Yes, I am glad that the time-honored American tradition of street ball festivals has finally been recognized. I kid, it's good to have Kuroko back!
I've spontaneously decided to start blogging Kuroko for two reasons. One, the simulcast is on Saturdays, and even when I'm really busy I usually block out a decent chunk of time for anime on weekends, and two, if the first season was anything to go on, this will continue to be a solid show with something to talk about every week. That said, I'm only familiar with the anime, since I was lucky enough to finish marathoning the first season right when the second season was announced, so I decided to wait rather than check out the manga. I have no idea what's going to happen, so no spoilers in the comments! That includes hints. I want to be surprised!
Anyway, the episode itself was pretty solid. It picks up right where the last season left off, even resuming the episode count. There's a little bit of recap at the beginning, but not to an excessive amount. Instead, more time is spent hyping up the members of the Generation of Miracles that we haven't seen yet. Considering what we've seen so far, I have a hard time imagining that the silly basketball powers could get crazier, so I'm pretty excited.
Look at all that subtext
But the episode is really about filling in more of Kagami's backstory, with another new character that I wasn't expecting. So far it looks like they're setting up Tatsuya as Kagami's character foil, since they've both come a long way in basketball, and it's likely that Tatsuya's growth was caused by meeting the Generation of Miracles as well. There's also already plenty of angst to mine, from an unresolved rivalry to an unexplained injury. Kuroko kind of had a monopoly on unresolved past conflicts last season, so it will be interesting to see how Kagami handles this.
Also, as more of a side note, I found the portrayal of America...interesting. And I don't mean the Engrish (although that was pretty funny). Judging by the palm trees and the beach, I'm assuming that Kagami was in Los Angeles. The buildings and the general setting felt pretty accurate, but it also felt so empty. Where are all the people? The cars? I get that the show might not have the budget to have that much going on in the background, but seeing an LA street with no cars parked along the sidewalk just feels strange to me. This is true of most anime that decide to have scenes in America, not just Kuroko, but since it was such a big part of this episode I wanted to mention it.
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| Excuse me sir, I believe that you are in the wrong anime. Attack on Titan just ended |
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| Also, the OP animation was everything that I ever wanted |
What other anime series do you plan on covering episodically on your blog?
ReplyDeleteSo far I've seen Beyond the Boundary and Strike the Blood, and I'm interested to see where things will go for both of them.
Still to early to say anything about Beyond the Boundary, only that the animation is sublime.（・◇・）
Strike the Blood's got a interesting mystery setup about the history between the male MC and the 4th Primogenitor(a rogue super-vampire), the events that led to him to inherit her powers, and why his memories from then were (forcibly?) suppressed.
PS. For Strike the Blood, the female MC is a spear-wielding exorcist working for the supernatural-investigating organization, the Shishi-Ou (獅子王), which translates as the Lion King Organization.
That means if she works for the Lion King Organization, then she must be answering to Simba. So I guess later she and the male MC must help the Lion King avenge Mufasa.
(^_−)☆
This is the only series I'll be covering this season, since I'm in my last year of grad school and don't have a lot of spare time. I'm still watching a good number of series though! I share your feelings on Beyond the Boundary; really pretty, but not sure if the story is up to par yet.
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