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I Am Kuroko (黒子はボクです, Kuroko wa Boku desu) is the first episode of the Kuroko no Basuke anime. It adapts Chapter 1 of the manga, I'm Kuroko.

Synopsis[]

Phantom 6th man

Teikō's phantom sixth man

The Seirin High basketball club is looking for new recruits! This year's applicants look promising: Taiga Kagami, an intimidating player from America, and Tetsuya Kuroko, a seemingly invisible man that once played alongside the Generation of Miracles. Kagami aims to defeat them all and become the best player in Japan, but there's one problem—he can't do it alone. After seeing his talents for himself in a practice game, Kuroko promises to be the shadow to Kagami's light and help both him and the Seirin basketball team achieve their goal of being the best in Japan.

Plot Summary[]

Introduction[]

The Teikō Junior High basketball club is an incredibly strong team with over 100 members and three consecutive championship wins. Even within the school's impressive history, there was a group of five prodigies known as the Generation of Miracles. They are recognized for their unparalleled strength through middle school and high school alike. However, a strange rumor existed surrounding the group: the existence of a phantom sixth man accepted by each of the five.

New Recruits[]

Koganei brought back by Kagami

Kagami's arrival

During the start of a new semester at Seirin High School, Shinji Koganei, Shun Izuki, and Rinnosuke Mitobe are busy advertising the school's basketball team while handing out flyers to new students. Koganei is soon approached by Taiga Kagami and brings him to Riko Aida and Junpei Hyūga, the coach and captain of the club respectively. Kagami fills out an application form with only his name and student information, saying that he doesn't have much of a reason for joining before walking away.

Riko chpt 1 anime

Reading Kuroko's Application

The club's members briefly discuss his rather intimidating first impression, with Koganei calling him terrifying and the others having high expectations for his performance before noticing an extra club request. Left by Tetsuya Kuroko without anyone noticing, his reason for joining is simply listed as having played for the Teikō Junior High basketball club. Riko deduces that he must have been a member of the Generation of Miracles due to his age. Between this and Kagami's previous time in America, she comments that the new first years could have ridiculous potential.

Riko @ Aida sports gym

With her father

The next day, Riko Aida gathers the team and the new applicants in the gym, who mistake her for the team's manager before being told by Hyūga that she is the team's coach. Kenji Takeda, who was mistaken for the position, is instead revealed to be the club's advisor. After clearing up the misunderstandings, Riko instructs them all to take off their shirts. She is able to see their physical capabilities in numbers and make extremely accurate observations about their health with only her eyes, a skill acquired from accompanying her father in his job as a sports trainer.

Scan anime

Observing Kagami

Riko is stunned by Taiga Kagami's physique, whose numbers are all higher than a first-year high school student should be capable of. She comments that she has never seen anyone like him and that she can't even see the limits of his potential. She has to be brought out of her shock by Junpei Hyūga, who tells her that Kagami was the last player to be observed. She checks her list another time and asks if Tetsuya Kuroko was in the gym, having expected to be able to tell the former Teikō Junior High player out of the crowd. She fails to see him and thinks that he's absent before calling to start practice without him.

Kuroko introduces himself anime

Introducing himself

However, to the surprise of her and everyone else in the gym, Kuroko interrupts her and introduces himself. He explains that he was there the entire time and simply overlooked. Shinji Koganei curiously asks if Kuroko was part of the Generation of Miracles and Hyūga denies it without a thought, saying that there's no way he could've been a regular and asking if he ever played in any games. Surprising everyone again, Kuroko answers that he did. Riko hurriedly instructs him to take off his shirt before the episode cuts to her taking a bus home. She continues thinking about Kuroko, whose body was already nearing its limit despite having lower than average numbers. She again doubts that he could've possibly been a player at Teikō.

One-On-One[]

Kagami confronts Kuroko anime

Challenging Kuroko

After practice, Taiga Kagami is practicing alone at an empty streetball court when he sees Tetsuya Kuroko standing beside the hoop. Kagami is caught off guard by the sudden presence and misses his shot, asking what the hell Kuroko is doing there and receiving the same question in response. Kagami goes on to explain that he lived in America until his second year of middle school and calls Japan's standards of basketball appallingly low, explaining that he's looking for serious games rather than just playing for fun. He explains that while the weak and the strong should smell as such, Kuroko doesn't smell like anything, and challenges him to a 1-on-1 to see how strong the Generation of Miracles really is. Kuroko agrees, saying that he was hoping to play against Kagami as well.

Kagami vs Kuroko anime

Blocking Kuroko

Kagami's hopes for a good match are quickly dashed after seeing their sheer difference in talent, calling Kuroko's skills in basketball so bad that he could die and angrily asking how Kuroko ever thought he could win. Kuroko answers that he didn't and had only wanted to see Kagami's strength for himself. Frustrated, Kagami ends the match and tells Kuroko to quit basketball due to his complete lack of talent. Kuroko refuses by saying both that he loves basketball and that he disagrees with the notion of talent being necessary. He explains that they are two different types of players and calls himself a shadow before the scene ends.

Practice Game[]

Hyuga with second years against freshmen anime

The upperclassmen

Their next training consists of a mini-game between the first and second years. Hiroshi Fukuda, Kōichi Kawahara, and Kōki Furihata are intimidated by the upperclassmen's record of making it to the finals in their first year while Tetsuya Kuroko is largely unfazed. Taiga Kagami believes that it's always better to have stronger opponents than weak ones and is excited to play against them.

Kagami at the first match

Dunking on Mitobe

Kagami proves himself to be the strongest of the first years with ease, opening the game with an uncontested dunk over Rinnosuke Mitobe. While Riko Aida calls his plays unpolished and purely intuitive, she is impressed by his raw talent along with all of the other players. Kuroko appears to be rather clueless on the court in contrast and constantly gets the ball stolen.

Kagami triple-teamed anime

Triple teaming Kagami

The second years successfully shift their focus to shutting Kagami down after seeing that he is mostly scoring on his own, quickly demoralizing the other first years to the point where Kawahara says that they can't win and Furihata says he's had enough. Kagami grabs him by the collar after hearing this, asking what the hell he's talking about before Kuroko hits him behind the knees and tells him to calm down. Kagami's frustration immediately turns to Kuroko, who dodges Kagami's attempts at hitting him with ease. The conflict draws the players' attention to Kuroko for the first time during the game, with Shun Izuki asking if he'd been playing in the first place and Riko Aida even forgetting about him as the referee.

Kuroko back pass anime

Passing to Furihata

After the short break, Kuroko asks Fukuda to pass to him. Thinking that he will only get the ball stolen again, Fukuda reluctantly follows Kuroko's request. He then makes a clean pass across the court to Furihata, who scores an easy basket. The first and second years alike are left dumbfounded at where the pass came from and continue being confused by Kuroko's plays, though the first years are able to score consistently with his help. Kuroko's passes are explained to be the work of Misdirection, a technique used in sleight of hand tricks to purposely direct someone's line of sight.

Kagami finishes the game against the second years anime

Kagami finishes the game

The first years steadily catch up to the second years until the scores are 36-37. Kuroko catches the ball instead of passing it and makes his way to the hoop, attempting a layup only for it to bounce off of the rim. Kagami then jumps up behind him and takes the missed ball to dunk it in instead. He calls Kuroko a dumbass for not making the shot and says again that he hates the weak. Kuroko only smiles to himself, having never intended to score in the first place.

The Best in Japan[]

Kagami Maji Burger

Kagami's order

Taiga Kagami later visits Maji Burger and orders a startlingly large amount of food before sitting at what he thinks is an empty table. He is surprised by the the presence of Tetsuya Kuroko, who was sitting there before him and enjoying a vanilla shake. Kagami asks Kuroko to leave before someone mistakes them for friends and is denied. He then resigns with a sigh and gives Kuroko one of his burgers, saying that while he dislikes people who are bad at basketball, Kuroko had earned it.

Kuroko's promise anime

Kuroko's promise

While leaving the restaurant, Kagami asks Kuroko how strong the Generation of Miracles truly are and how his current self would match up against them. Kuroko coldly replies that he would be destroyed instantly, much to Kagami's annoyance, and further explains that each of the five Miracles have gone to separate powerhouse schools. Kagami sees this as a challenge and declares his motivation to defeat them all and become the best player in Japan. Kuroko denies him again and says that such a goal won't be possible, at least not alone, and arrives at a decision of his own. He promises to be Kagami's shadow and make him the best player in Japan along with the rest of the Seirin High basketball team.

Characters in order of appearance[]

Characters in italics are only seen briefly and have yet to make a proper appearance.

Manga and Anime Differences[]

  • During the introduction of the Generation of Miracles in the manga, faceless silhouette were seen, while in the anime the actual members were identified.
  • In the anime, Shinji Koganei, Shun Izuki and Rinnosuke Mitobe were seen recruiting new members at the opening ceremony and later seen playing in the practice match, while in the manga they weren't even seen at all. The only person to make an appearance in the manga was Koganei, being carried to Riko by Kagami.
  • At the basketball club stand, Riko Aida was accompanied by Junpei Hyūga in the anime, while she was alone in the manga.
  • At the first training, Kōki Furihata, Kōichi Kawahara and Hiroshi Fukuda were clearly seen, in the manga they were vaguely resembled by other unknown players.
Kagami scan anime

Kagami's scan in the anime

  • Riko's Scan ability is slightly different from the anime than from the manga. In the anime, not only the stats, but also random images and frivolities were seen.
  • The scene where Taiga Kagami encounters Tetsuya Kuroko at Maji Burger and takes him to a street court in the manga, is moved to after the match and tied to the scene where they make their promise. Kuroko and Kagami do still meet at the previously mentioned street court at that time in the anime, but Kuroko surprises Kagami by suddenly showing up at the court.
  • The scenery where Kuroko and Kagami agree their mutual goal of becoming Japan's best, is moved from near a bridge in the manga, to the side of a zebra crossing of a road in the anime.

Navigation[]

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