Kuroko's Basketball
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is a Japanese
sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series written and illustrated by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. It was serialized in
Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...
's manga magazine ''
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...
'' from December 2008 to September 2014, with its chapters collected in 30 volumes. It tells the story of a high school basketball team trying to make it to the national tournament. An
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series adaptation by Production I.G aired for three seasons from April 2012 to June 2015. A sequel manga, ''Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game'', was serialized in '' Jump Next!'' from December 2014 to March 2016. An anime film adaptation of the ''Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game'' manga premiered in March 2017. A stage play adaptation opened in April 2016 followed by more stage adaptations. The manga has been licensed for English-language release by
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
in North America. By November 2020, ''Kuroko's Basketball'' had over 31 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series.


Plot

The Teiko Middle School basketball team dominated basketball teams within Japan, winning the middle school Nationals for three consecutive years. The star players of the team became known as the "Generation of Miracles". After graduating from middle school, the five star players went to different high schools with top
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
teams. However, there was a rumor that there was another player in the "Generation of Miracles": a phantom
sixth man The sixth man in basketball is a player who is not a starting lineup, starter but comes off the bench much more often than other reserves, often being the first player to be substituted in, and the first to be used against the other team's subst ...
. This mysterious player is now a freshman at Seirin High, a new school with a powerful, if little-known, team. Now, Tetsuya Kuroko – the sixth member of the "Generation of Miracles", and Taiga Kagami – a naturally talented player who spent most of his youth in the US, aim to bring Seirin to the top of Japan by taking on Kuroko's former teammates one by one. The series chronicles Seirin's rise to become Japan's number one high school team. The Generation of Miracles include Ryota Kise, Shintaro Midorima, Daiki Aomine, Atsushi Murasakibara, and Seijuro Akashi. Seirin High team faced Ryota Kise's team first in a practice match. Although Kise was capable of copying all of Kagami's skills with added strength and speed, Kuroko's abilities helped narrow the distance and eventually, Seirin won this game. They then met Shintaro Midorima's school Shutoku in the preliminaries of Interhigh. The game was much more difficult; not only was Midorima considerably stronger than Kagami, but also Kuroko's ability of misdirection was completely shut down by Takao's Hawk Eyes. Seirin managed to defeat team Shutoku but their winning streak ended after they lost badly to Touhou Academy, whose basketball team included the Ace of the "Generation of Miracles" - Daiki Aomine. After this game, they lost their remaining two matches against Senshinkan and Meisei and were eliminated from the Interhigh. However, a new player arrives to join Seirin - Kiyoshi Teppei, the man who formed the Seirin Basketball team. They spent the entire summer training for the Winter Cup, even coincidentally meeting Shutoku while training. In the preliminaries, they met team Shutoku again. This match ended into a tie, so Seirin needed to defeat team Kirisaki Daichi in order to advance. Kirisaki Daichi's captain was Makoto Hanamiya, a member of the Uncrowned Kings well-known for his underhanded methods to win a match. However, they won and gained a ticket to the Winter Cup.


Media


Manga

Written and illustrated by Tadatoshi Fujimaki, ''Kuroko's Basketball'' was serialized in the '' shōnen'' manga anthology ''
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...
'' from December 8, 2008 to September 1, 2014. The 275 individual chapters were collected and published into 30 volumes by its publisher
Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...
, the first on April 3, 2009 and the last on December 4, 2014. A crossover chapter between the series and Kawada's '' Hinomaru Sumo'', with a script written by Ichirō Takahashi, was published in the magazine on November 9, 2015. Kawada was formerly an assistant to Fujimaki on ''Kuroko's Basketball''. Fujimaki began a sequel titled in '' Jump Next!'' on December 29, 2014. On December 27, 2015, Tadashi announced that he will end ''Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game'' manga in the next issue in early March 2016. At their
New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to comics, Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, Film, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. With an attendance of 200,00 ...
panel, North American publisher
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
announced their license to the manga. They began releasing the series in 2-in-1 editions in 2016.


Anime

An anime adaptation based on the manga was produced by Production I.G. The series premiered on April 7, 2012 and ended on September 22, 2012. On April 5, 2012,
Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...
announced that they would simulcast the anime as part of their spring lineup of anime titles. As of September 22, 2012, the anime ended with a total of 25 episodes. The second season premiered on October 6, 2013 and ended on March 29, 2014, also with 25 episodes. The DVD and Blu-ray version of the second season was released on June 20, 2014, along with an episode which was designed around a specific chapter in the manga by Tadatoshi Fujimaki by working on chapter 124, and a bonus CD with an audio drama starring Satsuki Momoi. The third season premiered on January 10, 2015 and ended on June 30, 2015, with a total of 25 episodes. Three compilation films that compiled the anime series' ''Winter Cup'' arc opened in Japan in 2016. The first compilation film opened on September 3, 2016, titled ''Winter Cup Compilation ~Shadow and Light~'', the second compilation film opened on October 8, 2016, titled ''Winter Cup Compilation ~Beyond the Tears~'', and the third compilation film opened on December 3, 2016, titled ''Winter Cup Compilation ~Crossing the Door~''. An animated film adaptation was announced at the ''KuroBas Cup 2015'' event on September 20, 2015. The film, titled '' Kuroko's Basketball The Movie: Last Game'', adapts the ''Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game'' manga. It was released in Japanese theaters on March 18, 2017. The staff and cast from the previous seasons returned to reprise their roles in the film. On October 19, 2020, the
SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
listed and approved an English dub for the series under the "Netflix Dubbing Agreement". The first season's English dub debuted on
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
on January 15, 2021, with its second season on May 15, its third season on September 18, and the ''Last Game'' film's English dub on November 15.


Light novels

Five series of
light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...
s have been written by Sawako Hirabayashi called ''Kuroko's Basketball: Replace'' and illustrated by Fujimaki. Each light novel focuses on the members of the Generation of Miracles. The first light novel ''Replace'' was released on March 4, 2011. A manga adaptation of the novel series illustrated by Ichirō Takahashi began on ''
Shōnen Jump+ is a manga platform created by Shueisha. Launched on September 22, 2014, it operates as a free mobile app and website. Jump+ serializes original titles and titles from other Shueisha manga magazines, and also carries digital editions of ''Weekl ...
'' in January 2015.


Audio CDs

The music for the ''Kuroko's Basketball'' anime series were directed by four different composers. Ryosuke Nakanishi, R・O・N, and Alpha Eastman (21-25) were in charge of the first season while Yoshihiro Ike was in charge of the second season.


Video games

Three video games based on ''Kuroko's Basketball'' have been released. The first game was released on August 9, 2012, for
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
. A second game was released on February 20, 2014, for the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
. ''Shōri e no Kiseki'' sold 45,681 copies in its first four days on sale. A third game was released on March 26, 2015, for the Nintendo 3DS. Kuroko also appears as a support character in the ''Jump'' crossover fighting game '' J-Stars Victory VS''. A mobile game by Fivecross, , is scheduled to be released in 2023.


Stage plays

A series of 2.5D musical stage plays began in 2016. Kensho Ono reprised his role as Kuroko from the anime series. Additions to the main cast included Yuuya Asato as Taiga and Shota Onume as Aomine. The plays were directed by Norihito Nakayashiki, who also directed '' Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyu!!''.


Reception

The ''Kuroko's Basketball'' manga series sold nine million units in Japan by September 2012. In May 2013, the manga has over one million copies of volume 1 in print. By 2013, the manga had over 23 million copies in circulation, a number that grew to 27 million by April 2014. By November 2020, the series has over 31 million copies in circulation. Individual volumes frequently appeared on
Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...
's weekly lists of the best-selling manga in Japan, and many of them were some of the best-selling manga in the year 2012. ''Kuroko's Basketball'' was the third best-selling manga series of 2013, with 8,761,081 copies sold in a year. In 2014, the 24th volume of the manga had received an initial print run of one million copies; and the 30th volume in 2015 had an initial print run of 700,000 copies printed. The ''Kuroko's Basketball'' light novel series also sold well in Japan in 2014. The first light novel ''Replace'' was the ninth best-selling light novel series, while it was the sixth best-selling light novel volume with 215,859 copies sold. DVD sales of the anime series have also been featured on Oricon's weekly Japanese anime DVD rankings various times. ''Kuroko's Basketball'' is often compared to ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''s earlier basketball-themed manga ''
Slam Dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as a dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with on ...
''. However, Azusa Takahashi of ''Real Sound'' pointed out whereas ''Slam Dunk'' was very realistic, the newer series is more focused on entertainment and is strongly based in fiction with each character having a "special move." The anime series was awarded the 2013 Tokyo Anime Award in the Television Category.


Controversies

After the anime began airing in 2012, the series became popular with ''
dōjinshi , also Romanization of Japanese, romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of exi ...
'' circles, particularly for ''
yaoi , also known by its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it from the equivale ...
dōjinshi'', though there is no yaoi in the series itself. Several events at which dōjinshi of the series were to be sold, as well as several other locations linked to the series and the author Tadatoshi Fujimaki, including a television station airing the anime, a convenience store chain selling items of the series, and Fujimaki's alma mater Sophia University, received threatening letters containing a powder or liquid substance. It is still unknown if it is one individual behind all the threatening letters, nor is the reason for the threats known. Multiple doujinshi events, including
Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual Doujinshi convention, ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered ...
, banned content related to the series, barring creators from selling ''Kuroko's Basketball''-themed doujinshi at their events. The suspect, who was later revealed to be a 36-year-old man named Hirofumi Watanabe, was eventually caught and was arrested on December 15, 2013. Due to the loss of ''Kuroko's Basketball'' dōjinshi because of the threats, there was a special event that specifically focused on dōjinshi related to the series affectionately named ''Kuroket'', organized by the Comic Market Preparatory Committee, held during the Comiket Special 6 – Otaku Summit 2015 on March 29, 2015. The event hosted approx. 2400 ''dōjinshi'' circles.


See also

*


Notes


References


External links


Official website

Official Anime Website

Official Stage Play Website
* * {{Production I.G films 2.5D musicals 2012 anime television series debuts 2013 anime television series debuts 2015 anime television series debuts Anime and manga controversies Anime series based on manga Bandai Visual Basketball in anime and manga Comedy anime and manga Japanese sports television series Mainichi Broadcasting System original programming Medialink Production I.G Shueisha franchises Shueisha manga Shōnen manga Tokyo MX original programming Viz Media manga