This is an informal book club. Read at your own pace and use the space here to ask questions, post reactions, and get hyped about reading this legendary manga!
Slam Dunk Tankobon edition Volume 2 covers Ch 10-18.
(Shinsouban edition/digital: Vol. 1 covers Ch 1-14 and Vol. 2 covers Ch 15-24;
Kanzenban edition: Vol. 1 covers Ch 1-11 and Vol. 2 covers Ch 12-22;
see note about editions in the home thread)
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weāre set up and ready to discuss here for Vol 2. Can you glance through the threads pretty please and let me know if I missed anything / any changes?
So excited!!!
@ everyone else - please join us, this manga is so fun!!
I did my first read through, but still need to do some lookups.
And I wanted to put in some images but itās getting late!
Ch 10 overall impressions
The opening artwork of his memories, amazing effect. It definitely has a 90s vibe that I canāt put my finger on. Like an analogue tv that doesnāt have great reception, maybe something half the people on wk have never seen?! Iāll post a photo when I have better lighting
I didnāt get a lot of the dialogue in the thug scene so Iāll need some lookups there. I like how Sakuragi has engaged a bit more with the competitive aspect of basketball and heās more worried about being called a coward on the court than caring about fighting the next gang. Andā¦ Haruko isnāt his first motivation, interesting shift
And I love the welcome he gets coming back I did not imaging his return coming so quick or like that, very fun.
I guess they were excited about his amazing ball skills (ch 9 flashback)
Ahhh!!! Chapter 10!!! Did the art style change a bit? It looks cleaner(?) and more beautiful.
Chapted 10
This chapter gave me a good confidence boost. I looked up one or two words and could understand the rest! I remembered the reading/meaning of several kanji as well. Iām so happy :')
This was my favourite scene! I love how he also considered the captainās/teamās comments when thinking about basketball.
I had the same thought! The first page had a bit of a wow factor, Iāll have to flip back and forth to look closer nowā¦
Ch 10
high five! thatās such a good feeling
haha yes, love that, too! When I saw the thugs at first I was like, no not this again, but then Sakuragi gives a half-hearted kick and runs away. I wonder if his gang will ever join basketball so curious how that plays out as he gets more wrapped up in basketball than their little turf wars
This is so fun!
Is it ok to start Ch 11 when I get back - around May 6/7?
Wow the 11th chapter was dialogue-heavy and took me some time to read. It felt a bit short compared to the other chapters though.
ch 11 thoughts
How did everyone naturally transition from calling č±é ā赤ćé«Ŗā to ā赤ćēæ.ā
We finally got to see the coach! The contrast between when he was a white-haired devil to white-haired Buddha is really huge lol, what even happened?
Also, itās funny how nobody cares when Hanamichi is being rude to them. Even the coach didnāt really say anything! I wonder if the coach is the kind to use really effective methods to improve the teamās performance, or if heās just going to be a coach for namesake.
Haruko really seems to care about Rukawa. I wonder if they had any previous relationship dynamics that we arenāt yet aware of?
Anyway, Iām SO excited to read the 12th chapter. Weāre finally going to see the first match on Slam Dunk, and obviously, itās a match between seniors and juniors. This is going to be so much fun. The match might end with some feeling offended, happy, sad, and motivated ahhah. I canāt wait!
Yeah my first pass I got very little, I needed the lookups and then it wasnāt too bad.
ch 11
This chapter was so satisfying! I have a feeling who everyone is and itās so interesting how the relationship dynamics are being shown, and new characters are introduced with such humourā¦
That was funny, I love that view of him just standing there taking it. Did you see this:
that part was so random! There must be a great back story there. I hope we get to see thatā¦
Iām thinking the coach will use some kind of silent zen skill to make the players realise themselves what is needed and theyāll always think they achieve it all without realising he led them in that direction. Except the guy with glasses seems pretty clued in. He is our friend explaining stuff
Rukawa has no idea who she is (scene on the school roof), but they went to the same middle school and early on she was gushing to Hanamichi about admiring Rukawa when he played basketball. I think she said something like it was a one sided attraction and that is what sent him into that Donna Donna depressing song tail spin heās THAT guy!
oh yeah, I completely agree. I think his idea of a senior vs junior game was also so that all the players would get to know each otherās strengths and weaknesses. And I love the guy with glasses - heās the only one who has such a calm and realistic narrative about everything going on - maybe heās our reliable narrator ahhah
OH right!! Thanks for this explanation. With so many fights/drama - I completely forgot the school roof scene.
thank you! I didnāt know his name, we were in danger of having to describe him every time I like him a lot, he seems to be genuinely interested in the teamās success and rises above personal drama
Rukawa
He seems to be quite important - Harukoās crush and his rivalry with Sakuragi and now the captain is developing. Ch 12 is the start of Kanzenban Vol 2 ā¦ and Rukawa is on the cover!
Maybe I shouldāve listened to my dad when he told me heād teach the rules and names and such I struggled reading this chapter mostly because I have no idea about basketball other than the fact that it looks like a fun game and that I love sports in general ahaha
Oh same! I thought I was getting better at reading Katakana, especially after reading Slam Dunk V1, but this volume humbled me too quickly lol
ooh when I do my recap Iāll point out some features that he included in the artwork about basketball that might not be obvious then! I only played basketball one year in school (I wasnāt aggressive enough to want to keep it up and switched to long distance running, lol), but it is such a cultural thing in the US growing up it was inevitable to see games on TV and know who the big shots were. Also if you get a chance it is really fun to play with friends (or your dad!), although, tbh as soon as your opponent is taller than you that makes it a lot tougher, itās so true and why Inoue keeps highlighting their height. There have been some exceptions, though, where some shorter players can have an advantage due to speed and agility, maybe Inoue will educate us
And the sweetest story ever - when I was a kid collecting/trading basketball cards was popular. My younger brother wanted to trade basketball cards, and so to have more fun he gave me half of his so that we could trade
This chapter was so humbling like you said é å¼µćć¾ćććļ¼
Oh wow, I didnāt realise it was a cultural thing! Itās cricket here, but Iām not interested in it. Iād rather watch tennis because itās the most easiest game for me to understand
Yesss!!! Tne short player thing is very true for haikyuu though - our bubbly sunshine MC is super short hehe
Maybe not everywhere (and the following probably applies more to smaller communities not big cities), but in many towns, for example, itās normal for the stadium to be full (weekly) for high school level basketball and American football games - and itās not just the playersā friends and parents, people from the whole school and community come - even people who donāt even have children in high school come. I donāt know if itās still like that, but when I was a kid it was like a regular feature of town life in that way. And if there is a university - those two sports at that level will reliably fill the even bigger university stadium, even if the team is terrible, lol.
At the time I wouldnāt have thought of it as cultural per se, but thinking back, it was probably one of the most wholesome things that brought a large crowd together regularly. Itās a whole show/event - in addition to the game both teams have a cheerleading squad, someone wanders through the stands selling popcorn (and beer if itās university level), maybe a hotdog stand somewhere. Hereās a typical game in a random city I found on YouTube (thatās a very typical high school gym, almost every school has one just like this). You see the cheerleader squad for one team at the end of the court. I think I hear a drum as well. At the (American) football games, itās even quite common to have a brass band sitting in the stands that plays to cheer on the team and do chants with the fans. like so much in America itās totally over the top, but in this case so funš
At family and friend gatherings, itās also really common to just bring a basketball because at the park there will definitely be an outdoor court so you can shoot some hoops or play 3 on 3 or something.
Thinking about it, actually, a lot of homes even have a hoop installed over the garage door, so kids can use the driveway as the court and play half-side basketball (you pretend the end of the driveway is half-court and mirror it, so if you steal the ball, in order to shoot into āyourā hoop you have to first run back to āhalf-courtā before going back to the net).
haha, sorry that was a lot, all this stuff is coming back to me. I miss being a kid now!
I had a very enthusiastic English colleague who tried to get me into it after I was like, huh, looks like baseball with a weird bat but uhā¦ letās just say I found it very hard to understand and find interesting. I mean come on, they stand around for days!!!
tennis is so fun, and I love that itās equally interesting to watch any gender.
Welcome to Slam Dunk Volume 2 (Ch 10-18) Discussion 
Details 
I wonder if his gang will ever join basketball 
so curious how that plays out as he gets more wrapped up in basketball than their little turf wars
that part was so random! There must be a great back story there. I hope we get to see thatā¦
heās THAT guy!
!
