*The Reaper is on a couch with a bowel of popcorn in his hands*
(Reaper): Hello. Reaper here, and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well we’re finally made it to the last season so let’s what my master has to say about it.
*Project begins*
(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. This is it folks, we’re entering the home stretch of Kuroko’s Basketball with the third and final season. After another successful season and with the manga coming to an end a few months after the second season, everyone with anticipating the announcement of a third season. With the way the second season ended we knew I.G. Productions got the greenlight to make a third season and at the start of 2015 we got our wish granted sooner than we expected. Let’s start the third quarter and take a look at the third season of Kuroko’s Basketball.
Opening and Ending Theme
The first opening is “Punky Funky Love” by GRANRODEO. This was my favorite opening out all the openings in the series. Not only does it get you pumped up and excited but it’s the most fun out of the openings which can be said for the series. The series is exciting but also fun to watch. The song also great with the animation which shows off all the major characters and reminds us that we’re in the final four and these teams are going to go all out. The ending is “GLITTER DAYS” by Fo’x Tails. At first I didn’t really like this ending but once I kept seeing baby Kuroko at the start, it became impossible for me to dislike this ending. Unlike the other endings which were slow and calmed us down, this ending keep us excited and gets us pumped for the next episode as if to say give us the next episode or we’re going to burn your house down.
Episodes 1-6
The third season starts off with Seirin getting interviewed by a basketball magazine (about time they got recognized for their wins). Where a few of the players name their favorite game so far (I have to say the Touhou game. This was the game where everybody played to their fullest potential. It’s the game where Seiren pull off all the stops and had to play all their cards to win. Even going as far as to expose Kuroko to them. It’s also the match where we got to see Taiga and Aomine go all out in the zone). After the interview Kuroko convinces Taiga to go and make amends with Tatsuya and when he finds them he sees them getting harassed by another basketball player named Shogo (scene here: https://youtu.be/CSTQNflZAW0). He’s playing in the next game against Kaijo and apparently he and Kise have some history together. Before Kise joined the basketball team back in middle school Shogo was the original fifth man of the Generation of Miracles. However, he was labeled the most dangerous member because of his violent streak and selfish attitude. He was forced to retire by Akashi (because his word is law apparently) and Kise took his spot. Aomine despises the guy as does everyone else from the Generation of Miracles because even though he’s talented he’s a guy who doesn’t really care for the game and after he was force to retire he vanished out of the public eye. But now he’s back and he wants his seat back (over Kise’s dead body. Even then I would never give you the title). He takes his leave and goes to get ready for the game between his school Fukuda Sogo and Kaijo.
Episodes 2-3 is the game between Kaijo and Fukuda Sogo. In the game we see how Shogo is a straight up asshole to his seniors and everyone else. He doesn’t play with the team and uses fear tactics to control them (wow, what an asshole). The team of course goes along with his attitude and selfish acts because he’s their ace and in the end they wouldn’t have gotten far without him. Kaijo takes the early lead but Sogo begins using his skills to give his team the lead. It turns out he has the same ability as Kise and can copy any move he sees but there’s a slight difference between the two. Kise just copies another player’s move. That’s it, nothing else. The move is still yours. Shogo on the other hand doesn’t do that. He straight up pillages a player’s move so that when they go to do the move again it doesn’t work. This includes shots. It’s hard to explain but from what I can gather Shogo alters the timing of the move slightly and when the player tries to do the move again they try to do so with the new timing and that throws them off (in the end it’s psychological warfare and like I said before take someone out of the game mentally and you’ve already won half the battle). As the game goes on Fukuda takes a double digit lead and it’s the beginning of the 4th quarter (boy this’ll be quite the upset if Kaijo loses). Shogo continues to stop Kise and to make things worse Kise is still hurting from his game against Touhou (that was all the way back in season 1, how are you still feeling pain?). Realizing he can’t beat Shogo, Kise shuts down until Kuroko yells out to him and gets him back into the game (Kuroko notices you fanboy). Kise than unleashes his perfect copy ability an ability where he copies the moves of everyone from the Generation of Miracles (who better? He played with them throughout middle school so of course he retained their best moves). He starts with Midorima’s shot at full court (scene here: https://youtu.be/TzYRS0JjhA8, okay now you’re just showing off) and then proceeds to crush Shogo physically and mentally (yes Kise! Shut him down) to win the game for Kaijo (we’re going to the final four). After the game Shogo waits outside for Kise hoping to fight him but Aomine shows up and takes him down with one punch (scene here: https://youtu.be/8bM4HEnk_FU, he loves his old teammates).
It’s day of the semi-finals of the Winter Cup in episode 4 but before we can go to the Winter Cup we have a few laughs. Taiga and Kuroko have worn out their shoes so before their game in the afternoon, they go out to buy new ones. Kuroko finds a new pair easily but Taiga has no luck since his feet are so big (I’ve been there a few times). Luckily, Kuroko calls up his girl Momoi who gives him a pair of Aomine’s shoes (why does she have a pair of Aomine’s shoes?) but Aomine will only give it to Taiga if he beats him one on one. Aomine crushes Taiga but still gives him the shoes. They then go to the venue where the first game is Shutoku vs Rakuzan said to be the strongest team in the country with 3 of the players being Uncrowned Kings and we’re going to see Midorima go up against Akashi the captain of the Generation of Miracles and a guy who says he has never lost at anything in his life (fun fact, in the original concept for this series Akashi was going to be Kuroko’s brother but in the final product Fujimaki decided to make them unrelated. Why didn’t he run with this idea? It would have added so much character and story to Kuroko and Akashi. One is like a shadow and the other this bright light who draws people to him. It’s perfect). The game begins where at the end of the first quarter it’s 16-16 but to be fair Akashi hasn’t gone full force yet because he’s testing out the waters (in his mind basketball is like a game of shogi or chess which is true. I don’t play chess but I do enjoy the concept of it and a lot of its principles can be applied to basketball. Think one step ahead of your opponent, plan out your moves accordingly, and use every piece to your advantage).
Episodes 5-6 is the game between Shutoku and Rakuzen. At the end of the second quarter the score is still tied 39-39 (and at halftime Akashi makes Taiga humble. Scene here: https://youtu.be/wEngKIfQqi8, damn) but that all changes in the second half when Akashi decides to start playing and unleashes the Emperor eye on Shutoku. This eye allows him to predict the future that nullifies the offense and defense of his opponents (and it also allows him to break ankles. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Q3_AsF7n7EU, holy crap, it’s like what would happen if you fused Allen Iverson and Jason Williams with Kaiba’s ego). He single-handedly crushes Shutoku giving his team a huge lead but despite the multiple ankle breakings (I hope there’s an ambulance on standby because these guys are gonna need to be rushed to hospital after this game is over) Shutoku hasn’t given up yet and prepare to release their trump card. Midorima and Takao unleash the team’s trump card the touch shot. Basically, Midorima jumps like he’s going for a shot and Takao passes the ball to him where he makes it. It happens so fast that not even Akashi with his emperor eye can stop the shot in time (scene here: https://youtu.be/VnjZOMSWE8U). With this move Shutoku brings the game back around and Rakuzen is panicking. In order to get the team back on the same page, Akashi actually makes a shot on his own basket (what the hell are you doing?) and gathers up the team where he tells them to re-focus and keep playing. He then apologizes for what he just did and says that if they lose because of this he’ll take responsibility by quitting the team and gauge out his own eyes and present them to the team (okay, you’re crazy. Seriously Kuroko, you guys followed this maniac?). His talk worked as the team is back on track and he finally shuts down the touch shot by intercepting the pass. In the end Rakuzen won 86-70 (kneel before Akashi) and at the end of the game Akashi refuses to shake Midorima’s hand because he wants to remain a foe for all of them to beat and we actually get to see Midorima cry over his defeat (scene here: https://youtu.be/_PCp_9bb_Qw).
Episodes 7-12
Episodes 7-12 is the rematch we’ve all been anticipating. Seirin vs Kaijo, the game that started everything. We see Kuroko is very excited about this match and determined to beat Kise because he always viewed him as his rival. Back in middle school, Kuroko was his mentor and soon Kise passed over him to become a regular on the team while Kuroko was second string (well this explains why you two are so close and why Kise has a man crush on Kuroko). Seirin scores the first shot with Kuroko using his vanishing drive and phantom shot right off the bat (come out strong) but Kise starts off strong too by starting the game in perfect copy mode (if he enters the Zone with his perfect copy ability than he might just be the best player from the Generation of Miracles) by doing a full court shot (scene here: https://youtu.be/f9cShyPOB28, there he goes showing off again). He then uses everyone else’s move including Akashi’s emperor eye which he uses to block the phantom shot (scene here: https://youtu.be/ad0rtfP0WnA, it’s official, Kise is the best player from the Generation of Miracles). Thanks to Kise, Kaijo gains a 13 point lead and Seiren becomes restless with their shots and plays (looking sloppy boys). In order to calm them down Riko sends in one of the first years to serve as the point guard and it’s his first game (oh man Riko, I knew you were a sadist but even this is too sadistic for you). While he’s nervous and intense as all hell he does what he was sent in to do, calm everyone down. Despite being a first year he’s very cautious and patient on the court and that calms everyone down around him. Seirin finally manages to score a point and we get a show down between Taiga and Kise where Taiga manages to beat him (scene here: https://youtu.be/TB85wz-g3-A). Kise eventually comes out because the coach catches on to his bad foot but even with Kise gone Kaijo still hangs in there and they manage to hurt Seirin bad when their captain figures out that the key to stopping the phantom shot is to take a backstep to increase your field of vision. He manages to block Kuroko’s shot before Riko subs him out and he’s in shock but not for long because Taiga takes over (avenge him Taiga. Avenge him). At the end of the first half it’s 44-44 and at the start of the second half Kaijo’s coach still refuses to put Kise back in until the last two minutes of the game when he can use his perfect copy. You would think Seirin would go on a run but no the willpower of Kaijo is just as strong as their willpower and Kaijo hangs in there. But eventually Seirin overwhelms them and gets a 15-point lead and with only 4 minutes left to go in the 4th quarter Kise finally gets put back in (and he’s got the eyes of a beast ready to kill). He starts off using his perfect copy but he lowers his stamina so that he’s not overdoing it like in the first half but he’s still dangerous. He breaks Taiga’s ankles again, blocks him, and even copies Kuroko’s ignition pass (scene here: https://youtu.be/srsE2XV_xBo, oh that is BS. They’ve been building up the ignition pass as this pass that only a select few can catch and they made some random no-name catch it like it was nothing. Okay, maybe Kise doesn’t pass it with enough force and speed as Kuroko but it’s still BS). To make matters even worse the crowd begins to cheer for Kaijo making Seirin restless and Kise even does the phantom shot (scene here: https://youtu.be/HSFqv96wIes, and the scary part is he’s not even in the Zone if he was there’s no doubt this game would have been over). Kaijo cuts the deficient and takes the lead by one point with only 38 seconds to go in the 4th quarter. Seirin has the ball and uses the run and gun method where Hyuga gets past his defender and makes a pass where Kise tries to steal it but Kuroko cuts in and passes the ball to Taiga who scores putting Seirin in the lead. Kise tries to score but gets the ball deflected out of bounds thanks to Izuki. We find out that Kuroko figured out how Kise’s perfect copy works. First off, he always copies Aomine when he’s in a fix because that’s the person he copies best (makes sense, the chemistry between these two is amazing) and secondly, he avoids using the same copies consecutively. Despite knowing this Kaijo manages to score but Seirin doesn’t give up. With only 4 seconds left Taiga tries to do a meteor jam but somehow Kise gets back in time to stop him (physics be damned in this anime). Realizing he can’t score he passes the ball to Kuroko who comes rushing from behind and scores with a buzzer beater giving Seirin the win (scene here: https://youtu.be/OeR1JgjVj28). After the game Kise congratulates Kuroko and Taiga where they both admit that Kise is the best player (I couldn’t agree more). Once the game is over and they’re set to go Taiga realizes he lost his ring and goes back to look for it where he runs into Midorima who gives him the ring and warns him that Akashi has two sides to him (yeah I figured that out a long time ago). Taiga asks Kuroko about this and he says to gather up everyone because he wants everyone to hear his story. They gather at Taiga’s place (there’s a hot blonde who walks around half naked. Why wouldn’t they meet there?) and he tells them the story of his past, the rise and fall of the Generation of Miracles.
*Project stops*
(Reaper): Sorry. I’m out of popcorn. Please hold while I go get some more.
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