The last time I watched Kuroko was back when the second season was announced. I finally decided to finish the whole thing this year and while it is not the greatest sports anime I've watched, it still was a fun ride even if I was very aware of some plot convenience elements. Reviews for some reason have to be more than 2,000 characters so since I probably won't write a review for the other seasons, I'll just wrap up the series as a whole in this.
Kuroko has always been ridiculous in the powers and moves used throughout the series, but the last game against Rakuzan was something else. I still don't quite know how I feel about it but if I had to pick a word I'd pick underwhelmed. There were so many things that could have made this series better but it just feels like the author wanted to be done with it for good. While I still don't think the ending was the best thing I've ever seen, I still think I would rather get this, than get the story elongated with even more stuff only for it to take away from what it already is or make it worse. We don't need another Boruto. I'll first begin by talking about the good things since I would still highly recommend this series to other people who are into sports anime.
Characters. Even if they aren't all fleshed out, they grow on you and are otherwise fairly likable with a few exceptions like the dudes from Kirisaki Daiichi. Not all of them are interesting but I didn't find any of them totally boring either. Plenty of characters who I thought were given great character development even this late in the game were Kise and Midorima, and others like Momoi, Akashi, and Himuro could have used a little bit more help. Out of all the characters in the generation of miracles, I think Kise and Midorima were the ones with the best growth, and they certainly got a much better writing treatment.
Kise was always the nicest person in the generation of miracles even back in the first season. He was cocky, as all of them were, otherwise he was a pretty good guy. In this last season, I was rooting for him and his team to win against Seirin. The backstory between him and Kasamatsu, the fact that he arrived in Kaijou with an air of arrogance and then got lowered to earth by a senior, everything made me appreciate his character more. This time he was not crying because HE as a person couldn't win; he was crying because he wanted to win for his TEAM. For the people who have been supporting and believing in him. What an amazing turnaround for the guy who cried in season 1 because it was the first time he lost. When he broke down in tears in front of Kasamatsu saying how much he had wanted to win, I felt it and I cried with him.
Midorima was just as arrogant if not more than Kise. I've always thought he was changing little by little, just by watching him become friendlier with Kagami without realizing, to the point that they even shared a nice talk in season 3 before the game against Akashi. Midorima felt like an aloof character who only cared about himself. Even after his loss against Seirin, he didn't seem to make a huge change. In the the last season however, I just couldn't help but cry at his growth and cheer for him and his teammates. He stated outright that nobody in his current team was a hindrance. This arrogant man defended his team and he also learned to trust in them so much to the point that he is able to make a shot he otherwise wouldn't? I love that. That three-pointer he starts making without having a ball is one of the best things I have seen in anime and I probably won't ever forget it. Just the fact that he wasn't just shooting threes and was actually running in the game, and passing to his teammates, was good enough but the whole game against Rakuzan just made me respect him a whole lot more and it is probably my favorite match in KNB besides the Seirin vs Touo one. If I had to pick a team in the series that I loved it would be Shutoku.
Everyone who was a part of the generation of miracles ended up in a team that actually makes them grow and who uses their strengths better and whether that was intentional or not by the author, it made me think that another plot in Kuroko could more than well be the fact that you will eventually end up in a way better place than you started. Out of all the teams in Kuroko no basket, I think Kaijou and Shutoku are the teams I enjoyed the most. It feels like Midorima and Kise found a place where they finally belong and I am a sucker for the found family trope in anime.
It is inevitable but some characters weren't used as well as they could have, and that is mostly because the writing just didn't do as much as it could, particularly for the few female characters in the series. I get that this is an anime that will mostly focus on the male characters who play the sport, but was it so hard to give us more moments for Riko and Momoi? I like Riko. She is a hardworking girl who wants nothing but the best for the team. Her cooking sucks but other than that, she is a good coach. That is all we have on her. We don't need a whole character arc for her, however, some other traits or even giving her more screentime would have added more layers to her persona.
I have a love/hate relationship with Momoi. She is not particularly bad, but she is not great either. She is mostly used for fanservice shots and that's it. She is smart, she also sucks at cooking. That's all. It was hard to take her seriously even when she was a part of the antagonists. They could have made her way more interesting but they just reduced her to fanservice and that is one of the reasons I just couldn't enjoy her character more.
Alex was just used as a plot device for the plot of Himuro vs Kagami and I wish we had more backstory on her career or even just more of her traits. It would have made her better as a character instead of just fanservice girl #2.
PLOT. It is very simple so you won't be too confused while watching. It has always been straightforward (maybe too much now that I look into it). The main goal since the beginning has been to beat the generation of miracles, and that is exactly what happens in all three seasons. There are some plot lines that I honestly think were not planned correctly or just came out of nowhere. Kuroko being the gatekeeper is the worst thing that could have happened. We were never given any foreshadowing of this, and even the shadow they were using many episodes ago did not resemble Kuroko at all. It ended up just feeling like the mangaka pulled it out of his sleeve and I am not a fan of that. Teams being able to all go into the zone even if the characters in the said team were not that talented was another plot element that I heavily disliked. After the cheering for Seirin started, the powerups got so out of control that I couldn't help but laugh. The fact is that if Seirin had lost against Akashi it would have honestly been a much better development. You can't always win and that's fine.
MUSIC. Nothing particularly beautiful or memorable in the OST. It was mostly decent and some of the opening and ending themes work great as songs to listen to during a workout. I find that the openings usually had the best animation cuts, which isn't surprising since they only last a minute and a half, unlike actual episodes.
ANIMATION. It is fair to decent. As mentioned above, some of the best cuts are sadly in the openings. I still think that cut where Kagami and everyone is in the zone against Akashi is still very beautiful if you forget about the plot convenience of course. Other standouts are Aomine vs Kagami when they both got into the zone, some of the scenes where Himuro is dribbling and attempting to make shots in the Yosen game, and the first meteor jam that Kagami made in that same game. Like a lot of anime, Kuroko is not safe from the many still panning shots. There are a ton of them. Some of them don't even have decent artwork in them. This last season didn't have as much of them so I was incredibly thankful for that. It is not lazy animation but there are many shortcuts being used especially when animating some characters walking but again it is pretty serviceable.
My main complaint in the series is that the powerups and some of the games make no sense. Many of the matches we got ,in the end, did not play in a way I found enjoyable and some didn't even feel like they needed to end in such a way. It just looked like some teams won because of plot convenience. As much as I love Seirin, I still firmly believe they should have lost against Kaijou, or against Rakuzan in the end. Kiyoshi's injuries weren't addressed in a way that I found realistic. There is no way he could have lasted the games he lasted in with his condition. I would have found it way more entertaining and it would have made a lot of sense, if Kiyoshi was not able to play the last two games and then other characters could have subbed in. Mitobe and Koganei could have brought many good things to the table and it is sad that the author didn't use them more after Kiyoshi was introduced. The other freshmen could have been used in a better way than just as replacements for Furihata in order to confuse Akashi but it was inevitable if we look at how they were just background characters since the first season. I can't even remember their names.
Another concern I had while watching this was the message the series, even if they aren't aware of it, sends to viewers. Yes, we all should be able to differentiate fiction from reality but I still would like to add it here since it bothered me. Many sports anime, not just Kuroko, make it seem like even if you get injured, you are not a true player if you don't keep going. I cannot stress enough how terrible and unprofessional it is for Riko and her father at one point, to let Kiyoshi keep playing. I doubt that she is not aware of his condition. His condition was so bad that at the end of the series we find out he is traveling to get surgery. The fact that it was that bad but she continued to send him to the court just baffles me. This is in part the fault of the author but in the real world, I bet coaches would not be sending injured players out in games and risk them getting even more hurt. This same thing happened in season 1 when Kagami was injured and she still sent him out even as she said she was sorry to ask for help from a hurt person. Not only is the message you are sending terrible, but it also takes away from Riko as a character, making it seem like she doesn't care about the players which is a completely bad take since she does care.
I was torn in the end because while I obviously wanted Seirin to win, I still did not think them winning against Rakuzan was good in any way. Akashi was built up to be the big bad of the series , and then suddenly he changes with one game? Even with Aomine it took two games before that happened. I can't help but feel the ending was rushed and that's heartbreaking. He had a crazy power, went into the zone, and still couldn't beat Seirin even if his team was arguably better than theirs? this is the craziest nakama power boost I've seen since fairy tail. The breakdown he had in the middle of the game with his other personality wasn't fleshed out properly, his relationship with his teammates wasn't showcased in a way that made it seem logical for him and all of them to suddenly work well together, etc. The more I think about this game the more I realize how terrible this match was.
Kuroko will still live in my heart as a sports anime I enjoyed but I'll always wish it had been just a bit longer so that the author could have perfected some of his characters and plot elements better.
I rated it an 8 because it was still a good show for me, despite all the things I criticized it for even if right now I am honest to god considering giving this last season a 6. I liked Kuroko back in 2013, and even in 2020 I still found myself having a good time.
36 out of 44 users liked this review
