The First Slam Dunk Is Coming to U.S. Theaters This Summer

The First Slam Dunk made its big debut on screens around Japan last year, and now fans in North America will soon get their chance to see the major revival in action on the big screen as The First Slam Dunk is coming to theaters in the United States and Canada later this Summer! Takehiko Inoue’s classic Slam Dunk manga made the jump to the big screen with its first new anime entry in a long time, and Inoue himself made their return to the franchise to helm the new movie as well. The First Slam Dunk has since taken over international territories. 

GKIDS has announced that they have licensed The First Slam Dunk from Toei Animation for a North American release later this Summer. While there has yet to be a concrete release date revealed for The First Slam Dunk‘s North American launch, the new movie will be screening in both its original Japanese language release alongside an all-new English dubbed version. The voice cast for the English dub have not been revealed yet either, but it’s an exciting prospect for many fans waiting for their chance to check it out. 

The First Slam Dunk: What to Know

The First Slam Dunk is written and directed by the original creator behind the Slam Dunk manga, Takehiko Inoue, for Toei Animation and DandeLion Animation with Yasuyuki Ebara as character designer and animation director, Daiki Nakazawa as CG director, Yuta Ogura as CG producer, Kazuo Ogura as art director, and Yota Tsuruoka and Koji Kasamatsu as sound directors. The Japanese voice cast includes the likes of Shugo Nakamura, Jun Kasama, Shinichiro Kamio, Subaru Kimura, and Kenta Miyake. 

GKIDS has released a new synopsis for The First Slam Dunk, and they begin to tease the upcoming movie as such, “Shohoku’s “speedster” and point guard, Ryota Miyagi, always plays with brains and lightning speed, running circles around his opponents while feigning composure. Born and raised in Okinawa, Ryota had a brother who was three years older. Following in the footsteps of his older brother, who was a famous local player from a young age, Ryota also became addicted to basketball.

The synopsis continues with, “In his second year of high school, Ryota plays with the Shohoku High School basketball team along with Sakuragi, Rukawa, Akagi, and Mitsui as they take the stage at the Inter-High School National Championship. And now, they are on the brink of challenging the reigning champions, Sannoh Kogyo High School.”

Are you excited to see The First Slam Dunk this Summer? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!