Vertical_Ed
12-28-2003, 03:36 PM
Osu!!!,
Osaka Edo here and I was a little surprised to notice that no one has done a formal review of Slam Dunk. Well why not do one know, right? Lookout for air balls!!
English Title: Slam Dunk (http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1932454101.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
Japanese Title: Slam Dunk (http://sbookg.s-book.com/shueisha/4088716132.jpg)
Subtitle: N/A
Vol. # 3 of 31
Author/Artist: Inoue Takehiko
Publisher: Gutsoon! (Raijin Graphic Novels)
Translator: N/A (Sam Kondo: Editor)
Originaly Published by: Shueisha (Jump Comics; Weekly Shonen Jump)
Price: $9.95
Pages: 201
Age Rating: 13+
ISBN: 1-932454-10-1
Release Date: 10/03
Review Date: 12/29/03
Grading~
Packaging: A
Artwork: A-
Text: B
Content: B
What They Say:
The manga masterpiece that brought Inoue Takehiko to fame is now available in English in graphic novel format! The story unfolds to reveal the sweet and bitter lives of teenagers - the rite of passage we all experience at some point in our lives.
"I'm going to play basketball. Because I'm a Basketball Man."
It seems Sakuragi Hanamichi has decided to start life anew, as he moves away from being a bad boy delinquent to being a basketball player. Sure he still doesn't see eye-to-eye with the captain of the team, but it's still a step foward. However, the redhead still has a lot to learn before the start of the new season and is not even close to being the next captain (as he claims). Will Sakuragi be able to improve in time to help his team make the interscholastic meet? We'll soon find out...
But first, let us continue where we left off - on the court with the players of Shohoku.
Packaging:
Inoue's cover for Shueisha's volume three is used here. It has Haruko wearing Sakuragi's number ten home jersey with three SD Sakuragi's merrily hanging around her. It's a real cute image and one that is more Sakuragi's imagination than anything mutual from these to protagonists.
Logo Check!! (?2003 Megs)... the logo used by Gustoon is similar to the one used for Shueisha's Slam Dunk Perfect collection (with different colors for the lettering.) Its not as stylish as the original but it works.
This volume contains a character profile and no ads.
Artwork:
I have always found the character designs for Slam Dunk to be really interesting. They have an unique mix of japanese yanki (teenage gang members similar to those in GTO) and NBA styles of the time. Practically every male character is pretty large. Done to scale very well you can see the length of their legs, the large wing-spans and the definition in their muscles easily. While most of these characters are around 6ft tall (just above or a little below) you can see the difference when they are around other shorter classmates/teachers. Hair designs really show off that unique look. While you can tell that these characters are tough from their body structure their hair-styles give you some more depth into their personality. And by having the supporting cast have similar looks (ie: Sakuragi's friends with their perms, facial hair and fuzz-cuts) you know what they are about without much need for character development. So you know that Okasu and Noma are punks and Gori is a hoops-freak just from their character designs (pretty easy, huh?! /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif)
Backgrounds presented by Inoue are always detailed. In a series like this backgrounds are pretty important as you must know location and positioning on a court. It's pretty hard to imagine but with Sakuragi's skills even the backgrounds help in making fun of him. With good backgrounds and nice character designs the layout is not quite as active. Yes the panel layout is usually pretty simple (on average 4 to 6 panels a page with a little variation in positioning and size) but seriously the action is pretty limited to slap-stick comedy so far. So once the basketball starts at the end of this volume the variation rises, perspective is shown from a few angles and a while the technique isn't flashy you get to see some good basketball.
Orientation/SFX:
This GN like all Gustoon! titles is right to left. SFX are a mixed bag though. Some of them are subbed and some are just left alone. While I support keeping the original work there I really have to repeat... "they all need to be translated in some way or another." There are a lot of notes in this series and they are all translated in their original boxes. A few cultural notes have been put into the gutters when the issue comes up.
Text:
Overall the translation is pretty darn good. All of the Dr. T's notes are translated very well and honorifics like "-chan", "-san" and "-kun" are always left in. They don't come up often when the guys are being tough but you can count on a few "Haruko-chan's" every chapter.
Names have not been an issue before but in this volume we are introduced to Ryonan's superstar point guard, Sendou. Gustoon! for some reason spells his name Sendo which is phonetically wrong (proper ways are Sendoh or Sendou). That shouldn't ruin the whole series for anyone but I can see it being annoying if other names like that get the same treatment in the future.
Contents (Watch out potential spoilers ahead)
<span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Sakuragi's back with the hoops team and he and his teammates are amped! Practically everyone is excited to see him back, even Gori.... I mean team captain Akagi Takenori. And with Shohoku's first practice game coming up soon there is even more to be excited about. But first Sakuragi needs to learn how to play basketball. And I mean really play basketball.
So far he has been regulated to learning the basics. It's what every rookie has to do. But Sakuragi has ambitions to be a star and be one as soon as possible. Unfortunately his personality often causes him more trouble than not. So even though he really wants to impress and be a basketball man, Sakuragi's attitude really makes him come off as a jerk. Not being able to compromise very easily, you have to wonder if he will be of any use anytime soon the way he acts most of the time.
Sakuragi is motivated, though, and if you have read up to this volume you know he does not like to lose. So while it may be a bit surprising to see him practicing by himself before school, its exactly what a basketball man would do. Can he do it on his own? Absolutely not!! But a little help from Haruko and actually taking some of Gori's words to heart and might get some skills. Actually, Sakuragi tends to work so hard on his own he does get some skills (he just doesn't have enough of them to really be effective in a game, yet.)
So will Sakuragi be ready for the game against Ryonan? Well maybe. One thing is for sure... they won't be ready for him. Actually Ryonan never heard of him (even after their scout got to meet him personally.) But really the bigger question here is... can a rebuilding Shohoku beat an already solid Ryonan team on the road? And can anyone stop this hot sophomore named Sendoh? Sakuragi wants to take on all comers but so far even the bench is giving him trouble. </span>
This volume in many ways shows off the best of Sakuragi and his worst. You get to see him come back to the basketball team with some motivation. You already know he hates to lose but you start to see him work hard at to pick up some skills. He isn't the brightest bulb so he doesn't go about it the right way. So for a majority of this volume we get comedy. There really is very little basketball besides a one-on-one training session and the start of the match against rivals Ryonan. But in that comedy we get a little character development, a little friendship building and a lot of tension between teammates. Inoue starts to move away from setting up his characters to putting them in their element - the basketball courts. Whether you see Shohoku working out in the gym, Sakuragi/Rukawa on the hardcourt, or a match between Kanagawa prefecture powers that's really where most of the drama and character development comes in this series. So while this has been a good filler volume we will soon be deep into a couple volumes of just basketball drama. (you cannot just jump into something like that without a little preparation, right.)
For those looking for a solid sports comedy with a good mix of personalities pick this up. Not only does Slam Dunk have some good art, good pacing and good sports action but the character development is pretty darn good. This volume does not show this aspect off in a conventional way, either. Sakuragi is a numb-skull but the guy has a passion and a drive that seems to overcome that. He does not want to look the fool and worse than that he does not want to lose.
For those looking for more comedy and less sports you might want to finish here. The comedy quotient will stay there (with the drama actually increasing) but basketball will be the focus of the plot for the next few volumes.
Slam Dunk in many ways is your prototypical sports manga and in other ways the standard for sports manga. You don't get enough of the characters in school or outside the court. You sometimes get too few perspectives as there are too many characters to flesh out. You can sometimes get volumes of just one game or even worse just a couple minutes of a period. But at the same time these characters are the extremes. Rukawa and Akagi are talented but they worked hard to get there (you will find out more about Rukawa in the future), Kogure and the rest of the squad are average at best, and Sakuragi is clueless but full of potential. His potential is what this story is about. He must work on his game before he can be a basketball man. Even then he needs to work to be a complete player. This volume gives you a taste of what Sakuragi and his team goes through but this is really just the easy part. When the games start to count so does the practice and that is some stuff that cannot be missed and has rarely been matched in other sports manga.
recommended
Osaka Edo here and I was a little surprised to notice that no one has done a formal review of Slam Dunk. Well why not do one know, right? Lookout for air balls!!
English Title: Slam Dunk (http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1932454101.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
Japanese Title: Slam Dunk (http://sbookg.s-book.com/shueisha/4088716132.jpg)
Subtitle: N/A
Vol. # 3 of 31
Author/Artist: Inoue Takehiko
Publisher: Gutsoon! (Raijin Graphic Novels)
Translator: N/A (Sam Kondo: Editor)
Originaly Published by: Shueisha (Jump Comics; Weekly Shonen Jump)
Price: $9.95
Pages: 201
Age Rating: 13+
ISBN: 1-932454-10-1
Release Date: 10/03
Review Date: 12/29/03
Grading~
Packaging: A
Artwork: A-
Text: B
Content: B
What They Say:
The manga masterpiece that brought Inoue Takehiko to fame is now available in English in graphic novel format! The story unfolds to reveal the sweet and bitter lives of teenagers - the rite of passage we all experience at some point in our lives.
"I'm going to play basketball. Because I'm a Basketball Man."
It seems Sakuragi Hanamichi has decided to start life anew, as he moves away from being a bad boy delinquent to being a basketball player. Sure he still doesn't see eye-to-eye with the captain of the team, but it's still a step foward. However, the redhead still has a lot to learn before the start of the new season and is not even close to being the next captain (as he claims). Will Sakuragi be able to improve in time to help his team make the interscholastic meet? We'll soon find out...
But first, let us continue where we left off - on the court with the players of Shohoku.
Packaging:
Inoue's cover for Shueisha's volume three is used here. It has Haruko wearing Sakuragi's number ten home jersey with three SD Sakuragi's merrily hanging around her. It's a real cute image and one that is more Sakuragi's imagination than anything mutual from these to protagonists.
Logo Check!! (?2003 Megs)... the logo used by Gustoon is similar to the one used for Shueisha's Slam Dunk Perfect collection (with different colors for the lettering.) Its not as stylish as the original but it works.
This volume contains a character profile and no ads.
Artwork:
I have always found the character designs for Slam Dunk to be really interesting. They have an unique mix of japanese yanki (teenage gang members similar to those in GTO) and NBA styles of the time. Practically every male character is pretty large. Done to scale very well you can see the length of their legs, the large wing-spans and the definition in their muscles easily. While most of these characters are around 6ft tall (just above or a little below) you can see the difference when they are around other shorter classmates/teachers. Hair designs really show off that unique look. While you can tell that these characters are tough from their body structure their hair-styles give you some more depth into their personality. And by having the supporting cast have similar looks (ie: Sakuragi's friends with their perms, facial hair and fuzz-cuts) you know what they are about without much need for character development. So you know that Okasu and Noma are punks and Gori is a hoops-freak just from their character designs (pretty easy, huh?! /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif)
Backgrounds presented by Inoue are always detailed. In a series like this backgrounds are pretty important as you must know location and positioning on a court. It's pretty hard to imagine but with Sakuragi's skills even the backgrounds help in making fun of him. With good backgrounds and nice character designs the layout is not quite as active. Yes the panel layout is usually pretty simple (on average 4 to 6 panels a page with a little variation in positioning and size) but seriously the action is pretty limited to slap-stick comedy so far. So once the basketball starts at the end of this volume the variation rises, perspective is shown from a few angles and a while the technique isn't flashy you get to see some good basketball.
Orientation/SFX:
This GN like all Gustoon! titles is right to left. SFX are a mixed bag though. Some of them are subbed and some are just left alone. While I support keeping the original work there I really have to repeat... "they all need to be translated in some way or another." There are a lot of notes in this series and they are all translated in their original boxes. A few cultural notes have been put into the gutters when the issue comes up.
Text:
Overall the translation is pretty darn good. All of the Dr. T's notes are translated very well and honorifics like "-chan", "-san" and "-kun" are always left in. They don't come up often when the guys are being tough but you can count on a few "Haruko-chan's" every chapter.
Names have not been an issue before but in this volume we are introduced to Ryonan's superstar point guard, Sendou. Gustoon! for some reason spells his name Sendo which is phonetically wrong (proper ways are Sendoh or Sendou). That shouldn't ruin the whole series for anyone but I can see it being annoying if other names like that get the same treatment in the future.
Contents (Watch out potential spoilers ahead)
<span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Sakuragi's back with the hoops team and he and his teammates are amped! Practically everyone is excited to see him back, even Gori.... I mean team captain Akagi Takenori. And with Shohoku's first practice game coming up soon there is even more to be excited about. But first Sakuragi needs to learn how to play basketball. And I mean really play basketball.
So far he has been regulated to learning the basics. It's what every rookie has to do. But Sakuragi has ambitions to be a star and be one as soon as possible. Unfortunately his personality often causes him more trouble than not. So even though he really wants to impress and be a basketball man, Sakuragi's attitude really makes him come off as a jerk. Not being able to compromise very easily, you have to wonder if he will be of any use anytime soon the way he acts most of the time.
Sakuragi is motivated, though, and if you have read up to this volume you know he does not like to lose. So while it may be a bit surprising to see him practicing by himself before school, its exactly what a basketball man would do. Can he do it on his own? Absolutely not!! But a little help from Haruko and actually taking some of Gori's words to heart and might get some skills. Actually, Sakuragi tends to work so hard on his own he does get some skills (he just doesn't have enough of them to really be effective in a game, yet.)
So will Sakuragi be ready for the game against Ryonan? Well maybe. One thing is for sure... they won't be ready for him. Actually Ryonan never heard of him (even after their scout got to meet him personally.) But really the bigger question here is... can a rebuilding Shohoku beat an already solid Ryonan team on the road? And can anyone stop this hot sophomore named Sendoh? Sakuragi wants to take on all comers but so far even the bench is giving him trouble. </span>
This volume in many ways shows off the best of Sakuragi and his worst. You get to see him come back to the basketball team with some motivation. You already know he hates to lose but you start to see him work hard at to pick up some skills. He isn't the brightest bulb so he doesn't go about it the right way. So for a majority of this volume we get comedy. There really is very little basketball besides a one-on-one training session and the start of the match against rivals Ryonan. But in that comedy we get a little character development, a little friendship building and a lot of tension between teammates. Inoue starts to move away from setting up his characters to putting them in their element - the basketball courts. Whether you see Shohoku working out in the gym, Sakuragi/Rukawa on the hardcourt, or a match between Kanagawa prefecture powers that's really where most of the drama and character development comes in this series. So while this has been a good filler volume we will soon be deep into a couple volumes of just basketball drama. (you cannot just jump into something like that without a little preparation, right.)
For those looking for a solid sports comedy with a good mix of personalities pick this up. Not only does Slam Dunk have some good art, good pacing and good sports action but the character development is pretty darn good. This volume does not show this aspect off in a conventional way, either. Sakuragi is a numb-skull but the guy has a passion and a drive that seems to overcome that. He does not want to look the fool and worse than that he does not want to lose.
For those looking for more comedy and less sports you might want to finish here. The comedy quotient will stay there (with the drama actually increasing) but basketball will be the focus of the plot for the next few volumes.
Slam Dunk in many ways is your prototypical sports manga and in other ways the standard for sports manga. You don't get enough of the characters in school or outside the court. You sometimes get too few perspectives as there are too many characters to flesh out. You can sometimes get volumes of just one game or even worse just a couple minutes of a period. But at the same time these characters are the extremes. Rukawa and Akagi are talented but they worked hard to get there (you will find out more about Rukawa in the future), Kogure and the rest of the squad are average at best, and Sakuragi is clueless but full of potential. His potential is what this story is about. He must work on his game before he can be a basketball man. Even then he needs to work to be a complete player. This volume gives you a taste of what Sakuragi and his team goes through but this is really just the easy part. When the games start to count so does the practice and that is some stuff that cannot be missed and has rarely been matched in other sports manga.
recommended