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kamuinoyume's Kuroko no Basket Tv Review

Kuroko no Basket

Kuroko no Basket tv Review

Story & Characters

Every episode starts by regaling us to the story of the admired Generation of Miracle Basketball players, and how there was a 6th member - an unsung hero - that the other 5 recognized as one of their own. This show tells the story of that 6th member and what happened to him and the other members after they entered high school and parted ways.

Story wise, the show is your average Shonen sports show, with your main hot-headed protagonist, hell bent on proving himself to the world with the help of his band of merry-go-luckys. And I am not exaggerating!

Lets get this thing out of the way first: this show is basically basketball see through the eyes of your typical Dragon-Ball Z fan! They aren't even trying to hide it.

The characters themselves only serve one purpose, and that is: to progress the plot. These characters, high schoolers though they are (and if you've ever been to high school, you know how hectic that life is), have no life aide from Basketball! And I mean literary no life! We are sometimes given hints at "Oh! This guy is a model" and "Yeah! That guy is smart" but we are literary never shown any of it on screen. All that we are treated to is match after match after match and quite frankly, I like that! Because: it's honest. It's not trying to feed me some contrived bullshitish side story that's supposed to fool me into believing that these characters are actual people and that they have actual problems to solve outside of the main story, when all I'm interested in and what I came here to see is precisely that main story. It's shamelessly digging right into the meat of things and delivering exactly what it promised, and I admire the show for that.

As for the basketball matches themselves... you have to suspend your disbelief a little... a lot, with this show, otherwise, you'll just be one of those people who keep asking: "How is that possible?!" or "Why did he/she/they do that?!" or "That's not the way the laws of physics work!", and this will end up severely detracting from your enjoyment of the show. The Author himself admitted that he had no freaking clew about how basketball was played when he started writing the Manga, so don't expect any genius level strategic game play or realistic portrayal of an actual basketball game, because you'll be sorely disappointed.

And that's really as much as I can say for this category. The show follows your basic Shonen formula, with the main hero/heroes winning some that loosing spectacularly only to come back stronger then ever before, and every "villain" is tougher and harder to beat that the one before that. Friendships are stricken with some ex-villains, rivalries run high, and as the story progresses the stakes become higher, etc. It never really deviates from the basic Shonen formula, in fact, the only original thing this show has going for it, it's the fact that it's about Basketball, and there aren't that many Shonen shows about that yet...I think...

Rating: 6 for Characters; 8 for Story. Average: 7.

Rating: 7

Art

One of my favorite aspects of the show is the visuals. Yes, it does all the cheep tricks in the book: static shot, recycling animation, incessant blabbing during an action scene, but for me at least, all of that was balanced out by the incredible moves that were animated during a match. That and the facial expressions don't vary as much as in other shows. And quite frankly, it's really impressive to see a guy do 180, jump and dunk the ball in and land on his feet. What I'm saying is: they definitely cut corners with this one, but what they do animate never fails to impress me and it never fails to get my blood pumping, and I think that's what action junkies like myself look for when they decide to watch a sports Anime.

The pacing of the show is quite good too. As I've mentioned, there are 4 to 5 minutes worth of talking in between every game of every episode, but for me, it never felt out of place. Better said: they feel like they have a purpose, either to explain the action that's happening on screen or emphasize a certain point.

I'm gonna give this one an 8.

Rating: 8

Sound

I am going to state outright that the reason why I enjoyed this Anime as much as I did is because of the fantastic soundtrack. I love those dub-step beats that come in at precisely the right moment that flow so well with the movement of the players, and just basically serve to maximize the experience of the game and amplify the mood. I am going to give props to however mixed those sound effects, because they did a great job at it.

However... I can't give this one a 10 in this category because of two reasons: the voice acting and openings and endings. None of them are bad per say, by all means, most of the voice actors fit their designated characters, but none of them actually make the role their own. What I'm trying to say is: they're unremarkable, and I didn't care much for them. And the same thing applies to the Openings and Endings. None of them are bad, but none of them make an impact, and the second Op is actually pretty misleading in the sense that it shows some characters that never appear in the actual show, and are basically just teases for those who've read the Manga (and I really hate it when a show does that! E.g.: reveal useless information for no reason!)

So, yeah, those two complaints lowered this score to an 8.

Rating: 8

Presentation

Overall, I honestly do think that Shonen fans will enjoy this show. It definitely won't become the best show you've ever seen, or engrave itself into your mind that you'd be constantly wondering what happens next, but you will enjoy it.

For those fans that are looking for an engaging story, you might end up somewhat satisfied, but also disappointed by the generic rout it takes. However, fans that are invested in characters and realistic drama will be sorely disappointed, since, as I've mentioned, the characters are pretty bland and the drama is severely underpaid.

Sports fans that are looking for a realistic portrayal of basketball will be severely disappointed with the show! In all honesty, this is a fun show! Suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the ride, and you'll definitely be entertained! I know I was!

Rating: 7

Final Verdict

7.3333 (above average)

Reviewed by kamuinoyume, Dec 22, 2012

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