What is Piercing, the Slam Dunk one-shot?

Piercing is a short one-shot manga by Takehiko Inoue centered on Ryota Miyagi as a boy in Okinawa, built around the earrings that give it its title and the brother he idolized. It was published after Slam Dunk's serialization ended and stands as the author's only direct return to the cast in manga form besides the 10 Days After epilogue.

For years it was a footnote for completists. Then THE FIRST SLAM DUNK built its entire emotional architecture on exactly this material, Miyagi's family, his brother Sota, and the weight of playing in his place, and the one-shot became essential reading: the film's new scenes have their root system here.

It is the kind of minor work this Library exists to document properly, because in Inoue's small bibliography nothing stays minor forever.