Following the suggestions of several people I know, I decided to (re)watch Slam Dunk, the original 101 anime episodes.
I already watched some of it when it first aired in Italy on MTV, but unfortunately I missed most of the beginning and the ending and lots of episodes in between.
It was also a lot of time ago, I think I was still in high school so I didn’t remember it too well, but I definitely enjoyed it whenever I managed to catch it on TV.
Fast forward today, I watched everything from start to end and I’d like to make this a discussion about “old” anime vs “new” anime by using Slam Dunk as a great example of a very good “old” anime, instead of doing just a plain, simple, straight review of Slam Dunk.
Let’s start with the thing that irked me the most: Slam Dunk’s pacing is absolutely all over the place.
Especially during the matches, there are parts like single actions which are stretched to 10+ minutes and then suddenly a jump to 10 points later without even the narrator telling us what has happened.
The same gags are repeated ad nasueam and get pretty tiring after the 100th time of the Rukawa cheerleaders chanting “RU KA WA!” and some jokes are also abused over and over again and become quite irritating after a while.
In addition to that, some flashbacks are played several times and some are really long and I couldn’t help but just skip them at one point because I clearly remember what happened and I don’t need to be reminded every 2-3 episodes.
On top of all of this, the episodes are incredibly short: once you take out the opening and ending, the recap at the beginning of what happened in the previous episodes and the sneak peek at what would happen at the next episodes, they are barely 15 minutes long.
Remove the small intermission in the middle of each episode, the closing thoughts of the narrator before the ending and the time it takes for each repetitive gag and you basically have episodes with 10 minutes worth of content each.
This is one area where modern anime really managed to step up: the rhythm and pacing of most modern anime is absolutely amazing and that has enabled authors to make amazing single season, 12 episode anime.
But that’s pretty much the only flaw Slam Dunk has and the reason I wanted to extend this review to all of “old” anime is that this is a flaw shared with 90% of the anime of that time, and for a very good reason.
Back then there was no internet, anime wasn’t sold on VHS (not in Italy at least), there were no DVDs, you had no way to watch an anime outside of seeing it while airing on TV.
This meant that you would likely miss some episodes or maybe skip entire parts and that’s where those long recaps and flashbacks came into play: through them you managed to stay on top of the story even if you missed 2-3 episodes and you could still follow where the anime was going.
Today, though, I find it unbearable, just like many other anime like Captain Tsubasa, Dragon Ball and the other usual suspects: they all shared this problem.
It was more an issue of the times than anything else.
But, as said, let’s now move forward because everything else is, honestly, amazing.
Slam Dunk’s story is top notch, the characters are *all* great, they are *all* very well characterized and explored, they *all* have depth and their own personality, you can instantly tell each other apart as they are *all* unique and are not used just as filler material or comic relief or a shoulder for the MC to lean on in though/funny situations.
The art, seriously, it oozes character and personality, it’s unique, its style is raw but beautiful, you can immediately tell one anime from another just by looking at its style as each “old” anime had a distinctive way to portrait the characters, their expressions and their surroundings.
And someone might argue that today’s anime look miles better, but I strongly disagree.
Yes, modern anime has a way more refined style, more detailed, way more colors, more fluid and the action scenes are portrayed way better, but honestly they all mostly look the same. They lack uniqueness, they are not distinctive enough, they have no character.
This is something I immensely appreciate about old anime: they have character. They have personality. I have already said this but I’ll probably repeat it several times.
This, to me, is what makes a great anime: character.
And not just in the art style, but in the love and attention put into each part of the cast.
Finally: the comedy.
Unparalleled.
I’ll never be tired of seeing Akagi smacking Hanamichi’s head and leaving a big bulge among his hair, I’ll never tire of seeing Hanamichi get hit in the face by a passed ball because he was distracted thinking of Haruko, not to mention all of the characters baffled expressions everytime Hanamichi makes a goof.
This kind of comedy is just gone today, you won’t find it anywhere, because it is probably considered too “childish”, but I love it and I think of it as a unique feature I’ve always adored of OG anime.
I really wish they’d brought it back, because the only anime that made me seriously laugh out loud was Grand Blue Dreaming and that was because everything was so exaggerated and extreme that it was just too much absurd and always left me with tears of laughter at each scene.
Anyway… that’s my take on Slam Dunk, extended to all old anime.
Fantastic writing, excellent plot, great art, memorable characters, unique atmosphere, but horrendous, terrible, irritating, unbearable all-over-the-place pacing.
Now, about modern anime, let’s talk about the recent movie: The First Slam Dunk.
Art: PS3 cel shaded graphics. It didn’t look like an anime in the least, it was a videogame. Bland, anonymous, soulless. Enough said.
It definitely shone in action scenes, but that was it.
Characters: literally destroyed each of the characters and everything became suddenly incredibly mature and deep, I liked Ryota and Anzai and, to some extent, Mitsui, but the rest became flat, shallow, 2-dimensional.
Especially Hanamichi.
Comedy: obliterated. As I said, everything became super serious, deep and introspective. Gone are all the gags and Hanamichi’s chaotic attitude (with a couple exceptions). Gone are all the funny faces and caricatures, the heart-shaped eyes of Haruko everytime Rukawa got the ball and so on.
Pacing: excellent, the best in the business. The story was told masterfully, this is where The First Slam Dunk really shines. A friend of mine told me that all the past of Ryota was new and wasn’t part of the original manga, but it mixed and blend so well with the rest of the story that I felt it really enhanced the whole movie.
Plot/story: It’s Slam Dunk. It’s good. You can’t beat good writing, because the manga is great.
Dubbing: rubbish. With the exception of Akagi and Anzai-sensei, it’s complete trash. Especially Hanamichi’s voice. Ryota and Mitsui are passable.
To sum it up: if this was a basketball anime, I would have rated highly.
But after watching the original series, I can say this has absolutely nothing of the spirit of the original Slam Dunk (plot apart, of course). It’s a different anime, with a different soul, a very forced adaptation to cater to modern audiences.
In the end, despite everything, I still enjoyed The First Slam Dunk, but I couldn’t help shaking a thought in my head.
We had anime with character and personality, fantastic art style (although not very refined and somewhat simplistic), great comedy, lots of attention to all of the cast.
We had to give this all up.
We gave it all up for way better pacing and rhythm, like, not even close, head and shoulders above almost all of the OG anime, way better art (but which became kind of standardized as it now mostly all look the same) which paved the way for excellent action scenes and way more dramatic effects.
Was it really worth it?
I honestly don’t know and maybe that’s why I’m still enjoying great old anime like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Dragon Ball (Z) and many others.
Is modern anime all crap?
Of course not.
There are lots and lots of great modern anime, although they have shifted their focus on different aspects.
Still, I can’t help but think that we gave up too much.
But maybe that’s because I’m an old fart.
Oh well.