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In this week’s edition of Kuroko, we learn that there are actually five players on a basketball team.
I’ll be honest – I could have blogged KnB yesterday, but I really didn’t want to think about basketball after seeing Derrick Rose go down with an ACL tear during the meaningless final minutes of the Bulls playoff opener against the 76ers. That depressed me on so many levels, because he’s one of the most exciting players in basketball and the playoffs are lessened by his departure. But especially because now we’ll never see if the Bulls’ team-first attitude and character could break through against Miami’s superstar-driven one-on-one approach. With Rose out, the Heat are an overwhelming favorite to cruise through the East to the NBA finals.
But a blogger must soldier on, and fortunately KnB delivered probably its snappiest and most entertaining episode yet. The basketball is still classic “Jump” fantasy, with dunks everywhere, insert songs and dramatic pauses in the action for characters to explain exactly what they’re doing (I guess the 5-second rule isn’t in effect here) but the action was fast and furious, and as well-animated as you’d expect from the team at I.G.. And we got to meet the rest of of the Seirin starters properly at last – calm cool and witty Izuki Shun (Nojima Hirofumi), the silent Mitobe Rinnosuke (???) and “jack of all trades, master of none (Taichi? Is that you?) Koganei Shinji (Eguchi Takuya). Not only that, but Captain Junpei finally makes his presence felt, proving himself a terrific outside shooter and a bulldog in the clutch.
All of this unsung heroism is made necessary when Kuroko is laid out by a blow to the head from Kise after Seirin’s clever “one-two” defense on him allows Kuroko to steal the ball. An interesting question – was that truly inadvertent, or did Kise clock Kuroko on purpose? It seemed accidental but Kise was obviously getting pretty pissed off at the time it happened – I suppose we’ll never know for sure. In any case, with Kuroko groggy and bleeding, the others have to carry the team for the second and third quarters while he recovers behind the bench. Between Junpei’s marksmanship and Kagami’s defense on Kise they manage to keep it close until Kuroko can rouse himself for the final six minutes, leading to a dramatic (and highly improbable) finish.
There’s another interesting couple of developments here, though. It appears (though I’m not 100% sure) that “copycat” Kise has figured out Kuroko’s style, though too late to help win this game. And then there’s the arrival of Ono Daisuke (this series has more Onos than Yoko’s family reunion) on the scene as Midorima Shintarou. He’s another member of the Generation of Miracles, a fan of horoscopes, and he’s tapped one of his new teammates to transport him to the practice match of his old teammates via bicycle rickshaw (in one of those nice touches that makes I.G. stand out, they bring back Sakai Noa – Kouki from Usagi Drop – to provide the voice of the little boy gawking at the sight). Whether he arrived in time to see the end of the match I don’t know, but I’m sure he’ll be playing a major role, possibly as the next antagonist for Seirin.
But more importantly – what the heck is up with that end card??
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Leticia
April 29, 2012 at 10:27 pmIt's been a long time since I last watched a spokon (Oofuri), and I have to admit that I'm not very fond of them, but I'm enjoying this one a lot and Kuroko is a blast XD Also, I loved the end card <3
elianthos
April 29, 2012 at 11:17 pmDat end card: uke-fied chara bait-and-switch alert. Or, going by everything else, is it switch and bait? 😛
I've not planned to watch this, but reading your blog posts is nonetheless pretty entertaining . 'This series has more Onos than Yoko’s family reunion' . Ha! I would make you dinner for your puns.
Good job, good job.
james
April 29, 2012 at 11:22 pmWhen Kise wanted Kuroko to join him, he wasn't actually talking about basketball…
Question is: who's pitching?
admin
April 29, 2012 at 11:23 pmKise, one guesses.
Ishruns
April 30, 2012 at 2:43 amThere were a lot of fan girls for PoT right?
This has bishies too, so IG used the same marketing strategy?
admin
April 30, 2012 at 3:14 amActually many if not most sports (and other) shounen have a lot of fujoshi interest. There are generally bishies (or close enough) and rarely any real hetero romantic relationships. Look at Hikaru no Go, PoT, even Naruto and Bleach.
Anonymous
April 30, 2012 at 11:45 amBack in their day, Slam Dunk and Captain Tsubasa were also massive fujoshi favorites.
Eternia
April 30, 2012 at 6:14 amAn invisible man. This is too unfair to the opponent team. But who knows. Maybe that fortune telling freak can score a goal easily from the other end of the court? And maybe, there will be somebody who can throw invisible ball. We will have to wait and see. LOL.
Mirage
April 30, 2012 at 7:16 amI choked myself at the end card. It's so obviously fujoshi bait lmao. This feels like Prince of Tennis Version 2, especially if I consider the latter chapter of the manga.
SlushiZ
April 30, 2012 at 8:06 amTaichi also immediately popped into my head when they mentioned 'jack of all trades (master of none)' he even had the same depressed feeling about it lol 🙂 that is some dam good fujoshi bait…complete with metro sexual purple scarf!
Sir Vantez
April 30, 2012 at 10:27 pmWhat was the point of picking Basketball as the theme of this story? They don't even bother drawing more than 3 people on the court 90% of the time. And don't get me started on the one-man-defense on both sides and the seemingly 100% hit-rates, since they never show anyone miss. (Except Kuroko's bricks and the shots Nise and Kagami blocked.)
Even Hollywood is ashamed by how they leave out everything that makes basketball worth watching and just focus on individuals who are larger than life.
Gotta admit that I hoped this would be like Slam Dunk with just a hint of supernatural abilities.
Guess I have to watch this with the same mindset I watched Shalin Soccer with to be able to enjoy it.
Oh, and don't write the Bulls off just yet. They might pull a miracle on us. However, if I had to put money on a team I'd go with the Spurs or the Thunder.
I hope Derrick will be good to go for a serious tile-run next year.
admin
April 30, 2012 at 10:36 pmLet's hope so. ACL is 6-9 months at least, and there's no guarantee he'll ever get his explosion back.
Up City!