This is not only one of my favorite sports manga, it is one of my favorite manga series. I don’t remember if I’ve read Slam Dunk, but whenever I think of a basketball manga, I think of this. In general, I enjoy the stories with the signature moves, the powerful main characters, and the story line of defeating powerful opponents to reach an end goal. I don’t think that this story is very unique since it follows the same guidelines a lot of other action manga take. However, I really like the characters, the art, and the arcs.
I connect with Kuroko a lot. I thought it was so cool that he was such an integral part of the team even though he was not a main offensive player – he was a top tier supportive player. When I play basketball recreationally, I try to be more of a passer and a defender – mostly because I’m not confident with my ball handling skills. So, seeing him excel on a team was encouraging. All the other main characters, such as Kagami, the rest of the Generation of Miracles members, and the Uncrowned Kings, were all pretty great too. The specialties of the Generation of Miracles were phenomenal. I was fine with their skills being slightly unrealistic, but they weren’t so unrealistic that it didn’t make sense. Like players in the NBA could do something similar to what these guys were doing. Since each of Kuroko’s middle school teammates were on a different teams, each basketball game was interesting to read. For me, Kise’s copying and Midorima’s shooting prowess were the best powers in the series.
In terms of the story line, I don’t remember reading any chapters or set of chapters and thinking that they were filler or unnecessary chapters. I like seeing characters train and improve. There was a purpose to each of the games that they played. As Seirin improved, it was great to see the other teams improving as well. Also, since there were so many likeable characters, it was great to see some of their character development as opposed to only one or two characters getting the bulk of the development.
Jeffrey's Thoughts 