SEOUL Kyodo a recently released reimagining of hit Japanese anime Slam Dunk has been hugely popular in South Korea and brought a wave of nostalgia for the 1990s manga and television series as well as the underdog basketball team the film features.
Jeong Jin Hyeok is one of many South Koreans in their 30 s and 40s revisiting their childhood with The First Slam Dunk, a new film version of the beloved and wildly popular basketball manga.
According to the Korean Film Council, the film has sold the third-most theater tickets for a Japanese anime film in South Korea.
The film, written and directed by the manga author Takehiko Inoue, now trails only the blockbuster hit your name. The film promotion group said that Howl's Moving Castle was from Studio Ghibli. It moved into third ahead of 2020's Demon Slayer. This latest theatrical hit shows how Japan's soft power can overcome historical issues, such as compensation over wartime unpaid labor and comfort women forced to work in wartime brothels.
South Koreans have appeared happy to embrace Japanese culture through a film that started showing in early January, while these issues occupy the political classes of both countries.
Lee Dalho, a 31 year-old actor who performs in musical theater, said he believes that the current status of South Korea-Japan relationship has no impact on people simply enjoying the Slam Dunk movie.
He said that the boom is all about nostalgia and old good memories of our childhood.
More than 2.49 million people have seen the movie as of Wednesday.
On the first day the film was shown, Jeong, 32, watched it with his basketball-loving friends. He told me about his passion for the sport and how when he was younger he and his friends would give each other nicknames based on Slam Dunk characters.
The country's biggest theater complex CGV said people in their 30 s and 40 s made up more than 70 percent of the moviegoers. South Korean local media reported that some brought their children to theaters, creating a whole new generation of fans.
In some parts of the country, specially-arranged sections for the Slam Dunk manga can be seen in bookstores, with translations in Korean. The craze has resulted in a lot of sales of Slam Dunk related merchandise. One of the nation's department store chains, for example, has opened a pop-up store where official merchandise such as uniforms attract many shoppers daily.
The story has attracted new fans like Park Jeong Ah.
I really liked how everyone in the movie put their best efforts in order to win the game. It's entertaining enough for someone new to the manga series, said the 30 year-old Park.