Slam Dunk: Chapters 270 - 276 & Epilogue Reaction!

Hey! Please message me and I will get this to you!

Romaniablack

ONOLAND アンニョン

Oooooooohhhh, I can imagine it's going to be dark, but that is intriguing! There were so many subtly dark undertones in Slam Dunk (Sakuragi's dad and the player that went to America), but it looked like Inoue wanted to keep it mild (since it's high school and all)...I'm curious to see how this story goes! **nervous laugh**

Romaniablack

I haven't actually read Real. I vaguely remember reading maybe first few chapters, or first volume back in high-school (20 years ago). Back then I was like "Damn, I ain't ready for this. This is dark." and kinda drifted away. Vagabond started coming out shortly after and I was keeping up with that for a few years. Life, etc. happened and I never really got to read Real. Vagabond is also dark, but different kind of dark. I guess reading about permanently disabled people was just too much for a youngster. Can't relate, don't want to relate, life was just beginning, etc. Maybe now I'll be able to appreciate it. Maybe.

石原 悟

I am excited for them both, regardless! :D :D

Romaniablack

In all seriousness, that moment when Sakuragi and Rukawa exhanged passes (the latter scoring the winning points) -- I lost it, there. That was SO BRILLIANT. And the fact that it WASN'T a dunk to win it, that it was that one shot he'd practiced over 20,000 times. I love it. It's just so perfect! This series left me hungry for more moments with Sakuragi and Rukawa, but I feel we get it at the end when Rukawa runs past him on the beach! And that makes so much sense with Mitsui -- yeah, poor boy riding on getting that sports scholarship, haha! I love that he stays behind with Miyagi, though! :3 This series was SO good! I really am looking forward to "Real," though! Especially because it's his follow-up and he's had time to develop it. SO excited, but I thank you so much for all these wonderful comments! I hope you'll join me for "Real." I'm investing in the ACTUAL official copies for it, though, since Viz has released the series on digital. ^^

Romaniablack

Oh mannn, thinkin about it again. Ill give the slight edge to Vagabond. The trifecta is absurdly good tho lol, personal preference. I feel I relate more to Vagabond.

Zhao

I LOVE this. I've read manga that have "pittered off" because the mangaka was burnt out -- **CoughCough**BLEACH**COUGH** -- but that's a discussion for another day. And that makes SO much sense with Togashi and YYH -- I was so disappointed with its ending. I like that Inoue chose to go out on top. It's bittersweet and we're left wanting more, but the fact that he got to end in his own way? That's fantastic to me. And OH, so Hiroshi's team didn't win! I'm glad -- he was so cocky towards the end of this manga. I like that we don't get an official winner declared, but the fact that Hiroshi's team DIDN'T win gives me some comfort, haha!

Romaniablack

Thank you for the translations, here!! The "When were your glory days" line gets me so hard! Sakuragi just wanted to live in that moment, knowing this was his best . I LOVE the translation for that last part in that "basketball" will be waiting!! That is so much better -- I cannot wait to get Slam Dunk volume 31's official translations in my hands! :D Thank you for the "gratz," haha -- let me get to your other comments, though! ^^

Romaniablack

Ohhhh, you think "Real" is his masterpiece!? That is SO exciting!! And yeah, I may have to finish the Inoue trifecta, eh? :P

Romaniablack

Your going to love Real, I feel its his masterpiece. Hopefully you do Vagabond too 🙏😭

Zhao

UGH, the LONGING for more Slam Dunk; I feel that's where I'm going to be with this series! It was such an abrupt ending, but at least they went out on top, making us want more rather than feel burned out. :/ This series was sooooo good and I'm so glad I read it! Thank you for the kind words; it definitely has me more interesting in sports manga/anime, and I'm going to REALLY enjoy his next work, "Real," I feel. <3

Romaniablack

😢 its so good man lol

Zhao

Finally I can start talking about what happened in this volume lol The panel of Rukawa doing the high five with Sakuragi is probably the most famous panel of this story. Two guys who hated each other from day one. Sakuragi passed to Rukawa. Rukawa, who never believed in anyone but himself left Sakuragi with the final shot. He trusted the noob with the decisive shot. The all talk guy. And it wasn’t a dunk. Slam Dunk did not end with a slam dunk. It was a basic, simple, standard jump shot taken by the noob who first touched a basketball 4 months prior to this. Them two together gets me all misty eyed))) The whole story was for that exact moment. The pay off. Something bigger than winning nationals or continuing the journey of high school basketball. The growth of characters was there. Also the constant theme of regrets. Inoue is a firm believer that teenagers should have regrets. Sakuragi would’ve regretted not going back to court. If the injury proved fatal, he might’ve regretted going back on court. Such is life. Maybe he regretted that jump on table, cuz he couldn’t play in next game. Maybe he didn’t. Anzai was on verdge of regretting his decision forever. Maybe he still does regret it. Was it worth it? Who knows. But life goes on. Everyone got something out of that game. It’s up to them to make it meaningful or turn into a bitter regret. Which might provide something good too, down the line. Mitsui’s injury really added to his stubbornness I think. After 2 years he was back, and he wasn’t going to leave just because his vision is blurry and limbs feel like they’re made of lead. Things like that. Mitsui is still on the team. Why would he retire? Third years don’t have to retire in the summer. Most do to study for the entrance exams, but it’s Mitsui. His grades are atrocious. No way that delinquent is aiming to enter a uni. So he stayed. Shoyo got all their third years on team too. Winter Cup is coming. Depending on what uni one aims at it’s hardly surprising if some third years stay to play. If they got the grades and confidence to be able to handle both club activity and studies, why not? Akagi and Kogure are just too much of good students lol.

石原 悟

Now, what about manga? Why did Inoue end right here? Several reasons. One, Inoue felt he wouldn’t be able to draw a better game. He did not want to draw something inferior to what he already drew, so he decided to end it here. There was also pressure from the editors of Shonen Jump. Shonen Jump already had a nasty history of forcing selling authors into continuing the popular series. Like happened to Toriyama and his Dragon Ball. Toriyama was bullied into continuing and we got Dragon Ball Z. That’s why suddenly the story was basically gone and all we had were all these ever more powerful villains coming one after other with plot holes all over. Toriyama would even forget earlier villains. He cared that little. Another famous example is Togashi with Yu-Yu-Hakusho. Immensely popular manga/anime. Togashi was always lazy and wanted to do things on his own pace, but after actually becoming sick from all the pressure produced by editors he said “F it, I’m done,” instantly shredded all plot lines and abruptly ended the story. Now comes Inoue. His own look on things was that “if editors get to decide to drop the series when they’re doing poorly, then it should be author’s call to drop the series which sale very well”. Slam Dunk was selling very well. So Inoue basically told off the editors saying “It’s my story, it’s selling very well, I don’t feel I can outperform myself right now, and I have 0 intentions of doing a sloppy job just for the profits. Suck it.” You kinda see this mentality in the author’s last statement about how he feels negative in relation to profit driven mass media. Btw, Hiroshi (the big first year hyped up for eternity) did not win the nationals. We actually don’t know who did. But Inoue made it clear that Hiroshi’s team was not the one. I think official translation will include the omitted part about how Aiwa (who beat Shohoku) also lost, and so on.

石原 悟

First, gratz on finishing this gem of a sport story. Now you truly see why Slam Dunk is considered to be the forefather of the modern days sport manga and the anime adaptations they get. Inoue nailed the formula he created. Now then. This post will be just on translation. I had to bring out a word file to take notes as I watched, because translation here is truly miles off. Or perhaps I just remember the lines in this volume much better because they’re very impactful. Good thing there wasn’t much text compared to other chapters. Anyways. Let’s start with last volume as you got the official translation. As you noticed, Sakuragi did indeed sound like he was making a confession to Haruko. He literally said “Very much love”. It’s how our language works. Constant omission of subject. That exact phrasing usually means one is confessing love for the other person. Also Mitsui saying “This sound keeps reviving me time and time again”. Official translation is the correct one here. On to this volume. Very first chapter. Coach Anzai wraps his arm around Sakuragi and says “I immediately noticed you were hurt, but I hesitated to sub you out. All because I wanted to keep watching. Keep watching as you keep improving with each play at incredible speed. I almost made a decision which I would regret for the rest of my life.” Anzai was so in awe of how Sakuragi keeps getting better, he wanted to keep watching forever, but that would mean irrepairable damage (potentially) and Anzai would’ve regretted not subbing for the rest of his days. That’s what’s going on. Sakuragi retorts with “Old man, when were your days of glory? When you were on the national team? For me, it’s right now.” Translators just completely misunderstood the “all Japan” part and somehow thought Sakuragi referred to nationals. We don’t even know if Anzai ever won nationals. Sakuragi referred to the days as part of the national team, the days of being in top 5~10 in the country. Which could be Sakuragi’s future, but no, he lives right here right now. This game is his moment of glory. He doesn’t care what may or may not happen in future, he only knows that right here he is shining. He also probably doesn’t believe he could be hurt to the point of being unable to play basketball. He’s young. He can’t imagine himself permanently damaged, no one can in their youth. Then Rukawa. He said “Don’t just stand there, you’re an eyesore. If you’re coming in, get moving and come back already”. Yet another simply dumb mistranslation. Oh, and the whole “defend till death” is just “defend like your lives depend on it” translated in a weird way. Kogure says “nice run Mitsui” because the exhausted Mitsui ran all the way to the line in this fast break to be in place for potential pass and chance to score. Which he did. All these 3 pointers is why I was not on board with your “Mitsui shooting was very not on board against Kainan. He kinda overdoes it.” Nah, Mitsui gets them in. When it truly counts, he scores 100/100 lol And yes, the fanfiction ending fell into same trap as the “Very much love” translated into “I love basketball very much”. Haruko is not waiting. She did not write “I’ll be waiting”. She wrote “Will be waiting. The game of basketball that you love so much will be waiting.”

石原 悟

"I just feel like I'm left wanting more" Welcome to being an Inoue fan 😭. I definitely feel the ending was so sudden, abrupt(Hated the Sakuragi injury), but what can you do lol. Love this series, thanks for reacting. I love it when people feel the magic of Slam Dunk, made me fell in love with basketball too.

Zhao