Review of "The First Slam Dunk" (movie) - A perfect blend of nostalgia and novelty

For those who are familiar with "Slam Dunk" or are longtime fans, the first thought you may have of a new movie like this surfacing so many years after the anime series in the 90s was - is this going to be a rehash of old material? 

In my case, I have read the manga and watched the anime series multiple times over the years so I would say that I know the material pretty well - some details may be a bit hazy in my memory though. As such, I wasn't that keen about watching another movie which could jolly well be a repackage meant to milk money out of fans in search of Slam Dunk nostalgia. Then, it seemed like this new movie was very well-received both critically and in the box office so I got curious about this film again yet happened to miss it while it was showing in cinemas. As fate would have it, this movie is now made available on major streaming platforms so I finally got to watch it more than 1 year later since the release in Japan in Dec 2022.

Contrary to my initial apprehension, the story wasn't exactly a total repeat of existing material. True, the match featuring Shohoku vs. Sannoh wasn't anything new. However, the surprise element turned out to be the backstory of Miyagi Ryouta who was one of the regulars in the Shohoku team but honestly hadn't been given much attention in the past. As such, the substantial focus on Ryouta and his family really fleshed out his character in such a way that it presented him in a very different light and should have made him a lot more endearing to the audience. For those unfamiliar with the Slam Dunk series, they could jolly well have been mistaken into thinking that Ryouta was the lead in the story instead of Sakuragi Hanamichi because of the heavy emphasis devoted to him in this movie. While my personal bias is Mitsui Hisashi and I would have preferred to see a film focusing on him, I think that the choice of featuring Ryouta in this movie was an unexpectedly good one because nobody could have seen this coming and the result turned out to be better than expected.

Given that the original anime series was back in the mid 90s, technology has of course improved by leaps and bounds over this period of time so the overall viewing experience of this movie was definitely elevated thanks to sharper graphics and smoother motion movements. However, what was even more impressive was the clever intertwining of 3DCG and 2D animation which added a lot of realism to the basketball scenes and made them so compelling and enjoyable to watch. When you compare it to the anime in the 90s, it would also make you marvel at how much technology has improved over time and the wonders of the 90s got a new breath of life through better graphics.

While I'm not sure how many people would become newly converted fans of Slam Dunk thanks to this movie, I, as a longtime fan, would say that this definitely went beyond my expectations. The sincerity and effort put in by the production staff in putting out something that would fulfill the needs for reliving the good old days with something new to satisfy heightened expectations certainly didn't go unnoticed. If it was just a half-hearted effort to bring in longtime fans to watch something which we all had seen before, I don't think the movie would have achieved the success it enjoyed. Rather than just focus on improved technology and skills to enhance the viewing experience, the story was not neglected as well and gave us something new to discover and be touched about. However, this also got me worrying that it might be a long time in the future before we can see another installment in the series since this took close to 20 years in the making (from the first proposal in 2003 to the movie's release in 2022). Hopefully, I'll still be around when that happens and get to relive the Slam Dunk magic again in my lifetime.