[Japanese Side] "If You Give Up, The Game Ends Right Then" Slam Dunk's Father, Inoue Takehiko

Inspired by basketball club activities during school days
1990s 'Slam Dunk' Phenomenal Popularity

“The left hand is just for support,” “The moment you give up is the moment the game ends.” These days, everyone I meet is caught up in talks about Slam Dunk. Even when meeting Japanese acquaintances living in Korea, “Have you watched Slam Dunk?” has become a common conversation topic.

Japanese media have also been frequently reporting on the Slam Dunk craze that has swept the Korean box office recently. Especially among people in their 30s and 40s around me, many say they enjoyed it while reminiscing about their childhood memories. Today, I would like to share a story about the original creator of the Slam Dunk manga, Takehiko Inoue.

Takehiko Inoue was born in 1967 in Kagoshima Prefecture. He has liked drawing since he was a child. Inoue’s experience as an athlete greatly influenced his decision to create Slam Dunk. He was active in the kendo club during his childhood and joined the basketball club in high school, eventually becoming the team captain. At that time, basketball clubs were not very popular in Japan.

Regarding why he joined the basketball club, Inoue explained that while his interest in ball sports played a part, he also avoided the kendo club because his older brother was in it, and he felt embarrassed. He participated with a friend and, not being very tall, mainly played defense.

At age 20, a work he submitted to the weekly manga magazine Shonen Jump caught the editor’s eye, and he began his career as a professional manga artist. He dropped out of university and moved to Tokyo. Working as a manga assistant, he learned the basics and debuted as a manga artist in 1988 with a work called Kaede Purple.

His representative work, Slam Dunk, which reflects his basketball club experience, began serialization in 1990. Basketball was not a very popular sport in Japan, and at the time, Dragon Ball was at its peak, so the initial response to the manga was lukewarm. However, it gradually gained popularity and rose to become one of the top manga of its era. Three years after serialization began, it was adapted into an animation, and by 2004, the total worldwide circulation exceeded 100 million copies. There were stories that Slam Dunk characters were inspired by American NBA players, which also helped boost the popularity of basketball in the U.S.

Inoue Takehiko

In the 1990s, when Japanese culture was fully entering Korea, the Slam Dunk craze also swept through Korea. As the “basketball boom” took off, Inoue established a scholarship foundation in 2006 to support youth basketball players using royalties from Slam Dunk. He has continued his creative work with titles like Vagabond.

Inoue himself directed the recent theatrical film The First Slam Dunk. He devoted several years to making the movie. Inoue said, “I feel like the characters continue to live somewhere even after the serialization ended. As I grow older, I recall many things, thinking, ‘Oh, this character was like this,’ or ‘This must have happened.’ There are new perspectives that weren’t visible 30 years ago, and viewpoints I couldn’t portray during serialization. In the film, I tried to incorporate some of these to present a fresh perspective.” Many reviews note that the theatrical version includes stories about Song Tae-seop that were not revealed in the original manga, adding a new layer of enjoyment.

Perhaps the reason working adults are once again enthusiastic about Slam Dunk is not only because of the manga itself but also because it evokes nostalgic memories of their school days. Inoue is also known as a tremendous hard worker and left a famous quote: “A professional is someone who keeps improving.” Like the passionate Buk San High School basketball team, I hope you have a weekend to recharge and renew your spirit.