As generations of fans prepare for Anime Expo 2023, anime’s biggest event has announced a major film premiere at the July convention. The First Slam Dunk, the 2022 anime feature based around the time 1990 manga by Takehiko Inoue and its 1993 TV anime adaptation, is set to premiere on July 3rd at the convention. For fans of sports anime, its harder to think of a bigger premiere to hit the convention floor than this.
Produced by Toei Animation and distributed in North America by GKIDS, The First Slam Dunk comes to the States after a hugely successful international theatrical run. With the film being directed by the manga’s own creator—a special creative precedent in anime—the film brings a new creative edge to the iconic series.
Since its initial run in various international markets, the film has become one of the highest domestic-grossing anime features of all-time for Japan, as well as the second-highest grossing film of 2023 in South Korea and a strong performance in China as well. As eventual plans for a theatrical run after the premiere are being finalized, GKIDS has recently released a teaser trailer for the film’s North American run:
Although the American anime and manga boom of the 1990s hardly saw sports manga like Slam Dunk reaching the same popularity in the states as more fantastical shonen IP like Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon, the series was nothing short of a phenomenon in Japan. Its initial run in the famed Japanese weekly manga anthology Shonen Jump ran for an impressive six years from 1990 to 1996, with the run from 1993 onward coinciding with a 101-episode anime from Toei Animation. In tankobon format, the manga continues to print with over 170 million(!) copies sold globally. Slam Dunk proved so successful, in fact, that in 2010 the Japanese Basketball Association presented Inoue with a commendation for the manga’s influence in popularizing basketball in the country.
For the Anime Expo premiere, Toei has also confirmed that there will be a special tie-in for the first attendees to receive a convention-exclusive booklet containing concept art and information on the movie and franchise. There are 2,500 of these con-exclusive booklets being printed, although fans may want to try quickly to secure one in a convention that regularly sees 100,000 attendees over its 4 days. For fans of both sports anime as well as those interested in the return of an iconic retro property, the premiere of The First Slam Dunk is set to be a major highlight for anime’s biggest yearly event.