I went back and check some of the articles on good manga, and Slam Dunk seems to always be loved by fans, and for good reason. I think it ended like 10 or 15 years ago, and yet in some ways it's almost revolutionary relative to the sports manga genre even though it was one of the first.
Slam Dunk, obviously, is about basketball. The first important part is Slam Dunk is more or less founded in reality. There is one move where Sakuragi splits into multiple people but as far as I can tell that's for humor as opposed to actually any use, and sure the level they play would be as if half of the NBA all time greats went to the same 5 high schools in Japan, but compared to the sports genre in general, it's more or less real.
Another key part about Slam Dunk is that there is no such thing as an honorable loss. Whereas most of the sports manga seems to be a lesson about the code of bushido where all the games are always rigged against the 'good guys', in Slam Dunk the main characters are more like thugs than samurais wearing jerseys. In the final game of the series where Sakuragi's team was down by 20 with 8 minutes to go, so they decided to just keep on shoot 3s and Sakuragi was like 'don't worry about the misses, I'll grab all the rebounds'. How does he do this crazy feat? He just throws the defending rebounder out of the way while the ref isn't looking and make some apparent miraculous plays (because the guy who was rebounding got knocked off balance). The other side complained but the ref didn't see it so it doesn't matter.
Later, Sakuragi figured that the refs weren't going to call a foul on him because he had the fans behind him, so he took a charge that could've been called a block. Again he gets the call in his favor, and if you look at the end game, basically the other team was so caught up on the 2 'bad calls' Sakuragi got that they ended up blowing a 20 point lead with 8 and then 4 minutes left. In a normal sports manga, Sakuragi would be the 'bad guy', but here he is the hero. And I think that's what makes Slam Dunk real. Life isn't fair, and even the good guys can use a break or two.
Finally, unlike most manga, Sakuragi's team is stupidly powerful. Usually in a sport manga the main character's team is ridculously weak and must overcome adversity, but not so with Slam Dunk. The only problem Sakuragi's team has is that once you pass the ball to Rukawa (the young version of Jordan) the ball never leaves his hand, so it makes this team somewhat easy to defend. They pretty much have the best defender in the game (Sakuragi), best scorer (Rukawa), and everyone else is very strong too. The only thing that holds the team back is that Rukawa plays a 1 on 5 game every time he has the ball, and Sakuragi who cannot score but can defend an entire team by himself expands most of his effort on the offense instead of defense. This is why after the final game when Sakuragi finally decided to play defense and Rukawa finally decided to pass the ball, the series ended because there is no point to write about a team that are basically like the Chicago Bulls at their peak.
And yet having such a powerful team, I think, is what makes Slam Dunk real. This isn't some story about some wimpy team that got lucky or 'because they tried hard'. It's about a championship team able to impose its will upon its opponents, and how they were playing competitively even while 1 guy is playing 1on5 and having a guy who can block 25 shots a game and no offense skills refusing to play defense. And yet it's not like the bogus 'limitation' you see in a lot of sports manga where the good guys mysteriously injuried a foot or a hand or both. The limitations on Sakuragi's team is quite real if you ever watched basketball. You know there are guys who just want to play 1on5, and there are guys who have no offensive skill that just refuse to accept this. There's nothing artificial about these characteristics.
Slam Dunk, obviously, is about basketball. The first important part is Slam Dunk is more or less founded in reality. There is one move where Sakuragi splits into multiple people but as far as I can tell that's for humor as opposed to actually any use, and sure the level they play would be as if half of the NBA all time greats went to the same 5 high schools in Japan, but compared to the sports genre in general, it's more or less real.
Another key part about Slam Dunk is that there is no such thing as an honorable loss. Whereas most of the sports manga seems to be a lesson about the code of bushido where all the games are always rigged against the 'good guys', in Slam Dunk the main characters are more like thugs than samurais wearing jerseys. In the final game of the series where Sakuragi's team was down by 20 with 8 minutes to go, so they decided to just keep on shoot 3s and Sakuragi was like 'don't worry about the misses, I'll grab all the rebounds'. How does he do this crazy feat? He just throws the defending rebounder out of the way while the ref isn't looking and make some apparent miraculous plays (because the guy who was rebounding got knocked off balance). The other side complained but the ref didn't see it so it doesn't matter.
Later, Sakuragi figured that the refs weren't going to call a foul on him because he had the fans behind him, so he took a charge that could've been called a block. Again he gets the call in his favor, and if you look at the end game, basically the other team was so caught up on the 2 'bad calls' Sakuragi got that they ended up blowing a 20 point lead with 8 and then 4 minutes left. In a normal sports manga, Sakuragi would be the 'bad guy', but here he is the hero. And I think that's what makes Slam Dunk real. Life isn't fair, and even the good guys can use a break or two.
Finally, unlike most manga, Sakuragi's team is stupidly powerful. Usually in a sport manga the main character's team is ridculously weak and must overcome adversity, but not so with Slam Dunk. The only problem Sakuragi's team has is that once you pass the ball to Rukawa (the young version of Jordan) the ball never leaves his hand, so it makes this team somewhat easy to defend. They pretty much have the best defender in the game (Sakuragi), best scorer (Rukawa), and everyone else is very strong too. The only thing that holds the team back is that Rukawa plays a 1 on 5 game every time he has the ball, and Sakuragi who cannot score but can defend an entire team by himself expands most of his effort on the offense instead of defense. This is why after the final game when Sakuragi finally decided to play defense and Rukawa finally decided to pass the ball, the series ended because there is no point to write about a team that are basically like the Chicago Bulls at their peak.
And yet having such a powerful team, I think, is what makes Slam Dunk real. This isn't some story about some wimpy team that got lucky or 'because they tried hard'. It's about a championship team able to impose its will upon its opponents, and how they were playing competitively even while 1 guy is playing 1on5 and having a guy who can block 25 shots a game and no offense skills refusing to play defense. And yet it's not like the bogus 'limitation' you see in a lot of sports manga where the good guys mysteriously injuried a foot or a hand or both. The limitations on Sakuragi's team is quite real if you ever watched basketball. You know there are guys who just want to play 1on5, and there are guys who have no offensive skill that just refuse to accept this. There's nothing artificial about these characteristics.
