Episode 1

The Genius Basketball Player Is Born?!
Episode Information
Romaji	Tensai Basuketto Man Tanjō!?
Kanji	天才バスケットマン 誕生!?
Air date	October 16, 1993
Written by	Takehiko Inoue
Animation Work by	Toei Animation
Chapter	1 • 2
Opening Theme	Kimi ga Suki da to Sakebitai
Ending Theme	Anata Dake Mitsumeteru
Episode Guide
Previous	Next
None	Episode 2

The Genius Basketball Player Is Born?! (天才バスケットマン 誕生!? - Tensai Basuketto Man Tanjō!?) is the first episode of the Slam Dunk anime series. The opening theme is Kimi ga Suki da to Sakebitai which is performed by BAAD. The ending theme is Anata Dake Mitsumeteru which is performed by Maki Ohguro.

Synopsis

Hanamichi Sakuragi is depressed after being rejected by 50 girls during Middle School. Once he enters Shohoku High School, he meets a girl, Haruko Akagi who introduces him to basketball.

Characters

• Sakuragi Hanamichi
• Mito Yohei
• Chuichirou Noma
• Nozomi Takamiya
• Yuji Ohkusu
• Haruko Akagi
• Norio Hotta
• Kaede Rukawa

Anime and Manga Differences

The anime pretty much adapts the chapters scene for scene but did extend some scenes. The episode appears to take place over one day while the each chapter is it’s own day.

The anime cut three scenes. One was a quick joke about how only Sakuragi and Yohei mattered in their friend group. The other scene was Sakuragi’s friends reaction to him right after he hit his head on the backboard. The third scene cut was Sakuragi missing the meeting on the roof since the episode condensed the whole story into one day instead of two.

The anime switched up the location of some scenes such as Yohei and company making fun of Sakuragi in a bathroom in the anime instead of outside in the manga right before he walks away all sad. So the quick joke with the random student running back into the stall was anime only. Also, when Yohei and company talk to Sakuragi about the possibility that Haruko has a boyfriend, the other three friends are outside of the window for some reason.