First Impressions / Kuroko no Basuke

「嫌だ!!」 (Dame da!!)
“No!!”

Does it make me a masochist or a sadist if I enjoyed the pain inflicted on the Seirin members in this conclusion to the Touou vs. Seirin match? KuroBasu brings out the best of its emotional manipulation skills – well, perhaps “manipulations” isn’t quite the correct word. The show has never been about directing the viewers to feel a certain way, but rather aiming to portray the highs and lows of the characters as they are, in the heat of the moment.

And really, this episode captured the adrenaline rush of the match very well; the depiction of Seirin’s dismay at their utter powerlessness was palpable, and every jab Aomine threw at Kuroko was cringe-worthy, and him catching the Ignite Pass? Ouch. Ouch on so many levels. I thought it would happen, but that moment still caught me off-guard – it’s a symbolic moment, and it brings back to mind the concept of the past vs. the present. Aomine represents the largest and clearest part of Kuroko’s time in Teikou, at least that’s what can be deduced from what is shown so far. As his past light, Aomine and Kuroko shared a partnership that required a great degree of coordination, trust, and teamwork, not unlike his current relationship with Kagami now – essentially, I assume we’re seeing the Aomine and Kuroko team running parallel to the Kagami and Kuroko team as they play in matches or bond over burgers. This is why it’s a double whammy to see the Touou ace bash Kuroko’s beliefs – he was once a part of it, and if Kagami is any indication, Aomine and Kuroko were an amazing pair. Magical, even.

It really is an interesting phenomenon, the dichotomy between Kagami and Aomine. They seem like polar opposites, but when all is said and done, is there anything that really differentiates them? The two of them are certainly their own characters, and no one would call them “the same”, but just how similar are they? It may seem like a mundane, or even an overly philosophical question to ask, but understanding Kagami and Aomine is the key to understanding Kuroko, the main character. He’s largely been defined by the characters around him so far, and they all represent a slightly different facet of Kuroko. But the people that reflect his true character the most are his two respective “lights”, unsurprisingly. It’s trite, but to understand the shadow, one must first understand the light.

If Touou thrashing Seirin didn’t have the viewers on the edge of their seats, then their unrelenting will certainly would have done the trick – it was admirable to see them not give up, even though a loss was completely obvious. It really was painful to see them lose, especially the lazy montage Production I.G. resorted to showed a very, very one-sided match. But sometimes, that fighting spirit is far more impressive than the pride of the victors. It takes a lot of guts to lose, but it takes even more to lose with heads held high as Seirin did. Anyone who has ever played the losing side in sports can probably agree – it takes more effort and teamwork to continue a losing battle than to win one. The moment the players realize they cannot win is a defining one – it’s despairing to acknowledge their best efforts will only take them this far, that they’ve reached their limits and cannot go any further. But in the heat of that moment, do you give up? Or do you continue to play? It’s much easier to give up, but continuing to play with as much grit as the Seirin players did at least honors all the blood, sweat, and tears poured into practice, and players can walk away knowing that they did their best, no what ifs, ands or buts. No one can say they didn’t give their all, and each and every member of Seirin really pulled their weight this match. The fact they lost doesn’t change, nor will that awful feeling. But they have the respect of the viewers, and perhaps even their opponents. Most importantly however, they kept the respect they have for themselves.

Unfortunately, with Seirin losing this match, I’m not sure where the show is headed next. Personally, I’m itching to see the Kise vs. Aomine match, which is probably part of the Inter-High, assuming Kaijou made the cut (I don’t think it was ever specified either way in the show? Correct me if I’m wrong though!) – not only will it be interesting to see whether or not Kise can copy Aomine’s moves, but they also have an interesting dynamic that should bring some nail-biting tension to the court. As of next episode though, that mysterious guy plastered all over the OP/ED seems to finally be making an appearance, so there’s that to look forward to for now!

Random Corner:

  • Why so lazy, Production I.G.? I liked the idea of the montage, with Rimfire playing in the background – it really reinforced Seirin’s undying will, but what was up with all the recycled footages? This goes for some of the in-episode sequences as well, particularly some of Aomine’s movements. Some shots also just looked plain lazy, which is kind of surprising since the production values on KuroBasu have been quite good so far – and it’s obvious from the DVD/BD sales they have the budget, so I’m a little confused as to where this faltering animation quality is coming from (and it’s not just KuroBasu). Don’t tell me they blew their best teams on that Guilty Crown OVA!

Full-length images: 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 22, 25, 35, Preview 03.

 

ED2.4 Sequence

ED2: 「カタルリズム」 (Kataru Rizumu) by OLDCODEX

Preview

End Card

46 Comments

  1. Nice post. I really enjoyed the episode since it adapted some of my favorite chapters in the manga. I didn’t really mind the montage, but I guess they just wanted to use something to kill time there so it could end right at the loss instead of starting another chapter in the episode. In the manga, it basically just goes “That day… we overwhelmingly lost.” after Kuroko tells Aomine that he’s no going to give up.

    Really looking forward to the next episodes, though, (And how I wish this was more than 25! But hopefully a season 2 is coming next spring) since Mystery Man is my favorite character in the manga and I’m interested in seeing how the VA they got fits him.

    Altritter
    Reply

    1. The VA will certainly be interesting, since glancing at his roster, it seems like he’s voiced mostly older males? Err, not sure if this is really spoiler-y, but JUST IN CASE:
      Show Spoiler ▼

      I think it’ll end up fine though, since the cast in KuroBasu so far have been really great.

      BakaMochi
      Reply

      1. Oh that character you started to hate when introduced because his so annoying however you start to like him cuz he haven’t died in the series and he keeps appearing. LOL

        mainavidesu
        Reply

  2. They’re not out of it. Remember that at the start of the game, they talked about how 3 out of the 4 schools in the finals will go on, and if they lost 1 game they could still continue. (In the context of promising not to count on that, but still.)

    Dayriff
    Reply

  3. I agree with you about P.I.G. recycling some footage. – I was like how many times Ahomine will do that move? LOL

    Though I respect P.I.G. for animating this part, honestly the manga is full of emotions especially when Aomine catch Kuroko’s ignite pass. The manga tells us that Kuroko is hopeless but the anime didn’t. XD

    Over all, great review as alwasy. 🙂

    mainavidesu
    Reply

    1. Thanks! 😀

      And yeah XD I was like, “Hm. I feel like I’ve seen that move before…” It is pretty hard to animate stuff like this in high quality though, so I guess I should be a little bit more grateful OTL

      But they do pull out the best stops when it really counts, and that’s what’s good! 😀

      BakaMochi
      Reply

      1. Welcome (^_^)

        Your reviews been part of my week. LOL

        But they do pull out the best stops when it really counts, and that’s what’s good! 😀

        True, can’t agree more to that. XD

        mainavidesu
        Reply

  4. I noticed the change in animation quality too but i guess it’s only to be expected since the the last episode was SO AMAZING!

    Regardless of this episode’s animation quality, there were a few moments in here that i really enjoyed ^_^

    The more i see Aomine play, the more amazed i am by him =o all of the shots he made were unbelievable! And seeing that flashback to when he was younger makes me really want to know more about his character like how he’s always been with Momoi ever since they were young and how he developed and evolved as a basketball player (even playing against adults at such a young age!)

    Kuroko’s first ignite pass! amazing as always! but sadly, all the ones after his first one were unsuccessful =(

    And when Hyuuga was shooting! all of the first years on the bench were all nervous but then he snaps back at them and scolds them saying, “When i shoot, you should be celebrating!” XD man i love his character! especially when he’s angry like that!

    Akuamari
    Reply

    1. Hyuuga is boss. So boss XD

      And little Aomine was so adorable… really drew a huge contrast between the present Aomine. How did that happy little boy go to this jaded one? I guess this process was most evident to Momoi, which I never really considered O:

      BakaMochi
      Reply

  5. so they should win at least 1 game to move on to the championship league.

    and you know what, Kuroko need to learn how to shoot the ball. He is somewhat a threat offensively (with his passing skills) and it will probably help them more if he learn how to shoot jumpers. He might not be a good one on one defender but he still has quick hands.

    darkpaladin
    Reply

  6. I’ve been waiting for this. Some motivation for Kuroko to actually improve. Everything he’s shown and done was either apparent or hidden up his sleeve. He’s never really improved, like Aomine said. I wanna see him score some baskets or even do a behind the back pass like he did in the first OP.

    Rigelin
    Reply

    1. @darkpaladin + Rigelin

      Yeah… I’m glad they’re addressing this, because Kuroko’s biggest asset as a player is his “misdirection”, but as Kise pointed out a while back, it’s only effective for a certain amount of time. Hopefully they’ll be able to figure something out, since it’s not just Kagami that needs to grow stronger as the “light” :3

      BakaMochi
      Reply

  8. thank you Junpei for giving us the only comic relief in the entire episode. that demon-clutch mode moment at the first years was superb as always.

    this episode has been pretty awesome. even with Seirin’s loss, at least they lost while playing their best, instead of giving up like the rest of Aomine’s (Touou’s) opponents.

    still loving Aomine nontheless. he’s an arrogant ass, but at least he has the skills to back it up. maybe production IG blew the animation on the first half while animating Aomine. >_^

    naixil
    Reply

    1. I love seeing Hyuuga’s clutch-mode every time. Never gets old XD

      It’s pretty hard not to like any of the KuroBasu characters, except that one asshat from… Seikou I think? He was really annoying LOL.

      Aomine has every reason to be cocky. But even then, his arrogance isn’t the typical “I’m better than you” spiel, but something a little more complicated. Please continue to be relevant, Ahomine!

      BakaMochi
      Reply

  9. […] but to understand the shadow, one must first understand the light.

    YOU THINK THE SHADOW IS YOUR ALLY? YOU MERELY ADOPTED THE SHADOW. I WAS BORN IN IT, MOLDED BY IT, AND BY THE TIME I SAW THE LIGHT I WAS ALREADY A MAN.

    Bane
    Reply

  10. This was so depressing to watch. To see them get crushed so hard was actually kind of heartbreaking. Especially after the whole “not giving up” thing.

    I sincerely hope they are still in the Inter-High. After all their hard work, geez.

    IntricateRadiance
    Reply

  12. Bakamochi, they’re still not out of the Inte-High. They still have 2 games left since this is round robin. One versus Meisei High and the other with Senshinkan High.

    ……..
    So, I’m right. They really sped it up. If you want to experience the pain again and know the details that were dropped, read the manga.

    The montage captivated the emotion for me. Though it is lazy for Production IG to do it using recycled scenes, I still liked it. The message of the decreasing frame (sorry for the lack of a better term) is something you can’t easily achieve in a manga.

    Though painful, every team is bound to fail. It wouldn’t be fun if they always win, right?

    One thing I really didn’t like here is that the other members of Touou seemed non-existent since Aomine entered the court. Yes, this is centered on how Aomine is really great with his freeform skills but the other matches with the other GOMs showed the other member skills. The question how strong the other members of Touou is still left in the open. That’s a problem for me because the show stated that this school collected many strong players all over Japan. It’s similar to the case of the non-existent Team C of Space Bros.

    Anyway, Teppei will show up next episode (his name is not a spoiler, it’s in the 2nd ending song). *curious on how he’ll sound*

    Eunichi
    Reply

    1. Oh so it’s not straight-up elimination? Yikes, sorry about that! I glanced at the eps just now, and the system still confuses me, but hooray! Seirin’s still in! 😀

      Sports anime gets a lot of benefits from being adapted into animated form, I think. Like you mentioned, the decreasing frame was a pretty impressive choice on the director’s part, as well as the transition from Shota!Aomine to Present!Aomine. Good stuff there!

      As for Touou, I think it’s as Imayoshi said – the rest of the team are like toothless wolves compared to their ace. They’re still wolves, and they are more than capable, but Aomine is like Mount Everest in terms of skill level and playing power. At least that was my impression of things?

      BakaMochi
      Reply

      1. This is the qualifier for the final league of Inter-High. The two(?) teams that have the highest number of wins get to represent Tokyo for Inter-High.

        The use if the decreasing size of frame is really good. That part only happened in 1 page of the manga.

        Maybe, they did not sped it up since this match is only a few minutes less than the match against Shuutoku. Or, I’m still under the illusion (izanami!) of the longest 3 seconds of a basketball match.

        Reread the manga and watched again the previous episodes, Aomine said that he’ll make all of the baskets in the second half. However, my point is still valid, I’m not comparing them against Aomine but the teammates of other GOMs, e.g., Takao had his own spotlight. Moreover, they’re said to be strong players all over Japan but we only saw them shooting 1 or 2 quicky 3-points, doing rebounds, and game prediction. There’s no whatsoever skills that they have shown that can get them merits of being strong players from all over Japan. Furthermore, it was shown in the a previous episode that their scores are always over 100 even without Aomine playing. That’s amazing but I wanted them to show to us viewers how they did that not only off-screen. Ok, I’m over-analyzing. There’s always a rematch.

        Eunichi
        Reply

  13. It was so sad how they had to resort to using old, repeated scenes from the previous to episode for showing the loss of Seirin. Seriously, I think I saw two scenes used twice… but even though, I was squeezing my pillow in anxiety hahaha!
    So excited for the next episode though!!

    rochichan
    Reply

  14. Finally, Aomine’s formless shots. Players will definitely be weirded out by it and won’t know how to counter it. That plus his amazing agility and he’s definitely a monster.
    I can actually forgive I.G. for the lazy footages in the montage because some of the animation with Aomine was very slick and smooth. So yeah.
    Anyways, they lost and it’s a big one. But as they say, you learn more from defeat than in a win. And they’ll definitely improve afterwards. Plus the return of Kiyoshi, a much needed center, and Seirin will be back better than ever.
    Question is where will they stop in the story. Sources say this is 25 episodes so I can’t imagine them rushing some matches. As my memory is a bit fuzzy at the order of events, I’m looking forward to the next episodes.
    Great post as always Mochi. I can feel your love and passion for this show 😛

    belatkuro
    Reply

    1. Haha, thanks!

      I don’t feel the pacing is too rushed, but judging by that spoilerific OP/ED, there’s still a lot of material left. One definite solution is a S2, but like someone said before, Ono Yuuki and Ono Kenshou did confirm the anime would end in October :/

      Hopefully the sales will convince Production I.G. to milk this cash cow a little bit more LOL

      BakaMochi
      Reply

      1. OnoY and OnoK confirmed that when the DVD haven’t release yet and now that it was released and selling good I guess P.I.G. will plan for a 2nd season.

        DVD + Blu-ray sales reached 16,768 in it’s second week. Too high for a sports anime. LOL

        The power of Fujoshi! (^O^)

        mainavidesu
        Reply

    2. I am also not sure where would they stop.

      Here’s the timeline:
      Show Spoiler ▼

      See, there isn’t a probable stopping arc if they wont sped up things.

      Eunichi
      Reply

      4. Maybe… but that arc is kinda long.

        Is the remaining episodes can cover it?

        Hmmm…. anyway, if they want to animate everything better have another season so that they don’t need to rush thing up. XD

        mainavidesu
        Reply

  15. I got caught up in the pattern of Seirin always beating the odds and winning impossible games. I was hoping there was a miracle or something, but that was out of the question. What doesn’t kill them, will make them stronger. I know they will have a rematch and beat the pants off Aomine (metaphorically). But for now, it’s too early for them to win. Next we’ll see the purple hair guy of GoM who likes candy or something.

    random viewer
    Reply

      3. True, so far we only have keychains.

        BTW BakaMochi, your a girl right? (Sorry for asking so sudden).

        Anyway, I have a disappointing news.

        We won’t get a new episode of KuroBasu this week, however next week they gonna give us a back-to-back episode (episode 19 and 20).

        (=_=)

        Source: Kurobasu.com and P.I.G.

        mainavidesu
        Reply

      4. Keychains… and arm pillows! And a bunch of smartphone screen protectors I think? Haven’t seen the keychains on for sale yet though! Q__Q I need to stalk AmiAmi again soon, haha.

        And yes, I am a girl :3

        And…(ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ 彡┻━┻

        It’s the Olympics, isn’t it?! Kindda weird a weekend show’s getting delayed though, since most of the ones suffering the break have been weekday shows. But GG. Look forward to Unlimited Capping Works 2.0 next, next week lollll

        BakaMochi
        Reply

      5. Sorry for the late reply.

        Ah, yeah I remember that smartphone cover saw a lot lately but I only manage to get Kuroko and Aomine. Kise and Midorima I’m still thinking if I’m gonna buy them. XD

        Oh, so your a girl.. I bet your fangirling too. LOL (just kidding) Anyway, girl here too. Nice to meet you!

        As for the reason why no KuroBasu this week, yes it’s because of the Olympics and Obon festival (3 days holiday).

        Though I’m not sure if crunchyroll will air episode like always. JP is blocking this site so I can’t assess it. If they will please let me know. Thanks a lot.

        XD

        mainavidesu
        Reply

      7. Sorry for spamming your review BakaMochi. (bows)

        Anyway, got a new news about KuroBasu episode 19, they said Chunchyroll will still air it this Saturday though I’m not so sure about this.

        What I’m sure about is that TOKYOMX will air episode 19 on Tuesday (no need to wait for Saturday to watch it).

        Source: TOKYOMX TV site.

        mainavidesu
        Reply

      8. Lol it’s ok! And it’s always nice to meet fellow (fan)girls :3

        I pre-ordered one of the arm pillows, but no news on it yet LOL It was supposed to come out late July, so I dunno wth happend Q__Q I’d buy those screen protectors, but my stupid phone has too big of a screen!

        And Tuesday? HUZZAH. Now if subs will come out that early…

        BakaMochi
        Reply

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