A climactic march in Takehiko Inoue’s manga, it’s brought to life in a stirring blend of CGI and hand-drawn animation, the former being used for action on the court, while the latter comes in for flashbacks and such. The result is asports moviefor the ages, and a trendsetter for anime on the big screen.
Takehiko Inoue wrote and directed the picture, a sequel to the ’90s anime show that ended in 1996. Similar to Haikyuu!!, theTV showonly covered a certain amount of the manga, and the film now depicts the rest.
The First Slam Dunk helped prove there was interest in releases like these afterDemon Slayer: Mugen Train, since it went on to make $279 million worldwide. A huge amount for a non-English language film, the takings firmly place it within thehighest-grossing moviesfrom Japan.
Since then, we’ve hadHaikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle,Spy x Family Code: WhiteandBlue Lock: The Movie – Episode Nagi, all successes in their own right, and keenly, all bringing a major franchise to theaters. Previously, the biggest anime films were the likes of Studio Ghibli or Makoto Shinkai productions – not so much any more.
Reviews for The First Slam Dunk were very positive too, since it now yields100%on Rotten Tomatoes. Starburstnotedit “uses breathtaking, blended animation to bring basketball to life like no other film has previously”, and IGNwrotethat it “delivers an exhilarating basketball game full of the thrills and drama of an NBA final, with mind-blowing visuals and camera angles live-action couldn’t replicate.”
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So, if you’ve been looking to catch up, now is your chance.Terminator Zeroarrives on Netflix soon as well, making it an exciting week for the service. For more, check out what othernew movies arrive on streamingthis month.
Anthony McGlynn is a Senior Anime Writer on Dexerto’s UK team. An expert on animes like Demon Slayer, Solo Leveling and My Hero Academia, he also has over 10 years experience covering games and pop culture for outlets such as Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PCGamesN, PCGamer, The Digital Fix, and many more. You can contact him at: anthony.mcglynn@dexerto.com
