The First Slam Dunk

Summary

The First Slam Dunk movie focuses on Ryota Miyagi, Shohoku High's point guard, and his team's challenge against the inter-high champions, Sannoh High, inspired by his late brother's love for basketball.

Synopsis

The First Slam Dunk is a film adaptation of the popular manga series, but unlike the original anime series which centers on Hanamichi Sakuragi, this movie shifts the focus to Ryota Miyagi, Shohoku High's point guard. Miyagi's journey is deeply personal, inspired by his older brother's passion for basketball. The story follows Miyagi and his teammates—Hanamichi Sakuragi, Takenori Akagi, Hisashi Mitsui, and Kaede Rukawa—as they face a formidable opponent: the inter-high basketball champions, Sannoh High. This cinematic adaptation promises an intense and emotional narrative, exploring the characters' drive and the spirit of competition.

Characters

Hanamichi Sakuragi

Height: 189.2 cm Weight: 83 kg Jersey Number: #10 Position: Power Forward Birthday: April 1 High School: Shohoku Shoe Brand: Jordan The protagonist. At the beginning of the series, Sakuragi was a slacker, always trying to ask girls out but getting constantly rejected (the 50th rejection occurring at the start of the series). He then met Akagi Haruko, with whom he fell in love immediately. This passion led to him joining the Shohoku basketball team. However, as a complete beginner, he was not able to keep up with the rest of the team at first despite his physical attributes (great height, athleticism, stamina, speed and leaping ability). He regards himself as a genius though, with self-confidence that borders on arrogance. His most recognizable trait is his red hair, though he shaves his head as reparation for an error that led to the loss against Kainan. At first, Sakuragi was known for his poor basketball skills as a beginner; in his first few official matches, he fouled out every game. However, his basketball skills advanced throughout the series. First he developed his basic skills, such as dribbling and layups. Then, trained by Akagi, he became a formidable rebounder; his rebounding became his claim to fame throughout the latter half of the series. He also is seen more than once defining the match for Shohoku in the last seconds, for instance, by dunking a ball that Akagi would have missed in the league round match with Ryonan. His jump shooting was then developed by Coach Anzai, who had him make 20,000 shots in a week. He hit a buzzer-beating jump shot to win the match against Sannoh. However, he also injured his back during the match against Sannoh, and underwent rehabilitation after Shohoku's subsequent loss to Aiwa Academy. In spite of the setbacks he has had to face, Sakuragi displays a great deal of tenacity and determination that carry him through and help reciprocate for his other failings, both on and off the court. Although his love for Haruko and rivalry with Rukawa are the main driving forces motivating him to succeed in basketball, his injury during the Sannoh match makes him realize that he has actually come to love the game, leading him to give his all for his team and bring them victory. (Source: Hoopedia)

Hisashi Mitsui

Year: 3rd Year Birthday: 22nd May Height: 184 (6 ft ½ in) Weight: 70 kg (154 lb) Shoe brand: Asics Jersey number: 14 Position: Shooting Guard, SG Before joining Shohoku, Mitsui Hisashi was an MVP for Takeishi Junior High. Despite having opportunities to join more prestigious high schools like Ryonan, he choose to go to Shohoku because of Coach Anzai; Anzai had given him the courage to win in the Junior High tournament by encouraging him during the last seconds of the match. However, an injury to his left knee in a training session interrupted his basketball career. An imprudent early return to the basketball court reinjured the knee more severely, leading to a basketball hiatus of over a year. Although he eventually healed, he was embittered by his exclusion from the court, and Mitsui quit basketball and became the leader of a gang. His gang got in a fight with Miyagi, and during the fight, Miyagi beat Mitsui senseless before taking a beating himself. Afterwards, Mitsui attempted to ruin the basketball team by instigating them into fighting with his gang, as the team would have been banned from competition for fighting. In the end, Sakuragi's own gang—Yohei, Takamiya, Ookusu and Noma—voluntarily took the blame for the fight, and Mitsui was filled with remorse when he saw Anzai again. He rejoined the team and vowed never to fight again. Mitsui is best known on the team as a three-point specialist, though his skills extend to other areas; during a practice match, he once managed to shut down Sakuragi, playing center. His defensive ability completely shut down Fukuda's scoring abilities. His three-pointers helped Shohoku catch up when they were 12 points down against Shoyo, and again when the team was 20 points down against Sannoh in the National Championships. His greatest weakness, though, is his lack of stamina due to his long break from playing basketball. Thus, in the latter halves of games, he has not always been as reliable—he missed a potential game-winning shot against Kainan and collapsed on-court during the game against Ryonan. (Source: hoopiedia)

Ryouta Miyagi

Name: Miyagi Ryouta Age: 16 - 17 Birthday: July 31st High school: Shohoku High School Year: 2nd Class: 1 Height: 168 cm (5'6) Weight: 59 kg (130 lbs.) Position: point guard (PG) Jersey no.: 7 Shoe Brand: Converse There is not much known about Miyagi's background. He joined the basketball team for his love for the game in the first place. But soon it seems that he is also playing for the love of his life Ayako, the team manager. Although Ryonan's coach asked him to join the Ryonan Basketball Team, Miyagi chose for Shohoku because of Anzai. Miyagi is a problem kid, he gets into fights a lot and got himself beaten up. He was also the one who beat Mitsui up, but he had to pay the price of staying in the hospital for some time... Miyagi is quite short, but he has the greatest speed of all players mentioned in Slam Dunk. He has a great dribble and combined with his speed he's able to tear up the opponent's defense and deliver excellent (no-look) passes to the free team mate. He's also able to get a score at his own powers and his steals are just marvelous. Miyagi is a good point guard with a great sight on the game, he's also able to find his team mates without looking for them. He's the strategist of the team, and thanks to this role and his own skills he becomes the next team captain as Akagi retires to focus on exams. By the way, he is also a good street fighter and has a very good flying kick. (Mitsui told) Coach Anzai says that Miyagi's value to the team is his great speed and his keen senses. Miyagi is a smart but kind of rude person, who is only nice and sweet to Ayako... He tried to date other girls to forget Ayako, but he failed to. So he can be a very sensitive person too. In the beginning he mistook Sakuragi for Ayako's boyfriend and got into a fight with him immediately. Later when they found out about each other's painful roads of love, they feel sympathy for each other and start to get along. That's how they became good friends. Miyagi is a bit short tempered sometimes and hates when people make fun of his height. In the match vs Toyotama he gets angry with the opposing point guard, loses his view on the game and almost beats the guy. But in the second half he is able to remain calm again and show his true powers. His quite short length and the green earring in his left ear. He also wears sweat bands around his left wrist.

Kaede Rukawa

Birthday: January 1 Height: 187cm (6 ft 2 in) Weight: 75kg (165lb) Hobbies: Sleeping Shoe Brand: Nike - Air Jordan Jersey No: 11 Position: Small Forward, SF High School: Shohoku High School (Freshman) Grade: 10 Class: 1 Junior High School: Tomigaoka Junior High Kaede Rukawa is Sakuragi's rival as well as almost his opposite; he is attractive to girls, skilled at basketball, and very cold and unfeeling. The only traits they share are that they are not academically inclined and good fighters. He regards Sakuragi as an idiot and both normally fight. Actually, he knows Sakuragi can put his talents to a better use, but is ashamed to see the immaturity with which he deals with things. His hobby is sleeping, and is usually seen asleep whenever he's not on the court; he can even ride his bike while asleep often crashing with objects when doing so. Waking Rukawa from a nap is considered unforgivable, since he will almost automatically beat up the culprit. Unsurprisingly, he has also been in his fair share of off-court fights, but can hold his own. Rukawa's goal is to be the best high school player in Japan, and he considers Sendoh of Ryonan to be his greatest rival. A fact being that he is often nicknamed the "super-rookie", the "ace of Shohoku", even. Rukawa is extremely good at basketball, and possesses a wide range of skills to complement his height, athleticism and drive to win. Despite being merely a first-year high school player, he is the undisputed ace of Shohoku's team. In the Kanagawa Interhigh Tournament, he was named one of the top five players, the only first year player so honored. He has managed to change the course of many games, such as when he single-handedly brought Shohoku back from a double-digit deficit against Kainan (Rukawa scored 15 straight points for Shohoku in 2 minutes and 5 seconds just before the end of the first half). However, his style was criticized as being too selfish, and he sometimes comes into conflict with his teammates for various reasons; this was one of the reasons why Coach Anzai refused to give him his blessing when Rukawa told him that he intended to go to the USA, and told him to become the best in Japan before he even thought of it. When he was outplayed by Sawakita during the match against Sannoh Technical, though, he realized what Sendoh reminded him as a challenge: To defeat Sendoh, Rukawa had to change his style and pass the ball. It was his pass that led to Hanamichi's buzzer-beating shot, winning the match. Rukawa is subsequently named a member of the All-Japan basketball team. (Source: Wikipedia)

Takenori Akagi

Year: 3rd Year Height: 197 cm Weight: 90 kg Jersey Number: #4 Position: Center Takenori Akagi is the captain of the Shohoku basketball team and Haruko's older brother. Despite at first not thinking too much of Sakuragi (who addresses him as "Gori" for gorilla due to his immense physical presence), he actually realizes Sakuragi's potential as a basketball player. Serious and disciplined, Akagi's dream is to lead Shohoku to the national championship. His determination is shown in the match against Kainan, where he played on despite a serious injury to his ankle. Akagi considers Uozumi of Ryonan to be his biggest rival, though their rivalry is not antagonistic; indeed, there is respect that borders on friendship. Akagi differs from the other starters in two respects. First, he is the most academically talented out of all them and is considered a model student. After the loss to Aiwa knocks Shohoku out of the Nationals, Akagi leaves the team along with Kogure to study for the college entrance exams. In contrast, the other four had to beg their teacher to be given the chance to retake some exams they had flunked; they would otherwise have been disqualified from playing in the Nationals for having failed too many classes. Second, Akagi is the only starter not to have gotten into an actual fight, although he has used physical force against his own players (most notably Sakuragi, and once Mitsui after the gym fight) to keep them in line. He is the only other character besides Rukawa able to take one of Sakuragi's trademark headbutts without being knocked out and the only other character who has had Sakuragi inadvertently dunk a ball on his head (Murasame of Miuradai was the second, in the manga; in the anime, the second one to be dunked on the head is Naito, also from Miuradai). Regarded as the best center in the Kanagawa prefecture, Akagi plays as a fairly typical center, using his height and power to score close to the basket. He also has a reputation for being a virtually unbeatable defender. As captain of the team, he keeps discipline among his players during matches. Akagi met his match during the game against Sannoh, in the form of Masashi Kawata, considered one of the best centers at the high school level. Initially intimidated when Kawata outplayed him, he regained his confidence thanks to Uozumi's encouragement and led his team to victory. (Source: hoopedia.nba.com)

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