Kuroko Tetsuya: the Mystrey of the Unconventional Sports Protagonist
At the auspicious occasion of Masamune’s birthday, let’s look into the depth of the most unconventional sports anime protagonist of all times: Kuroko Tetsuya.
So what is he? he is cool, calculating and calm guy with heightened morality and equally frightening lack of presence. He has all the makings of a classic serial killer, but he gets cast as a protagonist of a sports anime, a place which has been reserved in Shonen World for the kinds like Kagami Taiga; in fact Kagami is more believable a protagonist than him. But why that? Not only Kuroko is slighted in “masculinity” but also in physical strength. He is not just not casually written as “different than other boys”, and I have some theories to justify his attitudes and why makes him so special.
The way is Kuroko is introduced is very dark and comic at the same time: all of his first appearances are introduced like ghosts, which is the extended metaphor for the “phantom sixth man” and he always has that sort of “invisibility”. But why he lacks presence at all, we never really questioned in the fandom: we sort of accepted him and the way he is. This kind of “lack of presence” is well dealt into Patrick Suskind’s novel “Perfume: the story of Murderer” where the protagonist too suffers internally for his “lack of presence”. Suskind writes that this was because for his lack of “human smell”. When Grenouille (the protagonist) realized that he lacks his own odor, it fuels him to establish his identity as a perfumer. I see many similarities between Suskind’ Grenouille and Fujimaki’s Kuroko: their lack of presence is crucial for their recognition of sense of self. In Kurokoverse, I think Kuroko lacks this crucial “body smell” which makes him ‘invisible’. In the novel, Grenouille could get past dogs unnoticed, and the way Kuroko picks up Nigou without much of a fuss determines that he has that “lack-of-human” quality. The identification with the dog later on makes it unsettling as well: why do their eyes look alike? how did he find something like that? Could it be an extended metaphor that the Dog is also a “phantom” and he is mimicking Kuroko in a way? Dogs in many culture are associated with the Spirit world: they are also the ones that can allegedly “see” the spirits and ghosts.
The next is Kuroko’s stoic demeanour. He speaks in a flat and soft tone, barely shows any emotions, and even his affections towards Nigou and former teammates lack warmth. It doesn’t mean that he is being cold to be cruel, the thing goes way deeper. What if he can’t? What if he had not the capacity to do so. During my Quarantine Rendezvous of Kdrama I discovered Secret Forest with a protagonist of same formulations. The protagonist Hwang Shi-Mok is highly moral, emotionally unavailable, brutally honest, soft spoken and to some cases, he is downright eerie. He reminded me of Kuroko greatly. His lack of emotional response doesn’t come from a psychotic brain-development, but from the partial lobotomy of his insular cortex (the part of brain that controls hearing, emotions, feelings, desires etc) due to a childhood illness. What if Kuroko had the same shortcoming in his brain that made him the way he is? He could be deficit in his insular cortex which contributed to his cold demeanor. In the drama, Hwang’s surgery made him emotionally stunted but heightened in subjectivity and cognitive functions.
Kuroko too, is always unnaturally calm during stressful situation, even when veterans are breaking apart. He always sees things with uncanny subtlety, even outdoing Riko and Momoi, and it really makes me wonder of his unique brain: wow, that’s a lot for a sixteen year old. But it doesn’t mean that emotions get buried forever, Kuroko has a few outburst and it is usually cold and unsettling, which happens when emotions are not handled in a natural manner (outburst on spot with facial expression, behavior, subjective actions etc.) On the other hand, these emotionally unavailable people show their genuine emotions (smile, shout, complement etc.) when they are deeply moved. Even their small act of generosity is taken as a grand gesture of affection or care because of their stone cold attitude. This explains why Momoi went head over heals on Kuroko when he gave Momoi the lucky draw Popsicle. However their emotional unavailability drains the loved ones in the long term and they are bound not to have too many emotional connections in their life, which feels sad because Kuroko is presented in such an endearing manner.
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