Hey guys, Justin here, and welcome to the Otaku Mind. Today we’re going to be talking about one of my favorite mangas out there, Kuroko’s Basketball. Kuroko’s Basketball was one of the best sports manga to appear in Shonen Jump. It had good characters, a good story that it was able to tell through basketball games, and of course cool basketball scenes. This series was very popular in Japan. At the height of its popularity, you couldn’t walk into a store and not see their merchandise. Getting an anime only increased its popularity here in the west, where some have gone as far as calling it one of their all-time favorite animes. With such a strong fandom a lot of people have been crying out for a sequel to the series to which I ask, why? Don’t get me wrong, while I would love to see a sequel to this series, I really don’t feel like there’s a need for one. The series ended on a good note with Kuroko beating his former teammates, patching things up with them, and winning the championship with his team. Even the movie ended on a good note with Taiga going to join the NBA. Plus, we technically got a sequel with the all-star game. So yeah, I really don’t see a reason for a sequel to exist especially if it can’t tell a solid story like its predecessor. It’s kind of like Boruto it has no reason to exist, but it has it’s following even though there are some out there who feel that this hurts the series more than it helps. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t fiddle around with an idea of a possible Kuroko sequel, so here are a few ideas I would do for the sequel if I were Fujimaki.
Traditional Route
Okay, so the first one is the traditional route. We continue the story where it left off. It’s a new school year, Kuroko and Taiga are second-years and we have some new freshmen joining the story. They could introduce a new set of talented players who were just as good as Generation of Miracles. They want to prove that they’re better than the Generation of Miracles, so they go to different schools forming their own teams and everything. One of the players comes to Seirin, joins the team, and from there the story begins with new and old faces facing each other all in an effort to become champions. We’ll of course get new schools as well as explore the relationship between some of the characters.
Radical Route
Next up is the radical route. This is where we take the story in a completely different direction that probably wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. After winning the championship, Seirin gets invited to participate in this international tournament happening in America. The series did have a partnership with the NBA for the movie, so why not expand on that idea? We could see Seirin take on the kids of NBA players and even have guest appearances from NBA players as well. This idea would allow the characters to experience a different kind of basketball outside of Japan and see how their basketball matches up against American basketball. In fact, if Fujimaki wanted to go all out, he could have Seirin do a world tour and actually participate in tournaments going on in Europe, South America, Australia or even China. I don’t know, it just be a cool idea to see these different styles play off each other.
Female Route
How about a spin-off series? What if we focus on the female team of Seirin? A bunch of females who were inspired by the men’s team decide to start their own team and go off on their journey to become champions. With their being a push on female athletes to be taken more seriously in today’s world I feel like this spin-off would help them out a lot. We would of course have cameo appearances from guys like Kuroko and Taiga who come to help out the team from time to time. Maybe have one of the girls develop a crush on Taiga or Kuroko.
Prequel Route
I said in my review Kiyoshi and Hyuga were like the original Taiga and Kuroko. In another timeline these two could have easily been the main characters of the series. I say we explore that option. I would love to see a prequel of the series which focuses on Kiyoshi and Hyuga starting to build the team up and seeing how everyone got to where they are at the being of the original series. I feel like this would give a new perspective and better appreciation of the side characters and just how important their roles are on the team.
Remake Route
Probably the weakest idea would be to remake the series. I could see Fujimaki going back and possibly changing a few scenarios that he felt could have been better or just adding in new scenarios. I know that in the original idea for the series Kuroko and Akashi were meant to be brothers. Let’s bring that idea back, it would add so much tension to the final game seeing these two brothers who are the complete opposite of each other go at it. How about changing up Kuroko’s play style and making him shoot at the beginning of the series. Maybe even letting him enter the Zone. Just imagine Kuroko and Taiga entering the Zone together and working off each other in the game. It be nothing short of awesome.
Tie-in Route
The final route and probably the one I would do if I was writing the series. With the Olympics set to come to Japan, why not create a tie-in to get people excited for it. In the story, the Olympic committee wants to promote the youth of each country and build excitement for the actual Olympics, so they decide to hold a junior Olympics of some sort where they play games they would play in the Olympics. Kuroko, Taiga, The Generation of Miracles, and a few other notable characters get selected to represent Japan in basketball and have to go up against some of the best players from around the world. Once again borrowing a page from my Radical Route, the idea of seeing these guys go up against players from different countries would be a fun and interesting idea. Plus, I’d give anything just to see these guys team up again.
And those are my ideas for a sequel to Kuroko’s Basketball. Again, they’re not the best ideas but just ideas that I thought about for a sequel. Like I said before I really don’t think this series needs a sequel and I think Fujimaki thinks the same thing. If the series ended on a note that he’s satisfied with than we should be satisfied as well. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
*All videos, clips, and music are not owned by me and belong to their respective owners. All rights reserved*
Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment in the comment section or send your comments, feedback, or request to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com
And follow me on twitter for updates and other stuff: https://twitter.com/ProjectNitsuj