“This is my basketball!”
Name: Kuroko’s Basketball
Japanese Name: 黒子のバスケ
Air Date: April 8 2012 – September 22 2012
Studio: Production I.G
Episodes: 25
PLOT
The Teiko Middle School Basketball Team. The class that produced three perfect seasons in a row with five once in a generation players called ‘The Generation of Miracles’. There was another player who all of them respected…a legendary sixth player. An up and coming power player -Taiga Kagami – is just back from America. When he comes to Seirin High School, he meets the super ordinary boy, Tetsuya Kuroko. Kagami is shocked to find that Kuroko isn’t good at basketball, in fact he’s bad! And he’s so plain that he’s impossible to see. But Kuroko’s plainness lets him pass the ball around without the other team noticing him, and he’s none other than the sixth member of the Generation of Miracles. Kuroko makes a pact with Kagami to defeat the other members of the Generation of Miracles who have all played basketball at other schools. A battle of light (Kagami) and shadow (Kuroko) begins!
First post of 2013! How exciting! Did you all have a good Christmas? Mine was so-so… but I don’t particularly want to remember what happened. Eurgh, just thinking about it send shivers up my spine! The amount of singing and dancing and piano playing… OH THE HORROR OF IT ALL! I’ve been traumatised by Christmas, the best holiday of all; what have I done to deserve this Santa?
Ok, I know I’ve been delaying Campione! for a while now and I promise that I’ll get round to it soon. I’ve always wanted to watch Kuroko’s Basketball though and I kinda grew impatient so I decided to watch it despite my conscience telling me not to. Oh well, lets play some sports guys!
First Impressions
Tetsuya Kuroko is the phantom sixth player of the Generation of Miracles. He always appears when you least expect it and you barely see him at all when he does. I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s like that! My friends call me the shadow girl because I pop out of nowhere so me and Kuroko are the same… we’re superhuman (^.^) I love this ability because I can sneak up on people and scare the living daylights out of them. Mwuhahaha xD Kuroko is also quite blunt with his words towards Kagami but he’s always right. Gosh, me and Kuroko are really similar… it’s kinda creepy.
I never realised how much Kagami-kun eats. He has about ten to fifteen burgers on his tray whenever he’s at the fast food place 
where does he put all of it? It’s like he’s got a black hole for a stomach! However his skills are superb and he has a chance against the Generation of Miracles. Kagami has determination and is very passionate about basketball; his ambition is to defeat the Generation of Miracles and become the best player in Japan. Good luck Kagami, I’m rooting for you ＼(^o^)／
Bow down before my awesome power! xD
After two episodes, one of the members of the Generation of Miracles is introduced. His name is Ryouta Kise. He is well known as being able to copy a player’s moves precisely and was known as the rookie of the Generation of Miracles since he started playing basketball in his second year of middle school. He plays for his current high school, Kaijo. He works as a model in his spare time so he’s always mobbed by girls. I agree with them though, he is very good looking o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o I think he has a slight obsession over Kuroko but it’s rather adorable in it’s own way. He’s such a cutie when he dotes on Kuroko and how he calls him ‘Kurokocchi’ (*´ω`*) why are you so darn cute?! Kise is definitely one of my favourite characters, mainly because I fangirl whenever he does something that is super adorable or whenever he appears in general. I really do love him.
Midway Impressions
I’m really enjoying this series! It’s so good that I can’t stop watching it! What’s good about this series is that I enjoy all sorts of sports and basketball is one of them. I’m learning a lot about the rules of the game, what positions there are and how difficult the game really is. Also for the LOL moments, they never fail to make me laugh xD now I want to play some basketball… anyone willing to go against me (^^) sorry, I got a bit competitive there didn’t I? I really like sports though since I’ve been involved with all sorts of teams since I was young. This ranges from football to athletics. Anything will do as long as I get the chance to compete and win!
Wow. This anime has some serious stuff going on! Seirin High School are playing in the Inter-High Basketball tournament and they reach the finals pitting them against one of the three kings of Tokyo, Shutoku High School. It’s going to be even more difficult this year though because Shutoku has obtained one of the Generation of Miracles, Shintarou Midorima; he’s known as the far distance shooter of the Generation of Miracles because he can score from anywhere on the court. Midorima’s star sign is Cancer; he believes in horoscopes and always carries a lucky item. He also tapes his fingers on his dominant hand when he’s not playing basketball…slight obsession there? He may seem cold and heartless but I like him. I like him a lot. He’s also voiced by Daisuke Ono o(^▽^)o Midorima is a serious character, I think the glasses do that but it makes him look sexy…athletic with a hint of sexiness, now that says something! Also because he follows everything his horoscope tells him to do. He takes things literally. Back to the point, Seirin defeat Shutoku by one point thanks to Kuroko and Kagami so now they progress to the championship league! Hurrah! I was really happy that they won but Midorima wasn’t because he lost, does someone need a hug? He can be so childish sometimes that I find it cute…
Nothing says sexy like a pair of glasses…
Around episode 13, another member of the Generation of Miracles makes his appearance; Daiki Aomine. He’s known as the ace of the Generation of Miracles. Best thing about this guy? Junichi Suwabe is his seiyuu! So far, three members of the Generation of Miracles have been introduced: Ryouta Kise, Shintarou Midorima and Daiki Aomine. Two more left! Aomine was really close friends with Kuroko in middle school because Aomine was Kuroko’s light. They were an amazing team together and they seemed to be the closest out of the Generation of Miracles. Aomine may appear rude, cocky and arrogant but he’s kinda grown on me ヽ(*´ー`*)ﾉ that’s some badass attitude right there.
Overall Opinion
I heard that Kuroko’s Basketball has gotten a lot of criticism because it seems unrealistic. Being an avid sports fan, I can understand the criticism as this anime has a lot of monstrous dunks, blocks and flashy passes; the stuff you usually see in highlights. There’s also the shounen elements with the special powers of the Generation of Miracles members and other things such as the ‘martial arts’ Seiho use. Oddly enough, I’m fine with all that. Why? Because it makes it very interesting. As a fan, it’d be great to see the teams run plays but you can’t expect the average viewer to understand what’s going on. Plus, trying to explain this and other technical terms would eat up screen time and bore a lot of people.
Kuroko’s Basketball is great to watch because of these elements. Watching Kagami slam dunk the ball or Kuroko making a flashy pass is far more exciting than watching a player hit an open jumpshot from good ball movement. If you wanted a realistic basketball match, you’d watch it on a sports channel. What Kuroko’s Basketball excels at doing is showing how exciting basketball can be to a mainstream audience. I haven’t been disappointed by any episodes as they always left a goofy grin on my face from the thrilling games, hilarious antics of characters or the cliffhangers at the end of each episode. Many viewers are not basketball fans, but they still love this anime. This is great because it’s garnering interest for basketball in people that would have never noticed the sport if it weren’t for this anime. This is especially true in Japan, where basketball is nowhere near as popular as sports such as baseball or football.
Aomine and Kise…the final showdown.
SPOILER: Aomine and Kise go head to head and the match gets more and more intense. Just when all hope is lost for Kaijo, Kise surprises the crowd by perfectly mimicking Aomine’s hard to copy technique. They’re both evenly matched however Aomine’s team emerges victorious by the time the match finishes.
As for the anime itself, it captures your attention with epic scenes, likeable characters and funny comedy. Kuroko’s sudden appearances that startle everyone is a running gag, opponents with nicknames like ‘Papa’ and Kagami’s English “THIS IS JAPANESE LUNCH TIME RUSH!” keeps things interesting. The story is your classic sports anime, with the Seiren basketball team aiming for the top. However, if you’re expecting an athletic and hot-headed doof who excels in the sport…well, that’s the deuteragonist Kagami. Kuroko is the protagonist here and he’s an unconventional lead for a sports anime. He’s terrible at almost every aspect of basketball except passing and stealing. Together, he and Kagami form a spectacular duo. The other characters aren’t explored too much and I was afraid the other Seiren members would just become background images but slowly each have been introduced with their own unique skills. The only other characters that the anime really delves into are the members of the Generation of Miracles, who are all distinguished by their special abilities and urm…colourful hair, Kuroko included. Here is where the shounen aspect of the show is most visible, with the members displaying everything from behind the backboard shots to full court shooting range. They’re the equivalent of boss characters you see in other shounen anime as Kuroko, Kagami and the Seiren team must find a way to overcome them.
The art and animation were really good however, the animation isn’t as consistently fluid as I liked. The movement of players shooting or passing the ball sometimes feels too rigid or unnatural, as if they didn’t draw enough frames – with the exception of Daiki’s ridiculous ball skills. It compensates for this by having a lot of slow motion and close up shots of dunks, blocks and steals which really help create an atmosphere of excitement and making this anime so thrilling. It is definitely one of the best sports anime out there, which is what makes it so appealing to everyone no matter who they are.
For the most part, the music consists of guitar heavy tracks that come in whenever something notable happens such as opponents being surprised by one of Kuroko’s invisible passes. The opening and ending feature rock songs that keep the same adrenaline pumping feel the anime has. The one thing that really annoyed me was how each episode starts off with the narrator introducing the Generation of Miracles story. It can be easily remembered after the first few episodes but past that there’s no point since viewers would already be familiar with the story. It also wasted time which could of been used to get straight into the action.
Kuroko’s Basketball is an entertaining anime to watch, even if you don’t like basketball. The thrilling games will capture your interest and many can relate to the story of going for the top and exceeding expectations, as the underdog Seiren team does time to time. Don’t go into Kuroko’s Basketball expecting expertly executed plays like the real deal. Go into it expecting a thrilling game of dunks, blocks, crazy passes, a lot of (O.O) faces and competitive trash talking. Watch for the passionate and overly determined characters, comedy and special abilities we love in shounen anime. It doesn’t portray basketball too realistically, but realism in this case would only drag a fun anime like this down.
Recently there have been threatening letters and mysterious substances sent to the mangaka and companies in relation with Kuroko’s Basketball which has unfortunately lead to many events being cancelled. Now this isn’t fair because so many people love this series, and it’s disappointing to see one person ruining it for everyone. We will not stand for this! That is why I request that every otaku support this series by watching it. This one person can’t stop us from enjoying the thrills this series radiates. Whoever’s doing this is sick and to be honest nothing will stop Kuroko’s Basketball from being popular with it’s fans because a second season has already been green-lit. You read it here first, more Kuroko’s Basketball is on the way!
Go forth my minions! Watch Kuroko’s Basketball for the greater good!
Seven Coloured Compass 