| The First Slam Dunk | |
|---|---|
| |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Takehiko Inoue |
| Written by | Takehiko Inoue |
| Music by | Satoshi Takebe Takuma |
| Studio | DandeLion Animation Studio Toei Animation |
| Original run | December 3, 2022 |
The First Slam Dunk is a Japanese computer-animated sports film directed and written by Takehiko Inoue, produced by Toei Animation and Dandelion Animation Studio. It is based on the Slam Dunk manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue. It was released theatrically in Japan in December 3, 2022.
Synopsis[]
Unlike in the anime series where it focuses on Hanamichi Sakuragi, this movie is more focused on Ryota Miyagi.
The film follows Ryota Miyagi, the point guard of Shohoku high-school's basketball team. He had an older brother, Sota, who was three years older than him, and who inspired his love for basketball. Ryota and his teammates Hanamichi Sakuragi, Takenori Akagi, Hisashi Mitsui, and Kaede Rukawa challenge the inter-high basketball champions, Sannoh High.
Cast[]
All of the original voice actors and actresses from the original anime series including Takeshi Kusao, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Hideo Ishikawa, Hōchū Ōtsuka and Ryōtarō Okiayu are the only veteran voice actors who remained active and not reprising their character roles as others are either inactive, retired or passed away due to old age. They are replaced by a new generation of voice actors in the film as Akagi's original voice actor in both its TV series and movies, Kiyoyuki Yanada had passed away on November 21, 2022 and was replaced by Kenta Miyake in the film. Most casts from the Cloverway Dub are also replaced by a new generation of voice actors as well since the English Dub of the anime had only reached 83 episodes instead of Episode 101 due to incompletion.
- Subaru Kimura/Ben Balmaceda: Hanamichi Sakuragi
- Shin'chiro Kamio/Aleks Le: Kaede Rukawa
- Kenta Miyake/Aaron Goodson: Takenori Akagi
- Shugo Nakamura/Paul Castro Jr.: Ryota Miyagi
- Jun Kasama/Jonah Scott: Hisashi Mitsui
- Maaya Sakamoto/Abby Espiritu: Haruko Akagi
- Ryota Iwasaki/Zeno Robinson: Kiminobu Kogure
- Chikahiro Kobayashi/Yong Yea: Yohei Mito
- Masafumi Kobatake/Brent Mukai: Nozomi Takamiya
- Kenichiro Matsuda/River Vitae: Chuichirou Noma
- Asemi Seto/Kelsey Jaffer: Ayako
- Katsuhisa Hōki/Mike Pollock: Mitsuyoshi Anzai
- Tetsu Inada: Norio Hotta
- Shunsuke Takeuchi/Alan Lee: Eiji Sawakita
- Mitsuaki Kanuka: Masashi Kawata
- Satoshi Tsuruoka: Masahiro Nobe
- Tōru Nara: Kazunari Fukatsu
- Yoshiaki Hasegawa: Minoru Matsumoto
Trivia[]
- It is revealed in an interview that the director/author Takehiko Inoue made the movie like this so that newer fans can experience Slam Dunk for the first time, which is why it is named "The First Slam Dunk" and that the story is different from the manga.