Kuroko's Basketball

It's over....

It's finally over...

I was going to just talk about this season but no... since the show is over... and even if you have a spin off or another season i will not be watching... i may as well talk about the overall journey that has been Kuroko's Basketball.

I almost never enjoy sport anime.
They are too formulaic.
The main characters team has to win or you are kinda stuck without a plot... but first they have to lose so everything seems hopeless and this will be their last chance at greatness.
Matches tend to take way too long so character can talk or have flashbacks
Characters are far too overpowered and constantly one upping each other with tricks and aces up their sleeve
and they tend to give stupid names to moves.

So when season one came out in 2012 and the matches were quick and there were no stupid names I was so happy.
Despite my shortness I played basketball a lot as a kid... and i was really good at it (mainly because of speed and accuracy and well.. most girls tend to be on the shorter side)
It was funny when i moved one of my first gym classes we played Basketball and hearing all these taller guys shout "stop letting them pass to her" made me so happy.
So it's a sport i have a lot of happy memories of (even though i'll probably never be able to play again thanks to crappy shoulder issues)
So being able to watch a show that brought back the excitement and joy from a sport i enjoyed was just the best thing.
The characters weren't too strong... they didn't always win but the losses weren't soul crushing either...
it was just such an enjoyable show.

Then season 2 hit... and they started naming moves.
Ignite pass? Meteor Jump.... shadow drive...
but none of that compared to the moment the show went downhill for me.
"The Zone"

Making the zone a tangible lightning eye thing (that even had a time limit that other people could count down) was the point the show changed.

Character became overpowered... more moves got named and Kagami ended up being more the main character then Kuroko.
My heart sank but i was still enjoying it.
However it quickly became harder and harder to watch each week.

Why did i continue? hope... i hoped it would get better... that the matches would continue to be quick... that kuroko would grow more (and to be fair he does)
Beyond all that there was one other crucial element that kept me watching.

Akashi is voice by Hiroshi Kamiya..... and i'm kinda a sucker for Hiroshi kamiya sounding all sinister... and yeah i could have watched Durarara again or blue exorcist but.... i'm weak

So yeah... I was also honestly curious about the other generation of 'miracles' abilities but this last season was so hard to get through... i actually marathonned the last 5 episodes just cause i knew i would stop watching if i had to wait a week every time... and i knew i was close to the end.

I wanted to do a count of a particularly bad episode with how many stupid moves they named that were essentially "passing, watching, shooting and even dribbling"
but that would involve re-watching and... honestly i'm good... even the intro songs were starting to sound too similar (and i love Granrodeo so it hurts a little to say that)

Still you want an excellent basketball show... watch season 1...
then stop... you already know how a show like this is going to end...

and to be fair the ending is good... it ended almost exactly how i wanted it to.

but yeah... once they added the zone the show just does downhill.... not to mention that everyone has the same visualisation of what the zone is... it's just a little too stupid for me personally.

But kuroko is still adorable.... So glad this is over.