Anime Column] Tokimeki☆Time Trip vol.12 "Kuroko no Basketball" - The work that looks like something out of the ordinary but is on the royal road! A happy work loved by fans

I still love it when I look at it now!"
Why were they so popular with the ladies?"
There is a reason for everything that is interesting!　Female anime writers take a look back at some of the nostalgic works that have become hits with female anime fans.

This time, we focus on "Kuroko no Basket" (2012), a new movie version of which opened in theaters on March 18, 2017.

The "Kiseki's Generation," a group of five genius players who were once all members of Teikou Junior High School. In that team, there was a "Kage" who was active as a phantom Sixth Man. However, the "Kiseki's Generation" later fell apart and went to different high schools. What in the world happened to them in the past?　Tetsuya Kuroko joins the basketball club at Seirin High School, where he will be competing against a team that includes his former teammates.

We take a look back at the charms of this work, which caused a huge boom with its anime adaptation, on the occasion of the release of the sequel new movie version.

The anime was the breakthrough!　The chain of moe accelerated.

Before the anime started, "Kuroko no Basket" had the impression of being a modest work even in Weekly Shonen Jump.

The first season started airing in April 2012. At the same time, the anime of "Medaka Box" serialized in the same magazine also started, and both works were featured on the cover of Weekly Shonen Jump issue 43, which was released in October 2011. However, "Medaka Box" was broadcast on a key station, while "Kuroko no Basket" was broadcast on a local station, so the initial attention was not high.

The timing of the anime adaptation was late to begin with. When the first anime season started in April 2012, volume 17 of the Winter Cup second-round comic was released. The author, Tadatoshi Fujimaki, commented in a review of the comic, "It was a long time from the time the anime adaptation was decided until the start of the anime.

However, the anime adaptation was made with great anticipation, taking full advantage of the work's individuality and adding even more charm to it.

The character design is by Yoko Kikuchi, who has designed characters for "Junjo Romantica" and "Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. She is an animator who draws neat men with clean lines.

The voice cast for the characters includes popular voice actors who are well-known for their roles in "The Prince of Tennis," "Uta no Prince Sama," and other works popular with women.

This added flair, polish, and smarts made the anime accessible to both first-time viewers and female fans.

In addition to the star-studded members of Kiseki's generation, the anime also amplifies the appeal of the other regular characters. The addition of their voices makes their personalities stand out and their interactions more interesting. The friendly mood of the main character's Seirin High School team, in contrast to Kiseki's generation, is also vividly conveyed in the anime.

The anime is meticulously designed to tickle the hearts of female fans. Tetsuya No. 2, a cute dog that looks just like Kuroko, would have appeared in the second season if the story had been the same as the original, but he made an earlier appearance in the first season. In the first cool ED of the second season, he met various partners and played a major role in the weekly replacement cuts.

In addition, the extra end-card illustrations featured slightly meaningful daily life, past recollections, and unexpected combinations on a weekly basis, raising expectations for the relationships between the characters.

Fans were also pleased to hear that many of the theme songs were sung by popular artists associated with the cast, with GRANRODEO singing the opening theme song and OLDCODEX and Kensho Ono singing the ending theme song.

Fans responded to the various delights sprinkled throughout the show on pixiv, Twitter, and other social networking sites. The chain of moe spread at an accelerating pace, as fans enjoyed the wide range of the work, no matter where they entered and how they enjoyed it.

Most basketball players are tall, and one of the moe points is that the height difference between the characters is accurately reproduced in the anime and copyrighted illustrations. Atsushi Murasakibara, the biggest of Kiseki's generation, stands at 208 cm, while Kuroko, the smallest basketball player, stands at 168 cm; the gap in vision created by the 40 cm height difference is felt to be even more pronounced in the anime.

Ease of understanding x Royalty x Depiction of relationships that stirs the imagination

The main character, Kuroko, is a unique athlete whose "lack of presence is his strength. This is not only because he is not overshadowed, but also because of the skills he has acquired as a result of refining his strategic style to take advantage of his strengths. This is a unique setting for a sports story.

While Kuroko is a "shadow," Kagami Taiga is a "light. In the past, "You are the light" and "I am the shadow" would have been "The Rose of Versailles," but now it has become "Kuroko's Basketball.

Kiseki's generation has a color in its name, a different color in its appearance, and the color of its hair is just like its name. They are like special effects heroes. It's so easy to understand. And each of them has their own quips, such as "〜・・", "〜Na-Na-Na-Da-It's me", and "Hineri crush you", which you will never forget once you hear them.

The ultimate character is Seijuro Akashi, who appeared at the end of Kiseki's generation. With his odd-eyed looks and scissors, he is a dangerous character. He grabbed the hearts of all who saw him with his chuunibyou-like, omnipotent lines, such as "Winning is everything in this world," "I win everything, I am everything right," "Anyone who opposes me, even my parents will not forgive me (anime version)," and "My head is too high.

Although it may seem like an oddity, this work is at the same time a "royal road" sports story, rightly described as "effort, friendship, and victory," in the manner of Weekly Shonen Jump.

Daiga Hijin of Seirin High School is a character that could be the main character in a normal shōnen manga. A returnee from America, he is hungry for basketball. He is passionate about competition, compassionate, and a developing genius with a wild instinct. With the "shadow" of Kuroko, she continues to grow and mature as she competes against the members of Kiseki's generation.

Both allies and rivals evolve their special moves in a pinch and through hard work, making it a true successor to works such as "Captain Tsubasa. This work is often compared to "SLAM DUNK" because it is a basketball game, but the magic balls and special moves are the flower of sports anime. It is meaningless to compare them on the basis of whether they are realistic or not.

The original work's strength lies in its seemingly simple, friendly, and slightly off-the-wall characters, as well as in the comical and rich depictions of everyday life in between the main storylines. The NG (No-Game) stories and the Q&A sessions in which readers' questions are answered are also interesting and detailed. Many of the characters are sincere and blasé, and there is a warmth to them. They are the ones who make you want to imagine what is going on behind the scenes.

The anime has captured the hearts of fans by carefully picking up and expanding on the material and flavor of the original work.

From the protagonist team to each rival team, there are not only star main characters, but also sub characters who appear to be quiet and guest characters who only appear for a short time. The detailed data and the relationships that leave room for the imagination are like a delicious and fun amusement park at every turn. The popular attractions are of course interesting, and the less crowded attractions are also quite tasteful.

In a variety of ways, fans were able to enjoy this easy-to-enter yet profound work over a long period of time, all the way up to the third part of the show.

Stories converging into a promised future

Although it is easy to focus only on the popularity of the characters, the story is strong and unwavering, which is a major attraction of this work. In addition, the anime, which depicts the equivalent of 30 comic books in 75 episodes through its third season, does not need to be unnecessarily drawn out, and the anime development itself is well-paced.

At the start of the story, it is shown that this work is a story about the six members of the "Kiseki generation," the five geniuses and Kuroko, who were on one team in junior high school, and now meet again after having once been dismembered.

It also shows that the meeting with Ryota Kise and Shintaro Midorima will depict competition, a kind of healing, and the building of new relationships in the future.

Stability of worldview is important. By overlaying the description of the daily lives of each character and team within a development that has been given some direction, the tension of the story and the rich worldview with room for imagination are both achieved. This allows fans to enjoy the story world with peace of mind, while always being excited about what is to come.

For Kuroko, fighting in basketball was also a battle to prove the correctness of his chosen way of playing basketball and winning, in other words, to question his way of life.

Like juvenile delinquents who understand each other by beating each other up on a riverside at sunset, Kuroko and his friends from Kiseki's generation give their all on the court and reconcile with each other by putting everything they have into the game.

And then to the theater version. Dream Team Formation!

The movie version of "Kuroko's Basketball LAST GAME," which opened in theaters on March 17, 2017, depicts a Dream Team match between Kiseki's generation, Kuroko and Hijin, who have overcome everything, becoming one. It is, so to speak, a festival after the main story ends and a gift to the fans.

The anime adaptation gave the series a breakthrough, and the fans loved it, and it will come to an end with its popularity still intact. Even after the end, it will live on forever with good memories. There are some happy works, and "Kuroko no Basket" is just such a work.

After the popularity of the work was ignited by the anime adaptation, threats were made against parties involved in the work from October 2012 to December 2013. Fans went through an anxious period when their favorite works were gaining momentum but could not be handled at events, could not buy goods, and could not engage in activities such as doujinshi. It was an incident that made me realize that sometimes it is not natural for everyone to be able to enjoy interesting works.

That is why I was deeply moved when the original work and the anime came to a grand conclusion.

In the theatrical version, the sequel that was serialized after the end of the main series has been adapted into a theatrical version, with additional new episodes added by the original author. We are looking forward to enjoying the final game, as the title suggests, which concludes the series, on the screen.

(Text by YAMAYU)



(C) Tadatoshi Fujimaki/Shueisha/Kuroko no Basket Production Committee
(C) Tadatoshi Fujimaki/Shueisha/"Kuroko's Basketball the Movie" Production Committee