Kuroko no Basket 2nd Season

With the Interhigh Championship finally over, Seirin's basketball team refocuses their efforts, training harder than ever to get the chance to participate in the Winter Cup. Both Tetsuya Kuroko and Taiga Kagami see old friends walk back into their lives, providing a challenge both on and off the court.

As new skills are developed and new alliances created, enemies from various teams—giants of high school basketball such as Yousen, Shuutoku, and Touou—stand in the way of Seirin's steadfast attempts to get to the top. All of these schools prove to be formidable foes whose abilities progress exponentially, while Kuroko struggles to find a balance between his resolve to play as part of a team and his desire to win.

With old wounds reopening, new challenges to face on the court, and a new set of foes—the "Uncrowned Kings"—vowing to defeat the new hopefuls, will Seirin ever be able to achieve their dream of beating the Generation of Miracles?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kuroko, Tetsuya Main

Ono, Kensho Japanese

Kagami, Taiga Main

Ono, Yuuki Japanese

Aomine, Daiki Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Akashi, Seijuurou Supporting

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Kise, Ryouta Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Midorima, Shintarou Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Murasakibara, Atsushi Supporting

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Kiyoshi, Teppei Supporting

Hamada, Kenji Japanese

Takao, Kazunari Supporting

Suzuki, Tatsuhisa Japanese

Momoi, Satsuki Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Morihiro, Fumi Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Kuroki, Rui Producer

Reviews

Apr 12, 2014

ItsPHI

Recommended

"Even if we lose by 100 points, there’s a chance a meteor will strike the other team’s bench in the last second."—Kuroko Tetsuya

Sequel to season one, Kuroko No Basket 2 does not disappoint. The new season begins with a mild time-skip after the inter-high matches. Seiren High—no longer the underdog—is now of equal footing in terms of basketball recognition. The most notable difference the time-skip offers would be the physical improvement of the players; all other improvements—such as unique skills—are publicly developed in season 2. If anything, the anime has adapted an even faster pace and incorporates an unexpectedly drastic increase in the amount of ... action per episode. Games are now longer, more intense, and developed. The level of play has increased to a higher caliber. There are no more "easy" opponents in this Winter Cup. Each team has a unique play style, some specializing in more specific areas such as defense, offence, or speed. However, all teams must bend their play style in order to counter their opponent. This constant change of pace and strategy creates a fast paced, entertaining battle. The shounen aspect of the anime often shines during the intense moments of the game—where players are at full potential. Although shounen abilities are bound to be unrealistic, the anime counteracts some of this illogic by offering thorough explanations behind some abilities such as Kuroko's misdirection. As stated before, the games have gotten longer, meaning there are less games played but more detail to each specific match.

The entertainment level has reached an all new high, various jaw dropping moments are wisely incorporated to avoid repetition. To top it off, the anime captures viewer's attention by further expanding in the realm of character depth. Kuroko gains more expression and passion, and remains a glowing catalyst. Kuroko, "the shadow", cheering along with his team speaks volumes about how much character development takes place. Other basketball players too, receive a hefty amount of attention. Aces are prominent as usual, but now regular players are given much more spotlight. Whether it be three pointers, fakes, dunks, or passes each play is valuable. There are many times where players simply want to give up; honestly it's not easy to have endless motivation in face of defeat. Each character has their insecurities and doubts when it comes down to their skill level and natural talent, but it's ultimately up to them to decide if they will let that affect them. Teamwork is demonstrated through many lights, with emotionally supportive remarks accompanied by intermediate coordination, the value of trusting your teammates is highlighted.

The large amount of characters does have its downfall though. Not all characters receive recognition deserved, and even some of the former "mini-main characters" become less prevalent. The freshman hardly get any playtime, if any at all. They are mostly seen cheering on the team, rather than competing with the team. We miss out on the development and improvement of other teams due to the heavy focus on Seirin High. Still, the character development we do get is appreciated and worthwhile. Dual gender fan-service is implemented in two or three episodes, but it doesn't hinder the plot.

Art and sound has improved, not dramatically, but notably. Scenes where game-play is at peak, is where the artistic improvements are easily visible. The characters have more "fluid" movements, and facial expressions are clearer. The OP and ED are pleasing, and fit well with the heart-racing action. Voices are well done as usual, the English, however, is horrible. It's to be expected though, as I believe none of the voice actors use English other than for acting.

Something that has bothered me throughout the series was the exaggerated portrayal of the members of the Generation of Miracles. Members of the GoM were depicted as godlike undefeatable players. Although the GoM's abilities certainly deserve enormous recognition, no individual player—so far—has shown to be as overpowered as claimed; which is good. Each team has their own Aces, and below those Aces are above-average important players crucial to the team. Currently, the setup of one GoM per team, makes the competition in the Winter Cup relatively equal. The key games are expected to be close battles.

Another slightly problematic area is time. Seirin is an "end-game" team, but sometimes the star moments are too miraculous and timely. Like season 1, many times Seirin manages to unrealistically catch up towards the last minute(s) of the game. Some moments are so exaggerated that 20 seconds in the game timer is actually 3-4 minutes of the episode. Timing could have been better, to accommodate the intense game play. Even though it's nice to see a team catch up inspirationally, it should be saved for rare occasions. Under-use is better than over-use in situations like these.

I would strongly recommend viewers who enjoyed season one, to watch this season. Kuroko No Basket 2 manages to leave you wanting more. It was far too easy for me to finish these 25 episodes, as some games were so intense and involving it was difficult to stop watching.

Thanks for reading this review, have a great day!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 14, 2014

AnimeLoverAAA

Mixed Feelings

******this is a spoiler free******

First thing first. I love this anime but i hate it as well .
I did not read the manga of this series .
Season 1 and 2 are more or less the same

Story:4/10
Cliche plots in my opinion. Because Seirin is gonna win the winter cup and beat akashi ... since this title of these whole series is call " kuroko no basket" and not "akashi no basket" . This means that the main character this kuroko and not the GOMs simply means that kuroko is gonna win with the flow of the cliche plots. But it makes you wanna watch for ... some reasons.

Art:6/10
Basically fine nothing wrong except for 1 which i really wanna slap the shit of it. which is the shadow where the characters have especially under their neck . Since season i've noticed it in fact from the very start . I was wonder what shit is that , we normal people don't have and how in the hell they got it .... it's really funny and ridiculous if you think properly.

Sound: 5/10
Nothing wrong or bad which i can complaint or say . I only like the OP " the other self " .

Character:7/10 ( biased )
I really like the characters for exmaple Aomine and Kise and Akashi . Reason for liking aomine is he's very badass and i just simply like it and really don't understand why he lost to kuroko and kagami. As for Kise i like this blone hair and his pretty face he is very hot . As for Akashi i like his intimidating personality this just make me feels he's the king of the GOM where all the miracles are . But i juz simply hate the existence of kagami and kuroko to spoil the whole series .... I understand why many fan girls are going crazy for kuroko in my eyes he is only acting cute and make me wanna puke every episode .

Enjoyment:6/10
I really did enjoy this whole anime when i am watching every episode i was screaming like mad hahaha even in 3 or 4 am .... ( i finish this in 2 days in fact 1 day because i start at near midnight cos if i round off it'll only be 1 day ) And once again i did not give a 8 or 9 in this section is because of kuroko since he is the main character of course he is gonna get lots of showing time which make my mood go down.

Overall : 6/10
This anime can be far way better if kuroko and kagami isn't here i know that this is a biased statement but this is just my opinion.If Seirin wins the winter cup im gonna give the whole 3 season a score of 1.

I highly recommend you ( potential viewer ) to watch this because putting aside the bias things this anime is very good . And im glad that i waited 6 months for this season 2 to air finish then start watching .

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 23, 2014

Chronologically

Not Recommended

Preliminary (6/25 eps)

I like the story of an underdog team trying to win, but its been done so many times in sports anime. [8/10]

Art is as it should be in this generation so I would expect no less. [8/10]

I loved the sound of the ball when the players hit a swish and the sound of the squeaking shoe because it is very satisfying and really reminds me of being on the court myself. [9/10]

Character development wasn't as good as the first season because I felt like the 5 legendary players aren't talked about as much as in the first season, but I haven't not finished ... the anime yet so [6/10]

As I've already said I'm a basketball player so I felt everything was too unreal, like Midorima's three pointers and Kuroko's drive, I mean has the creator even played basketball. when you play defence you should watch you guard's waist to see which way they're going so therefore Kuroko's Drive is impossible. I understand this is an anime they have to make it cool but Slam Dunk looked cool and was more realistic. How does a bunch of high schoolers play for 25 min shifts [4/10] too unrealistic for me.


I would NOT recommend anybody who likes real basketball to watch this since it's more of a "who has a better power" show. This only my opinion so don't hate on me if I made you upset. Overall [4/10]

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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