Kuroko no Basket
Kuroko's Basketball

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Just finished Kuroko No Basket manga …..this is probably the first ever sports manga I have ever read and have to say…

It provided me with a pleasant surprise, this particular series just opened my eyes to what I was missing, it just drew me in from the first chapter. The character design is well done, this series is much more than just basketball and some crazy guys playing sports.

Each of the characters are actually well developed and you actually end up learning a huge lot about each of them, from personality to reasons why they enjoy the game and what gives them that extra ... edge when playing. The story progressed nicely and had a nice flow to it with really intense matches and some lighthearted comedy. I'd say the only downside is that it's somewhat predictable, but don't get me wrong, it's still a very interesting story. There weren't any parts of the manga that really stood out as lacking or rushed to me.

At times, due to it being a manga it felt compelling to keep on reading, as I wanted to see more and know more on what was occurring, reading the manga allowed me to truly get a feel for what was happening through their minds and how it must take a toll to even get so far in doing something that kills you inside, but at the same time, ignoring the pain and striving to succeed.

Though at the end of the day, to me, the ending was a bit of a let down, not entirely though, since it felt warm, it felt like I wanted to cry, since at every moment I felt for each character, but the only thing that really lacked, was closure of each character, since that the thing that I wanted to know, what was each characters future, would they end up in the NBA or going against the world in a world tournament, or if Kuroko could even go into the Zone….

Overall, I really did enjoy this series and I'd recommend it to anyone unless you absolutely detest sports, in which case this may not be the manga for you as they do play basketball a lot. But if you are unsure how you feel about sports manga and want to give one a try, this series is a great start. Kuroko no Basket will definitely be added on to my list of favourite manga!!! So awesome!!!

But if you are one of those, watch the anime as well, the anime does justice to each chapter and combined with the soundtrack and art style, its an amazing adventure and I can’t wait for season 3 of the anime in december!

If not for Slam Dunk, I honestly going to give it a 9. Why? it's my first sports anime and I love it. I remember I was super crazy with this anime with my friend and bought many fanmade merchandise related to KnB. However, reading it again after slam dunk, the rating goes down for me.

Story. I love the story until the Touou part (the first time they were crushed by Touou). It was predictable that they would win a champion in the end, so it's kinda predictable. The superpower stuffs are alright, but they exaggerated it to a different level xD as a basketball ... fan, their moves DID exists, BUT it was more like a 'one time' success, while in KnB, it was a move tht can be done always.

Art wasn't good for the early parts of the story, but in the later part, it gets good (like what you've seen in the anime). TBH I was surprised when I first read it, I was like 'WTF? this is kuroko and kagami? they are so different from the anime!'

Characters are unique (I'm talkin about GM here). Other than GM, there are few noteworthy characters. Who's the first years in Seirin? my mind only tells me Kuroko and Kagami, although there are 3 more (LOL). Kuroko, I feel as a MC, he's rather bland(?) boring af, Idk how there's alot of girls out there like him... Kagami is more alive and entertaining as MC. Kagami is like Hanamichi, but worse :v

Although I really enjoy this manga. I could read it a thousand time and still finish it fast. It's a light read.

I will make my review as short & informative as possible.

Will divide into 2 parts :

First Part :- Touhou Defeat

Manga was great till this part. As I did not read this manga during its official publishing period, I read through everything in one go. Things were really packed and twisted during this part and after that defeat, it literally touched heart. From character development to story-line, side characters; everything felt very close. They used almost every character during this part and I must say mangaka used it PERFECTLY!! Things were so simple and great that mangaka didn't need anyone to explain the situation ... or what actually was happening. I enjoyed this part to the fullest.

I give this manga for THIS PART :

Story - 8
Art - 9
Character - 9
Enjoyment - 10
Overall - 9


Second Part :- Winter Cup

This is where things fell really flat with some weird power-ups, things that are beyond explanation, ignoring some characters completely and lack of character usage. Before Winter Cup, everything was about everyone but during this part, it was so much centered around few people that at some point I started to feel sad for those characters; how they were left behind and abandoned miserably. I think at some point even mangaka felt bad which resulted a rushed use of some benchwarmers in the final match. Below, I will give ratings and some small explanation behind it in written form.

Story - 3

Story had no creativity. It was repetitive to its finest. It's all about false hope from the opponent's team. Sometimes mangaka showed so much frames on opponent's life and story AND his confidence on winning that at some point you won't even feel fair and comfortable to see them loosing.

Art - 6

Art went drastically bad after each chapter on Winter Cup arc. I have nothing to say here. Completely disappointed.

Character - 3

Mangaka ignored Riko Aida, one of the most important character of this manga, she had really less frame time.

Almost all 1st year students were ignored including some 2nd year students except for Kuroko and Kagami. Winter Cup was an excellent chance to weld leftover characters, using them to counter some specific side characters from the opponent's side. Also mangaka showed at some point that Rika's father giving them training to open inner potential but all went to null and void. Even opponent's side characters had better character development than Seirin's side.

Rika's father, after training them hard for a month, went missing completely. There was absolutely no sign of him after the match or whatsoever.

Everything was about Kuroko and Kagami and even they fell flat many times.

Alexandra Garcia, Kagami's master was not there at all even though mangaka showed a promising entry of that character. 4 chapters of her character development but she only showed a 20 second trick which didn't even last properly and I did not get at all what trick she actually showed which resulted her to isolate Kagami from everyone and teaching him a trick on a random street basketball court which Kagami barely used it during that tournament. I guess she was there for some nudity and teasing.

Lastly, Kuroko. God damn(!!) they used this character so poorly during this tournament even though this manga (also anime) is named after him. He was not enjoyable to see during this tournament at ALL.

Enjoyment - 5

Didn't enjoy it at all (this part only). Thumbs down. Sorry guys.

Overall - 4.25

Final verdict. This manga is not about Kuroko. Everything's for only one character and that is for Kagami. Some weird zoning, opening door, aura oh man! This part is actually straight Harrypotter out of nowhere. I could not sit properly while reading till the end. I rather felt annoyed and irritated. Managaka failed to sell it to his fans and made it as annoying as possible.