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Title: Kuroko no Basket - The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays
Type: Anime, Manga
Artist(s): FUJIMAKI Tadatoshi
Status in Home Country: Ongoing - 16 Volumes (Ch 158+)
Scanslation Status: Ch 129+, Ongoing
Scan Groups: A3S Scans, Asean Punk Scanlations, Badam Scanlation, Buried With Manga, CXC Scans, ColonNine, ShinraTensei, ryColaa, DragonPiece, Imangascans
Genre(s): Comedy, Shounen, Sports
Anime: 1/13
Summary: Kuroko is a member from the legendary middle school basketball team known as "The Generation of Miracles", and while nobody seems to know about him, the main 5 players of the team all admit that he is a better player. When he joins the high school basketball team, everyone is surprised to find out that he is small, weak, and easy to miss. What is the secret that makes him so strong, and how will he help his high school team?
Review: This series has been on my MU wish list for quite some time, but it wasn't until the first anime episode was released and I had some free time that I delved into it. After the watching the first episode first, I couldn't help but get addicted and ended up reading all 128 chapters the entire day in one sitting which is a testament to how much I liked this series.
While it's a plus to be some what familiar w/ basketball, it's not a requirement for this series. It doesn't get too technical on rules and regulations, and like most shounens it concentrates on battles w/ rivals and constant level ups.
In some ways it reminded me of Eyeshield 21 and Oofuri because the main character is a small unassuming guy. However, this series takes a bit of a different twist.
The series is about Kuroko, who was a member of the elite Junior High basketball team that ruled their league for 3 years as champions. Kuroko is the 6th important member of the "The Generation of Miracles". However, unlike the other five players who went to great high schools, Kuroko chose to go to a no name school whose basketball had only existed for one year.
What sets the 6th member of that Elite team apart is that as a basket ball player, he doesn't really have any special skills. But he has a natural ability that makes everyone not notice he's present. How his new high school uses this ability and a new Freshman that has returned from America is what the story is about. A team of only freshman and sophmores willing to gamble on their team skills to become Japan's number 1 team.
Similar to many other sports series, it doesn't concentrate quite on the personal lives of the boys nor does it focus on the school days either. It's a pure action series completely devoted to basketball. While the characters are all fascinating in their own right, the main character is actually rather expressionless and doesn't display his emotions well. The emphasis on the motivations of the players is the main focus of this series. Players who have fun vs talented players who play just because they're talented. What is more important is the main theme as is the invidual vs team play.
As for the artwork, I quite liked the style and I loved how the characters are drawn. The anime was also well done, and I'm hoping they stay true to the manga and perhaps have more than one season. Overall, it appears I've become addicted to another sports series on the same scale as Oofuri.
Rate: 10/10