Kuroko's Basketball

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 situationor 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.

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 basketballfan, 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.

It was a pretty fun read overall with characters having their own specialties and moves. Midorima's accurate shots and Kuroko's disappearing abilities were the most entertaining to me. The action on the court tends to boil down to 1v1 matchups that completely ignore the existence of other players on the court, which is kinda silly, but it gives each player chances to show off their skills, I guess. What I didn't really like: -Everyone kinda panders to Kuroko in the story. All of his former teammates have a little too much respect for him and all his current teammates are overly concerned about what he thinks. Someof it is warranted with his reputation, but it gets to a point of feeling like they worship him too much (can I say "avatar worship" here and it make sense?). -On Kuroko's team, Mitobe is a bit too convenient. He's a good player with his own specialty, but basically spends the entire series as a benchwarmer. He pretty much only plays when one of the main guys has some sort of emergency. The way he doesn't talk or have much focus made him feel pretty disposable, like you forget he exists when he isn't needed. -Entering "the zone" was pretty half-assed. How can someone stay in "the zone" during timeouts and other breaks? For the most part, it felt very stiff. -The ending was a little unsatisfying. Again, it just felt like it wrapped up too conveniently, then they didn't even have any chapters beyond the final game. I guess I would've liked if Kuroko talked to his old team a bit more, at least.

A sports manga that is pretty iconic. IMO it dwells too much on flashbacks at points where they otherwise cut the tension but that is really my only critique, its a very enticing read, it really gets your nerves pumped and it has so many compelling characters that you want to see develop and that you mostly get to see develop. Heavily recommended. You get to see Kuroko and his teammates grow as people and players. the skillset they and the rivals develop get surprisingly complex and original for the limitation of a sports manga that doesn't really delve into anything fantasy related. the manga isn'tafraid to present tragedies and long lasting consequences for it's characters and it pulls your feelings a lot as well. I think anyone that likes most other sports manga will enjoy Kuroko and through the entirety of it I believe it remained an enjoyable read.