Slam Dunk 1

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2008 – 31 volumes

If 2009 could be called anything, it would be the year that I fell in love with Takehiko Inoue.  It still amazes me every time I read a volume of Slam Dunk and thoroughly enjoy it.  It also impresses me that it doesn’t show its age more, for being about 20 years old.  I’ve probably said this before, but other than a few fashion tells (like Hanamichi’s hair), it’s still pretty fresh material.

It’s also entertaining.  Hanamichi has a lot to do with that.  There were a few things I was happy to see in this volume after having read further into the series, such as how Hanamichi’s first match with Gori went (I didn’t think he beat him in a game of basketball, but others made it sound like he did), how he got off on the wrong foot with Rukawa, and how his early basketball career went.  It wasn’t rocket science figuring this stuff out later, but it’s still nice to see it.  Also, Haruko is sweet as pie and a way nicer girl than I first thought.  It’s so nice that she stands up for Hanamichi like she does.

The other thing I liked was seeing an actual slam dunk.  I figured it must have been in these first two volumes somewhere for Hanamichi to be so excited about doing one, but it was a lot more spectacular than I had imagined.  Epic, even.  Made even more epic by the fact that it was never allowed to happen again after that, at least so far.

And again, I also like the fact that Hanamichi knows nothing about basketball and isn’t extraordinarily good at picking it up.  He’s, of course, naturally gifted, like any good hero, but he knows nothing about it, and part of his charm is the bumbling, over-excited way he goes about declaring himself a genius while not knowing the basics.