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Slam Dunkis one of the very few manga and anime series that have achieved immortal status in the industry. Created by Takehiko Inoue,Slam Dunkfollows the basketball journey of a team from Shōhoku High School and the way they move up in rank. The story was one of the first sports shonen manga that earned international recognition in the 90s.
Slam Dunkwas Inoue’s second project, but it quickly became his most successful project and is continuing the legacy. The main reason behindSlam Dunk’ssuccess was Inoue and his secret recipe for creating the story. The manga creator once revealed how he worked onSlam Dunkand what led to the success of the series.
He pointed out that he wroteSlam Dunkfrom the character’s perspective and how they would build their own stories and experience development. This led to him relating to the character’s emotions and choosing the perfect plot for him moving forward in the story. This evidently led toSlam Dunkbecoming an icon in the sports anime genre.
Takehiko Inoue Became One With The Character
In 2012,CNNinterviewed Inoue and talked to him aboutSlam Dunk, his creative process, and his other works. During the discussion, Inoue revealed that while writingSlam Dunk,he developed a habit of thinking about how the audience would view the characters and what kind of impressions the characters would have.
Takehito Inoue’s “Most important mission” Kept Him from Drastically Increasing the Stakes of The First Slam Dunk
Inoue stated:
I think about what the readers would see first when they open the next page: What would jump into his or her eyes first?
He then pointed out that this helped him unite with the characters as one and express their feelings through his art.
I try to express what kind of feelings the characters are having … as if they are actually coming out of my body. It is like I become one with the character.
According to Inoue, thinking through a character’s mindset helps him create the next best phase of the story ordevelopment for the character.
Thus, in a way, he gets an understanding of both the character’s requirements in the narrative and the readers’ first thoughts after viewing the characters fromSlam Dunk.
Slam DunkCharacters Made The Story Themselves
While talking about uniting withSlam Dunkcharacters as one,Takehiko Inoueexplained how he let the characters take over him. He pointed out that if the characters are vivid they develop an ability to write the story for themselves. Thus, uniting with them and letting them take over makes his work even more easy.
If you can have vivid characters, they will make the story themselves. By putting them in certain situations or having one meet another, they naturally make stories by reacting to each other.
The character array ofSlam Dunkis truly unique with personalities like Hanamichi Sakuragi, Kaede Rukawa, Ryota Miyagi, etc. These charactersdevelop their significanceand avoid getting foreshadowed by the narrative.
“People who didn’t know much about basketball…”: Slam Dunk and Haikyuu Authors Managed to Do the Unthinkable and Had Their Dreams Come True
This is the reason whySlam Dunkis an inspiration for other Sports genre manga creators, and will continue to inspire them for many more years.
Slam Dunkis available to watch on Crunchyroll.
Tarun Kohli
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2957
Tarun Kohli is the Senior Anime Writer at FandomWire, with over 2,900 published articles. He currently specializes in critiquing One Piece and other Shonen anime. A passionate fan of the genre, his love for thoughtful analysis reflects his genuine appreciation for the art of anime. His deep understanding of anime culture has earned recognition from industry figures such as Adi Shankar and the creators of Blood of Zeus.
