Hey guys, Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. Well seeing as how the last month or so I’ve been reviewing Kuroko’s Basketball it only seems fitting that I do an Otaku Mind on it. Kuroko’s Basketball is very popular in Japan and during the original run of the series it was everywhere. Posters, key chains, figurines, jerseys, towels, and doujins were in rolls of anime merchandise stores and fans bought it like no tomorrow. A few months ago Kuroko’s Basketball released a movie based off the second manga and in helping to promote the movie the series partnered up with the NBA itself. While this is cool I have to ask why wasn’t this done during the original run of the series? This would have been a great opportunity for the NBA to enter the Japanese market and the series would have gained more recognition in the west. Hell, Fujimaki even admits that he’s a big fan of the NBA and goes on record saying that his favorite team is the L.A Clippers and his favorite player is Chris Paul. Anyway, in order to help promote the movie, the NBA had the Generation of Miracles along with Kuroko and Taiga join an NBA team that matched their skill set. Some of them are good while others not so much and leave you scratching your head wondering why this team. So for this Otaku Mind I’m going to take a look at which team the characters joined, see if it’s the right team, and then see which player matches their play style. Let’s get started.
Okay, now for this first section I’m going to look at the characters and compare them to current players. As in players who are still actively playing in the NBA and on an official NBA team. In the next section I’ll compare the characters with players from the past.
Aomine
Let’s start with the easiest one, Aomine, who joined the Cleveland Cavaliers. Obviously because he’s like Lebron James. Both are considered the aces of their team, are known for their speed and ability to shoot from anywhere on the court, and are considered the best player.
Akashi
Next up is Akashi who was drafted to the L.A Lakers. Now this is one of the picks I don’t agree with. If it was my choice, I would put him with the OKC Thunder because he’s like Russell Westbrook. Both of them are point guards, good ball handling skills, can score in the paint or outside the paint, and kind of do all the work for their team. Both guys can be selfish and take control of the game not relying on their teammates because they don’t have much faith in them and only trust themselves to get the job done. Another team he could be put on is the Houston Rockets because of James Harden and Chris Paul. While these two are a little less selfish than Westbrook they still have been known to take control of the team and try to do everything themselves.
Midorima
Midorima was drafted to the Boston Celtics and this is another one I don’t agree with. I know why he’s on this team but I’ll get to that in the next section. Personally, I think he belongs with the Golden State Warriors and the reason for that is because of Steph Curry. While some will argue that Klay Thompson is the better shooter of the two, there’s no one who hits them as consistently in deep territory and makes it look easy like Curry.
Kise
Next up is my favorite character in the series Kise who joined the Golden State Warriors. Yeah, that sounds right. Kise reminds me of Kevin Durant, he’s an all-around player who can do it all on offense. You would think a man his size would only be good in the post but no, Kise has proven that he can score from the outside as well and with his athletic abilities he’s a threat on defense as well.
Atsushi
Coming up next is Atsushi who joins the Phoenix Suns. This is the one I had the most trouble with. He’s obviously on the Suns as a reference to Tyson Chandler but I think we can do better than him. Another thing that makes Atsushi so hard to place is you really don’t see players like him today. Players who are big, powerful, and have excellent defense as opposed to big men who are only good on offense and tend to act lazy on defense. It took me a while but I think the player that matches Atsushi well is Dwight Howard the man who was recently traded to the Charlotte Hornets. Why Howard? Because both men are incredibly big, strong, and intimidate the offense when they’re on defense. As far as offense goes, when these two go into attack mode there’s nobody strong enough or big enough to stop them.
Taiga
Taiga gets drafted to the Chicago Bulls. I have an idea why he’s there but we’ll save that for the next section. Here’s another choice I don’t agree with. Taiga obviously belongs in one of two teams. The first is the LA Clippers and that’s because of Blake Griffin. Both are known for their intense dunking and offense capabilities. The other team would be the New Orleans Pelicans because of Damarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis. Both these guys are monsters on offense and have that passion that won’t allow them to give up or quit. And when both men are in the zone nothing can stop them.
Kuroko
And finally we have our boy Kuroko who joins my favorite team the San Antonio Spurs and this is perfect. Like I said in my review Kuroko’s misdirection reminds of Manu Ginobli who is a master at misdirection and as the series goes on it starts to become a style similar to that of Tony Parker who uses his incredible speed and agility to get to the basket each time. On top of that this is the team that Kuroko can use his abilities to the fullest. The Spurs are all about team play and for a guy like Kuroko who values team basketball above everything else, he couldn’t ask for a better team to be on.
Alright, that takes care of the first section so let’s move on to the second section. In this section, I’m going to compare the characters with past basketball players. Players who used to play in the NBA but have retired.
Atsushi
Let’s start off with the easiest one again. For Atsushi he would be on the L.A Lakers because he’s like Shaq (back in his prime) or if you want to go even further back, Wilt Chamberlin. Both of these men are considered the strongest big men to ever play in the NBA and the fact that they both played for the L.A Lakers it only makes sense to have the strongest center in the series play for the Lakers.
Aomine
Now this one might shock people but I would say Aomine resembles Tracy McGrady. Now I know what you’re thinking, why not Kobe Bryant? Well because I think someone else resembles Kobe better. Tracy, in my opinion is a perfect match for Aomine. Tracy, just like Lebron had the amazing ability and agility to score anywhere on the court. If you ask me, I think Tracy was the better scorer of the two. There was even a time when Tracy was considered to be in the same league as Kobe as the two could go stats for stats with each other but as time went on Tracy’s body gave out on him and he soon fade away becoming one of the most tragic and forgotten basketball players of all time.
Kise
Kise is definitely Kobe and would be on the L.A Lakers. Why is he Kobe and not Aomine? The answer, his copy ability. Kobe was known to copy Michael Jordan’s moves early on in his career and was the best player in one on one situations as nobody could beat him in one on one situations. Kise can copy the moves of anybody on the court and when it came to one on one situations nobody could beat him except for Aomine who as I mentioned before is Tracy McGrady who Kobe admits gave him the most trouble in real life.
Akashi
For Akashi I have two players for him. The first is Allen Iversion. Again, a selfish player on paper and in games but there’s no denying that he was good at what he did and was one of the reasons why the 76ers were able to have a possible championship run back in the day. The other player is Jason Williams for the Sacramento Kings. As I mention in my review Akashi’s play style is like Jason Williams who was hands down one of the best point guards of all time and definitely the flashiest player in the NBA. Just look up some of his highlights and you’ll see why these two are so similar to each other.
Midorima
For Midorima he does belong on the Boston Celtics because of their great shooters. Midorima is obviously Ray Allen and Larry Bird hands down two of the best shooters in the NBA and who both played from the Celtics.
Taiga
As I said before I know why Taiga is on the Chicago Bulls. It’s because his jumping ability is like that of Michael Jordan but his play style is anything but Michael Jordan. In my honest opinion, the one player who matches Taiga perfectly is the Human Highlight Reel himself, Dominique Wilkins. While his jumps weren’t as amazing as Jordan’s his dunks are spectacular. Seriously, Dominique Wilkins was one of the best dunkers in the NBA. His dunks were masterpieces thanks to his athleticism and good jumping abilities. Taiga’s best moments in the series is when he dunks and Dominique’s best moments in the NBA is when he dunks. You make the comparison.
Kuroko
And we finish up with Kuroko again and there’s only one player in NBA history that matches Kuroko perfectly, John Stockton. Now I know what thinking, who in the world is John Stockton? If you don’t know who he is it’s understandable cause even people from his generation don’t know who he is. John Stockton was a man who played for the Utah Jazz during the 80s and 90s and was a real life phantom player. He was known primarily for his incredible passing skills the likes of which no one could do at the time and even now nobody can pass as good as him. He was a man who was so forgettable and never stood out from his teammates at all. Even when he got drafted to Utah nobody knew who he was and even when he was even on the Olympic dream team back in day nobody paid attention to him, but it didn’t matter. Once that man stepped on the court and the ball was in his hands you knew magic was about to happen. He had amazing passing skills and no presence at all. If there was ever a real life phantom player it would be none other than this guy and it’s because of this I say Stockton is the perfect player who represents Kuroko.
And that’s my take on Kuroko and the others in the NBA. Do you agree with this? Let me know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.