Takehiko Inoue
Takehiko Inoue is a Japanese manga artist and one of the few whose drawing alone would justify the career. Slam Dunk, serialised from 1990 to 1996, turned a delinquent's crush into the definitive basketball manga and sold in numbers almost no series has matched. Vagabond, his jidaigeki about the swordsman Musashi, swapped screentone for brush and ink and became a second landmark. Basketball runs through the rest of the work too, including Real, which follows wheelchair players. Viz Media publishes Slam Dunk, Vagabond and Real in North America. He received the Cultural Prize at the Asia Cosmopolitan Awards in 2012 and the MEXT Arts Encouragement Prize in 2024.
Movies (1)
Books (17)
- Slam Dunk, Vol. 1 (1999)
- Vagabond VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 1 (2008)
- Vagabond, Vol. 32 (2010)
- Vagabond, Vol. 33 (2010)
- Vagabond, Vol. 18 (2003)
- Vagabond, Vol. 17 (2003)
- Vagabond, Vol. 15 (2002)
- Vagabond, Vol. 10 (2001)
- Vagabond, Vol. 6 (2000)
- Vagabond, Vol. 8 (2000)
- Vagabond, Vol. 7 (2000)
- Vagabond, Vol. 5 (2000)
- Vagabond, Vol. 4 (1999)
- Slam Dunk, Vol. 2 (1999)
- Vagabond, Vol. 2 (1999)
- Vagabond, Vol. 1 (1999)
- Vagabond, Vol. 3 (1999)
Where to start with Takehiko Inoue
Slam Dunk, Vol. 1 first, always: the comedy lands immediately and the sports drama sneaks up on you around volume six. Vagabond, Vol. 1 is the other half of him, Musashi drawn with a brush and a lot of silence, and the more impressive book by any technical measure. Vagabond VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 1 collects those early chapters if you would rather read in bricks. The First Slam Dunk is the film he directed himself, and it is the best animated basketball ever made.
Takehiko Inoue on CrossBinge
- Companion guide: Sports Anime: The Complete Guide to the Genre of Effort and Victory