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Given the abundance of wealth in every genre, it’s no surprise that sports shounen would be well-served this season too.
The most important event of this episode was the first real action throw-down of the series (or perhaps Kagami actually using the slang “Dasai” for one of the few times I’ve heard in anime). But for me the most interesting moment was this little exchange between Kuroko and Kise, innocuous though it was, because it was really the first time I’ve seen Kuroko show any real emotional reaction in this series. His irritated “Could you please stop being so sarcastic?” was the most interesting line of dialogue in the first three episodes as far as I’m concerned.
So far, what’s got me in the “like” category for Kuroko no Basuke is this relative lack of character development. It seems to do the sports side of the equation pretty well, although there’s too much emphasis on dunks and not enough on shooting and defense. My favorite sports shounen are the ones that use the sports as a device to really get inside the characters, and while there’s plenty of time for that to happen here, the anime (faithfully to the manga) spends most of the early material on the basketball side of the story. I suspect that may change as we see the layers of impassiveness peeled away like an onion (Kagami is too transparent to be a likely candidate for lots of deep, development) and if Kise is the least arrogant of the Generation of Miracles, it seems very likely that the others will be the device to piss him off more.
In terms of the practice match, we have a pretty classic Shounen Jump setup. Kaijo Private High School is big and rich, complete with a fat coach (Yasumoto Hiroki) who’s astonished to find Seirin is coached by a schoolgirl. They haven’t even bothered to stop practicing on the main court, reasoning that the game will provide so little challenge that the guys who aren’t playing (that includes Kise) need to get their work in. Kagami puts an end to that pretty quickly by going all Darryl Dawkins on their beat-up side-court hoop, and the game is moved to the main floor – with Kise in the lineup this time. Kaijo’s captain is Kasamatsu Yukio (Souchiro Houshi – lots of big names in supporting roles here) who seems more than a little jealous of Kise’s status with the fans (especially the girls) and the game pretty quickly evolves into a one-on-one battle between Kagami and Kise on the physical side, with Kuroko using his misdirection to wreak havoc on the opposition. But the physical differences between the teams are obvious, especially to Aida, and Kuroko’s mystical ability to be invisible seems to slowly wear off as the opponent gets used to his tricks – and as his own body wears down.
It’s pretty easy to see where this is going – Kuroko is Kise’s potential Achilles heel, as he’s the only one whose “fragment” the master mimic can’t use his Adam Blade-type ability to copy, since he can’t see it. But Kuroko’s weaknesses are showing too, and it seems likely Kaijo will win out in the end – providing Seirin with a measuring stick for how far they have to go. What I want to see (aside from more focus on Kuroko as a person) is some breakouts from the rest of the Seirin team, either on or off the floor – thus far they’ve been basically extras, both as players and characters. With the quality of the cast assembled, I’m hopeful the next few weeks will give them a chance to show their stuff – and Ono Kenshin, too.
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belatkuro
April 23, 2012 at 1:32 amYeah the other Seirin players seem like extras in here with little to no significance. But as time goes they'll show their presence eventually. For now it's the two Onos and Kimura Ryohei that's the focus.
The game is very fast paced with little focus of the essence of a basketball match but this is how it is at times. It shows a bit more of the technical part later on so I'll make do with this.
The soundtrack is great though and keeps the pace going.
Still liking it and hopes to see more shooting and participation of all the players.
dreamlings
April 23, 2012 at 2:19 amI'm sorry it's taken me three weeks to finally decided to comment here. I kind of felt like a stalker for going on here. (╥﹏╥) But after Chihayafuru, I was a bit interested to see your opinion on some other animes, too. If that's okay . . . And since Kuroko no Basuke was one of the shows I was most excited for, I wanted to say something here~ （‐＾▽＾‐）
Personally, I really love the relationship between Kuroko and Kise though. I think it's pretty adorable and hilarious. ♥ In the manga though, I felt the exchange between Kise and Kuroko wasn't nearly as antagonistic as it was portrayed in the anime. If anything, it was mostly between Kise and Kagami. As you said, Kagami is pretty transparent as a character, which is one reason why I never really liked him in the manga. In contrast, the other characters in the series, especially Kuroko, are more two dimensional as characters. But that's just in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I'm excited to see your posts on this, Guardian Enzo. ^^ Hopefully, the anime will be going on for awhile because it would be lovely to see some of the characters from the manga show up. ^^ Thank you very much. ≧◠◡◠≦
admin
April 23, 2012 at 4:42 amThanks dreamlings, lurking is fine too but I always love it when lurkers de-cloak and comment!
I suspect I.G. intends for this to be at least two cours, maybe more, based on the pacing.
dreamlings
April 26, 2012 at 4:28 am. . . Is it really okay? I really don't know and I would hate to accidentally offend you. Either way, I'll try my best to say something every once and awhile. ^^
Ahh, thank you for telling me! I was hoping it wouldn't be one cour so I'm hoping you're right. At two episodes per volume, they would managed to cover around twelve volumes. Which isn't too far behind the manga. ^^
Thank you so much for your reply! I'm excited to see your future posts, if you choose to continue with the series of course. ^^ Good luck!
admin
April 26, 2012 at 4:42 amOf course it's fine – I know how many visitors I get even if they don't post. Of course the blog is more interesting when more people comment, but I'm happy to have readers either way.
moochi2000
April 25, 2012 at 6:23 amJust started watching Kuroko no basuke yesterday…good thing I caught up fast. I know that very few blogs are picking this up because it's just another typical shounen sports series, however I find it quite interesting. I really want to know how Kuroko can get better, I'm sure he can overcome his weakness. As for the other players, they really need to step up the game because Kuroko's dream of having a team cannot be accomplished with merely 2 players.
admin
April 25, 2012 at 7:23 amJust ask the Heat…