The quiet after the game won’t last long at this rate for the series.
What They Say:
No episode summary provided.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Shutoki having been beaten out at the last minute, it was definitely interesting to watch how they handled that defeat and the semi-shock that the Seirin guys had when they realized what had happened. Amusingly, they’re now in a different state as their bodies are feeling the pain of what’s happened since they did just play two very intense games against two kings of the game in terms of teams. They’re definitely feeling the burn of that kind of exertion and it’s cute to see such human sides of them as they deal with it all. Of course, there are some other amusing things that happen along the way as they all head out for dinner only to find that after sitting down, Midorin and others start showing up for some food themselves, making for an awkward situation.
Even more amusing is the table layout that happens as you get Kuroko and Kagami along a couple of other guys from different teams, including Midorin, leading to all of them getting to know each other a bit more through a difficult set of circumstances. There’s definitely some sting to it all considering the game just ended, so it’s particularly fun to watch Midorin deal with being put in this situation and the way it unfolds. Kagami for his part is just famished so he’s ordering a huge amount of food to refill himself. But overall, there’s a lot to like as we get an extended period of time with some of these characters that paints them in a way we haven’t seen for most of the series. The best comes though when they come across a stray dog and they’re all silly over it. Except for Kagami who has a certain fear of dogs.
While the show spends a good bit of time in the first half on all of this, it does work towards more of the game of basketball itself as well, including some time spent training through various exercises and the like. The problematic one that comes up is when they’re in the pool and Momoi shows up in a gorgeous little number claiming to be Kuroko’s girlfriend when she was only his manager back in middle school. And she’s connected to the next team, making for an awkward reunion no matter what. There is some real fun with all of this in getting to see everyone’s reactions to this bit of news and how Kuroko handles it. But we also start to get a look at the competition elsewhere later on as Aomine makes a formal approach towards Kagami to get a feel for him one on one. It’s a challenge that he can’t turn down, especially after Kise and Midorin
In Summary:
One of the things I’ve wanted more of with this series is the group interactions outside of practice and games and we get that for half of the episode here. And it works great to ease up some of the things that have been missing, especially when you add Kise and Midorin to part of it with what they’ve had to deal with. The second half has a lot of fun with the practice side and throws some sexiness into it as well that works surprisingly well. I’m quickly becoming a fan of Momoi, something I didn’t expect after her mild introduction earlier in the series, and am looking forward to seeing what she does with things and how the next match go with what Aomine brings to the table.
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.
