Kuroko no Basket - 29

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The championship league gets under way in this episode of Kuroko no Basket, and things really start getting intense!

For one thing, Midorima is obviously showing signs of greater drive now that the Generation of Miracles (GoM) knows there’s another prodigy in their midst.  Takao definitely notices it while Shutoku is playing in the preliminaries against Suginami High and later against Kirisaki Dai Ichi High.  It’s nice to see at least one member of the GoM taking Seirin High seriously, unlike during the previous season when all of them (except perhaps Kise) constantly took their own talent for granted and assumed winning was inevitable.

It’s nice to see Kagami and Kuroko working together so Kuroko can perfect his unstoppable drive.  They haven’t really worked one-on-one since last season, and they play off each other really well, so I’ve been looking forward to that.  The fact that Kuroko has ruined the tread of six basketballs over the summer shows that he’s done a heck of a lot of work on his drive.

Hanamiya really seems like a jerk, which would make sense if he’s supposed to be Kiyoshi’s antithesis.  I’m pretty sure, based on the intense feelings between the two of them, that Seirin will lose the game against Shutoku, so that the game with Hanamiya’s team will be the one that decides whether or not Seirin goes on to the Winter Cup.  It’s really the only reason to create such intense contrasts between the two of them right now.

I really like the fact that Kuroko no Basket focuses on the fact that athletes get hurt, and it affects their game.  Not only the fact that they get hurt, but also the fact that endurance is often an issue with athletes.  These are really important aspects that could easily have been left out.  The fact that they’re included in the story definitely adds an air of realism to the series that wouldn’t really be there otherwise, what with all these players with super unrealistic abilities at the high-school level (or really at any level, if I’m completely honest).

The next episode should bring the conclusion of the game between Seirin and Shutoku.  Who will be proven to have more endurance: Kagami or Midorima?

Kuroko no Basket Episode 30 Preview

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