Of the many features that have populated the pages of the weekly Raijin Comics, Slam Dunk is probably my most consistent favorite. Sports manga holds a special place in my heart anyway, since it's a genre that is untouched in American comics and yet makes for such rich storytelling in television and film, but Slam Dunk won me over with a sense of humor and slapstick antics along with the sports story. In fact, this is almost more of a relationship and character development story that happens to take place in high school basketball than a story about basketball, at least in this first volume, as Takehiko establishes the lead character, his reason for joining the basketball team and the various obstacles (many of them brought on by his own personality), and there isn't actually a full game in the issue, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of action.
Takehiko has done a really good job of building up Sakuragi Hanamichi as a self-important, violent, arrogant jerk who, miraculously, is still likable and sympathetic. It's easy to root for Sakuragi despite his many flaws because he's so hapless, and so earnest in the pursuit of a goal once he fixates on it. His attraction to Haruko, though stalker-ish in its intensity, is really sweet, and it helps to make the reader want to root for Sakuragi, because when he's around Haruko, his flaws seem minimized and his assets stronger. There's a sense that the two of them might be really good for one another, as Sakuragi's actions also force Haruko to confront her shyness a little more and come out of her shell.
What's really kind of neat, though, is that I have no idea if a pairing of Sakuragi and Haruko is where Takehiko is going. Despite making Sakuragi sympathetic, he's also enough of a jerk that it would be understandable if Haruko wound up with the more calm and balanced Rukawa, whom she has a crush on. And Ayako, the spunky and outgoing equipment manager, also seems like a possible good match for Sakuragi in personality. And though we don't get a very good definition of Rukawa in this volume except as how Sakuragi and Haruko see him, it's entirely possible that he could develop as a romantic rival as well as a rival for basketball stardom.
A lot of the fun from Slam Dunk comes from Sakuragi's hilariously over-the-top behavior in trying to make amends for his mistakes, as well as his enthusiasm in making the mistakes in the first place. His violent temper gets him into trouble several times, and it's funny to watch him try to pull off the nice guy act when people like Haruko's brother Akagi can so easily see through it. His overconfidence also makes for some fun slapstick moments, such as the hilariously funny failed slam dunk that closes out the first chapter or some of the antics that take place during the Akagi-Sakuragi one-on-one game. Like Akagi, however, the audience does eventually see that behind his self-serving goals, Sakuragi does have a lot of heart and some potential to become a great basketball player and a better person.
Takehiko's artwork really captures the frantic, exaggerated pace and emotional state of high school. Every little slip in Sakuragi's social life, whether it's starting a fight with older kids or screwing up with Haruko, becomes an end-of-the-world screaming mistake, and Takehiko is really good at the exaggerated yelling or frustration that so often crosses Sakuragi's face. He could use a little more variety in his character designs and wardrobes, since too many of the background players melt into a faceless mass rather than gaining the individual identities I sense we're supposed to get, and sometimes the frantic blurring of action sequences gets to be a bit much, but when it works, it really works. Some of the basketball and fight sequences have the feeling of a freeze-frame shot, maintaining a sense of motion, tension and importance all at the same time.
I've read a fair amount of Slam Dunk in sequential form in the pages of Raijin Comics, and I always enjoyed it, but I honestly think it reads better in this graphic novel format. The character relationships pay off better when we see them flow quickly from chapter to chapter, and this first volume introduces all the main players, the basic plot and even the first big cliffhanger, using a remarkably rapid pace for manga.
