They animated an entire basketball game. Not just the key moments. The.entire.freaking.game. The beginning. The end. Everything in between. The stadium. The coaches. The fans. The scoreboard. Everything. Boy, good thing it wasn’t the NBA. I don’t need to see any more courtside Spike Lee, animated or not.
This is a spectacular feat of animation. It should win an award. What’s that? It did already. Oh. Fine. Let’s get to it, then.
This is a film in which everybody has a backstory and depth, and plays ball like a professional. They got some really mature high schoolers in Japan, huh? The film is about the state championship game between the upstart Shohoku High Fightin’ Wasabis and the national bullies, the Shannoh Emojis.
(I made up those nicknames; Japanese high schools don’t have mascots, apparently. Their loss.)
The game is in real time, but peppered by backstory throughout. There isn’t a single bucket, travel, or flagrant foul that is uninspired. Geez, when I played basketball, I just wanted to win the game; I didn’t need a poignant anecdote or crushing emotional trauma to explain why I double-dribbled. But these guys are deep. Point Guard Ryota Miyagi (voice of Shugo Nakamura) has already lost a father and a brother. His elder brother, a basketball star and student leader, was his inspiration. Apparently. the older and much taller Sota was the more talented basketball player. But the (comparatively) undersized Ryota brings up the rock on the state championship challenger, so I’m guessing he can’t be so bad.
The First Slam Dunk is an odd movie on a number of counts, first by the number of slam dunks. The average number of slam dunks in a high school game is, let’s face it, zero (0). This game featured several. Both teams are way oversized (for high school) and played cleaner than most NCAA tournament gam
es. Writer/director Takehiko Inoue literally scripted every.single.moment of this game … and clearly knows a great deal about how basketball games are won and lost, however, this game featured almost no substitutions and Takehiko Inoue seemed to forget it was a team game for the first 45 minutes of screen time.
My guess is that the Mr. Inhoe’s animation team modeled every player on an NBA talent; it’s kind of fun guessing who-is-who. The most colorful Shohoku teammate is the red-haired Hanamichi Sakuragi (Subaru Kimura) who is clearly modeled after Dennis Rodman. Personally, I never thought I’d root for Dennis Rodman. Sometimes it’s fun to be wrong.
The picture is a tour-de-force extrapolating love, honor, spirit, and devotion from every blocked shot to free throw. I get the feeling that Japanese basketball games are less about coaching and more about breaking your opponent’s will to live. Still, it’s impossible to deny the quality of this effort … and anyone who understands basketball -or even sports for that matter- will likely end up cheering for the underdog Wasabis. Does Japan have the term “underdog?” I wonder if it’s just translated as “mongrel without honor” or some other foolishness. Anyway, decent film. And particularly scary in the unlikely event the animation is based on genuine high school players.
It’s the story of an undersized five
Who kept championship hopes alive
Were they the better team?
Not so much, it would seem
But their backstories were worth all the jive
Rated PG-13, 124 Minutes
Director: Takehiko Inoue
Writer: Takehiko Inoue
Genre: The unhappy notices of ursine mammals
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Basketball fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Bullies
