The preliminaries get underway for the Winter Cup and Kagami is already having a hard time.
What They Say:
The Winter Cup preliminaries have finally begun. Seirin’s first opponent is Josei High School, a team with the enormous new center Narumi and a strong inside presence. Josei attempts to shut down Kagami by marking him. However, with Kiyoshi’s recovery, Seirin’s inside had powered up considerably.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While the outdoor match got called early due to rain, it certainly made a few impressions across the board. Kagami in particular has now found himself facing an opponent that seems like he might actually scare him a bit with his ability. It gave us a good look at the future opponents that the Seirin boys will have to face and that worked nicely to give them something to build towards since they all do have their weak spots to deal with. Kagami is more obvious about it with how it impacts him, but we also see Kuroko working through his own training in order to perfect a move that even Momoi realizes would make him near unbeatable. It may be a bit much, but it fits in with what the kids from the Generation of Miracles are capable of.
The first half largely plays with some minor character material across a few people on both sides that settles where they stand and some of the issues they’re facing in a somewhat more generalized approach. All of it is leading towards more of what’s to come as the Winter Cup preliminaries gets ready to get underway as the team is getting ready to face Josei High School, which of course has its own colorful characters. This is a bit muted at first though as the show takes the approach of introducing us to the Seirin guys through their eyes a bit, which is a pretty nice way of doing things. We so often get to see just everyone else through Seirin eyes that having others breakdown what Seirin is like in this way is a welcome change.
The game itself dominates the second half as it gets on, which is enjoyable if only because it’s been awhile since we’ve seen the boys in their uniforms and on the full court. The match proves to be fairly interesting overall though a bit more on the average side because of the opponents, but there’s some great humor that gets thrown into it as well as we see how Kagami totally screws up at one point and takes a hard hit in a comical way. That kind of embarrassment gets him rather hot blooded as the match goes on and it’s hilarious to see how Kuroko is able to snap him out of it and get him back on track all while feeling a bit tired of having to do such things and point it out to him.
In Summary:
The shift from the first couple of episodes with what was done there to the preliminaries here for the Winter Cup is kind of awkward. Not bad or anything, but the first half feels a bit unfocused in some ways and veers a little more into character material than the show has in the past, which makes it feel unusual. As it shifts back onto the court as the team goes up against Josei High, it changes its nature back to normal though and it’s a lot of fun in watching how the teams go at it and some of the character quirks that surface. Kagami really steals the show with his things going on, but Kuroko has a great bit in all of it too that just drives it all home. It’s enjoyable, but it feels better and right when the kids are on the court.
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.