First Impressions / Kuroko no Basuke

「ふざけた奴ばっかりだ」 (Fuzaketa Yatsu Bakkari da)
“You’re All Ridiculous”

Bar the doors, people – it’s witchcraft! There isn’t much else you could call Aomine’s crazy skills, and coupled with some fine animation from Production I.G. (at the expense of some of the far-away shots, go figure), Aomine Daiki has truly succeeded in marking himself as an otherworldly presence of some sort on the basketball court.

His seemingly limitless maneuverability requires some serious suspension of disbelief, even more than Midorima and his 100% accuracy – Aomine is the one who tests this boundary between fiction and reality the most. The sheer lack of logic is something that comes hand-in-hand with the genre, and although it’s never really bothered me to check rationality and real-life logic at the door, I am interested in seeing how Seirin will dig themselves out of this one, and how the show itself will manage to top a player like Aomine, if they ever do.

The Generation of Miracles members shown so far are all incredible players, but they’ve each had a serious weakness: Kise can copy anything, but his physique has to be better than his opponents for it to work, and imitation can only go so far; Midorima may make all of his shots, but this takes time and immense concentration – it’s good, but a tad impractical in the sense he loses a lot of his mobility. Aomine’s style, on the other hand, is rooted in his movement, which is more fundamental and harder to stop since it requires a much higher ability to adapt to a myriad of different situations. I suppose it’s worsened by the fact his style originates from street ball which – and do correct me if I’m wrong – differs greatly from traditional basketball taught by coaches and in school; a really lame comparison would be classical music vs. jazz music – each genre places emphasis on vastly different things and require different approaches to understanding them. Same applies to the predicament here, where traditional players like Hyuuga can’t counter against non-traditional players like Aomine since they’ve never been exposed to street style before. It makes sense even for someone like Kagami to be floored, since seeing something is different from actually encountering it first-hand – if he was taught the traditional way of basketball, that’s what his body and mind is used to. He may be able to recognize Aomine’s movements, but since he has never experienced it – or has had very limited experience – there’s simply no way he would know how to go about countering it.

To be honest, that’s a much better conflict than putting Aomine on a pedestal and calling him the “Next Boy Genius”. A conflict stemming from different playing styles might seem trite and even boring, but on some levels it’s a much more complex and layered one than slapping a label on somebody and trying to build a believable plot point around that single title. There’s a certain expectation that draws from the audience, which more than half the time a series cannot fulfill properly. KuroBasu is playing it pretty close here, as Aomine’s ability has been played up like the latest gossip in tabloid magazines. He’s certainly a very good player, but his skills have to be firmly grounded in something – I’m perfectly fine with abandoning my logic, as long as the show is putting in effort to create a universe where everything that happens within it is believable. His street style probably isn’t everything that makes Aomine the ace he is, but it offers a much more plausible and rational explanation for his skills than simply being made to believe he’s good. It’s less of a copout, and makes Seirin’s struggles against him much more believable and realistic within the context of the show, and that’s ultimately the most important part. A series forsaking real life logic is OK, as long as it’s trying to ensure that an event makes sense within its own universe. And although Aomine’s sheer genius is starting to test the limits of believability even in KuroBasu’s world, if his greatness becomes firmly grounded in the style of his play rather than his boundless potential/infamous reputation, the show should prevent itself from escaping into the stratosphere.

In that vein, I’m starting to understand why Seirin places so much value in Kagami – various characters have made comments on his insane jumping abilities, and frequently brought up his nationality as a consequence. I don’t claim to be an expert in the physique of Japanese men or how basketball is played internationally, but the fact Kagami learned how to play b-ball in the States probably has a lot bigger influence in his “invincibility” than I initially thought. He plays the American way, and even though he’s Japanese, his skills stem from a different origin, hence why he seems to stand out so much. I’m not really sure how much of Bakagami’s jumping skill is inherent to him – I’d wager fifty percent is innate, given good ol’ Dad’s surprise way back when, but the other half probably comes from being cultivated through experiences playing with others who were equal to or better than him in terms of physique and had similar styles… because let’s face it, it’s not that uncommon to find giants over 180cm in America.

So in the end, it’s not that Kagami is necessarily better than any of the opponents he’s faced – it’s more about the type of style he has, and the environment he played in. He’s definitely a great player, but I wonder if things will have the same result if he was playing in an American high-school team as opposed to a Japanese one. The heights are going to be vastly different for one thing… Actually, briefly glancing at all the “genius” players in the show, they all share one commonality: their height. It’s unusually tall for the average Japanese high-school player (most of Seirin’s players are under 180 cm; Kagami is 190 cm), so it’s a simple, but entirely possible, explanation for their abilities.

Terminology of the Day:

  • Isolation: A strategy where one player goes man-to-man with another player on the opposing team while the rest of the team with the ball keeps the opponents away in order to let the ball-handler try and score (Google)

Random Corner:

Full-length images: 1, 2, 3, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 31.

 

ED2.3 Sequence

ED2.3: 「カタルリズム」 (Kataru Rizumu) by OLDCODEX

Preview

End Card

45 Comments

  3. They really blew the budget with this episode (not that mind) Animation really did make it look like an intense basketball game. Really excited for the next episode~

    rochichan
    Reply

  4. Just wanna share this as I know a lot of us who knows the basic rules of basketball or who plays basketball sometimes question a lot of things about KuroBasu. Like the unrealistic side etc… 🙂 So here’s Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei’s confession.

    Fujimaki-sensei, confess that when he started KuroBasu manga, he himself is not familiar of the basic rules of Basketball which is why some character plays in the manga are against the rules of BB. It took him 7 volumes before he manage to be familiar of the rules of BB and when that’s happen there are plays in the manga which he can no longer change even he wants too.

    As for my own opinion, I can throw away my logic in basketball for this manga/anime as long as this series continue to amaze me and entertain me. I don’t have any complain even the characters do imposible things. Who cares, what I care is that the character development and relationship and the story itself. (^O^)

    mainavidesu
    Reply

    1. True that. Because honestly, it’s not just KnB that throws logic out the window – it’s every show.

      I like to approach each series with a separate logic. They all build their own universe, and hence each have their own set of rationale and logic that applies to events that happen within the series. With that, the most important part becomes whether or not a certain plot point can be explained using the show’s logic rather than RL logic.

      So far, nothing’s seemed that outrageous in KuroBasu. Except the longest 3 seconds of a match I’ve ever seen in my life. Maybe it was telepathy?

      BakaMochi
      Reply

      1. Glad to know that were on the same boat.

        I agree with that longest 3 seconds too.. but it’s an anime so it’s acceptable. Though that made me laugh hard.(^_^)

        Time clock: 00:03 (Minutes:Seconds)
        Midorima: Let me tell you my life story!

        LOL

        mainavidesu
        Reply

  7. LOL ilu Bakamochi! Kise \o/
    I got over all of the unrealistic stuff right away, I don’t even focus on suspending my disbelief or whatever, caring about that stuff pretty much ruins the series. I’m just in it for the ride and for more MiraGen revelations and bishounens.
    OH and the animation was AWESOME in this episode. Those dribbling sequences when the street ball starts, sooooo good.

    grey
    Reply

    1. Kise <3 I personally can’t wait for that eventual face-off between him and Aomine. That is going to be awesome.

      There was actually one particular shot that really impressed me in terms of production values – made the background seem like an actual basketball court instead of… well, the backdrop in an anime XD

      BakaMochi
      Reply

  9. Abandon logic!!! Well, most animes do so why bother? However, some will say this is basketball so they must be realistic. But this is shounen manga and in the sports genre anything can happen even though the characters are just middle schoolers and high schoolers. Even the much raved/glorified Slam Dunk has also unrealistic sides to it. So, let’s just enjoy the show and don’t mind logic!

    Anyway, why in their world females do not even know how to prepare food? Oh well, you’re cute so I’ll forgive you Momoi.

    Eunichi
    Reply

  10. it’s ok for the females not to know how to do the simplest sports nutrition food, the honey lemon slices, as long as we have Mitobe and “apologetic mushroom” Wakamatsu to provide them. hohoho.

    Riko and Junpei has great telepathy. how do you explain why they both use the “apologetic mushroom” nick on Wakamatsu. (<- i feel for you man, you probably didn't deserve that nick!)

    as much as Aomine is being such an ass, you really can't make yourself dislike him, especially when he's so awesome on court. all the blocking between Kagami and him makes me catch my breath. every. time.

    more Midorimacchi and Kise please!

    naixil
    Reply

    1. @Eunichi: Cooking is hard XD I should know… I try all the time and fail spectacularly orz

      @naixil: Where does the mushroom thing come from? Is it the hair? LOL Bakagami and Ahomine totally stole the show this ep though – those heart-stopping shots!

      BakaMochi
      Reply

  11. I think Midorima is the impossible one here not Aomine, if you have seen NBA players like Jamaal Crawford (Shake and Bake Move) and Allen Iverson do these sick crossovers you won’t be surprised and some people in the NBA already did the behind the backboard shot like he did in the last play of this episode so it’s not that surprising compared to Midorima’s full court shot plus a guy (Kagami) contesting it. It is true that making a shot behind the backboard in an actual game is pretty damn hard. People can consider them flukes but still they’re makable shots. But if he makes those shots everytime he tries them, then logic shall be broken. =)

    FT5Havok
    Reply

  12. I did listen to the character songs! Out of all of them(kuroko,kagami,kise,midorima,and takao)
    I liked takao’s songs. They’re very catchy! Can’t wait for aomine’s songs. Plus kagami sounds cool when he sings (yuki Ono actually )

    Aho-mine
    Reply

      1. There are duets!! Will be out late aug!!! ^_^ Can’t wait for them.
        And i love kagami’s character song side B. It was a nice surprise, and it became my fave song!

        yingying
        Reply

  13. I’m more in love with Kuroko’s Ignite Pass in this episode than anything else. I squealed. And then yelled at the screen as soon as Aomine blocked Kagami’s shot.

    Is Kise just going to be in every episode from now on? … Fine by me. 😀

    Aomine’s a boss. In an asshole-y kind of way. (On a side note: Every single episode I fall more in love with Kagami and Kuroko as individual characters and players. It’s amazing.)

    IntricateRadiance
    Reply

    1. That pass is symbolic in so many ways… I get chills watching it each time :3

      Who cares why Kise’s in the ep? As long as he’s in it <3

      Yes. Ahomine = boss. It’s kind of amazing though how wonderful these characters are. I seriously can’t pick a favorite anymore.

      BakaMochi
      Reply

  14. Well if people’ve read the manga, Aomine’s skills in this episode is nothing compared to what he can really do. Guess we’ll see it in the next episode, i hope =)

    Sharingod
    Reply

  15. At the start I just dismissed it as another sports anime, but seeing its rank on Anime Planet got me tempted.
    Picked it up 16 episodes in. No regrets.

    Aomine is cool and all, but you know you can’t wait to see what Seirin have up their sleeves! (Nothing, as they’re wearing vests… Anyone? ;_;)

    That Lazy Shounen
    Reply

      3. Hmm… these are just my preferences, but:

        Kuroko: Kimi ga Hikari de Aru Tame ni > Future Line (his voice sounds a lot better in Kimi ga)
        Kise: I love both Perfect Copy and Sha La La Goes On, but he’s a tad behind in terms of singing ability (he really strains on those high notes lol)
        Midorima: A-side (Nerai Doori no Destiny) > B-side (Iwaku Kani za no Kichijitsu ni). Midorima probably comes first or second in vocal ability
        Takao: Definitely Ace-sama ni Banzai over FOV – it’s a lot more upbeat and funny.

        I haven’t heard the other ones yet so I can’t really comment on Aomine/Hyuuga/etc.’s yet. Hope that helps!

        BakaMochi
        Reply

    1. I saw that too! Lol Power of Fujoshi – that’s exactly what I thought! XDD

      I think Production I.G. was planning a S2 from the beginning anyway… look at that content in the OP/ED… no way are they gonna fit all that into the remaining episodes! *___*

      BakaMochi
      Reply

      1. There’s a massive number of Fujoshi after all. Ikebukuro Animate branch is full of Fujoshi yesterday cuz of KuroBasu Ichibankuji prize. The line is from 5th floor to ground floor. I don’t want to be step on so I just took photos. LOL

        I was thinking that too, but OnoY and OnoK mention in KuroBasu radio that the anime will end on October. (=_=)

        They really sound serious and sad so I am worried that there won’t be another season. (+_+)

        Anyway, with the DVD/Blu-ray sales topping the spring anime chart sales there’s a chance will get another season. Probably the Winter Cup Arc. (^_^)

        mainavidesu
        Reply

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