On December 7, a screening of the anime film "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK," which was released on December 3 last year, with a talk event was held in Tokyo, featuring Sogo Nakamura, Jun Kasama, Shinichiro Kamio, Subaru Kimura, and Kenta Miyake, the voice cast members. They revealed a word from the author, director, and screenwriter, Mr. Takehiko Inoue, with whom they have worked together for about two years on the film.

Animation production was handled by Toei Animation/Dandelion Animation Studio. The voice cast of the five Shohoku members has been completely changed from the TV anime version, with Nakamura as Ryota Miyagi, Kasama as Hisashi Mitsui, Kamio as Kaede Rukawa, Kimura as Hanamichi Sakuragi, and Miyake as Takenori Akagi.

This event was held to express gratitude to the fans as the film celebrates its 150th day in theaters and has become a blockbuster hit, grossing over 13.2 billion yen at the box office. The movie features Miyagi as the main character, along with Sakuragi, Rukawa, Akagi, Mitsui, and the rest of the Shohoku High School basketball team, which competes in the Inter-High School Tournament and takes on Sanno Kogyo.

When asked about the most memorable moment in the film, Kimura revealed an episode with Inoue, the author of the original story, and recalled, "The most memorable moment was when we completed the entire recording. I was impressed when director Inoue said, 'I felt like we were working together to create Hanamichi Sakuragi, and it was a lot of fun,'".

　He also said, "We spent two years doing postrecording, so there were many times when we finished shooting a scene and had to rerecord it about six months later. After such a long production period, I was very happy to hear the director say so at the end.

　SLAM DUNK" is based on the basketball manga "SLAM DUNK," which was serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" from issue 42 in 1990 to issue 27 in 1996. It depicts the main character, Hanamichi Sakuragi, a basketball novice who joins the Shohoku High School basketball club and rapidly develops his talent through clashes with his teammate Kaede Rukawa and games against strong schools.

　In the 1993 TV anime version, Takeshi Kusao played Hanamichi Sakuragi, Kiyoyuki Yanagida played Takenori Akagi, Hikaru Midorikawa played Kaede Rukawa, Ryotaro Okiayu played Hisashi Mitsui, and Tsubasa Shioya played Ryota Miyagi, but the cast has been completely changed in this movie.

Edit By Satoru Shoji
Source ORICON NEWS