Not bad. The characters are endearing, charming, and... very, very moe. The interactions between the characters, and their bonds, are strong, deep, and well-written. I liked that Kuroko came from the very top with the GOM (Generation of Miracles) and is a veteran, instead of being a rookie. His past--and the breakdown of the GOM was particularly moving.
Someone criticized the title for being lame or something--but I think it's straight-forward and carries meaning. It's about Kuroko's basketball--how he overcame his weakness of lack of conventional talent, and created his own way of playing the sport he loves so dearly, how he manages to make everyone acknowledge his worth as a basketball player, his wish to play in a real team, rather than a league of one-man teams. All this, and the stories of the people his life that surround and affect him.
I was impressed with how well paced this was. The matches felt like they went faster than the long chapters I was actually reading. The art later on is absolutely fantastic (save for Momoi and Riko--I can't figure out if Momoi is actually supposed to be attractive, or maybe she's just poorly drawn--Alex is the only good-looking female in this series.) The expressions of the characters in this manga are great--especially Kuroko's furious face, and his "we'll win now!" and "even so, it's better than losing here" faces. The humour isn't disruptive, and is funny rather than lame (well, except for Izuki, of course) unlike certain sports manga I've attempted to read.
A lot of people are complaining about the move names, and I have no idea why, because seriously--I don't care what you say, "Right of Postponement", "Ankle Break", "Ignite Pass Kai" all sound super-cool. This is a fictional shounen manga--what's wrong with cool move names?
Also, I have no idea how the mangaka managed to make streamers (Zone) flowing from the eyes look cool.
And I liked that they lost quite early, too, instead of one predictable win after another. In one match where Seirin finally managed to lead, I'm glad they dealt with the difficulties of being the pursued rather than the pursuer, and the difficulties of the crowd antagonizing them rather than always being "the good guys".
I do have one major complaint, though. This manga is a huge tease. I won't explain it any further than that.
Okay, so after all the annoying comparisons to Slam Dunk, I attempted to pick it (SD) up again.
But before that, comparing the two is silly. The entire point of KuroBasu is that the main protagonist isn't tall, built, strong, and totally hot-headed. You have Kagami for that--and the character type is so overused he's usually not very high in the popularity polls. Kuroko is a kuudere, and he's just... so different, that it's refreshing.
For all the stunts that the characters do, at least the mangaka cared to put in the tedious effort to explain things in a way that they'd make sense in theory. The GOM are called "Miracles" for a reason--their abilities are supposed to be impossible by normal means. The point is they're not normal, and they're in a fictional universe. This is fiction--isn't one of the main points of fiction being able to escape from the boring reality?
Without all these super-fancy moves, I'm pretty sure I would've gave up halfway into the first volume like I did with Slam Dunk the first time. I'd imagine it took a long time to come up with those ideas, and then apply them to the characters in a way to make them interesting and appealing. I think the work put into that deserves some acknowledgement, at least. By including all these "ridiculous stunts", it creates interest for a much wider audience, for those who would otherwise have better things to read. Slam Dunk's demographic, I'm sure, would be mostly male. For KuroBasu, though the active fandom is pretty much predominantly female, the reader demographic seems to be more or less equivalent in gender.
This is a shounen manga, not a seinen manga, so Real isn't even relevant (not that it isn't amazingly well written and drawn). More than "real sports", this is more like... "moe sports". I do not apologize for well-executed moe. (By moe, I mean the fact that Kagami is the Light, and Kuroko is his Shadow. The promises between characters. Aomine's story.) I find each character, especially the members of the Generation of Miracles (I don't care what you people say, it sounds super cool) much more interesting and memorable than most characters in the other shounen manga you people have so far mentioned in comparison. From the hot-headed sports heroes, one sees their determined faces so often that it's common to get desensitized. With Kuroko, who's normally expressionless and calm--to see his furious face, his extremely determined face, has much more of an impact. I liked that the main team went against the stereotype of having a cute female manager, and instead went with a tough, comedically ruthless, cool female coach. I especially loved that the women in this aren't just Mary Sue pin-up mascots that were just there because there needed to be a love interest. ("Love interest": read "boring, shallow infatuation".) KuroBasu basically has little to no mutual male-female romance, actually...
All that matters is that KuroBasu is interesting. As for the people who say that it's gotten dull, personally I've found it more interesting. The Aomine vs Kagami battle was brilliant, Akashi alone is reason enough to read this, and the Teikou arc is fffffffantastically heart-breaking and moving.
Now, onto re-trying Slam Dunk: So far the humour is painfully lame and old-fashioned (well, it IS old-school manga...), so I don't know what the guy saying that SD humour is better has been smoking. I've seen KuroBasu bloopers funnier than this. I want to throw the witless "romance" out the window. The main character is a dolt and super annoying, and not even the slightest bit likeable--Kagami is much more likeable as a character. Every time anyone says "dunk", they say "slam dunk", and it's so lame I can't even handle it--ugh. "Can't you throw it more softly? Your opponent is still a weak girl." No. KuroBasu has Alex--and here we're stuck with her? SD throws around the "best basketball player in Japan" label like butter. Screw Slam Dunk. Maybe it gets better later on, but I'm not going to approve of a manga that fails to keep me reading from the get-go.
(-5)
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