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I finished Slam Dunk yesterday and I had a lot to think about since I wanted to see if my feelings for the series change when I let it sink in a little, but now I'm here and I don't think I can give the series more than a strong 7.
Now I had a lot of problems with the early parts of the series, that starts off with how repetitive the comedy was where you had in every chapter Sakuragi making fun of someone (mostly jokes about how Akagi looks like a Gorilla)
I also think there is a lack of consequences whenever there is violence, the punishments someone receives after a fight are minimalistic and last for one chapter max. There are also these bullies in one of the early chapters and they just felt too cartoonish to take seriously.
All of that and that the characters didn't impress me early on and moreso felt really generic made it really hard for me to get engaged in the story, and that's a bit sad because I do feel like SD has undeniable qualities.
Art wise the series gradually improves, it starts off pretty solid but in the end, it turns into one of the best-looking manga out there, all the matches are enjoyable to read and you can always clearly see what's going on because of how clean the art is, top-notch paneling too.
The story and character work are kept rather simple and I don't think that's a negative, but I never had a true emotional attachment to any of the characters and some of the important events didn't hit as hard for me as they should.
Most of what I said till now does not affect the match against Sannoh. I really think this is where the series clicked for me emotionally and I really started to like some of the earlier parts of the story and how they were build up.
That's also why it's kinda hard for me to talk about the series because I really feel conflicted about it.
Overall I quite enjoyed it, the peaks of the series really show that it has a glimmer of greatness, but sometimes I really felt disengaged with it and didn't agree with how the story handles certain events.
Also, I saw some people say they felt like the ending was abrupt and anti-climatic but I definitely disagree with that opinion, it achieved everything it wanted to, and Sakuragi's character arc was concluded
