Slam Dunk: Difference between revisions

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[[File:SlamDunk.jpg|frame|Team Shohoku; resemblance to the Chicago Bulls probably not accidental]]

''I'm a genius player!''

''The left hand is for support only...''

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Only to find, when he turns, that the one asking the question is a girl. A ''very'' pretty girl, in fact.

The pretty girl in question, [[Dojikko|Haruko]] [[Naive Everygirl|Akagi]], is a basketball fan as well as a former player, and Hanamichi, who has instantly fallen in love with her, lies saying that he is an expert in the sport. Although she is not fooled, she finds that Hanamichi has a hidden natural talent (by seeing him try to dunk and ''slam his forehead against the backboard'' no less), and encourages him to apply into the school's basketball team. Unfortunately, she also lets slip that she is in love with one [[The Stoic|Kaede Rukawa]], an uber-talented rookie. Hanamichi is so crushed that he commits the mistake of insulting the sport just when the team captain was near.

After "winning" with a very bizarre play against the captain of the basketball team (who also happens to be Haruko's older brother [[Genius Bruiser|Takenori]] [[Aloof Big Brother|Akagi]]), Hanamichi is finally accepted into the team. However, he is relegated to [[You Get Me Coffee|learning the basics]], something that his bombastic personality and his "necessity" of impressing Haruko can't handle well. To make matters worse, his [[Hot-Blooded|hot temper]] and his very open rivalry against Rukawa (who [[Unknown Rival|ignores him half of the time]], and fights back the other half) makes the training sessions a living hell for everyone involved. It doesn't help that Rukawa has a legion of noisy [[Estrogen Brigade|fangirls]] who visit ''every'' training session and are very annoying to begin with.

After "winning" with a very bizarre play against the captain of the basketball team (who also happens to be Haruko's older brother [[Genius Bruiser|Takenori]] [[Aloof Big Brother|Akagi]]), Hanamichi is finally accepted into the team. However, he is relegated to [[You! Get Me Coffee!|learning the basics]], something that his bombastic personality and his "necessity" of impressing Haruko can't handle well. To make matters worse, his [[Hot-Blooded|hot temper]] and his very open rivalry against Rukawa (who [[Unknown Rival|ignores him half of the time]], and fights back the other half) makes the training sessions a living hell for everyone involved. It doesn't help that Rukawa has a legion of noisy [[Estrogen Brigade|fangirls]] who visit ''every'' training session and are very annoying to begin with.

However, between the addition of more players to the team (one of them after an especially gruesome fight involving gangs), the first games against other schools, and the obligatory regional and national championship, something weird begins to happen to Hanamichi. Although he is still a hot-tempered redhead and his hopeless onesided crush on Haruko doesn't diminish even a little, he soon finds that he actually ''does'' like basketball ''by himself'' and not as a way to impress someone else. More enough, he slowly begins to accept that he needs to practice more, and needs to play along with the team. Learning that is making him a better player. The basketball court is [[Character Development|making him more mature]]...

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* [[The Comically Serious]]: Rukawa, Akagi, sometimes Uozumi and Maki.

* [[Cute Sports Club Manager]]: Ayako. But she's of the [[Tomboy]] and assertive variety.

* [[Dark-Skinned Blond]]: Maki has lighter hair than the average and a much darker skin as well.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Rukawa.

* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Ayako was this towards Ryota in the prequel. Hilariously, she's rather Tsundere for him in the main series.

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* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Parodied in episode two - After Haruko calls Sakuragi out, he attempts to jump off the ledge while crying [[Berserker Tears]] and his friends have to pull him away.

* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: ''Every'' named male character except for Akagi or any of the old and ugly coaches.

* [[Failure Knight]]: {{spoiler|Sakuragi}}.

* [[Fanon]]: No, it's never stated that Mitsui has to repeat his senior year at any point in the manga. Fans commonly misinterpret the last chapter (Akagi and Kogure quit the team to study for exams while Mitsui stays and feels "lonesome") as meaning Mitsui having to stay at Shohoku for another year. In 10 Days Later it's revealed he's staying for the Winter Tournament (which takes place during the second semester of the school year) so that he he can possibly get a scholarship to a university instead. Although it's possible Mitsui later repeats senior year, it's not canon.

* [[Five-Man Band]] (It's basketball, what do you expect)

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** [[The Smart Guy]]: Miyagi (sometimes Ayako).

** [[The Big Guy]]: Akagi ([[Genius Bruiser]] type)

** [[The Chick]]: Mitsui (very skilled but with low stamina) and Kogure (male [[Team Mom]])

*** There's also Ryonan:

**** [[The Hero]]: Sendoh

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* [[Gecko Ending]]: Though the manga had already ended at around the same time, the anime was finished before the nationals arc; {{spoiler|and as the anime's finale a practice game is made up where Shohoku goes against a team consisting of Shoyo, Ryonan, and Kainan's finest. Some elements in the nationals games are used in the practice game.}}

* [[Gentle Giant]]: When in a good mood, Sakuragi can be a rather awkward but nice guy. Specially if you're a sweet-looking girl, like Haruko.

** He may be one of the hot-headed characters, but Uozumi also counts, especially considering his background story.

* [[Genius Bruiser]]: All the center players, especially Masashi Kawata and Akagi.

* [[Glass Cannon]]: Mitsui is Shohoku's second best scorer and one of the best in Kanagawa, but his stamina is very poor. There's also Team Toyotama, who greatly emphasize offense and have rather lacking defensive play as a result.

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** Uozumi and Akagi's rivalry is just made of this. Even Inoues seems to poke fun at it later on by showing them hugging and crying on each other's shoulder with their "gorilla" faces on.

* [[How We Got Here]]: The first episode shows the Shohoku team in a match before the opening. Probably the Nationals. After the opening, they show us how they got there.

* [[Huge Guy, Tiny Girl]]: Haruko and either Sakuragi, Rukawa, Aouta, or Akagi if we go by platonic relationships. Also Youko and Oda, as well as Okita and Eri (though they're more [[Will They or Won't They?]]). Subverted with Ayako and Miyagi since they're around the same height.

* [[I Am Not Left-Handed]]: Shoyo restrict Fujima's playing time as a matter of professional pride.

* [[The Idiot From Osaka]]: Hikoichi is a perceptive guy who prides himself on the amount of effort he puts into researching opposing teams. He also mistook Sakuragi for Rukawa and Akagi when they first met, and was convinced that he really had all the talent be boasted of.

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* [[Love At First Punch]]: Surprisingly enough, Ryota and Ayako were both this to each other in 6th grade (according to the prequel). Perhaps Miyagi's adorkable side came with puberty.

* [[Love Makes You Dumb]]: Haruko is a quite normal and booksmart girl, but mention Rukawa to her and she'll go all starstruck. Miyagi also suffers of this: mention Ayako and he'll do the same ''even in the middle of a game'' ("Well done, Ryouta!" "Aya-chaaan!").

* [[Looking for Love In All the Wrong Places]]: Basically, the life story of Hanamichi Sakuragi and Ryota Miyagi. {{spoiler|The descent on criminality of Mitsui and his posterior come back can be see as a [[Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life|non-romantic version]] of the trope}}

* [[Made of Iron]]: Nearly everyone. Hanamichi and Rukawa get beaten up, hit with the metal side of a mop. They're both left made bloody messes, and at one point Rukawa faints from bloodloss and lays in a pool of his own blood. They both proceed to beat the shit out of their respective opponents. Everyone received at least one attack, and while the redshirts were knocked out of the fight with one blow, Hanamichi made Tetsuo, a big muscular man, look like a fly by comparison.

* [[Madness Mantra]]: Hanamichi [[Improbable Weapon User|uses it]] to disrupt Uozumi's free throws. ''[[The Cuckoolander Was Right|It works]]''.

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* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: Ayako and Haruko, Fuji and Matsui.

* [[Tournament Arc]] (Regionals and Nationals)

* [[Training ~~From~~ Hell]] (Hanamichi's special training, either with Anzai or Gori - I mean, Akagi. The Ryonan training is actually so hard that the mere ''memories'' make *all* players, from Hikoichi to Sendoh to Uozumi, go weak at the knees.)

* [[Training from Hell]] (Hanamichi's special training, either with Anzai or Gori - I mean, Akagi. The Ryonan training is actually so hard that the mere ''memories'' make *all* players, from Hikoichi to Sendoh to Uozumi, go weak at the knees.)

* [[True Companions]]: Many: Sakuragi's gang of friends, and the baseketball teams themselves.

** Akagi even lampshades this trope. He bluntly states that he doesn't consider any of the starters his friends, but he does think they're the best teammates he could have.

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[[Category:Sports Stories]]

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[[Category:~~Slam Dunk~~]]

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