The anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series Slam Dunk

Slam Dunk (manga)

is a sports-themed manga series written by Takehiko Inoue about a basketball team from Shōhoku High School. It was first serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan from 1990 to 1996 and had also been adapted into an anime series by Toei Animation which had been broadcast worldwide,...

, consisting of 101 episodes, was produced by the TV Asahi

TV Asahi

, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....

 terrestrial television

Terrestrial television

Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...

 network and Toei Animation

Toei Animation

Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...

 and directed by Nobutaka Nishizawa. It is based on the original Slam Dunk manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue

Takehiko Inoue

is a Japanese manga artist, best known for the basketball manga Slam Dunk, which has become a success both in Japan and overseas. Many of his works are about basketball, Inoue himself being a huge fan of the sport, and many Japanese children started to play basketball because they read the manga...

. The series tells the story of a teenager called Hanamichi Sakuragi who falls in love with a girl named Haruko Akagi, and decides to enter the Shohoku High School Basketball Team in order to attract her as she is already in love with another Shohoku player, Kaede Rukawa. As Sakuragi starts learning how to play basketball, he, however, starts to like the sport.

It was first aired on TV Asahi from October 16, 1993 to March 23, 1996. It was later aired on the anime satellite television

Satellite television

Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

 network, Animax

Animax

is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...

, in addition to four animated movies produced. Toei compilated the episodes into a series of seventeen DVDs which were released in Japan from December 10, 2004 to May 21, 2005. Toei once again collected the series in three DVD boxes during 2008. All the three boxes have a total of seventeen discs.

Toei and Geneon

Geneon

is a Japanese music, anime and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Geneon has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime in Japan...

 briefly chose to release the anime on DVD after the manga was discontinued, though the anime was also discontinued after only a few volumes. The first DVD was released on March 15, 2005 and the volume 4 was the last one released on June 14, 2005 before they were cancelled. Various episodes from the series were also downloadable in IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

's Direct2Drive service. Toei is currently streaming episodes of the series on-line for a fee and for free through Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll is an American website and international online community focused on streaming East Asian media including anime, manga, drama, music, electronic entertainment, and auto racing content...

. Joost

Joost

Joost is an Internet TV service, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis . During 2007-8 Joost used peer-to-peer TV technology to distribute content to their Mozilla-based desktop player; in late 2008 this was migrated to use a Flash-based Web player instead.Joost began development in 2006...

 also started airing all the 101 as of May 2009 on their website. Each episode is in Japanese, with English subtitles.

Six musical themes are used through all the series: two opening themes and the four ending themes. by Baad

Baad

Baad is a village in North kanara district in the southwestern state of Karnataka, India.It is surrounded by coconuts and mangoes trees. It has Arabian sea in one of its end. Most of the family are fisherman,and the rest are farmer and Bhramins. The head bhramin of the village is Shiva narayan...

 is used as the opening theme for the first 61 episodes. by ZYYG replaces it as opening theme for episodes 62-101. by Maki Ohguro

Maki Ohguro

is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter. She is from Sapporo in Hokkaidō.- Introduction :In 1989, she passed the '3rd BAD' audition. Her famous songs are "DA・KA・RA", "Chotto", and so on... Her second single "DA・ka・RA" sold 1.1 million copies and won the 'Japan Record Grand Prix' newcomer award of...

 is used as the ending theme for the first 27 episodes. by Wands

Wands (band)

was a Japanese rock band formed in 1991 as a three-member group. The band, throughout nine years of activity, had two vocalists, guitarists and keyboardists. Show Wesugi , Hiroshi Shibasaki , Kousuke Oshima are the original member of the band. Shinya Kimura joined them after Oshima separate early...

 follows it as the ending for episodes 28-49. by Manish

Manish

Manish or Maneesh is a common Hindu masculine given name that literally means "The God of the Mind" or the one who has controlled and mastered one's mind , derived from the Sanskrit words "man" which means Mind and "ish" which refers to God or master.Many Hindu male children are given this name...

 replaces it during episodes 50-86 and by Zard

Zard

was a Japanese pop group. Originally a group of five members, with lead vocalist Izumi Sakai as group leader. However, Sakai was the only member who stayed on in the group while others joined and left regularly. As such, Zard and Sakai may be referred to interchangeably. Zard's work was sold under...

 in episodes 82-101. The remaining music was composed by Takanobu Masuda. Three CDs soundtracks were published during the airing of the series in Japan.

Episode list

#	Title	Original airdate