‘The First Slam Dunk’ is a 2022 basketball anime film produced by Toei Animation and Dandelion Animation Studio. The animated feature film is coming to North American theaters thanks to a distribution deal with GKids.
“GKIDS, celebrating its 15th anniversary as a producer and distributor of award-winning and artist-driven animation from around the world, and globally acclaimed and industry-leading animation studio Toei Animation, announced today that they will bring THE FIRST SLAM DUNK to theatres nationwide in the United States and Canada starting July 28tk,” GKids said on their website.
They also announced an English Dub cast which will include:
- Ryota Miyagi – Paul Castro Jr.
- Hisashi Mitsui – Jonah Scott
- Kaede Rukawa – Aleks Le
- Hanamichi Sakuragi – Ben Balmaceda
- Takenori Akagi – Aaron Goodson
Since its release, ‘The First Slam Dunk’ has won several accolades including the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year at the 46th Japan Academy Film Prize and the Okawa-Fukiya Award at the Niigata International Animation Film Festival 2023. During its run in Japan, the fifth highest-grossing anime film of all time.
You can watch the trailer below:
‘The First Slam Dunk’ is written and directed by Takehiko Inoue, who also wrote and illustrated the manga during its initial run. It was published in the pages of ‘Weekly Shōnen Jump’ magazine from October 1, 1990, to June 17, 1996. It is the seventh best-selling manga series in history.
Wikipedia describes the synopsis as follows,
“The film follows Ryota Miyagi, the point guard of Shohoku high-school’s basketball team. He had a brother, Sota, who was three years older than him, and who inspired his love for basketball. Ryota and his teammates Hanamichi Sakuragi, Takenori Akagi, Hisashi Mitsui, and Kaede Rukawa challenge the inter-high basketball champions, the Sannoh school.”
The Japanese cast includes voice actors Shugo Nakamura, Jun Kasama, Shinichiro Kamio, Subaru Kimura, Kenta Miyake, Maaya Sakamoto, Ryota Iwasaki, Chikahiro Kobayashi, Masafumi Kobatake, and Kenichiro Matsuda.
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