Title: Kuroko no Basuke
Release date: 8th April 2012 
Not being fond of sports in any way whatsoever, I was not expecting much from sports anime Kuroko no Basuke. I’ll admit to initially looking it up because of the fantastic opening theme “Can Do” by GRANRODEO. Fortunately for me, I was pleasantly surprised. Based on the manga of the same name by Tadatoshi Fujimaki, Production I.G present the anime adaptation.
The first episode starts with a serious introduction of the ‘Generation of Miracles’, five basketball prodigies casting impressively dramatic silhouettes accompanied by some very solemn piano music. We are then told of a sixth prodigy, a ‘phantom member’ and from one vague shot it’s clear that this guy is probably going to be our protagonist. This opening is to be expected, with enough emphasis placed on the sport itself to already seem a little boring to someone unused to the genre. For sports fans, this is probably perfect and a great start with a powerful atmosphere.
The opening theme sweeps this away. Colourful and lively, nothing at all like the introduction, it shows the anime in a very different light. With the expected sports montage of teenagers training, playing against one another, pulling dramatic expressions and indulging in a meaningful fist-bump it’s no surprise that there’s only one female character shown so far. Our little blue haired guy from the opening is back, clutching a basketball and looking somewhat lost. Surely no main character can be left looking so confused and so character growth is clearly on the agenda.
The first half of the episode is typically highschool, with members of the basketball club scouting for new recruits. The first character to show interest is a giant, literally towering over the happy fellow recruiting and clearly promising great things. After terrorising the people covering the sign-up sheet with his attitude, we’re left with some more impressively dramatic piano music while learning his name is Taiga Kagami and he’s fresh back from America, despairing of Japanese basketball. After a mysterious club request shows up from one Tetsuya Kuroko, seemingly from the Generation of Miracles itself, we’re allowed to see the small blue-haired youth following the giant red-haired Taiga. It’s time to say hello to our main characters, even if they’ve done very little so far.
We’re then moved to a gym to meet the team. Enter boys’ basketball coach Riko Aida, the girl from the opening. She’s cute and tiny but filled with energy and we soon learn of her formidable ability to assess sportsmen.. She manages to stop a growing reaction of shock and sexism by demanding all her new recruits to strip, proceeding to treat them somewhat like lumps of meat, muscle and potential. The giant Taiga renders her speechless and easily dawrfs the others while the tiny Kuroko sidles in without being noticed and dramatically underwhelms other than with his ability to come across as invisible, with no one having seen him until he spoke. An angry onlooking Taiga makes it clear that there’ll be rivalry here and so on we go to the rest of the episode.
There’s some tense nighttime basketball from Taiga and Kuroko, the latter only managing to impress by how awful he is in comparison to his new teammate. The drama is back, as well as a slightly unnerving speech from Taiga to do with the smells of strength and weakness. The basketball playing itself is nicely animated and the music is once again impressive. Not so Kuroko. While all protagonists have room for growth, Kuroko seems to be starting from nothing and it is questionable whether a whole series will be enough for him to manage to rival Taiga at all. He refers to himself as a ‘shadow’, the reason for which soon becomes clear in a game played between the first years and the rest of the team. Taiga is the star of the show but some slow-motion animation shows just how an invisible player can pass the ball to his teammates without being stopped by his opponents. The coach explains this as misdirection and suddenly Kuroko is very interesting indeed and identified as the phantom six member of the ‘Generation of Miracles’. As such, our two main characters have now suitably impressed in their own ways and team together to score the final basket of the game.
The remainder of the episode is only natural after that performance. After intruding upon Taiga’s lunch, Kuroko sets himself up as a counterpart to the giant rather than a rival. There are the obligatory mild compliments, the expected bickering and some serious discussion of future tournaments. Taiga having set his goal as becoming the best, Kuroko sets himself up as the other’s shadow, deciding to help him reach the top. Another nice song rounds off the episode “Start it right away” by Hyadain and the series is well underway.
With interesting character dynamics, decent animation, a great soundtrack and plenty of room for development, Kuroko no Basuke is entertaining even for those of us who are not keen on sports and well worth a watch.
[Words by Jenny Nolan-Lee]
