[Collaboration]: KnB’s Most Decisive Moments

When I started to fully investing a lot of my free time into this blog around this time last year, I came across another blogger that also seemed to be getting started. I started to become a frequent visitor of her blog as she and I had a lot of similar tastes in terms of anime’s we watched and it was apparent we both had a love for hot anime boyz.

What I didn’t know was that she’d become someone I’d become close to, to the point we talk regularly on the daily. All day, everyday (unless one of us is really busy). She’s become my blog bestie who I can rant and rave (read: fangirl) with about anime, manga, hot boys, and also every day life.

We’ve been talking about writing this collab post for quite some time, but when I first brought it up I was in exam mode, and after exam mode was the KnB Challenge, and we just never sat down to figure this out. And now that we finally have, it’s come to my attention that we started talking exactly around this time last year, so with that being said, Happy Friend-versary Mel!

To mark our friend-versary, we’ve chosen our Top 3 Kuroko no Basket moments, to feature on each other’s page and discuss why they’re stand-outs. Oh and also, today was chosen for a very specific reason as well. Today is the birthday of the captain of the Generation of Miracles (and also one of my personal favorites) Akashi Seijuro! Happy Birthday Akashi!!!

So, without further ado!

 

Here’s Mel! Mel say Hi! (She’ll be in purple text)

Hi everyone!! I’m very happy to make this collaboration with you Zel!!  I was really looking forward doing this post since we pretty much always end-up talking about KnB every day. Doing a collaboration post on a series we both love and fangirl on gonna be great.

Yes! This is true, and we also have matching LINE names and avatars to boot! Her obvious choice being Aomine and mine being Kise, and well, with that being said, let’s fangirl discuss my Top 3 KnB moments. And what better way than to start this list, than with none other than my favorite: Kise!

 “Kise Unlocks ‘Perfect Copy’ Against Aomine”

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Mel and I have both found Kise’s uses of Perfect Copy to be turning points in the anime and we coincidentally picked both times it was used. However, I chose the moment he unlocks a partial perfect copy, because he only copies Aomine in this episode. I found this to be a great turning point in Kise’s character development. Aomine was someone that was somewhat of a Mentor to Kise, and like post people we look up to, we place them on a pedestal. Once we place someone that high above us, we never realize our potential to be like them. Kise could never use his ability on other GoM because he can’t copy something that he can’t already do, he as to make up for some of that talent. Its also important because I think he realizes that in order for him to grow as a player he had to start looking at his rivals as equals. Aomine was the one he placed highest, and the one he wanted to be most like.

Yes, it’s only when Kise stopped to look up to Aomine that he was able to copy him.  He would not have be able to achieve what he did if he was still seeing Aomine as better than him. Yes Aomine show him something new, a sport he didn’t totally got bored of, but when Kise realize Aomine and him were equals, Kaijo’s Ace was finally able to get to the next step of his copy technique as masterize it. It was only the beginning for him, the first step of being a all-rounded player.

Ah, yes, and Mel and I have debated the greatness of Kise as someone that could possibly be the best player on the court if he were to use perfect copy while being in the zone.

Kuroko’s Breakdown After the GoM Crush His Childhood Friend in the Finals

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Kuroko’s breakdown was the catalyst for the series. It caused Kuroko to quit Teiko’s team and to quit basketball overall. But then he decides to fully embrace his style of basketball in order to prove to the GoM that their way of playing for sole victory is wrong. It’s also truly heartbreaking to see Kuroko in this state since he’s mostly shown without expressions throughout the series. The look of despair and defeat, and truly questioning what victory means. 

As Zel said this is the reason why Kuroko is like he is, why he believed in team play and why he didn’t go to a top school, something Midorima reproached him.  Kuroko saw his teammate becoming stranger, he witness them becoming «monster» player everyone fear, a team no one wanted to play against, a team it wasn’t fun to play against. If they were still playing as a team thing would have be different, however Kuroko’s childhood friend team got crush by a team that doesn’t even play as a team, a team that stop believing in the team. For Kuroko who truly think playing in team is the only way to fully embrace the meaning of victory, it’s something hard to accept. This moment was a turning point for him, this is when he decide to prove them wrong, to show them the real meaning of “team victory”.

Seirin VS. Rakuzan: The GoM stand and cheer for Kuroko & Seirin

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This is one of the most standout scenes for me for two reasons. First, it’s just such a heartwarming scene; you see Seirin is down on their luck and then all of a sudden past rivals start rooting for you and it’s matched perfectly with the hopefulness of the OST. Oh, and as a call back to the previous scene, Kuroko’s friend, Ogiwara, who suffered an overwhelming defeat at the hands of the GoM sans Kuroko, shows up as support for Kuroko and to prove that he has regained his love for basketball.  Second, the fact that the GoM root for Seirin showcases that the GoM have fully accepted Kuroko’s style of basketball as it marks this moment as the GoM returning to the team mindset they had lost so long ago before they became obsessed with winning and victory.

The Generation of Miracle accepted Kuroko’s way of playing basketball, those cheers also make Kuroko’s stronger “my friend believe in me”. It doesn’t only give Kuroko the strength of continuing against Rakuzan, it give Seirin the boost they needed. When the Generation of Miracle began to cheer on them, the crowd followed, the stadium was filled by “Seirin! Seirin! Serin!”  As Kagami said in the episode 74 (It was you) “Cheer lift you up, don’t they?” , the cheers gave them what they needed to continue their match, it lifted their spirit.

Exactly Mel! To witness this scene unfold was probably something that Kuroko never would have expected due to the cold-hearted nature of the GoM. But slowly but surely, Kuroko had altered their mindsets by showing them the meaning of team, and that winning was far more fulfilling as a team than as an individual striving to be the best.

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These were my Top 3 KnB moments that were impactful and caused some kind of turning point in the story one way or another. Mel and I could talk and analyze KnB all freaking day long. In fact, it is something that we do on the daily. If we’re not talking about one of the boys or exchanging fanart we’re always bouncing fanfic ideas we have at each other and develop fun stories together as well. However, Mel is much braver than I am as she’s willing to share her stories with the world.

So, thank you Mel for a beautiful year of friendship, and cheers to many more days of fangirling! 😀 Don’t forget to check out Mel’s version of her Top 3 Impactful/Decisive moments of KnB on her blog! Over there, I add my two cents to what I believed were important about the scenes she chose!

And on one final note, just for future reference, I still have one more KnB post to round-up the KnB challenge and to round out the year. I’ve seriously been working on this post since last spring. It’s taken me a lot of time and research and lots of debating with others to get this post just right. So please be on the look out for that! I make no promises that this is the last time I’ll ever write about KnB because, let’s be real, Mel and I are absolute fangirls for this series and many other sports animes! There are TONS to discuss in regards to KnB! We actually have a TON of stuff in common, which is why she’s one of my favorite people I’ve met while blogging!

Anyways, were there any KnB moments that stood out to you that weren’t included on either of our lists?  Let us know what you think in the comments below!