What They Say:
An up-and-coming power player, Taiga Kagami, is just back from America. When he comes to Seirin High School, he meets the super-ordinary boy, Tetsuya Kuroko. Kagami is shocked to find that Kuroko isn’t good at basketball, in fact, he’s bad! And he’s so plain that he’s impossible to see. But Kuroko’s plainness lets him pass the ball around without the other team noticing him, and he’s none other than the sixth member of the Miracle Generation.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With their victory behind them, it’s no surprise that the Seirin boys are plainly exhausted. Seriously exhausted. The strain they put themselves through as they pushed the envelope was significant and it showed during the game. So seeing the exhaustion here, where some fell asleep in the locker room no less, makes a lot of sense. But catching those quiet moments has cost them an easy way to get home for the day, which means they have to figure something out. The amusing part is that Kagami mentions that he lives nearby, which will allow a rare look into the personal lives of at least one of the boys. So much of the show has been pure basketball with a touch of school tossed in that seeing anything else just feels weirdly out of place.
Amusingly, his apartment is pretty big overall and it has the total feel of basketball with the minimal approach to decor and that the floorboards totally remind you of a basketball court. The jealousy everyone has is totally killed quickly when they realize Riko is attempting to cook for everyone, something that sends fear into those that seem to know. Standard story idea, but it’s definitely cute and fun. There’s a mixture of being scared and relaxed with all of this and we see how Riko has crafted a meal that is completely dangerous and deadly, which is what we got in the prologue. It’s cute and I certainly like the light and simple material that we get once in awhile from this series to show us something different. Of course, there has to be a really big twist with this and we get it when one of the guys unearths a blanket to discover a mostly naked English speaking blonde girl. Who promptly deep kisses Kagami. Enter Alex, the American who taught Kagami to play basketball.
And enter a whole lot of English. English I wish Crunchyroll subtitled since not everyone has audio on when they watch shows. Or can hear.
Alex brings some fun to the show since we get a bunch of English at first, done pretty decently overall, before it shifts to some nice flashback material of a young Kagami learning the game before it all goes back to the Winter Cup itself. The difference is that, with Alex coming along, it’s about watching two other teams play rather than Seirin going back for another round. With a look at what’s to come, they group also spends some time going over their own plans, plays and an understanding of what they did in their match against Touou to try and figure out how to use it, grow it and adapt it to new situations. It’s definitely interesting but it also has an amusing twist as we get a quieter follow-up later that has Kuroko getting Aomine to teach him more on how to shoot. The two have a difficult on-court relationship to be sure, and seeing Aomine reflect on how he felt during and after the game really does humanize him more, and flows with what came before.
In Summary:
Downtime episodes for Kuroko’s Basketball are pretty rare overall, which makes the times we get them all the more special. I love it when they’re on the court and struggling against opponents and themselves, but these in between moments really do a good job of expanding the personalities, motivations and the quirks of the characters in a great way. The Riko gags are obvious, Alex is an interesting addition to the show depending on how long she’s around and I really loved seeing Aomine show up once again. Everything is all about the characters being off the court and it’s just something that makes you smile and like them all the more before we move into the next round of the Winter Cup that they’re playing in. It doesn’t get much better than this for a downtime episode.
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.
