International Feature: The First Slam Dunk

And , as two people who aren't really into sports , anime , but are a fan of a pretty big one that we're representing here tonight , we thought it would be a good idea to jump into a series that has been very popular , but a movie that is supposed to be pretty nice to new fans and trying to get them in , that movie is called the first slam .

And , yeah , we'll see how this episode goes Because , based on scores and feedback , a lot of people love this one and you know , just remember that everything is objective . Just remember that people are allowed to like what they like . So I'll just start it off that way , I guess .

So the first slam dunk has been talked about in a lot of film circles by a lot of people and one of the things I was really scared about was that this is a this is a movie that takes place within an existing , longstanding and old anime series thing that I researched and reviews that I had read .

It seemed to be catered to both existing fans and new fans of this story , with the scores behind it , the fact that phil randomly brought up like maybe we do the last dance as a option uh , you know , yeah I to say , was this your compromise ? I was thinking I was like , oh , basketball Sabes , you know .

And I was like , maybe Red jerseys , yeah , red jerseys , the Bulls . So maybe we could give this a shot . And I got to say that this isn't quite the movie I thought it was .

But I am excited to dive into both the highs and the lows because for me , international feature at first , I think in conception , was like let's just highlight all these great international films . But that's not . That's easier said than done .

You know what I mean and I think what this series has really been about is featuring international films that you may not know about and how we reacted to them , which is essentially what we do with Late to the Party in things of pop culture . Now , this movie is fairly successful .

We'll talk about some of those numbers , I'm sure as well , but from a pop culture standpoint , while we see them at conventions , I don't know that . We talk about the slam dunk series in everyday life like we would other anime series . So that's why I ended up here .

On International Feature and Phil , I know we'll get into synopsis and everything , so I will let us get started there .

So , um , yeah , first slam dunk came out in 2022 and it was directed by tahiko inoue . Look at that , look how fast I am a fast learner . Now the rest of this synopsis might be rough , so I apologize . I couldn't look up everything .

But Shoku's speedster and point guard , ryota Miyagi , always plays with brains and lightning speed , running circles around his opponents while feigning composure .

In his second year of high school , ryota plays with the Shoku 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 , shinokugyo High School . And one thing that has always kind of like drawn me to this , eric right , and probably you as well is the art style .

And , regardless of how this thing has started off and how we're alluding to , how we responded to it , one thing that is undeniable , eric I've never seen an anime animated like this .

It is insane down to you know that I'm a very big basketball fan Down to the feeling of like the sound design , like feeling like you're on the court , the importance of what that sounds like when people are like being really physical , like in the paint and also defense and , of course , the most important thing , which is this the ball going into the basket ,

the very , very like realistic sounds . When it came to the basketball hitting the rim and the backboard , it's insane . Like if you weren't looking at the screen and you were just listening , you would think that you were listening to like an actual , like high school or college basketball game and that was absolutely insane from the get-go .

I was like what is this animation ? This is crazy , and I think it's a combination of cgi as well as 2d , if I remember correctly .

Because for me I definitely it took maybe two to three minutes and then I was in it Like , and that's a risky choice when it comes down to adding those 3D and CG elements , because they don't always work and in this movie it made it feel really special , skipping way , way too far ahead .

In the same breath , they also do some special things towards the end of the film , which is such a sports cliche , you know , like that final minute or 30 seconds of a game . It was really really cool Some of the things that they did in that standpoint , in that scene . So there were like really really good scenes that showed that this blend can work .

And I think when I saw the trailer I was worried about how I would feel about it , but I got over it pretty quickly , which is probably the most positive thing I can say is I overcame that kind of trepidation very , very quickly .

Some of that has been mixed as far as the response , but most people have said that they really enjoyed the upgrade in terms of the uh , the animation , and we're seeing , you know , post a lot of people credit , you know , of course , the Spider-Verse films , with this kind of renaissance we're seeing in animation , and I'm sure there are other examples , but that's

the one that's the most prevalent . Like , right , like we're seeing people take risks when it comes to animation . And there is this new like obviously , put some boots to last wish , take a shot . We'll get out of the way early . But , eric , there is a movie coming out on netflix really soon . It's like a k-pop demon slayer anime .

Have you seen the trailer for that ? Um , but do you know what I'm talking about ? No , yeah , it's a k-pop group . That's like . They're like demon slayers and the trailer comes out , I think , tomorrow . We're recording this on the evening of may 21st it's literally called k-pop demon hunters . I think k-pop demon slayer .

We talk about pretty much every animated film that we talk about how disney is in this loop where we're like the animation is stale , so that right away for sure is a standout and I'm sure even somebody that jumped in for the first time , like like I said , will be a little taken aback .

But ultimately I don't think that anybody could come away from this and think that they that it's not good . Yeah no , of course .

So that is pretty interesting when it comes down to it , but I don't know To be fair when we talk about basketball films .

Really , all we're saying is that the bar is low , right right , and here's the thing is I I think I would have enjoyed this more seeing it on a big screen because of the animation , and I didn't know anything else really about this anime , specifically going into it eric , what did you know ?

Other you know there's a basketball anime and a manga out there that's really popular .

I don't I'm probably butchering that , but there are two basketball series that I'm familiar with that one and then this one , and I knew it was like an older 90s anime and I had seen it represented in some fashion , which is why it was on my radar , but , like other than that , not very much on my radar . I didn't know when this movie came out .

Phil , this movie is a 2022 film . I did not have that on my radar at that year but again , as we went into 2023 and beyond , this movie kept popping up in circles that I listened to about anime and film , so it was always kind of I don't want to say a bucket list movie , but it always was a movie that I thought we would eventually get to .

Considering you're the basketball head , I'm the anime guy it seemed like potentially

a match made in heaven , with the assumption that it was kind to new viewers , and we'll talk about whether or not it was in a moment . I do want to bring up other movies , phil , because the list came up . No site is referencing this movie , which is weird , but it does seem to be the highest one . Space Jam White man Can't Jump .

White Men Can't Jump Like Mike Glory Road . Uncle Drew Semi-Pro .

We've talked about that here in the podcast , and sometimes a lot of those things don't really cross . There's not a lot of Venn diagram between anime and also a big time sports fans . As far as professional sports , that doesn't happen very often .

I am not a big fan of like sports movies , because one thing that we really don't like here on the podcast , eric , is what Cliches and every sports movie . It just cannot beat the real thing .

So , like what just happened yesterday again to give non-sports fans an idea , like what happened between the knicks and the pacers yesterday , eric , cannot be scripted , it just happens and that's what makes sports so incredible . The jaguar is coming back from 27 . Nothing in a . If it happened in a movie , you'd be like this is bullshit , this is , this is stupid .

But when it happens in real life and there's real life consequences , it cannot be beat . That's why , like , it is cinema in and of itself .

So like I don't watch a lot of sports films because , again , they can just write the way you know somebody is going to win , right , like films , such , uh , like exceptions would be like , um , remember the titans , where it's not really about the football .

winning goal , something like that . And I'm interested to see like why that works for us in something such as Blue Lock , which we are representing here today , and why it maybe didn't work as much here in the first slam dunk .

I do also think that the structure of the movie is interesting , I will say , for not knowing anything about these characters having the back and forth between the game and the flashbacks , I will say , worked more times than it didn't for me .

I don't know that it was a fully positive element , but we were introduced to quite a bit of characters , quite a bit of characters , in a two hour and four minute runtime , and I will say that that felt like a healthy runtime for the story that they were trying to tell within a singular game .

So we'll keep some of the key plot points pretty spoiler-free for this one , but those are probably some of the other big positives . I also did like the camaraderie between the main team , at least some of the core members of that team . For the most part , we'll talk about the voice acting on the other side of it .

I did watch this in dub and you know I love a good dub . They're not all good , though , so we'll talk a little bit about that , phil , what any other kind of call outs . You want to mention stuff that you did enjoy about the film that maybe I didn't touch on just there .

So they'll be in a game , but then we'll get a side story of a character and then they'll sprinkle in some soccer , you know , and I think that works in a long episode format and , like you said , I think for the most part it was . I think it was like mixed results as well as far as doing it here in the movie and in a two hour runtime .

So I thought you know that it was going to be all about . Uh , you know the protagonist that we meet in the beginning , who goes through tragedy , and then it turns out that we're going to get a little bit of actually every single one of these characters , and it's at one point I'm like wait , this character doesn't have red hair .

And this flashback is this the same characters ? Am I still following the same person ? Oh , this person is someone's brother . I don't't know . There were just things in there that I wasn't following , and that wasn't necessarily because it was confusing . It's because by that time I was a little uninterested . And again , we're kind of jumping ahead .

I know you told me to put up some positives , but I'm trying here because I'm not trying to like be completely negative . It's like one of the worst things that can really happen when we watch anything whether it be movie , tv show , video game is you get a little bored , and that's kind of what happened here .

It's a movie that wants the audience familiar with the story to experience it as if it was their first time , but those unfamiliar with it to have this be their first slam dunk experience .

So that was a key statement that led me , in addition to some of the reviews by people who had watched it and not watched it , to think that this would be a good introduction . So , phil , kind of transitioning into some of the opportunities for this movie , I don't feel this is a good introduction to the franchise . I don't think so either .

I don't feel this is a good introduction to the franchise . I don't think so . There's too much going on . They try their best with flashbacks , but I would assume those would be more effective on a second watch and more context of the anime . So it also is like not just any game , it's like a game to get them to a championship . You know what I mean .

Like it feels like we needed to spend some pretty decent time with all of these characters together . So , like I , like their camaraderie as much as we got , but it wasn't very fleshed out and I think that is a key issue . There is also a lot of drama that happens here .

I mean Jesus Christ , that poor mother , that poor mom yeah , she was going through it . She was going through it , the first therapy session . That's what movie she needs to be in , also , surprisingly , lack of slam dunks , for , being honest , not enough slam dunks .

But you know , I also , I also didn't tell my brother to go out into the sea and kill himself . I never returned .

Why am I blanking on the name of the solo leveling main character , uh jinwoo . Imagine jinwoo like crossing over a demon , like , like , something like that , like that's not gonna work . He's just gonna like stab in the heart .

So , in order to make up for the lack of really consequences , there has to be something , something else like really at stake , like here , I just did not feel that .

So , like with blue lock , these players are playing for their soccer future , their , their football future , right , if they get eliminated from blue lock , they can never play on the national team and play in the world cup , and that is huge . So like it's difficult for me to really care about one .

A high school , two high schools I've never heard of , a bunch of characters I've really never heard of as well , and they're throwing all this backstory in which would have been more interesting in the long form as like like episodes , like they do in Blue Lock .

So we get attached to characters and then when they get essentially Blue Lock's version of killed off , like we're emotional about it because we've gotten to know them , we've gotten to spend

time with them and those relationships get to build up . So I just don't see how people can say this is a good introduction when there's so much layer that can definitely tell these are layered characters . But doing it in this format and in a two hour runtime , that doesn't really feel like it does justice to them .

And now I'm coming away from it not wanting to watch the anime or read the manga because I had a subpar performance in the movie and that's not fair to what has gone into this story . But that's what happened .

I don't know that I was ever gonna get invested enough to go back to watch an older anime , especially given you know some of our history , the hits and misses more misses than hits when it comes to that . So I don't know .

Like , again , I was kind of hoping this would be a fresh story , kind of a clean cut story that we would get , that would pay homage to it , because it's also all new voice actors . From what I understand , they did not bring back the original voice care voice actors .

Very similarly , for that reason , this was kind of supposed to be a new storytelling of these characters . So very interesting choices overall , I think , trying to have your cake and eat it too . Try to make your existing fan base happy and also introduce it to brand new people . I again , we also only know blue lock really as our sports anime .

But there are so many things about that and I do want to mention as a positive the last minute of the game for me . I want to know what your thoughts were definitely bumped up my score a tad bit because I was invested . Now I was also almost in the same boat . I was like borderline bored . I wasn't quite there .

That's why when that last minute happens in the game , I was actually kind of invested and I really enjoyed it . And I know you haven't finished watching season two of Blue Lock . But Blue Lock and it's so much better .

Unfortunately , Blue Lock has a final matchup in the last bit of the final match of the season and it's some of the best animation I've ever seen . It's some of the best storytelling and how everything happens . I'm obsessed with it .

The first slam dunk didn't quite give me that feeling Cause you know you spend all this time with the characters in a show and you get to that moment . Even if it's a little cliche , it's executed really well and I think that's why we like blue lock as a show .

The first slam dunk doesn't quite do that for me , but there were elements of it , you know , elements of that sports intensity , that moment you feel in crunch time and I don't know it was something about that last minute of the game that like really elevated it for me .

Did it do anything like that for you , and then maybe just the sports in general , like how did you react to the basketball of it all ?

excited . Now , like putting in like , mixing in like manga panels and and then making it silent , like all that is really really cool and I think it would have definitely I know it would have hit much more if , yeah , I had been invested the first hour and 45 minutes , you know .

So , um , it didn't do anything to affect my score because at that point I had already kind of made up my mind , because I had checked and not checked out , but I had already been relatively disinterested . But it is a really , really cool sequence .

It's just it came at the end of like a story that I wasn't really interested in and characters that I hadn't really bought it .

The basketball of it I touched on that a little bit in the beginning it's sound design and just the pure nostalgia and the kind of what's the word that I'm looking for , the feeling you get when you just like hit a shot and there's just , it's just nothing but net .

That type of euphoria that's the word I was looking for is unmatched and they nailed it in this and it is so good and you really feel like the importance of every single basket . And it's a tech , from a technical standpoint , from if , like an actual basketball fan , a lot of this looked really good .

Of course there's some stuff in there that is , you know , overblown for for , uh , anime purposes and and um , but for the most part , all of it was really technically sound . I will just say that the coach was pissing me off for not calling a timeout sooner .

When they're doing this full court press , I'm like call a timeout Also probably medical malpractice , to let the red hair guy come back into the game like a teenager .

I watched it and I was like I did like it , but I'm curious how much the basketballness of it all is going to weigh into your score , either positively or negatively . So I'm glad to see , at least on that aspect , from watching it from a fan of the sport , it was at least worth a watch .

As far as the reception of this movie and what our scores were , I think that's a great transition point .

Unless there were any other kind of criticisms you had for the movie , I think the biggest crime is that this is not as catered to someone unfamiliar with the story and I think for that reason it can make the story more bland than it already is for being a traditional sports story , right , and I think it doesn't do the movie any favors .

So anything else you want to call out before we go into reception and scores no , because anything else is not fair , and I understand why people enjoyed this .

When it comes to Rotten Tomatoes , it is pretty much as high as you can possibly get Tomato meter wise , 100% certified fresh , and a 99 popcorn meter score over on imdb . It is currently carrying an 8 out of 10 , which anything above a 7.5 on imdb is really good , and then when we get to letterboxd it is sitting at a 4.2 out of 5 .

I ended up giving this a two and a half out of five , and really most of that , if not all of it , is specifically the animation style and , like I've already talked about , the basketball itself is really really good .

But when I find myself not really caring too much about the characters , when there is obviously a very emotional plot point not only the emotional through line for what is essentially the main character but also these other characters , if I'm not buying into that , then I can't really give it at least a three , which is like a movie that I would possibly watch

again . I don't really have any interest in looking into this anymore and going back and learning more about the characters of the film . So yeah , two and a half for me .

I was right there with you at a two and a half for this movie Uh , I would say almost unrecommendable to anyone who hasn't seen it .

But I was invested enough in the characters , in the story and enjoying the animation and the basketball enough that by that final minute like again , I cannot stress that final minute and the way that that was executed I couldn't help but get invested and I think that at least gave it enough to bump it up to a three for me .

I think this movie I can understand it at two and a half . I have a little bit more of a hard time understanding how someone could think this is great in any way , shape or form , putting it at a three . I could still kind of see that . It's definitely far from a perfect film , I think , in general , but I can at least see it .

And Phil , for a movie that is ranked number four on Tomatometer for anime films . I think I was just expecting a little bit more and I'm a little disappointed .

But I also have to understand with this particular series it's molded into something where when we're featuring international films , international films are just like everything else there are going to be highs , there are going to be lows . There's going to be good films and there's going to be films that don't quite vibe with us .

I do recommend at a three , though , that you make your mind up by watching it , and that's kind of . That's kind of where I ended . And if you're curious , phil , on my international films , we have 33 ranked through Letterboxd . This fell in between Blue Eye , samurai and the Host .

I'd really like to know because obviously , in you know well , all over the world basketball is really popular , but Japan , specifically basketball and then , speaking as a Filipino in the Philippines , like basketball is huge . So I really would like to know some of that crossover and how many people also watch the NBA or international basketball .

Some of these reviews are pretty funny . Japanese Top Gun Maverick I thought was pretty funny . I saw one earlier today I can't find it now and it was like damn , if only basketball were real . So I thought that was pretty good . But yeah , I mean people really enjoy this and certainly would implore others to check it out and form your own opinion .

Do we have some comparisons for other sports movies , eric or basketball movies ? We kind of went over some of them , I guess .

And again a 10 part , as much as I would a 10 part documentary is a lot to ask when it comes to that . But listen , if you tell us we might , uh might , do it since blue lock and then , now that you've watched this , are there any ? Do you have any desire to go into the other sports anime like ?

I'm looking at a couple of these and I think slam .

And one thing you can do , of course , is follow us over on social media , the most important ones being Instagram , tiktok , our thriving discord community , as well as Twitch . We are on Twitch a lot now , so we're having a lot of fun over there . You can also find all of our episodes Spotify , apple podcast , pretty much wherever .

While you are doing that , please also make sure you're leaving five-star reviews , letting people know that you're enjoying the show . Those reviews are very , very crucial to the life of a podcast , so we appreciate those of you that have done so already and you can tag us .

Let us know that you're listening , let other people know that you are listening and enjoying the show . We really very much appreciate that and we love seeing it . It's a good boost for our confidence .

So we thank you so much , and also Eric and I's personal journeys , as Eric continues to pump out content over on his personal pages , and my ongoing pursuit to be a full-time voice actor . So we got a lot going on within the WayForward podcast group .

But if you find yourself maybe wanting to get episodes a little bit earlier podcast group , but if you find yourself maybe wanting to get episodes a little bit earlier seeing some behind the scenes stuff becoming part , a part of a really cool community Eric we'll let you know about that before logging us out .

macaroni , cory's from the world is my burrito , and nick casbaro for the author of the vidalarium series . We appreciate all of them supporting us monthly through patreon and in exchange they're getting behind the scenes . Early access , very early access now to these type of episodes , plus a lot more .

If you were at bold batsuri , we more than likely around the time of this episode dropping , we'll have this available to you a vlog of bold and how that went for us behind the scenes . So a lot of reasons to join us and support us there .

But again , if you can't do that , join our discord , join into the conversation , click on an episode , give us those five-star ratings and share it with your friends . Like comments , subscribes , all the stuff you know to do . But with that being said , my name is Mr Eric Almighty . That is my co-host for the Filipino and please don't forget , for the podcast .

We release new episodes every Wednesday and all you have to do is wait for it Tuesday and all you have to do is wait for it .