As a retired participant familiar with competitive high school basketball, I must admit Kuroko no Basket reminded me of the exact reasons why I fell in love with the sport. Adrenaline, leadership, endurance, and most of all, team work. In a world with so many instructed paths to follow, should one rely on team work, or their own skills in a sport like basketball? Surely, Kuroko no Basket tackles this question with considerable reflexes, not with constant waves of seriousness but with tremendously well organized comedy and series of basketball tournaments, which comprises of flashy to not-so-flashy shots. But, those of you experienced with the sport or have actively followed daily lives of NBA athletes know that made-shots can never be considered flashy, or absurd. Since, what essentially makes basketball such an exciting sport is scoring a hoop which one would've never expected to otherwise, without a whim of luck or practice.
Besides whim and practice, though, there's also something many labels as "talent", but can anybody even consider being skinny-boned, inconspicuous an advantage? Well, many could beg to differ, Kuroko included.
5'6 and 125 pounds, Kuroko is nothing short of an elementary school kid who lost his way on a school field trip compared to an average athlete. Although unable to achieve a standard masculinity, Kuroko obtains extraordinary skills of creating illusions and making expeditious passes to his teammates. He's an interesting character, and his unseen ability attracts five other mysterious individuals. The Generation of Miracles is a label given to these five apparent prodigies of basketball, and during their middle school careers they were enrolled into the same team as Kuroko. Due to disagreements on how one should proceed with basketball, however, Kuroko leaves his five reliable friends, and begins seeking for his own style of playing at Seirin High School.
Luckily, Kuroko immediately stumbles upon a hot-headed, ambitious American basketball player named Taiga, and their adventures of crushing the Generation of Miracles start there. What defines Kuroko no Basket as an exciting anime then is how they proceed to demonstrate how eccentrically one could play out basketball--not as simply a sport, but a fiery passion. Due to the focus on this element, the director purposely emphasized the amazingness of dunks, and how even difficultly-leveled (fade-away, etc.) shots were easily prosecuted. Of course, it does then leave out very uncoordinated, clogged dialogue in the middle of games and though trash talking between teams is common, I think they did drag out some of the excessive dialogue. But, even those flaws just as effortlessly get rampaged over by aggressive characters like Taiga.
Oftentimes bluntly assertive, Taiga is Kuroko's teammate, but also much more than a teammate. He oafishly overcomes major issues without much thought, but is at the same time someone who accompanies Kuroko in the worst of times. Although bearing only one simple ambition, Taiga embodies a colorful amount of energetic traits you'd want in anyone, which greatly constitutes the overall spontaneity in the team. And his egotistic self committing outrageous acts is just a genuinely hilarious element of Kuroko no Basket. Even among the side characters are several mentionable members with similarly strong aspiration, and where one can find the diverse ranks of this series. The Generation of Miracles especially, begin as merely two-dimensional enemies that Kuroko needed to face, but eventually progress into characters with intriguing insights of handling one's adeptness in any sports.
With regards to animation, the character designs are well-done. Animated action sequences were all smoothly and feasibly produced. Some camera angles really capture the correct atmosphere for the tense phases in games, while sometimes the focuses on long distance shots were mostly kind of awkward. Nonetheless, the major frameworks followed coherent transitions for the characters to move freely on the court. Although some of the jumps and passes (alley-oops, etc.) in Kuroke no Basket are "ridiculous" even if made by professionals, it fit all so well with the over-the-top nature of the show that Kuroko no Basket wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable without them. The so-called impossibly-made hoops don't actually distract from the story and thus are vigorously exaggerated slams more than anything.
The soundtracks all viably made the series more interesting as it progressed - with change of pacing of some notably well-done melodies of hard rock, alternative, to relaxing, chill music. The OP appropriately fit the momentum some episodes started with, though a repetitive introduction of the generation of miracles does drag on for more than half of the series, which they did finally decide to rid of with a renewal of an alternative, better OP. Likewise, the OST is appropriately integrated within the series.
Ultimately, the bizarreness and absurdity are often what makes Kuroko no Basket stand out even among its shounen precedents like Slam Dunk and TTGL. Every character who speaks a line obtains a certain role in the story, never disappear off the screen without substantial explanation, and makes every shoot, block, or pass worthy of paying attention to. The story never nags the audience with unnecessary material, and it doesn't rely on a supernatural setting to make its exciting action scenes work.
Above all, Kuroko no Basket is really nonchalant when it comes to presenting creative ways of playing basketball in real life, yet it speaks through its friendly characters the sweat and tears which someone would invest into the sport. Surely, Kuroko no Basket provides exhilarating visuals; but even more, it promotes the importance of sportsmanship, and is truly inspirational. I highly recommend this series to basketball enthusiasts and those looking for a spirited shounen anime at its best.
