Netflix just added a modern classic to the service: “The First Slam Dunk,” a widely loved and critically acclaimed 2023 release.
The First Slam Dunk is not just one of the best anime movies, but one of the best movies of 2023. As the name suggests, it was a smash hit. The sports anime hit the big screen when Shohoku High School faced off against reigning champions Sannoh Kogyo High School for the regional championship.
The climax of Takehiko Inoue’s manga is brought to life through a stirring mix of CGI and hand-drawn animation, the former used for on-field action while the latter is used for flashbacks and the like. The result is a sports film for the ages and a trendsetter for anime on the big screen.
Takehiko Inoue wrote and directed the film, a sequel to the ’90s anime series that ended in 1996. Similar to Haikyuu!!, the television series only covered part of the manga, and the film now shows the rest.
The First Slam Dunk showed that there was interest in releases like this after Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, as the film grossed $279 million worldwide. That’s a huge amount for a non-English language film, and the earnings make it one of the highest-grossing films to come out of Japan.
Since then, we’ve had Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle and Spy x Family Code: White and Blue Lock: The Movie – Episode Nagi, all successes in their own right, and all of them launched a major franchise into theaters. Before that, the biggest anime films were productions from Studio Ghibli or Makoto Shinkai – today, not so much.
Reviews for The First Slam Dunk have also been very positive, as it now sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Starburst noted that it “brings basketball to life with stunning blended animation like no other film has done before,” and IGN wrote that it “delivers an exciting basketball game full of all the thrills and drama of an NBA Finals, with stunning visuals and camera angles that live action couldn’t replicate.”
So if you’ve been wanting to catch up, now’s your chance. Terminator Zero is also coming to Netflix soon, making it an exciting week for the service. For more, check out the other new movies available to stream this month.
