It’s been 3 years since the manga Kuroko’s Basketball (Kuroko no Basket) came to an end but there is still a huge fanbase because of its down-to-earth story that makes you laugh and cry, the characters that are full of personality, the impressive sports aspect, and the excellent dialogues. In this article, I want to talk about the part of the story that I liked the most: The match between Seirin and Yousen which took place in the quarter finals of the Winter Cup, and especially Episode 49 (Episode 24 of the second season), ‘Enough’ (Mou Ii Ya). This episode covered volumes 18-19 of the manga.

Kiyoshi vs Murasakibara, Kagami vs Himuro, and Kuroko vs Murasakibara. It was a battle where various destinies intertwined but there is no way it wouldn’t be interesting. Let us go through it paying attention to each character.

The volume of the manga and the anime

If you watch the anime after having read the manga, you will notice that there are many scenes where lines and monologues from the manga have been cut. Be it the court side commentary by Aomine and Kise, or the players’ emotions during the match, or the explanation of the plays used in basketball. Although it’s not specific to this match, I thought that they really took out a lot this time.

In addition to changing the order of the scenes and the delivery of the detailed lines, there were many parts that were cut that could be about two pages of the manga. It felt as though they cut out as much as they could without the story collapsing. I think that this was due to the scale of the animation’s production.

In Kuroko’s Basketball, when the characters do their special moves, they frequently make movements that are difficult to recreate in 3D. This can be enjoyed as one type of fantasy. However, that doesn’t mean that whatever they do is fine. Fantasy has its own rules and logic and how much persuasive power you can give it becomes very important.

For that reason, to draw the reader in, the commentary is necessary. On top of that, Kuroko’s Basketball must also explain the actual sport of basketball. When you compile all of these necessary elements, the dialogue increases. It was probably impossible to force all of that into the thirty minutes one episode is limited to. Instead, the anime clearly shows the smooth movements and changes in expression that the manga could not fully depict.

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