Way back in the 1990s, anime fans around the world were treated to some of the best sports anime in history; we’re talking about series like Princess Nine, Battle Athletes Victory, and many others. Perhaps one of the most famous and beloved sports titles from this era was the basketball series Slam Dunk.
Running for 101 episodes from 1993 to 1996, Slam Dunk is largely a coming-of-age story with basketball as its central theme. In the series, the main character is a first-year high school student named Sakuragi who keeps getting rejected by girl after girl. Before long, though, Sakuragi sets his sights on the beautiful Haruko, going so far as to join the school’s basketball team to win her heart. There’s just one problem; despite his ability to slam dunk the ball through the hoop, he has absolutely zero other talents for the game. Over the course of the series, Sakuragi does eventually get better at the sport but finds himself in hot water regularly because of his short temper.
As mentioned, many long-time fans around the world consider this series a classic, which is why there was so much excitement back in January 2021 when it was initially revealed that the Slam Dunk franchise was going to get a brand new anime movie. Sadly, that excitement got tempered recently when the first trailer was released to reveal the studio’s plans to use CG animation instead of the traditional style that we’re all used to. The trailer also revealed that they will release the movie in theaters in Japan on December 3rd, 2022.
What’s interesting to me is the different reactions to this trailer from fans around the world. SoraNews24 compared the reactions of western fans with Japanese fans and found that fans outside of Japan largely see the use of CG animation as a downgrade while fans in Japan are mostly just grateful that they’re getting more Slam Dunk.
My line of thinking is that it is still way too early to determine the quality of the project. Yes, the use of CG animation is an interesting change for Toei Animation, but it’s a little early to say that this art style will be the death knell for the movie particularly when you consider that the original creator himself, Takehiko Inoue, is stepping in to personally direct and write the new movie.
As the years pass, it appears the use of select CG animation is becoming more and more prevalent. Series that range all the way from Yuri!!! On Ice to Uta no Prince Sama have all relied on select use of CG animation for the more physical scenes and to say that either project was ruined because of it is a stretch. Additionally, fans were recently treated to another series that was entirely CG in the form of The Duke of Death and His Maid. While admittedly the rarely blinking eyeballs in that series were nightmare fuel, the series itself was charming and won enough fans to get an upcoming second season.
While I’m not an informed scholar, it seems like we’re headed towards a future where CG animation will become more of the norm rather than an exception and the sooner we embrace that fact, the easier the transition will be.
Sources: Anime News Network, Crunchyroll News, SoraNews24
