5 Reasons to Watch the 3 Seasons of Kuroko No Basket | Anime Rec

Kuroko no Basket / 2nd Season / 3rd Season
MAL Top Anime List*: #106 / #65 / #49
# Episodes watched: 75 / 75 (25 per season

Aired: Apr 8 to Sep 22, 2012 / Oct 6 to Mar 30, 2014 / Jan 11 to Jun 30, 2015

Comedy, School, Shounen, Sports

Rating:

Teikou Junior High School's basketball team is crowned champion three years in a row thanks to five outstanding players who, with their breathtaking and unique skills, leave opponents in despair and fans in admiration. However, after graduating, these teammates, known as "The Generation of Miracles," go their separate ways and now consider each other as rivals.
At Seirin High School, two newly recruited freshmen prove that they are not ordinary basketball players: Taiga Kagami, a promising player returning from the US, and Tetsuya Kuroko, a seemingly ordinary student whose lack of presence allows him to move around unnoticed. Although Kuroko is neither athletic nor able to score any points, he was a member of Teikou's basketball team, where he played as the "Phantom Sixth Man," who easily passed the ball and assisted his teammates.
Kuroko no Basket follows the journey of Seirin's players as they attempt to become the best Japanese high school team by winning the Interhigh Championship. To reach their goal, they have to cross pathways with several powerful teams, some of which have one of the five players with godlike abilities, whom Kuroko and Taiga make a pact to defeat.

In all honesty, it's been a long while since I've truly been enthusiastic about anime. When I started watching anime around ten or eleven years ago, I could binge watch for months on no end, finishing one anime after the other like it was a contest and I was out to win all the prizes.

But when I got back into reading and writing, that kind of waned. I started keeping mostly with manga, with the very occasional anime watch. In fact, for the last few months since I vowed to try some of the more popular anime out there, I have started and stopped a large number of them, simply because they didn't grab my attention long enough.

And then came Kuroko no Basket. I have no idea what possessed me to give this sports anime a shot, but thank god to that demon/angel because this is the first anime in ages that consumed me to the point of nonstop watching. I finished 75 episodes in a mere week, work and everything. I basically did nothing but watch on my spare time. And now, I'm going to be the demon/angel on your shoulder tempting you to watch this series, using a ton of gifs and quiet a few words!

#1: You Don't Need to Love Sports 

I know, I know. The first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words "basketball anime" is... meh, I'm not really into basketball. Or any type of sports. I thought the same thing. Well, you really don't need to be to love this anime.

In fact, this anime is exactly the reason why normal sports don't interest me. Normal sports don't have special moves that make the ball disappear, or change your eye color, or make fucking lazer beams shot from your eyes, do they?

And okay, all these are just visual aids to make everything cooler. None of the characters really have super powers. But... boy, how cool it is.

And if you already love sports without those super powers, imagine how much you'll love it with them! (just, bear in mind, it's not a 100% realistic representation of the sport. As demonstrated by the superpower-esque situation).

#2: Great Characters and Character Interactions 

You know, the key element to any story is its characters. A boring, weak, or pathetic character can make you indifferent or hateful toward the story. But strong, interesting, versatile characters can bring even the most unoriginal story to life. Combine that with a great plot, and you have a recipe for success.

Well, the characters in Kuroko no Basket are the absolute best. I love them so much it's ridiculous. First we have our trusty shadow Kuroko Tetsuya, the namesake of this series. With such an adorable, admirable and strong main character, how can you not love this show? 

His partner and his "light" is Kagami Taiga. Hot headed, serious, never-backs-away-from a fight. He is loud where Tetsuya is calm and quiet, making them the complete opposites, but you know what they say - opposites attract. It might sound a little gay. A lot of the fangirls (me included) kind of hope it is gay because these two compliment each other so well... but, canonically speaking, there is nothing less than straight about these two. Either way they're great characters.

Individually, all the characters in this show are very strong (and heck amusing), but it's the interaction between them that really seals the deal as a great show. It's funny, it's charming, it's human, and each character develops and builds alone and as a group as the story moves along, creating the coolest basketball team to ever basket (and they have some wicked cool competitors in-series). 

These characters will make you root for them like crazy. You will jump out of your chair in happiness when they win. You will bite your nails as they struggle game after game, never to give up. You will cry with them when they lose. 

Because these amazing characters will make you unable not to. 

#3: FRIENDSHIP IS EVERYTHING... and yet not too cheesy 

Kuroko no Basket is not the first (and it's not going to be the last) anime to focus on friendship. However, Kuroko takes it a step farther while simultaneously taking it a step down.

A step farther? the whole idea behind Kuroko no Basket is team play. "Kuroko no Basket" literally means "the basketball which Kuroko plays". Kuroko is a team player. His biggest role is to support the team and give them the best position to score and win the game. He is a player that cannot play by himself... nor does he want to. 

He believes that a game played "by yourself" relying solely on your own abilities is not a fun game, because even if you win you have no one to celebrate it with - so what's the point? And he's out to prove it to everyone else... which means the opposing teams also get incredible character development! 

Indeed, the whole point of Kuroko no Basket is "Team Play". It's not enough just to be friends to have a good team play (you need to trust each other, to have individual strong abilities but also to understand your role in the group in order to create good 'team play') but friendship is still a key element. 

Taking it a step down? You're not going to find cheesy deceleration of friendships and eye-roll worthy moments around this theme. Or at least, not in the normal way. Everyone fall into an effortless friendship, and every such gesture is timed, fitting and tasteful. Never once did I snicker and thought it over the top, which I think often in anime, sports or otherwise. Kuroko no Basket found the perfect balance between making friendship a focal point but keeping it subtle.  

#4: Exciting, Nail Biting Action! 

These are just basketball games, you say? THESE ARE NOT JUST BASKETBALL GAMES. The amount of tension and anxiety these games gave me is on per with saving the world action. Dear god almighty, my nails! My poor nails! Gone, just like that. Because of a bunch of basketball games.

If that doesn't say you need to watch this series, if only just so you could see how this is possible, I don't know what will. 

#5: THE FEELS

This is just a stupid anime about basketball, Nitzan, you say.
There is no way it can kick you in the guts with feels, you say.
Stop lying, you say.

WELL, YOU'RE STUPID AND NO I'M NOT LYING.

I was drowning in feels.

btw yes, this well known gif is is my babe Kuroko 

 Basketball punched by feels.

It was a feels field day! Ohhh, it starts light enough. You get a hint and a warning of it in the first season, but it fools you into thinking this is just going to be a fun romp in the grass. Season two has some heartbreaking scenes, but it's not full out yet. But THEN... then comes seasons three and WHAM, you're under attack. And you're going to cry, goddammit, and you're going to love it!

Don't mind me. I'll just just sitting here, crying.

*The number detailed here is accurate to the time this post was written on. 

Get Ready to Fall in Love With "Full House Thai" | Drama Review

Full House / Thai
20 out 20 Episodes, completed

Aired: Jan 11, 2014 to Mar 16, 2014
Episode Duration: 50 minutes

Romance

Rating:

Aom is a writer who got swindled out of her house during her trip to Korea. She finds out that her house was sold to Mike and in an attempt to get her possessions back, she enters a contract marriage with Mike for one year. Though she lost everything, Aom remains optimistic and takes things in strike. What started out as a business relationship between the two becomes personal as they start to care for each other.

For anyone wondering where I'd disappeared to this last weekend, I wish I had a better answer than "binge watching Full House Thai". Alas, this is the sad truth. Yes yes. Regular shows, anime, and even foreign dramas (Korean, Thai, Japanese). I watch it all.

But, to be fair, I'm not the biggest watcher of foreign drama. I finish no more than two or three a year because there is usually too much dang drama in them and after a few episodes I'm so fed up I'm full for the next three months.

But once in a while tumblr would drop such a gif-set in my lap that no matter how much I'll try to resist, I'll end up watching the show because c'mon look how adorable that was aaaaaaah! 

In this particular case, this is the gif-set the clinched the deal.

 

 

It's okay if you stop reading now and just go watch it because of it, I'll understand. Has eating ice-cream ever looked so gorgeous or hot? It's a good thing they're eating ice-cream because I suspect they will explode from the heat otherwise. 

The two in the gifs above are Mike and Om-Am. Coincidentally (or, not at all), those are the actors' real life names as well, which I find extra cool. Good job blurring the lines between fiction and reality and making us ship them in RL!

Om and Mike are the two most unlikely people ever to end up in a marriage, fake or otherwise. Or be so perfect for it. 

Sorry, I'm running ahead of myself. Om-Am is a failing script-writer who has enough optimism for all of us. She gets discouraged, but she will not let it bring her down because she has a secret her late father taught her - when you're sad, sing If you're happy and you know it clap your hands *clap clap* and everything gets better. (I swear, I had to clap along each time. It's so contagious, no matter the language!). 

And she's so... energetic! 

she's so pretty y'all!

This is why even after her sister (or cousin, the translation was a bit unclear on this) sends her on a trip to Korea only so she could steal and sell her house, Om doesn't let it get her down (much). Instead, once she realized the unpleasant super-star she met in Korea now owns her childhood home, she manages to strike a deal with him to be his housemaid until she can buy the house.

And, later, his fake (but legal) wife. Because... reasons you better watch the show for, otherwise I just over-explain everything and blah. Trust me that it kind of makes sense and even the parts that don't you won't mind because FUCK YEAH GET MARRIED AND PLEASE HAVE BABIES ON THE WAY.

Ahem. Where was I? 

look at this adorable cinnamon roll! 

If I were honest, there are a lot worse things to be than in a fake marriage with super star Mike. Sure, he's hot-headed and kind of spoiled and occasionally, he acts like a jerk. But most of the time he's just this adorable, goofy, man-child who's desperate for love and is reduced to childish pranks to get the attention of the girl he falls in love with (trust me, he's adorable. You'll forgive everything he does lol) And he's loyal to a fault. 

Bonus points? HE falls first. And I mean he is so whipped it ain't even funny! (okay, it is). 

These two have the most adorable interactions that will make you squee and ship and spaz often. Like, seriously, so much of all these. I mean the chemistry between these two... slays me. Just SLAYS. If these two hooked up in RL and produced sweet beautiful babies I will not mind and that might say something about my whacked up mind but I'll take it. 

This show was just so dang fun, added by the fact the "angst" comes at episode sixteen and ends fairly quickly, because we're never in doubt about how these two feel and they are perfect.

Also, be prepared to hate the second female lead and wish she was pushed of a cliff, and truly appreciate the second male lead because he is such a dang nice Guy! 

SOME MINOR ISSUES

I never feel fair talking about something I adore to pieces without talking about it's bad points. For Full House Thai, that's mainly the first three episodes.

Because, you see, those first three episodes... they drag. They have barely any plot and could've easily been one episode. In fact, it takes a full episode for our heroine to get to Korea, and another episode and a half for her to even realize she was scammed, because we waste a lot of time on characters that don't need it and sight-seeing and a lot of other filler.

That's way too much time to waste to get to the turning point! 

The last two episodes suffer the same syndrome, and you could skip a huge chunk of them because they're literally flashbacks (which are unnecessary when you binge watch lol) But it's worth it to get to that proposal scene. Be still my beating heart! 

It almost felt like they had a 20 episode deal but enough material for 16 episodes, and instead of adding unnecessary angst to expand this, they decided flash-backs and sight-seeing was better. I'm thankful because it is better, if there was a lot of drama I would have despaired, but at the same time... just broadcast sixteen episodes. 

One last thing I feel compelled to mention - this is a re-make of a 2004 Korean drama classic. You'll see I mentioned this no where in the actual review because to me this has no baring on the show as I watched it separate from anything else.