The First Slam Dunk

Ryota Miyagi, known by the nickname "dagger", is the point guard for the Shohoku basketball team. He is full of himself and his game is based on speed and great intelligence, which will make him always baffle his rivals. Ryota is a young man who was born in Okinawa, where he grew up, along with his brother three years older than him, who was involved in basketball from a very young age and who has been considered a great basketball prodigy at the local level. That is why Ryota has wanted to follow the footsteps of his older brother.

Already in the second year of high school, Ryota manages to qualify with the Shohoku basketball team for the national championship. Along with him will play his high school classmates Rukawa, Sakuragi, Mitsui and Akagi. They will play against Sannoh Industrial institute, the current champions that they will have to face.

The film is written and directed by Takehiko Inoue, who makes is debut as director movie. He also adapted the anime for the small screen, and the movie features the voices of Shugo Nakamura and Jun Kasama, among others. The film features two types of animation, using 3DCG for the scenes in which they play basketball, and hand-drawn 2D animation for the everyday scenes. The film won the Japanese Academy Award 2023 for best animation picture.