Slam Dunk's Mitsui: how much can a redemption arc forgive?

Any characters in recent Jump manga who make you think, "How did you become one of the good guys after all that?"

Well, he didn't give anyone an injury they couldn't recover from.

Getting hit with a mop would've been seriously bad if it hadn't been Sakuragi!

Mitsui did get his front teeth knocked out, though...

https://x.com/hinata5588/status/2106719508631265491

I will never forgive him.

You've completely fallen for Mitsui...

It's already too late.

This self-insert fangirl is pretty full of herself, too...

It doesn't exactly make up for what he did, but the time he'd lost was enough to make him genuinely cry when he came back...

Part of why he gets forgiven is that he knows he wasted that time.

Losing your front teeth is a lifelong injury, but he's even on good terms with Miyagi...

Even after getting beaten badly enough to be hospitalized...

For better or worse, delinquents back then had that kind of toughness.

It also depends on where you draw the line and how the story presents it...

That reminded me of Tokkou Tennyo.

Tetsuo and the other delinquents got caught up in Mitsui's mess and beaten up, too, but they seemed to take it pretty casually.

I think the anime had an original episode where the delinquents beat Mitsui up as payback.

I hate people who ignore the context of the time and judge everything by today's values.

If that's fair game, people in the future could call you a barbaric caveman, too.

Even by 1990s standards, plenty of people thought, "Is this really okay?"

We just got swept along by "Sekai ga Owaru Made wa..."

He went on a rampage and broke a mop, too...

The mop was YOUR—

It wasn't okay by the standards of the time, either.

The internet wasn't widespread, so public pile-ons were less likely.

And fewer people took manga that seriously.

Otaku used to hate those loudmouths, like the PTA types who couldn't tell manga from reality.

Somewhere along the way, otaku started going on about ethics and common sense, too...

Like they say in the story, these guys have only been alive for sixteen or seventeen years.

Sakuragi was in middle school until just recently.

Wait, who's this third-year with the face of a middle-aged man?

Akagi looks older.

Just looking at what's in the opening image, his rampage doesn't seem all that irreversible.

He seems like the sort of delinquent you'd see in later sports manga, too.

Akashi from Kuroko's Basketball is worse.

Maybe attitudes toward rules and values are just products of their time.

Growing up in the countryside, there were plenty of delinquents straight out of a manga. Was it the level of education and morals—or was the whole area just that stupid?

I guess people would even find "I'll live for that kid who died, too" moving.

I love the bit when they're staying at Gori's place and Mitsui calls home.

Hanamichi quietly says, "...You did put your parents through a lot."

Hanamichi's the one who put his parents through the most.

Compared with delinquent manga back then, this was probably pretty tame.

Was it...? Yeah, maybe.

BOY and Bremen got pretty wild.

People joke about it because of the "fuck ball," but "Oh shit, it's rape!" isn't the kind of thing you should be turning into a reaction image.

My impression was that he's a good kid trying his absolute hardest to act tough.

I'd have trouble buying it if the musclebound Tetsuo joined the team.

But Mitsui had his teeth knocked out and got beaten up by Sakuragi.

It did feel like a turning point: keep it a basketball manga, or make delinquent fights the main focus.

Hanamichi's a delinquent, too, but there aren't that many scenes where he goes on a proper delinquent rampage...

He headbutted Rukawa and drew blood, remember!?

Back then, the basketball association was saying, "We're not endorsing this delinquent manga!" We all went, "Seriously? Screw the basketball association."

As an adult, though... yeah, I see their point...

Though the basketball association really was awful, too.

Part of why Mitsui gets forgiven is that he's just so weak as a delinquent.

The way he regrets it hits the right balance, too.

I think changing the protagonist for the recent movie was absolutely the right call.

At first I resisted it—"Why!?"—but once I watched it, Hanamichi's cartoonishly wild behavior felt distracting, even with his limited screen time...!

What he does in the opening image is pretty easy to come back from.

Some teammates might still have mixed feelings, but if the people involved forgive him, it's at a level where I wouldn't worry about it.

He could still play basketball, but he shouldn't be allowed in official matches.

If someone reported it to the high-school basketball federation, the whole school could get suspended from competition.

No way. Look at reality.

They'd just quietly sweep it under the rug.

Back then, sure.

Today, social media would bring them down in no time.

I seriously love the scene where he calls his parents during the study session.

And Hanamichi teasing him, too.

He's probably a good kid at heart...

It felt more like his parents were worried about him than angry with him.

I seem to remember hearing that when it started, basketball was considered too niche to have much chance of making a hit manga. So they left themselves an escape hatch to turn it into a delinquent manga if it didn't work out.

The whole "former basketball player" backstory is obviously a retcon, right?

I remember the author himself saying that somewhere.

In an anime-original episode, Tetsuo quietly settles things with the delinquents who want to punish Mitsui for being the only one to leave the gang.

Then he says, "See you, sportsman," and rides off on his bike without a helmet. It's so damn cool...