What They Say:
Murasakibara Atsushi of the Generation of Miracles appears at the tournament. In contrast with his enormous size, Murasakibara seems laid back, but when Kagami provokes him, they agree to an immediate match. With Murasakibara before him, Kiyoshi slams the pedal to the metal from the start of the game.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The return of Kuroko’s Basketball worked out well in doing some pretty solid character depth and development material for Kagami. And I really didn’t expect that, though I figured we’d get a bit more out of his past in America at some point. That was a lot of fun to see since it brought Hiromi into play and shaped some of the early issues that Kagami had which still resonate to some degree today. It was, however, very, very light on Kuroko material until towards the end when Atsuhi showed up and we got another of the Generation of Miracles member seeing an old comrade that he wants to put into his place. Kuroko has a particular style to be sure, but he’s definitely made his share of enemies and rivals since being a part of that generation and all it entailed.
While everything initially builds up to be pretty intense, it sort of defuses a bit when Atsushi lets them all know that they’re not supposed to participate in unofficial games due to the tournament. But there’s enough of a push going on here that they’re drawn into it as others that are playing have their own beef with someone like Atsushi since they’ve been playing for several years and coming across each other in different teams. Not that Atsushi knows since he’s pretty dismissive and forgetful of those that are weaker than him or not worthy of his time. That doesn’t change how he plays though as he certainly has the skill and going up against several of the Seirin guys – in the rain no less – definitely gives us a glimpse of what he’s capable of and his mindset when he plays.
The match doesn’t get far because of the rain, but we get some interesting bits out of it, from the trick that Hiromi uses against Kagami and a better exploration of Atsushi’s mentality. The episode spends a lot of its time after that aborted match doing simple dialogue bits, including some interesting if minor material with Satuski as she talks about her past with Aomine and some of the issues that came up during past matches with certain Generation of Miracles players. We also get some stuff from Kuroko and Kagami talking about their own experiences after the game that helps the others to understand things a bit. We get a lot of character foundation laying here, but the real result is what Kagami has to think at the end in that the Generation of Miracles really is full of monster players that are beyond difficult to contend with.
In Summary:
Kuroko’s Basketball may not be blazing out of the gate like some of us had hoped, but we’re definitely getting some interesting material that will certainly shape the events to come. Understanding your opponents is definitely useful and it’s kept pretty much to just the basketball side of things. We don’t learn of difficult childhoods, relationship problems or broken home issues. What we get are some hugely intense players of great skill who are driven that the Seirin team is facing off against while being lucky to have one of the Generation of Miracles players themselves who at least doesn’t seem to be as nuts as the rest. At least on the surface. There’s some interesting things going on here and as we get back on the court, it’ll start shaping up even more.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
