The path to victory faces some significant obstacles, including surviving the first of two games one after the other.
What They Say:
Kuroko has rejoined the game in the final moments, but it seems that one of the players has him figured out. Seirin is playing hard, but if they win, will they have the strength to play a 2nd game?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The game between Seiho and Seirin has been a lot of fun as we got to see some really strong players play, but not unrealistic players. I had some fear at the start when they began talking about the whole martial arts thing, thinking the series could jump the shark easily, but they utilized it in a good and thoughtful way without making it the full on focus. The Seiho team simply has spent a lot of time perfecting their moves and operating as a team with a lot of skill, going against a team that’s still finding its way and with at least one player who can get fouled a lot. Having Kuroko come back in towards the end wasn’t a surprise though as even though they want to give the seniors a chance to shine, the new guys are the main draw here.
Kuroko’s return to the game definitely starts to turn the wave of the game, which was pushing down hard on Seirin. The Seiho team has definitely started to pick up on what’s going on and while Seiho is focused on the science of the sport, Seirin has a bit more of an intuitive feel for what they’re doing now, and are able to adjust to things quicker and more effectively. The back story we get, brief as it is, showing how the Seirin players really came together in the practices leading up to this highlights some of what’s been missing from the show, so I’m glad to see it here in the end. It’s also really good to see Kuroko coming into his own again here and working with the seniors and not Kagami, who himself is surprised by what he sees now that he’s on the sidelines watching the game unfold.
The nature of the double game match-up is deifnitely a difficult one, especially as Seirin now has to go against one of the bigger teams with Shutoku. The way they were worn down in the first match does show some time spent recuperating in the brief amount of time they have, and that lets us get a nice look at the characters a bit more as they work through the emotions of the previous game and figuring out where they’re going from there. There are hints about how difficult this will be for Kuroko based on his past experience with some of those on the team and their ability to see past his skill, but there’s also some great hints about how Kagami will perform when he gets completely fired up and yet settled down a bit as he won’t be getting nearly as many fouls. Hopefully.
In Summary:
Kuroko’s Basketball works through the difficult of the first match, and the heartbreak from it as well, before shoving them all hard into the next match against Shutoku. Unfortunately, that match only gets a few minutes here after all the posturing is dealt with, but it’s an amazing couple of minutes that made me crave more of it right now. Seeing how the two teams are pushing hard against each other from the outset, with some impressive skills, and then to see them both cut loose in different and unexpected ways drives home the game well. The pairings we’ve seen have been fun to watch, but when you get Kagami and Kuroko together on the same page and with Kagami settled down in some ways, it has so much more room to grow.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
