Kuroko's Basketball (Kuroko no Basket)
Review by Evigishki
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Genre- Comedy, School, Shounen, Sports
Episodes- 25

Oh man, it certainly has been quite a long time since I've done a written anime review for here. Blame school, friends/girlfriend, or recreational Fakku use, but I feel it's time for me to start getting productive for the sake of this anime guide again. Since it's now turning to winter, let's review an anime in the opposite season (because why not?) I also thought this would be fun since the second season is currently airing of Kuroko's Basketball.

So where to begin? Before I tell you this story, I must share with you another story. There was a middle school basketball team called the "Generation of Miracles", famous for having an ace player in each position. 5 of the 6 were extremely well-known, yet the sixth member hardly seemed to exist. This sixth member, Kuroko, ends up going to Seirin High School, a school not known for basketball. The other 5 members of the middle school wonder team go their separate ways as well, all continuing to play basketball for their respective schools. Each "ace" has a special skill about them: for example one player can make shots from anywhere on the court, and another can copy any style he sees and copy it perfectly. I love to make the connection to enemies in other shounens like Fairy Tail or Hunter x Hunter: each having a "super power" that the main characters must figure out how to beat. So what is Kuroko's special skill? Simple, he doesn't exist... Or well, doesn't seem to. He accels in passing and not being noticed by opponents (like that kid in the corner of your school class that nobody notices). He meets Kagami, a massive player who came from America to play basketball in Japan. Through plot points etc they end up on the Seirin basketball team, who have no special characteristics. Kuroko tells Kagami that he wants to beat all the players from his original team, and so begins the story.

Now that the summary is sort of out of the way, I get to talk about the fun stuff like art, music, and whatever else. If there's a weakpoint in Kuroko no Basket, I'd say it's the music. I'm not going to say it's bad, but compared to other show elements it was very underwhelming. Sure, a cool track in the back sort of made a match better, but it could have done moreso. I honestly found myself skipping the OP and ED almost every time. While they fit the mood of the show, I couldn't bring myself to jam out to them like other OPs (NGE anybody?). Animation was extremely clean in this show, while still maintaining its own feel and stylish elements. Whether it be beads of sweat flicking off the ball as they pass, or face shading when a character was going for a dunk, there was never a time where I wasn't quite pleased by the art and animation quality.

I never expected to like Kuroko's Basketball. Sports can be a sore subject with me sometimes (for reasons I've told most of you before), so I went in with a negative mindset to the show, and wanted to dislike it. However, this wasn't even close to the case. I finished every episode with a craving for the next, and the amount of energy I felt during the games themselves was outrageous. It was literally like watching a battle shounen, where as instead of chucking fireballs or swords at each other, it was a single basketball and words. When the show was finally over, I honestly called up a few friends and played basketball at the local park for hours on end.

When I look back at the experience I got from Kuroko's Basketball, it was a completely positive one. The ending kind of fizzed out, but I understand that it's just a segway into the second season (which I mentioned earlier that it is currently airing). This was my first sports anime (mind you I've only been watching anime for a little over a year), and I can now safely respect the genre. I can safely recommend this show to you all, though weak in an ending and music, it's a slam dunk in my opinion. <----- Probably the lamest thing I'll ever say in my life.


Rating- 8.5/10