Takehiko Inoue: Slam Dunk

Overall rating: 5/5 stars
Title (Japanese): スラムダンク
Author (English): Takehiko Inoue
Author (Japanese): 井上武彦(いのうえたけひこ）
Total books (単行本 tankoubon): 31
Total books (完全版 perfect version): 24
Publisher (U.S.A.): Gutsoon (closed)
Publisher (Singapore): Chuang Yi
Publisher (Japan): Jump Comics
Summary: A high school freshman named Hanamichi Sakuragi has been rejected 50(?) times since junior high school. A bit of a high school delinquent, he is unusually tall and joins the basketball team to impress a fellow freshman Haruko Akagi who is completely crazy about basketball.

Detailed Review: At first glance the story looks pretty typical. Girl-crazy boy joins sports team to impress girl. However, SlamDunk is one of my all-time favorite manga stories for several reasons. The primary reason is that the characterizations are delicate, realistic, and really funny. These kids are pretty normal and they're complex but believable.

The main character is a good example of this. Sakuragi is not unopposed to fights, which is probably how he and his friends got a reputation for being total punks in junior high school. When his friends make fun of him Sakuragi will head butt each and every one of them. It doesn't stop them from making fun of them. But they are all good friends. They're supportive of Sakuragi as he works to turn himself into a good basketball player, even though they believe at first that he has no hope.

In a lot of popular stories today, the main character may be a total novice but shockingly good at tennis or whatever activity he/she happens to fall into. While conceivable, it's not very likely. SlamDunk is still unique in that Sakuragi is hilariously confident of his genius-like skillz at basketball, but in reality he is very very bad as any newbie would be. Every so often he displays a glimpse of talent, but in order to realize it, he has to spend hours and hours practicing and focusing on it. This is one of my favorite aspects of the story. You see all the effort, and entire books are devoted to the regular aspects and growth of the characters.

The art is really nice. In the first books Inoue still has some rough spots, but still is talented enough to design characters who look different even if you shaved their hair. A rare talent even today. By the 31st book, the cover is really impressive. I like his watercolors a lot.

Although the first book is a little misleading, the series is not perverted at all. Looking at other comics, perhaps this is an idealized portrayal of high school kids, but it's really nice for me to read as a woman. No perverts!