(Reaper): Hello, and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Thank you for joining me on this day as we continue to take a look at my master’s review of Kuroko’s Basketball. Let’s see what happens in the second half of this great series.
(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Last week I began taking a look at Kuroko’s Basketball and today I’m here to look at the second half of season 1 so let’s not waste anytime and get started.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Nitsuj): The second opening is “Rimfire” by Granrodeo. I have to admit the start of this song turned me off but as soon as the guitars came in I knew I was gonna like this song and like it I did. This song much like the first one just gets you so hyped and excited for the anime. The only downside I have with this opening is that near the end I can’t make out what the singer is saying because he’s getting drowned out by the music. In the end I prefer the first opening over this one. The second ending is “Catal Rhythm” by OldCodex. It’s a lowkey rock song. While not a bad song I still prefer the first ending over this one. The singer for this song sounds good but he sings too quietly. He lacks energy and excitement. Come on man, get hyped!
Episodes 14-18
In episode 14 after finding the strength to move Seirin goes out to eat at a restaurant where Kise and his friend are dining and Midorima and Takao come in and join them (not by choice mind you). They chat a little bit (trying not to kill each other) and then take their leave. As Seirin heads out, Kuroko finds an abandoned puppy (who is so cute) and adopts him where the team names the dog Tetsuya 2 because he looks just like Kuroko. We also see that Taiga has a fear of dogs (scene here: https://youtu.be/fimylBD9vI and). Taiga sits out practice in order to heal his legs and while the group is doing pool exercises they get a visit from a lovely young girl named Momoi voiced by the lovely Fumiko Orikasa (Rukia from Bleach) who was the team manager of Teika back in middle school and considers herself be Kuroko’s girlfriend (woah, Kuroko’s been holding out on us. Scene here: https://youtu.be/jr8MuQvfLv0, man, I didn’t think Kuroko was such a player). We get to see Momoi display her special skills which is information gathering recognizing all of Seirin’s players and naming their specialty (impressive but I think I like Riko’s ability more). We find out that she goes to the same school as Aomine and the team manager which means they’ll be going up against her and Aomine in the championship game. Out of all the Generation of Miracle players Aomine was considered the strongest of the group and his style of play is like that of Taiga only better. He and Kuroko were the best of buds off the court and even practiced together before Kuroko became a regular on the team. On the court these two were said to have the best chemistry because Aomine was so strong and the stronger the light the darker shadow meaning Kuroko was at his full potential whenever he played with Aomine. As Kuroko and Momoi talk about the old days, Taiga sneaks away and tries to play some basketball where he gets approached by Aomine voiced by Junichi Suwabe (Dandy from Space Dandy) who wants to play him one on one (don’t do it man you’re injured). Aomine gives him no choice and he’s forced to play where Aomine just blows right pass him because of his injuries and tells him he’s not fit to be Kuroko’s light because he is weak.
In episode 15 Seirin finds out their opponent in the championship tournament is Touou which is the school Aomine plays for. With the help of Tetsuya 2 (who actually gets his own team jersey. That is adorable) Riko finds out about Taiga playing basketball when he should have been resting and she scolds him by suspending him from practice until their first tournament game. As Taiga walks to the nurse’s office to get the heating pad Kuroko walks with him wanting to know what happen since he’s not the kind of guy who would do something so stupid and reckless (this is true. He’s stupid and reckless but not even he would do something this reckless to hurt the team). He tells Kuroko about his run in with Aomine and wants to know about his past. Kuroko explains that in the past Aomine was a huge basketball junkie who loved the game more than anyone. He was the first to unlock his true potential in middle school but that turned out to be his downfall. He was good, like amazing good that nobody could beat him. He crushed everyone and scored more points than anyone on the team crushing the will of everyone who faced him. Because of this Aomine started to hate basketball because he had nobody to be his rival and eventually stopped showing up to practice because he felt he was so good that if he got anymore good the gap would increase (no challenge, no goal, nobody to push him to his limits and back. What’s the joy of playing something if there’s no challenge?). Aomine still has this mindset in high school and is still sad that he can’t find a rival to match him (sounds more like confidence and arrogance in one’s ability. Now don’t get me wrong I can understand being bored because of no challenge but what he’s doing is being arrogant and overestimating his abilities). Taiga and Kuroko vow to take Aomine down and the day of the game arrives where Amoine oversleeps and says he’ll miss the first half but he’ll be there for the second half (honestly, cut this guy from the team. I don’t care how good he is anybody that arrogant has no place on a team).
Episodes 16-18 is the game between Seirin and Touou where even without Aomine, Touou is still a strong team. For starters, their captain has the voice of Zoro from One Piece (so that automatically makes you a badass. This has nothing to do basketball I’m just making a declaration), a good shooter who’s suicidal, a strong big man who can pass and rebound, and thanks to Momoi they can predict what Seirin is gonna do and everything which shuts their offense down. It’s clear that these guys are in offensive team however their style of play is one on one. There’s no coordination or team play involved, just get the ball to one of them and let them do all the work while everyone else watches. The only person who manages to score for Seirin is Taiga thanks to Kuroko’s passing and the fact that Momoi can’t get a good read on him (he’s like a stray animal you have no idea what they’re gonna do when you see them) thus she can’t calculate what he’ll do next (he’s the one variable she can’t figure out. And that’s why she wants him. Curiosity, she wants to know why she can’t figure him out, and when she finds it, she’ll never want to let him go). Just when Seirin starts to get on a row Riko subs Taiga out because she notices that he still hasn’t recovered from the Shutoku game and his legs are still injured (honestly speaking you probably should have wrapped ice bags around his legs. I’ve never had to do this personally but I’ve heard a lot of players do this and it works). Riko tapes him up and sends him back out just as the final minutes of the second quarter are approaching and Aomine has shown up with Seirin already down by 10 points. He briefly plays in the second quarter where Taiga manages to block him but Aomine returns the favor and blocks Taiga to bring the quarter to a close. At half time both teams eat honey soaked lemons to replenish their energies (too bad both teams have ladies who don’t know how to cut lemons. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Y1H1AVgNe48. How hard is it to cut lemons? Even the AI girls can do it. Watch *cut to the kitchen where each of the AI girls has a lemon or multiple lemons. Isis cuts her lemon using her sword, Mira chops up three of them using her blades while reading a book, Chibi Isis cuts them up using her magic, Seras uses her scythe, Yin-Yang tosses a few lemons in the air and cuts them all in quick succession, Yume cuts her lemon like a normal person, and Shizuku tosses a bunch a lemons and honey into a blender*. (Shizuku): This technically counts as cutting them up right?). At the start of the second half Kuroko sits out in order to rest despite the fact that he wanted to stay. Seirin switches to isolation defense where we get Taiga and Aomine. Despite Taiga’s best efforts he’s just no much for Aomine’s agility and ball control (he has excellent agility and handles for a forward. He almost reminds me of Lebron James with the shooting abilities of a younger Kobe Bryant. That’s a very dangerous combination) and it gets even worst when he applies streetball to his repertoire and actually breaks Taiga’s ankles (for those of you unfamiliar with basketball that’s when you cause a defender to fall). He even gets pass 3 guys who contest his shot and makes a shot from behind the rim. As the game goes on Aomine completely nullifies Kuroko’s passing making him useless on the court and the point deficient continues to increase to the point where it’s obvious Seirin is going to lose. Riko notices Taiga’s injured leg and forces him to sub out. Despite knowing they’re going to lose Kuroko’s words encourage everyone to play to the final buzzer (don’t give them the satisfaction of breaking you). In the end Touou wins 112-55 with no one on the Seirin team shedding a single tear despite being destroyed.
Episodes 19-22
Things get worst for Seirin in episode 19. After the loss to Touou Taiga has to sit out the next two days in order to heal in fact we find out later he has to sit out for 2 weeks. With Taiga gone the team now has to rely heavily on Kuroko’s passing and he’s in a funk as well. After Aomine shuts down Kuroko’s passing Kuroko falls into a slump and his passes are way off. In the end Seirin loses their next two games and don’t make it to the inter-high league but they still have hope and that’s the Winter Cup but with Kuroko in a slump and Taiga deciding that working together isn’t working anymore and reverting back to his old ways causing a rift between him and Kuroko, their chances of winning aren’t good. Luckily, they get some good news and that’s the return of Kiyoshi the team’s original ace and founder of Seirin’s basketball team (the founding father returns to reclaim his glory). He’s been out injured but is now returning to the team, while he’s a good guy who’s tall and loves basketball he is a very strange man (well he’ll fit right in with this team). He’s also known as an Uncrown King. Just like the Generation of Miracles these guys were a group of skilled players who were one year older than the Generation of Miracles but went unrecognized because everyone was talking about the Generation of Miracles. The only difference is they all went to different middle schools but their skills are said to be on par with the members of the Generation of Miracles. On the day he returns to practice so too does Taiga where like I said he reverts back to his old style of playing and Kiyoshi challenges him for the starting person.
At the start of episode 20 Taiga and Kiyoshi have their one on one game where Taiga beats him but Kiyoshi is not done with him or Kuroko for that matter. In order to prepare for the Winter Cup Riko books three practice games to get a good read on the players so she can give them a training regimen for the summer (no rest for those thriving to be great). In the first practice game Kiyoshi convinces Riko to let the first years play where Taiga tells Kuroko not to pass to him. Seirin wins with Taiga pretty much beating the other team himself (he’s a one man army that Taiga) and find out that the reason Kiyoshi did all of this was because he wanted Kuroko to see his limits. Taiga isn’t returning to his old style of basketball he’s trying to get stronger by himself. He realized that in the past he was relying too much on Kuroko and now he wants to change that and get stronger. Kuroko also needs to get stronger. While his passing is amazing and he’s a specialist he needs to come up with a new style of play that doesn’t rely on everyone around him. After a talk with Hyuga, Kuroko finally realizes this and goes off to talk with Taiga where he confesses that he was just using him to be acknowledged by his past teammates since in the past they kinda stopped trusting him (well maybe if you stopped scaring them all the time they would trust you more) and Taiga said he already knew that (it was kinda obvious Kuroko). The two get back on the same page and vow to get stronger by the Winter Cup.
In episode 21 Seirin goes to the beach for their first summer training from hell. But before the trip they have to handle the problem of Riko and her cooking. They have a taste testing where in her first meal which is curry she does a bad job by not cooking the meat (which is already dangerous) nor the vegetables. Despite this massacre of food and in order to spare her feelings Hyuga gulps it down like a man (he liiiiiikes~ her) and Kiyoshi comes in with the assist and says that they can taste her love and tells her to give it another try. This time Taiga teaches her how to make the curry and it turns out to be a success. Until she decides to put protein and vitamin C powder into the rice (scene here: https://youtu.be/XhCCtbBIZic). After this they arrive at the beach where they practice in the sand to improve their movement and build up their leg strength. In the afternoon when they go on the court they definitely feel the improvement but Kiyoshi says they’re missing a spark to help get them started. Enter Shutoku who are also there for training and both schools decide to practice together. They have a scrimmage where Riko makes Taiga not play by having him run to the convenience store which is 500 meters away. During the game, Kuroko tries to work on developing his new style and Midorima recognizes this but is skeptical about it. While in the baths with Takao he explains to him that the reason Kuroko doesn’t hold the ball for too long and focuses solely on passing is because he can’t misdirect people from the ball (which makes sense. The ball is the most important thing on the court so you need to be aware of where it is at all time. Even if Kuroko does have little presence, the moment he catches that ball all eyes are on him and nothing else). Takao makes the suggestion of using his misdirection while making a break to the basket (an invisible dribble if you will) which he says would be deadly. Taiga finally comes back where he not only got drinks for Seirin but he got some for Shutoku as well meaning he ran a grand total of 2000 meters (that’s about 1.24 miles and he did it on a beach so that just makes it all the harder on his legs).
The training camp comes to an end in episode 22 as the group finish up practice with Shutoku where they lost to them again in a scrimmage but only by 9 points and they didn’t have Taiga there since Riko has been making him run all this time. That night, we see the results of his training on the beach as he’s able to jump higher than before (especially on his right leg which is his strong leg). As Taiga feels good about this believing that he can match Aomine in aerial combat, Midorima comes in to bring him back to reality (why you gotta hate Midorima?). The two go one on one where Midorima just destroys Taiga by not letting him score a single basket. While it’s true Taiga can jump higher than him Midorima knows that every time Taiga goes up he’s gonna finish with one move, a dunk (in other words, Taiga is a predictable player. Scene here: https://youtu.be/1YpqQITe35k). While running on the beach with Kuroko, Taiga admits that Midorima was right about him. Taiga’s strong side is his right side. When he goes up with his right hand he can change in mid-air. His left hand, all he can do is just dunk and he even admits his ball handling isn’t all that good either. The next day comes and the group leaves the inn they were staying at and go to watch the inter-high tournament where Touou is playing Kaijo meaning we’re gonna see Kise vs Aomine which Aomine is excited about as Kise seems to be the only guy he can go all out against (get ready everyone, we’re in for a wild game).
Episodes 23-25
The last episodes of season one is the match between Kaijo and Touou. We start with a flashback into Kise getting into basketball thanks to Aomine. Kise was a natural athlete, he liked sports but he always mastered them so quickly that he got bored with them. Kise longed for a challenge, a wall that would appear impossible to climb but would one day overcome it and stand victorious (sort of like the walls in Attack on Titan). Kise’s wish finally came true when he saw Aomine practicing and it was then that Kise said he would play with that man and someday beat him. The game quickly starts off with Kise getting pass Aomine but the ball gets knocked away from him. Touou scores the first basket but Kaijo doesn’t back down and scores with Kise even getting a stop on Aomine. The first quarter ends 18-13 with Kaijo in the lead but Aomine is just getting started and he’s one of these guys who gets better as the game goes on (he’s a Saiyan player). In the second quarter Kise busts out his secret weapon which is copying Aomine’s style. It takes Kise a full quarter to do this and Touou retakes the lead 34-43. After halftime Kise completes his copy of Aomine’s style and passes his defense forcing him to get into foul trouble (you know I just realized something. This is the first game where fouls have played a factor. It’s kind of weird). Despite completely copying Aomine’s style Kaijo is still down by 10 points and despite Touou worried about Aomine’s foul trouble he stays in the game (gutsy move) and manages to block Kise at the end of the third quarter. In the final quarter, it becomes a battle between Kise and Aomine as they alternate scoring but Kise starts to get tired and fatigue takes hold of him. With one minute remaining and the score 98-106 Touou, Kaijo has one last attempt to stay in the game (I don’t know, down by 8 points and only a minute left to play. These aren’t the most favorable odds for a turn around. If it was two baskets maybe but 3 baskets might be too much) and Kise tries to get a pass off to the team’s captain but Aomine anticipated his pass and deflects the ball out of bounds. Touou manage to get the ball and score two more shots with the last one being Aomine dunking over Kise (well that’s a shot for the front page and yearbook) ending the game 98-110 (scenes here: https://youtu.be/JoHFxUFtXyY and https://youtu.be/Z9rtxPIhyEU). After watching this game Taiga and Kuroko are more determined than ever to face Aomine again and beat him.
*Project Ends*
(Reaper): And with that we end the first quarter of Kuroko’s Basketball. But don’t worry, we’ll be starting the second quarter next week. Until then, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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