Kuroko no Basket Movie 1: Winter Cup - Kage to Hikari

Whether this movie can be considered good or bad heavily depends on your reasons for watching it.
Watch it if:
- You love KnB so you're always happy with new content.
- You kind of forgot what happened in S1 and you want to refresh your memory.
- You're not really interested in KnB, but want to know the main events.
- You want to skip a season for some freaking reason.

Other than those, I recommend you to watch the actual series instead, or don't watch the movie at all. After all, it's a recap of the first season, so as a 'stand alone' it's pretty crappy.

Stuffing 25 episodes in ... a little bit more than 1 hour, is not the easiest task ever. That's also a reason why I don't want to be too harsh on this movie. There are little series that pull of a decent retelling of their series in a movie, unless they change a big part of the plot. KnB isn't anything new when it comes to that. We get to see the most important parts, but the story loses a lot of its depth and character development due to a lack of time. Which is a pity of course, as one of the great aspects of KnB were the exciting characters. The original air of mystery around the GoM, was completely removed.

Some studios try to 'fix' their series in the movie, by correcting the animation or adding additional scenes. As I mentioned before, this movie was a total recap. Other than the opening scene, there wasn't anything new.

And oh God... The opening scene. What the Hell happened with the opening scene. The idea was great, the shots looked good and the song was awesome, but the animation looked so low budget it made my eyes watery. If you think I'm exaggerating, please take a look and judge for yourself: (https://twitter.com/AlphaMoku46/status/784133544117428224).
As I said, the idea looked really nice, but coming from a series that had some amazing OP's in the past, this one is a rather big... nay.

Nevertheless I enjoyed this movie. You know why? Because it gave me that nostalgic feeling. I love KnB and I'm happy with any kind of content the franchise gives its fans. At the end, I gave it an 8 for overall enjoyment. I just felt like writing this review to warn viewers who don't look at the movie the same way as I do.

Disclaimer: spoilers ahead.

First of all, if you're coming here straight after season 1 then don't bother. I don't know why it's not stated anywhere on this page, but this highlights movie features half of season two, heavy with plot spoilers that should be avoided until you watch the second season. Which that out of the way, let's start.

Say in short, this is a highlights compilation that follows the two games against Aomine from season one and season two, and as we know, the games span multiple episodes and a movie format is just the perfect take on how to screen one of them. No commercial ... breaks in between, no constant interruption of the opening and ending theme songs, you just get the raw content ported directly from the TV show, bundled together in a seamless way that recaps you on one of the best games from the show.

I appreciate the original opening that came with this, the song was alright however the visuals were just stunning. You could tell from that alone that more effort went into this than simply piecing together recycled scenes.

Kuroko No Basket Movies 1 2 3

1. Movie 1 Winter Cup Soushuuhen - Kage to Hikari
2. Movie 2 Winter Cup Soushuuhen - Namida no Saki e
3. Movie 3 Winter Cup Soushuuhen - Tobira no Mukou

Movie one, two, and three is a summarize version of Season one, two, and three. Though unlike the Season one series where it tackles first the plays Seirin made in order to participate in the Winter Cup and Season 2 moving on to the tournament itself, the Movies focuses on the Winter Cup alone and show only a bit of introduction from the Season one series. The movies consist of the ... highlights and the outplays Team Seirin did in order to defeat every team with a Generation of Miracles member. It is a waste not to watch them but I decided not to. Not because it will be a waste of time but I know that watching it will make my memory jamble. Since I've watched each episodes of all three seasons, I already know how the story goes. But apart from that fact, every bit of extras, not that important but is a part of the series, and I don't want to forget that. Watching this movies will possibly make you forget that little bits of cute lines, scenarios from the series, and I don't want that. You can make it a review from the seasons series though.

Kuroko No Basket Anime Review
By: Tadatoshi Fujimaki
April 15, 2019

Overall: 10/10

Plot: 10

Sports Anime genre have only one path to take, tournaments. Participating individually or by teaming up, it is the most common plot that exist. While this is not a unique one, it will be the author's capability how he manage to capture the interest of the viewer and excite them. This series focuses on students who love playing basketball. At first, I am really not interested on watching this anime. It is kind of absurd to think of a basketball story with extraordinary skills. But after trying it out, it made me realize that the plot of the story is great. I love the simplicity of it. The main reason of why the series moves forward and how it affects every branches of the story. Unrealistic as it may seem, the lesson is still there. The creator successfully stress out the core value when playing basketball. What also made me hook on this series is the directness of every plays all of the basketball teams have. Each play only last for an average of 5 to 6 episodes. Flashbacks are there but its only on a really minimum basis. You can enjoy watching all of the plays without so much cliffhanging and annoying side stories of the characters.

Characters: 10

It is already a known that almost all of the characters on this series are super cool. It is the reason why most of the girl watched it, I think. Aside from that fact, the development of the characters can totally be seen along the story. The changes and realization they made make them more of a human. Though not skillfully speaking. Since there are so many characters, giving all of them the spotlight is hard. And that's whats amazing. The creator successfully introduce a past where most of the characters belong. That way, it won't be hard tackling each of the characters past and it gives the story more time in other scenarios that needs to be displayed. I love how the story never depend on the back story of the characters so much that it will take too much time to explain it.

Sound and Animation: 10

Perfect. My phone is full of Kises' picture. Yes, every character is so handsome but it is not only this. The animation of the story is really great. Parts where the characters show dribbling, passing, shooting or even guarding their opponents is really detailed. I love how they show the movements of the characters playing on the court, as well as their expression depending on the feeling they have. Should I also mention the voices? Yes, theirs are really cool and perfectly matches the looks of the characters.

Enjoyment: 10

I am not really a fan of basketball. I do not hate it, but I do not also like it. This is the first anime basketball which got me hooked. Due to so much enjoyment watching it, I've finished it in a more faster time than the other series I tried. Every episode will make you want more, more plays, more actions on the court, more characters to encounter with. It is really exciting, and fun to watch.

Ending: 10

This is the best route to take for an ending on this series. The main goal of Kuroko has been met after winning the nationals with his team. But no, the story did not really move forward just because they had to win. It is because he had to bring back his loss previously. He had to bring back all of the people precious to him and he did. Fixing things that is broken and making them realize the most important thing when doing the thing they love. I am content with the ending of this series. It is simple, yet it will made you realize something important.