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)
Kuroko’s Basketball took that rare down episode last week where it was more about hanging around and doing little character bits. The big introduction was in bringing Alex Garcia into it where we now have met Kagami’s American master that taught him the game in a huge way. That she’s a stacked blonde wearing glasses is pretty much not what anyone was expecting, but it made for some great English moments and really changed the way a lot of the characters view Kagami. The dynamic of the group hanging out at his place was a lot of fun in general, but everything always leads back to the court. That’s the driving force of this series, which is why I do tend to really enjoy these one-off episodes we get here and there since it illuminates the guys just a bit more without overly dedicating too much fluff time to it.
Some of that material does bleed into events here at the start which is pretty good, but we also get some general court time here between the boys themselves. After what they’ve all been through, there’s a different understanding to things that are going on and we even get a moment where it’s said that those that have played in the nationals have a different view of things than those that haven’t. But unlike the game against Touou, the progress in the Winter Cup is a bit easier to manage as expected. It doesn’t give us another dozen or so episodes of a game to focus on but instead we go through the second game in the space of about two minutes with more commentary than actually gameplay. They had their difficulty with it, but it was something without the kind of strain of Touou.
The upcoming big opponent is being set up easily though with Yosen, clad in purple and white, as we learn that they’re recent game ended with them scoring 84 and their opponent 0, which is practically unheard of. That lets us know they have skill, but they also have something else as we see Alex knows one of the players, young Tatsuya. That makes for a more personal connection already that will come into play. This also leads us into meeting Yosen’s coach, Araki, who gives the team some solid information and working material for the upcoming match since they did a good bit of scouting. Both sides are going through all of this as they move towards the quarter-finals and try to grasp what they’re up against, but there’s also a big difference for Seirin in that Yosen just feels like they’re towering opponents. That’s very different than what they faced with the likes of Touou and makes a far different impression of danger.
In Summary:
Kuroko’s Basketball does what is fairly standard for the series here in that we do get on the court in the last couple of minutes so we can see what the match will be like, but the majority of it is the setup for the game itself. We move through some nice little character material, a quick run through the second match of the Winter Cup for the boys that they do very well in and then a renewed introduction to Yosen, who will prove themselves to be a very dangerous opponent in a way that is different from Touou. Which is as it should be. There’s a lot to like here with Yosen as we get opponents that are strong and engaging and with some personal connections that could come to light in a great way as it goes on.
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.
