Kuroko's Basketbal

Information

Kuroko's Basketball, known in Japan as Kuroko no Basuke , is a Japanese sports manga series written and illustrated by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. The English rendering The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays also appears in the artwork of the Japanese version. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2008 to September 2014, with the individual chapters collected into 30 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. It tells the story of a high school basketball team trying to make it to the national tournament.

By April 2014, Kuroko's Basketball had 27 million copies in circulation. It is being adapted into an anime television series byProduction I.G that began airing in 2012, with a third season having started in January 2015. A sequel manga by Fujimaki titledKuroko's Basketball: Extra Game  began serialization in Jump Next! on December 29, 2014.

Characters

Seirin High

Seirin High's basketball team was founded only the year before the manga; despite this setbacks and only including freshmen, the team made it all the way to the final league in that year's inter-high school tournament. This year, the team's notable newcomers include Tetsuya Kuroko, the main character of the manga, as well as Taiga Kagami.

Tetsuya Kuroko 

He is the "phantom" sixth man of the "Generation of Miracles"  (Teiko Middle School's basketball team). Kuroko is Seirin's secret weapon. Although he was an essential member of his middle school basketball team, unlike his former teammates, Kuroko is largely unknown. This is because he is so small, frail, and easy to miss. However, he is greatly respected by everyone. Kuroko possesses the skill of misdirection which allows him to steal the ball and shift the trajectories of passes to suit his team without being noticed by the opponents. His near-invisibility makes him highly susceptible to on-court injuries however, and is not effective indefinitely. If he is left in play too long, opponents grow used to his misdirection tactics; as such, he must be placed on the bench at varying points in any match to prevent this. During the second season of the anime series and the eleventh volume of the manga, he developed a new technique, called the "Vanishing Drive". As the name states, he makes a drives towards an opponent player and seemingly vanishes in front of their eyes, appearing again behind them. This technique combined with his misdirection makes him a powerful player. During the game against Tōō Academy, Kuroko did his Ignite Pass Kai, which is a powerful pass that pushes the ball at a very fast speed. Midorima stated that the Ignite Pass Kai is much like a bullet being fired out of a gun. Kuroko's special ability is the Misdirection Overflow, where when Kuroko's misdirection runs out on him, his teammates have the ability to do what Kuroko can do. However, when this happens Kuroko is just a regular member on the court without any special talents. He also is helped by Aomine on his shooting skills, creating a shooting style that uses misdirection- the Phantom Shot. This shot seemingly goes through the player and into the hoop. Kuroko respects but doesn't like Midorima because of his way of thinking; Midorima also has similar feelings toward Kuroko. Kuroko considers himself a "Shadow", whose goal is to help his "Light" achieve greatness. Kuroko calls Kagami "his Light". He also has a tendency to speak and act completely deadpan, and a running gag involves his teammates, thinking they are alone, talking to themselves only for Kuroko to answer them, apparently having been in the area long before they arrived .

Taiga Kagami 

A naturally gifted basketball player, Kagami easily makes his way into Seirin's starting line-up as a freshman power forward. When he first returned to Japan, he was disappointed by its relatively low level of basketball skill compared to that in the United States. However, since starting high school, Kagami has been spurred on by his desire to compete with the "Generation of Miracles". While he is a powerful all-around player, Kagami's unique skill lies in his ability to jump to great heights. This skill facilitates not only his most common move, the dunk, but also allows him to defend well against taller players. The drawback to this capability is that his body is still underdeveloped thus he often injures himself. Like many of the other developed characters, Kagami hosts a signature move. It is called Meteor Jam and was taught by the basketball coach he shared with Himuro in America, Alex Garcia. As Kuroko has chosen Kagami as his new "Light", Kagami is also bolstered by Kuroko's techniques. Kuroko is the one normally to calm Kagami down, normally with hits or punches to get Kagami focused. Kagami has the rare power to enter the "zone", a time where a passionate basketball player develops special abilities and is basically unstoppable. Kagami's seemingly wild reflexes is compared to a tiger by other players.

Junpei Hyūga 

Captain of the Seirin team, Hyuuga is a clutch shooter, his capabilities escalating immensely when the team is in a pinch. Along with Hyuuga's change in skill comes a change in personality; normally Hyuuga is a collected and calm individual, but when he isn't, he becomes heated and rude. He is the best shooter on the team, regularly making three-point shots throughout the course of a game. Prior to the addition of Kuroko and Kagami, he was one of the centerpieces of the Seirin team's 'run and gun' play style, catching balls scooped by Kiyoshi near the net to shoot as three-pointers. He is very big on respect for the seniors.

Shun Izuki 

Acting as the team's on-court tactician, Izuki is always calm and collected. While he has no special physical abilities, he has the "Eagle Eye", a mental skill that helps him visualize the court from any point of view. Izuki's special move is called Eagle Spear, in which he steals the ball from an opponent using his arm to knock it away in their blind spot. His eagle eye helps him in doing so.  He loves puns, a running gag being that he makes them quite frequently much to the chagrin of his teammates.

Rinnosuke Mitobe 

A stalwart player, Mitobe is very quiet and reserved. Although he is never shown speaking (except for in VOMIC), Koganei seems to understand his gestures and expressions perfectly. A hard worker with excellent defensive skills, he is also an accomplished hook shooter. He lives in a small house with a very large family, and is tasked with making and serving breakfast. He was the team's starting center while Kiyoshi was injured.