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This movie's absolutely phenomenal, and you do not need to be a basketball fan to enjoy it fully. Even at pure face value, the quality of animation this film flaunts is amazing. You might have genuine issues distinguishing this film from reality. It's just that well animated.

As for an in-depth review, I might be a bit biased. Slam Dunk's both a manga and anime I've been familiar with my whole life, and as a lifelong fan of basketball--I remember wanting to be a commentator for my home town Phoenix Suns in 3rd grade--the series holds a very special place in my heart. However, I should ... note I'm not a basketball player, nor have I ever been one. I've played the occasional pickup game, but I lacked both the physical and mental talents necessary to excel at the sport. But I've always been a fan of basketball; it's my favorite sport. And it always will be. Yet, being a fan of the sport isn't a prerequisite to enjoying what this movie has to offer. At its core, this movie does a masterful job at making you care about what's happening on the court, whether you're a basketball fan or not.

Though this is an adaptation of the last arc of the manga series (the anime had a different ending) it gives newcomers enough context to understand why we care about the team's desire to win the game, beyond the obvious "Winning feels good."

What I really loved is that this movie gives each member of Shohoku--the protagonist team--enough time for an audience to become familiar with them without taking away from the fast-paced action. Everything in the narrative is framed around the game, which makes each shot, rebound, steal, block, and dribble feel all the more impactful. All of that with an animation style which I hated the idea of (fully 3d) until I saw it play out on the screen. It was then that I realized: I'm an idiot, these animators know what they're doing.

I can't put into words just how amazing the animation looks, but I'll just say that there are shots that genuinely look true to life. That's all that really needs to be said.

You owe it to yourself to check out this film if you're a fan of animation. I can go on and on about what makes the story great, why this film's focus on Ryota is a genuis move, or why Sakuragi is the best protagonist in shonen--though he's more of a supporting character here--but I don't want to take up time you could be spending watching the movie.

So go on, give it a shot.

This is my second full exposure to a Gundam series--the first being Gundam Build Fighters--though I'd consider this to be my first 'main' Gundam series as, after all, this is a condensed version of the series that started it all. For true Gundam fans, the original series is a must-watch.

But I'm not sure if these movies warrant such praise. In fact, this film felt like a horrible way to introduce yourself to Gundam's core story. The first hour is pretty confusing: yes, you clearly understand that this is a war between the forces of good and evil. Yet, characters aren't fleshed out enough for the ... audience. I found myself confused as to why the protagonist was piloting a Gundam outside of it being an absolute necessity the first time around, not to mention why he struggled emotionally before and after piloting the Gundam. This, I feel, is thanks to the pacing of this film being all over the place.

It's clear this movie is made up of a bunch of episodes that have been Frankensteined into a coherent film, which makes story/character comprehension and immersion equally difficult. The pacing is absolutely shot. At first, it feels like nothing is happening, and then you're inundated with action scenes and character development which gives you no time to process what's going on. Complete focus isn't enough as there's too much and too little information to properly understand what's going on. Keeping up was impossible; I kept getting lost in the previous 5 minutes, where I then fully absorbed what happened, only to realize even more important things happened while I finished processing the previous scene.

I'm sure Gundam fans, especially ones who are somewhat familiar with or have seen the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, will enjoy this to some extent. But this feels like a significant downgrade from the original show, as there is just so much happening in a little amount of time. I didn't identify with any characters, nor did I empathize with any tragic events, because I didn't have a full understanding of what was going on. And, worse of all, when I did finally understand, the frantic pacing meant I was left in the dust as a new dramatic scene passed me by.