Critically acclaimed anime film The First Slam Dunk is coming to Blu-ray in the U.S. on June 25, its distributor announced Monday.
GKIDS posted a trailer for the release on YouTube, adding that details on a collector’s edition will come soon.
It’s available for preorder on Amazon for about US$26 or GKIDS’ own store for a discounted price of $19.95.
On the official website, GKIDS says that the Blu-ray will have special features including an interview with director Takehiko Inoue, a featurette on the English dub, color commentary with the English dub team, trailers and teasers.
The Toei Animation film is based on a ’90s manga that got a 1995 video game adaptation on the Saturn in Japan named “From TV Animation Slam Dunk: I Love Basketball.” It was published by Bandai and developed by BEC, featuring clips from an anime that aired in 1993 through ’96. That anime is streaming in English on Crunchyroll.
The First Slam Dunk ran in a limited number of theaters in the U.S. last summer after debuting in Japan in late 2022. It’s grossed nearly $280 million worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing anime film of all time.
The film continues the anime’s story of five high school basketball players as they compete for the Inter-High School National Championship. But their struggles during the game reflect those they’ve faced off the court, and each boy will have to grow to make their dreams come true.
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.
Great movie, saw it at the cinema when it was out here.
Be warned, it’s pretty different from the early episodes of the OG show that I’ve seen recently.
It’s much more serious, and features a different main character.
Pretty dece soundtrack too, BTW!