Slam Dunk Watch Order: The TV Series, Four Films and The First Slam Dunk
The 101-episode TV series, four short 1990s films, then The First Slam Dunk, Inoue's own 2022 film about the Sannoh game.
Watch the 101-episode Slam Dunk television series first, add the four 1990s films if you want more, and watch The First Slam Dunk (2022) last. The 2022 film is a new production with a new cast, and ANN's encyclopedia files it as "related to" the 1993 series rather than as one of its sequels. Takehiko Inoue, who created the manga, wrote and directed it, and it centers on Shohoku's game against Sannoh, which Netflix's own promotion calls "the final match depicted" in the manga.
Everything, in order
| Entry | Length | Released in Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Slam Dunk (TV series) | 101 episodes | October 16, 1993 to March 23, 1996 |
| Slam Dunk (film 1) | 30 minutes | March 12, 1994 |
| Slam Dunk: Zenkoku Seiha da! Sakuragi Hanamichi (film 2) | 45 minutes | July 9, 1994 |
| Slam Dunk: Shōhoku Saidai no Kiki! Moero Sakuragi Hanamichi (film 3) | 40 minutes | March 4, 1995 |
| Slam Dunk: Hoero Basketman Tamashii! Hanamichi to Rukawa no Atsuki Natsu (film 4) | 40 minutes | July 15, 1995 |
| The First Slam Dunk | 124 minutes | December 3, 2022 |
The television dates and episode count are from Toei Animation's own works list, which gives "101 episodes" aired "Oct. 16, 1993 - Mar. 23, 1996," and they match Anime News Network's entry. The four films' dates and running times are from ANN's entries for film 1, film 2, film 3 and film 4. The running time of The First Slam Dunk is from its North American distributor, GKIDS.
The television series and the manga
The television series ran while the manga was still being serialized. The 2022 film's official site dates the manga's Weekly Shonen Jump run from 1990's issue 42 to 1996's issue 27 and the television anime from October 1993 to March 1996. We have not found an official statement of exactly where in the story the television series stops, so this guide does not give a chapter for it.
Toei's own episode synopses do not give a chapter either, but they show where the television story runs out. Episode 84 ends the deciding game against Ryonan, and episode 85 opens with Shohoku bound for the national tournament. Episode 93 sends the team to a training camp in Shizuoka while Sakuragi stays behind to shoot 20,000 practice shots, the stretch VIZ's Vol. 22 synopsis describes. The series then closes on a practice game: in episodes 98 to 101, Shohoku plays a mixed team from Shoyo and Ryonan. No synopsis we read reaches the national tournament, which VIZ's Vol. 23 opens against Toyotama. Matching the two sets of synopses is our inference, not a statement from Toei or VIZ: Vol. 22 appears to cover the same lead-up, which makes it the natural place for a viewer to start reading, and from Vol. 23 on the books appear to go past anything the television series reached.
That also bears on whether the 1990s anime ever animated the Sannoh game. The television synopses stop short of the national tournament, and none of ANN's summaries of the four films, set out in the next section, names Sannoh. Among the entries in this guide, The First Slam Dunk is the only one whose description puts Shohoku against Sannoh.
The four 1990s films
ANN describes the 1993 series as having "received four anime film sequels," and its encyclopedia links them in a chain after the television series. Its summaries place the first film against Takezono High and a player from Sakuragi's junior high, the second in the Inter-High against Tsukubu, whose coach is a former student of Anzai, the third in an exhibition game against Ryokufu after a loss to Kainan, and the fourth around a player from Rukawa's old junior high who wants one last game with him. They run between 30 and 45 minutes. Watching them after the television series is our suggestion; nothing in these sources requires them for the main story.
ANN also lists a 47-minute 1994 special, Slam Dunk: Ketsui no Shōhoku Basuke-bu, as a compilation of the television series. It can be skipped.
The First Slam Dunk
The official staff page credits Inoue with the original story, the screenplay and the direction (原作・脚本・監督), and lists Toei Animation and DandeLion Animation Studio as the animation studios. ANN's August 2023 report says the film "marked Inoue's debut as a director." It opened in Japan on December 3, 2022, and, per ANN, in the United States and Canada on July 28, 2023.
The film follows Ryota Miyagi rather than Sakuragi. GKIDS describes him as Shohoku's "speedster" and point guard, raised in Okinawa and following an older brother into basketball, and ends its synopsis with Shohoku "on the brink of challenging the reigning champions, Sannoh Kogyo High School." ANN's cast report lists a new main cast, with Shūgo Nakamura as Ryota and Subaru Kimura as Sakuragi.
Why watch it last when it has a new cast and a self-contained game? Because the game it adapts is where the manga's story ends. A viewer who starts with it sees the finale first; one who starts with the television series meets the team in order. Both work. Asked about a sequel, Inoue told an audience in August 2023, per ANN, "So I'm not going to say anything right now."
Where to watch
For English audio, the two productions differ. The First Slam Dunk opened in the United States and Canada with an English dub as well as subtitles; ANN's dub-cast report names Ben Balmaceda as Sakuragi, Paul Castro Jr. as Ryota, Jonah Scott as Mitsui, Aleks Le as Rukawa and Aaron Goodson as Akagi. The television series has only a partial English dub. ANN's 2024 history of the series in North America says Kaleidoscope Entertainment dubbed it for DVDs first scheduled for March 2005, but only twenty dubbed episodes came out before the later volumes were canceled, and a 2015 DVD from Flatiron Films collected the first 14.
ANN reported in July 2023 that Toei Animation began streaming the television series on its YouTube channel, adding episodes weekly. Netflix announced The First Slam Dunk for streaming in August 2024, in a post reproduced by ComicBook. Availability differs by country and changes, so check before you rely on either. To read the story the anime draws on, the Slam Dunk catalog lists VIZ's 31 English volumes, and Sakuragi and Rukawa have their own pages.