Takehiko Inoueโs Slam Dunk (SLAM DUNK) is a basketball manga that began in issue 42 of Weekly Shonen Jump, on sale October 1, 1990, and ended with issue 27 of 1996, on sale June 17. It runs 276 chapters; the tankobon went from volume one in February 1991 to volume 31 in October 1996, followed by a 24-volume Complete Edition in 2001 and 2002 and, in 2018, a 20-volume New Edition with every cover redrawn and the volumes re-cut at the storyโs turning points. More than 185 million copies are in print worldwide across 30 countries and regions, a figure the filmโs official site published in October 2024. The premise is simple: Hanamichi Sakuragi, a delinquent turned down by 50 girls in middle school, joins the basketball team on a word from a girl he likes and ends up playing in the national tournament as a complete beginner.
In Korea the series started in the weekly Sonyeon Champ in 1992, published by Daewon, now Daewon C.I. The setting was moved to Korea and the characters were renamed, with Sakuragi becoming Kang Baek-ho, Rukawa becoming Seo Tae-woong, and so on, and those names are still in use today. The 31-volume edition was followed by the Complete Edition in 2001 and the New Edition in 2018, both from Daewon C.I., and as of January 2023 more than 14.5 million copies had been sold in Korea alone. The TV anime aired in Japan from October 16, 1993 to March 23, 1996, for 101 episodes.
What carried the series beyond its original generation was the film The First Slam Dunk. Inoue directed and wrote it himself, retelling the mangaโs final game against Sannoh Kogyo from point guard Ryota Miyagiโs perspective, and it opened in Japan on December 3, 2022. It grossed 15.7 billion yen by the end of its first run in August 2023 and 16.48 billion yen by the end of fiscal 2024 including revivals, and won Animation of the Year at the 46th Japan Academy Film Prize. In Korea it opened on January 4, 2023 and passed Your Name. to become the highest-grossing Japanese anime film released there. It finished with 4.88 million admissions, and its final screening came exactly two years after opening, on January 4, 2025. Suzume later reached 5.589 million, and in November 2025 Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle passed that with 5.593 million, so as of November 2025 The First Slam Dunk ranks third among Japanese films released in Korea.
The reason to read it now is that the way you can read it has changed. After serialization ended, Slam Dunk stayed print-only for decades. On June 2, 2025 the first e-book edition went on sale in Japan, announced by Inoue himself on X, and on October 29, 2025 Ridi released Daewon C.I.โs 20-volume New Edition as e-books in Korea. The film keeps coming back as well. Japan ran a two-week revival from October 13 to 26, 2025 in about 120 theaters, with 61 IMAX screens starting early on October 3, and Korea marked the third anniversary with a limited run from January 14, 2026 in CGV IMAX, Megabox Dolby Cinema, and Lotte Cinema Gwangeum formats. Issue 2 of Weekly Shonen Jump for 2026, on sale December 8, 2025, carried a conversation between Inoue and Sakamoto Days creator Yuto Suzuki. On a sequel, Inoue has said he will neither confirm nor deny one, and as of August 2026 nothing has been announced.
If you saw the film first, open the manga at the Sannoh game near the end and you will see at once which scenes the film left out. If you are starting fresh, volume one works fine. The early volumes lean toward comedy, and the games get longer once the prefectural tournament begins in the middle of the run. The English edition is on VIZ, and the Korean edition is an e-book on Ridi. (As of August 21, 2026)
