotted a poster for The First Slam Dunk yesterday when he went to a theater to see Asteroid City. Here’s the photo he took of it:
The First Slam Dunk is being distributed by GKIDS, which described the movie’s premise in a press release:
“Shohoku’s “speedster” and point guard, Ryota Miyagi, always plays with brains and lightning speed, running circles around his opponents while feigning composure. Born and raised in Okinawa, Ryota had a brother who was three years older. Following in the footsteps of his older brother, who was a famous local player from a young age, Ryota also became addicted to basketball.
In his second year of high school, Ryota plays with the Shohoku High School basketball team along with Sakuragi, Rukawa, Akagi, and Mitsui as they take the stage at the Inter-High School National Championship. And now, they are on the brink of challenging the reigning champions, Sannoh Kogyo High School.”
The film debuted in Japan on Dec. 3, 2022, and has grossed $263 million worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing anime film of all time. In March, it won best animated film at the 46th annual Japan Academy Film Prize.
It was animated by Dandelion Animation Studio and Toei Animation, who produced the ’90s TV anime series.
In the run-up to the U.S. launch, Toei uploaded the first 10 episodes of the Slam Dunk TV series on their YouTube channel for free earlier this week, complete with English subs.
For those looking for the other 91 episodes, they’re available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
Danthrax is a contributor to the Shiro Media Group, writing stories for the website when Saturn news breaks. While he was a Sega Genesis kid in the ’90s, he didn’t get a Saturn until 2018. It didn’t take him long to fall in love with the console’s library as well as the fan translation and homebrew scene. He contributed heavily to the Bulk Slash and Stellar Assault SS fan localizations, and has helped as an editor on several other Saturn and Dreamcast fan projects such as Cotton 2, Rainbow Cotton and Sakura Wars Columns 2.
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