The struggle on and off the court with the game for Kuroko and Kagami continues to dominate in the right way.
What They Say:
No episode summary provided.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Kiyoshi having been brought in to get the team back on track by shaking both Kagami and Kuroko into shape, the dynamic is certainly different. I do like that in order to fix things, they went back to the guy who got the basketball program running in the school when it started up a few years prior but wasn’t able to really achieve a lot of high end goals. What Kiyoshi did was hugely important though as it got the balling rolling and has ended up with the program they have now. So while there’s potential for him to see unrealized dreams come true through the team and that could lead to some amusing moments, his presence gives everything a bit more importance to how things are being fixed I think.
Kiyoshi’s the type that can definitely motivate though with his skills and the way he pushes them. But he also does things in a way that’s kind of amusingly easy to see through, such as the first little game that they play wherein he loses. They’re happy about showing off what they can do, but when they see he’s wearing his indoor shoes and not his game shoes, it just makes them annoyed with him since it seems like he lost on purpose. But he’s doing things in his own way to try and draw them out, to see what each of them is like and what’s really troubling them in their game. He sees through Kuroko easily enough and actually doesn’t see much of a problem there. Kagami on the other hand, he knows what that is and it’s more serious. Kagami has hit a wall and not only is it stopping him, it’s pushed him back a fair degree as well.
While Kagami is the one that’s the real problem, they do spend some good time focusing on Kuroko and trying to break him of his problem. Kuroko’s gotten so wrapped up in himself that it’s something that others, such as the captain, have to knock him out of. We do get some good bit of flashback here that explores different areas of the team when it comes to Kuroko and it’s used well to try and jog his memory in a way. Running that with what Kagami is going through, especially where he’s feeling so put out by the whole Generation of Miracles group after facing Aomine, that it’s just driving him mad in his mind.
In Summary:
While there is a good bit of basketball here, it’s mostly used to drive forward what needs to be done to fix the two key players of the team. Kiyoshi’s changed the dynamic a bit with what he’s brought to the court here and it works well to explore some of the basics of the team and how it operates. The main focus of course does return over and over to Kuroko and Kagami and there’s some good real reasons as to why they’re both struggling. What I like is that each of them is different with it and with Kuroko we get a really good if brief look at things with what he’s facing by being a part of this Generation of Miracles and the impact and problems it’s left for him. While I don’t expect the issues to last much longer overall, it’s been a good theme to work with here.
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.
