Can I ask for all the Gom+Momoi thoughts and reactions after Kuroko quit the team, it can be as a group or individual scenarios. Thanks.
Hi dear! Ithought about this quite a lot, trying to be original but not out of characters!I hope you’re goingto find this interesting at least!
Have a niceday!
The Generationof Miracles after Kuroko’s decision to leave
Aomine Daiki
Okay, Aomine is not really at his best in this moment.He’s shown as broken: the thing he loves the most is destructing him at thesame time. His friendship with Kuroko has always been “peculiar” as they seemsto think alike only when playing basketball together, otherwise they’ve fewthings in common.
At this point, even the “basketball factor” vanishesand leave them alone with that strange bound; they’re not able to communicateproperly and this ends up with Kuroko leaving the team and Aomine closing up inhis selfish, cold world.
For this reason, I believe Aomine is not surprised byKuroko’s decision. He’s already lost every hope, he doesn’t believe in anythinganymore; he sticks to basketball because it’s like a drug, he can’t livewithout it even if now it’s not a reason of joy anymore. So, I believe heaccepts it coldly, disillusioned and he misunderstands Kuroko. He thinkssomething like “Ah, I knew it. No one can be on my level. No one can stick withme. I’m on my own.” And refuses to fight back for their friendship. He just letsgo.
Aomine doesn’t believe in anything anymore except forhis own strength and talent, why he should believe in Kuroko?
Kise Ryouta
I believe that Kise doesn’t understand what’shappening. I mean, he’s too caught up in his own world, as well as the otherMiracle Boys to comprehend the weight of their behavior and of Kuroko’s choice.He only focuses on his need to win and to be the best, plus his never-endingrivalry-friendship with Aomine. Except for that? Nothing else.
He doesn’t take Kuroko’s resolution seriously eitherand that’s why at first during high school he tries to win him back. He doesn’teven understand there’s another way to play and live, that Kuroko seessomething different in basketball, until his friend doesn’t smack the truth inhis face.
I bet Kise thought it was only a “rebellious phase” orsomething like that. He was annoyed and disappointed, but not particularly botheredsince hadn’t understood what was going on for real.
Murasakibara Atsushi
He’s annoyed for sure. Mad even. We know from thestart that he and Kuroko get along on everything except for basketball (theopposite of Kuroko and Aomine): this choice about basketball for Murasakibara iscompletely incomprehensible. And there’s nothing more frustrating than someoneyou know and care about deciding for something you don’t understand nor approve.
That’s way he behaves passive-aggressively towardsKuroko and wants to crash his way of thinking, wants to show him that he waswrong.
Midorima Shintarou
Here the only one who understands for real. He doesn’tshare Kuroko’s beliefs and he’s too prideful and involved in the MiraGen’s wayof thinking to accept as reasonable Kuroko’s decision, but he understands. Heknows what’s moving their ghost player and fully acknowledges his decision,even if it’s foolish for him.
That’s why he’s probably frustrated and annoyed, butalso a bit worried. He sees the changes in his teammates and himself that nobodyseems to realize, but doesn’t know what to do except from going on alone. That’swhat he’s been taught, what they all have been taught: win alone. So, hecontinues to practice even when nobody else practices anymore and works for thevictory because he has to and because he feels the need to win, without beingable to reach for the others anymore: he thinks it’s impossible, that’s why forhim Kuroko is foolish.
Akashi Seijuurou
This is difficult. Akashi is the one who drives Kurokoto his breaking point on purpose. Is it because he wants to test him? Or has herealized Kuroko is different and wants to ostracize him? Or does he hope Kurokois going to bend and break and then follow him again? I’m not quite sure, butAkashi knows and doesn’t understand.
For him Kuroko’s logic is irrational. The onlyreasonable thing is victory. Everything is done in the name of victory and invictory’s name everything is legitimate. Kuroko’s “betrayal” is bitter but…notdramatic. Because in this moment Akashi cares only about having the rightpieces to win and if Kuroko is not ready to play like that anymore, then he’snot needed.
Surely, Akashi is fully persuaded that his way ofthinking is the right one and that Kuroko is going to come back or disappear forever.He’s patiently and proudly waiting for the next move, the one that’s going tobring him back.
Momoi Satsuki
Momoi is scared and conflicted. She is able to predictplayers and should be the one who knows the Miragen Boys the best, yet theystart changing so quickly and dramatically that she doesn’t know what to do.
She’s the only one who probably shares Kuroko’sthoughts from the start, but she’s too scared to remain alone to follow him. Shestays under Akashi’s guidance and keeps doing her job, putting away every emotionnot needed and bringing out the Manager of the Generation or Miracles, even ifshe knows that every victory is another step towards the edge for them. Even ifwith Kuroko going away she’s already alone and she feels it more than anyoneelse, that’s why for her Kuroko’s decision is so painful.
Momoi follows Aomine even if she knows that he’s lostand she can’t save him. And this explains why she begs Kuroko to win: she knowseverything and she believes in Kuroko’s ideas, but she has not the strength tolive them up. She can only watch and stay near to Aomine, near to all of themand hope for the best.
Can I ask for nijiaka where aomine taste akashi that he looks like he is inlove with niji and hits on the elder to annoy sei but, nijimura sees through aomine and finds out about akashi's feelings (and he feels the same) so happy end~?
Hi dear! Sorry if it took me a while! I’m afraid tosay that in the end I’ve slightly modified your prompt. Mainly because I can’teven imagine Teikou!Aomine flirting with someone for revenge: he’s a dork, abasketball dork who thinks only in basketball terms. That’s why his aid to thecouple is unconscious, he’s only trying to be petty and vengeful. I know it’sshort, but I hope you’re going to enjoy it either way dear! (Please forgive meif there are more mistakes than usual but I’m writing in the middle of thenight again and I don’t know how lucid I’m to be honest.)
Havefun!
Allthanks to Mai-chan
“Damn Akashi…” Aomine muttered under his breath,seated at the border of the gym with a menacing expression.
Akashi had threw away his last Mai-chan’s magazines asa revenge for Aomine clumsy joke about his “non-existent love life”. He still couldn’tbelieve he had done it and was boiling with anger. No one could touch hisMai-chan. No one.
“I have to avenge myself…” whispered crazily, eyeingthe red-haired boy at the other side of the gym.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea…” Kise tried topersuade him, seated next to me and still panting after their one on one, buthe was ignored.
“I have to take him away for a bit something he likes,so that he can feel my pain.” Aomine reasoned and his eyes casually laid on hiscaptain. Shuuzou Nijimura. He didn’t know why, but the captain and Akashiseemed on great terms and played together after practice. In those moments, Aomineusually could recognize on Akashi’s face the excited look of a satisfied andchallenged basketball player instead of his polite and composed façade.
Aomine smirked.
Ah, found it.
Nijimura was drinking peacefully some water on his own,when Aomine suddenly reached him with a wide smile.
“Senpai!” called with a basketball in his hands, “Let’splay together!”
Nijimura arched an eyebrow and put the bottle down.
After practice, usually they were given fifteen minutesor sometimes even half an hour to play freely with each other. Aomine usuallyplayed with Kise or Kuroko, so it was definitely strange to see him there askingfor a one on one with him. However, the captain’s usual partner had to go awayearlier that day and he was left alone.
“Really?” inquired, sensing there was something offwith that basketball head but the other boy shrugged.
“Yeah, yeah.” Assured, without meeting his eyes, “Justplay.” Grunted impatiently.
Nijimura sighed and decided it was probably wasnothing to worry about, both eager to play against someone as strong as him andcurious to understand what was going on.
“Then it’s fine.” He agreed with a small ferine smile.
And, that was the beginning of the end. For the entireweek, in the exact moment practice finished Aomine would appear next to Nijimurataunting him to play one on one and the senpai couldn’t refuse his enthusiasticand energetic junior even if…Even if usually those moments were strictlyreserved to another special person and he was missing them.
However, that special person hadn’t said anything evenonce and just looked from afar or escaped quickly. Somewhat this made Nijimuraeven more curious and observing until the only possible answer came to his mind.So, after another week spent dealing with the basketball monster, finally Nijimuradecided he was going to take a step further.
That afternoon, Akashi was angrily putting away someballs in the storage room. He was trying hard to swallow the hungry and bitterfeeling in his mouth, but it was harder than it thought. It was just that…itwas so unfair. He had already given up on confessing to Nijimura and werecontent with being his trusted and appreciated junior, but their after-practicematches were his untouchable treasure. It was their moment alone. It wassomething only them shared and made Akashi feel special.
He knew it sounded very cheesy, but it was importantto him. Yet, Aomine had started to interfere. He knew perfectly that basketballidiot was probably doing it just to annoy him by stealing his “practice’spartner” as a revenge and that he was too simpleminded to discover Akashi’sfeelings, but it hurt. He was jealous that he had lost his important momentwith Nijimura like that, but he hadn’t had the courage to voice his complaint;even because, he was offended his senpai hadn’t done nothing and went alongwith it. Did Akashi mean nothing to him? He could at least have said something.
Damn! He felt so mad.
Akashi slammed closed a locker with some tape andother things with a scary expression, but suddenly heard some footsteps behindhim. He hated himself for recognizing them immediately and refused to turn. Hehad still a dignity somewhere.
“Let’s play.” Nijimura hummed at the boy, a ball underhis arm.
“If I’m not mistaken, you have already someone to playwith.” He politely answered, faking to tidy something in the room.
“If you mean Aomine, he is trying to make amend to poutingKise and Kuroko, who he had ignored all this time to try to make you mad.” He bluntlyexplained to Akashi, who nearly stumbled at his words. But he tried to keep hiscomposure.
“Then he has lost his time. I bet it’s for hismagazine’s thing, what a child.” Quietly replied, nervous hands clutched arounda ball. “I’m perfectly fine.”
“Really? I thought it has worked though.” Nijimura commentedwith a shrug and this finally forced Akashi to turn and glare, a fake smallsmile on the lips.
“It didn’t.” he coldly denied, but his cheeks weregetting red. Feeling hotter and bother under his senpai’s clear eyes, he walkedpast him quickly to escape, before he could say something he was surely goingto regret. Before Nijimura could understand everything.
“Seijuurou.” Nijimura called, grabbing his wrist andpulling him in a hug from behind, back in the room where no one could see them.Akashi froze and his mind went completely blank.
Okay, that wasn’t right. That was a first, a good butunexpected first. What did it mean? He didn’t want to hope for impossiblethings…
“You have to say it aloud when you are jealous.” The olderone mocked him with an exasperated sigh.
“I’m not jealous.” Akashi muttered, breath caught inhis lungs.
“You are.”
“I don’t havethe right to be jealous.” Akashi rephrased both bitter and sad, loweringhis red eyes. He didn’t even know what’s going on, but it felt useless to lieat that point.
Nijimura bit his lip, pondering if he could say it now.He was scared and unsure about the future but…damn, he wasn’t born a coward andhe knew perfectly what he wanted.
“What if I said you have?” whispered calmly and fondly.
Akashi blinked while the meaning of those words sankin, happiness and fear swirling in his stomach.
“Then I would ask you to stop playing with Aomine-kunand prove what you’ve said to me.” Replied in a slightly trembling voice, but raisinghis chin and showing a playful pout.
At his prideful and mighty answer, Nijimura grinnedrolling his eyes and finally loosened his grip so that the boy could turn to facehim. Without adding anything else, he bended and kissed Akashi quickly on thelips.
“You are really spoiled.” Muttered trying to soundexasperated, but Akashi’s flushed face was too cute to stop smiling.
I finished Kuroko no Basuke (the manga) and was instantly struck by the need to write a long, pointless tribute to how it is one of the most romantic manga to ever exist, but then realized that in order to do so, I needed to do this other long, pointless thing, where I try to reconcile the earlier volumes of the manga with the Teikou arc.
Bottom line: Kuroko no Basuke becomes a much more interesting series if you center the Teikou arc into the narrative of the manga from the very beginning.
Ground rules:
1. I am not claiming this reading to be Fujimaki’s or the correct one.
2. I suspect the anime had the luxury of knowing the Teikou arc from the beginning, so all analysis is built on the development of the manga. Additional non-manga canon (Replace novels and Replace Plus) has not been taken into consideration.
3. I do not know enough Japanese to read the manga in its original language and have tried not to be dependent on the exact wording of the English scanlations to develop any points, but please note and forgive my dependency nevertheless.
4. Spoilers, obviously.
(Most of this post was developed in a long email to moutheyes, so ty for indulging your kouhai’s long-windedness.)
In rereading the early volumes of KuroBasu, I’ve begun to suspect that Fujimaki didn’t think of the specifics of the GOM backstory or the Meikou vs Teikou / Ogiwara and Kuroko story until he got to the end, or at least the middle, of the series. This is predicated on the very first conversation between Kise and Kuroko (chapter 11), after Seirin first beats Kaijou in the practice match. Here, Kise calls out Kuroko and asks him why he disappeared after what we know now is the Meikou vs Teikou match:
This is confusing, because post-Teikou, the answer should have been obvious to Kise. After all, this scene happened in his presence:
Kuroko in the post Meikou match conversation made the reasons for his disappearance very obvious: he didn’t like what Teikou did to Meikou and especially to Ogiwara, he was clearly incredibly depressed and, when he told GOM about his feelings, was told that he was naive and in the wrong. Kise should know that Kuroko disappeared because he knew why Kuroko quit the team. Even if you assume that Kise was asking, “I get that you quit the basketball team, but why didn’t you still come to school?”, it shouldn’t have been “the more important thing” for Kise to ask, because it should have been something he could have guessed at. In fact, at the time of the GOM backstory, Kise’s questions weren’t about why, but about whether Kuroko was OK:
Another telling “OOC” moment (in quotes because really how can canon be out of character) is Aomine during the Shuutoku vs Seirin match. Do you really think the same man who said this about Kuroko’s basketball:
… would also say this about Kuroko vs Midorima?
Not to mention, everything about the post-Shuutoku vs. Seirin conversation between Midorima and Aomine feels a little bit off:
One, making a call to cheerfully ask if Midorima is all right after losing to Seirin sounds absurdly out of character for a guy who can’t be bothered to come to his own matches, much less watch Kuroko play other schools. Second, tell me it doesn’t sound like Fujimaki had planned for an Aomine who values Kuroko’s style of play more, and I’ll lend you a mirror to show you a liar. This is the kind of shit you’d write if you planned for Kagami to be Aomine’s Teikou teammate, not if you wrote an Aomine who ripped Kuroko’s heart out and ate it, twice, and also told Kuroko, basically, “I wish I was as talentless as you, because then I’d enjoy basketball more.”
Fujimaki does seem to have some inkling of what he wants to do with Kuroko’s backstory by Chapter 41, where he sketches out much of the Aomine/Kuroko falling out:
Note the emphasis on “something”: here, Kuroko is saying that it wasn’t just Aomine, it wasn’t just GOM developing their powers – something else (Ogiwara and Meikou) made him quit.
I’m not convinced that by chapter 41, Fujimaki had everything figured out, because the Himuro vs Aomine arc should have at least made Kuroko open up just a little about Ogiwara if Fujimaki was planning ahead. But most of the Himuro arc makes you convinced that Kuroko was remembering Aomine, and not Ogiwara (who would be the more fitting parallel, especially since Himuro’s weakness is literally that he is not talented enough). Note here, in 77, where Kagami has a flashback to Kuroko’s flashback-convo with Aomine when Kuroko scolds him about Himuro:
But whatever, let’s assume that it makes sense for Fujimaki to keep misdirecting us with Kuroko’s story as late in the game as chapter 169 (when Kuroko orders Kagami to make up with Himuro, which, again, would have been the perfect moment to mention Ogiwara). Let’s get to the point of this post. I do think if you retcon the Teikou arc into the opening volumes of KnB, it makes a lot of the earlier story interesting vis a vis the narrative and everyone’s motivations.
Let’s start with Kise. Kise was pretty ambivalent about Akashi’s theory that all of GOM hated each other:
I’m not saying that Kise is blameless, because he’s the first, actually, to think of betting on points, which is one of the stronger steps down the slope that leads to the GOM’s collapse. But he and Midorima have always had doubts about the path of Teikou’s GOM:
And Kise, like Kuroko, had a really strong tie to the Teikou friendship: Aomine inspired him to play, and Kuroko was the one who taught him. So it makes sense that Kise is the first one to try to reverse what Akashi did during the Teikou arc: he invites Kuroko to transfer to his school, even though that would mean two (technically) members of the GOM in one school and would be antithetical to Akashi’s GOM goal
And no wonder Midorima made Takao rush them over to Kaijou to see the practice match, even though he professes not to like Kuroko nor really care for Kuroko’s style of play. He too had his ambivalence about what went down at the end of the Teikou arc (and, I suspect, what upsets him is how little he did to prevent it, even though he had an idea of what was going on with Akashi). So the minute he gets wind of Kuroko resurfacing, he rushes over to see what became of Kuroko who, after all, was the one who was broken the most by Akashi.
Remember: to us, the Teikou arc feels very far away from the opening events of the story, because it takes us about 200 chapters to get there. But for the characters, it was literally a few months ago. They are fresh out of the hurt. For Aomine, the problem has been building, since he was the first one to “blossom,” and thus he doesn’t change much when he enters Touou. For Murasakibara, who never really cared about basketball, it doesn’t matter whether he’s at Teikou or Yousen.
But for Kise and Midorima, who are the two GOM members who expressed the most ambivalence about the whole development and are the two members who found basketball families after Teikou, graduating middle school and leaving Akashi’s grasp must have felt like waking up from a really bad trip. With their heads cleared, and a little distance, I do think they felt like they wronged Kuroko, and most of all, that they had wronged themselves.
Take Kise, again, in the post practice match conversation in chapter 11:
When you first read this, you think what Kise is saying is some variation of “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” If what Kuroko loved the most about Kagami (and I use “love” very pointedly) was Kagami’s love of basketball, Kise is saying that when Kagami gets more powerful, he will stop loving basketball and care, instead, about getting more power, and Kuroko won’t be able to catch up. And yeah. That is what Kise saying. But he’s also saying, “He will do to you what we did to you. He will hurt you, and it’ll be inevitable, because I saw it happen. And then where will you be? Will you quit Seirin as well?” This isn’t just curiosity on Kise’s part, although he is curious about Kuroko’s plans. He’s also concerned, and trying to warn Kuroko off of future pain, like a good friend should.
Chapter 36 is another fun one to revisit, because Midorima’s actions during it makes a lot more sense with the Teikou arc behind him:
Kise seems different to Midorima because, of course, Kise is learning to love playing again with his Kaijou team, under Kasamatsu’s careful and violent guidance. But then Kise counters: “So has everyone, right? We’ve all reverted back,” meaning, “once we broke free of Akashi’s grasp, didn’t we all find basketball families to take us in and rehabilitate us?”
This would be the right time for Midorima to say something about what happened with Teikou, and you can see it on his face. This is the first time since Akashi that he’s been able to talk to Kise and Kuroko about what happened! He probably would have brought up the two Akashis here! He could have commented on their motivations when they were in Teikou!
But instead this is when Kagami sticks his big mouth into the conversation:
When I first read this conversation, I was like, “dude, why is Midorima overreacting?” But in the context of Teikou? It makes perfect sense. I think it’s Kise who says, “What you want is freedom, but I do play basketball for fun,” which is important because, like Midorima’s “before we were triple champions,” “you want freedom” is a code word for what happened to them in Teikou (Midorima’s refrain during Teikou has always been that he just wants to do his own thing). Kise and Midorima are testing the waters, to see if they’re ready to talk to each other about Teikou and what became of GOM. But instead, Takao throws an okonomiyaki on Midorima, and the tension is broken.
(EDIT: stuff like this is exactly why I have the disclaimer for language and scanlations. I had assumed the “But, so has everyone, right?” came from Kise, because Kuroko didn’t seem like he was talking at all during this conversation, and I assumed “What you want is freedom” came from Kise because 1) no arrow pointing to Midorima’s head, so it’s not his line and 2) Midorima is always the one who wants freedom, not Kise, so it wouldn’t make sense coming from MIdorima. But in reviewing drama cd translations and the anime, it seems like there was a translation error: Kuroko should be the one who says “so has everyone,” and Midorima is the one says “You do what you want -- I’m not playing basketball for fun.” I still think the above analysis makes sense, only it’s Kise, Midorima, and Kuroko talking about Teikou.)
Finally, Kuroko. It doesn’t need to be said that Kuroko makes more sense in light of Teikou, but here goes. One of the first things Kuroko does is seek out Kagami to see his strength. Why? You’d think that in light of what happened with GOM, he’d avoid strong players. And at first, I guess, Kuroko does think that Kagami is less strong than GOM, and his intention to stick by Kagami is, to put it bluntly, basically a revenge fuck for what Aomine did to him. But after the match against Kaijou, where Kagami not only acknowledges Kuroko’s collaborative play but also actively seeks him out during Kuroko’s conversation with Kise, you start seeing a genuine emotion pass between Kuroko and Kagami.
I think the real start of Kagami and Kuroko’s relationship can be found in chapter 57. It reads perfectly in the narrative of the manga without Teikou looming over it, but it, like the scenes mentioned above, is extra poignant with the ghost of Teikou:
Here’s why this conversation is important. Teikou was not a mess just because the GOM developed incredible talent and couldn’t be stopped. It was also because people used each other. Ruthlessly. The school used GOM to build its reputation. GOM used its opponents as entertainment. Akashi used them all like players on a shogi board. And Akashi remains a user. Just look at what happened with Mayuzumi.
Kuroko leaves Teikou with that user mindset. He wanted to use Kagami and Seirin to prove a point. But that’s not actually him proving Akashi wrong. That doesn’t actually prove his basketball. That just makes him another Akashi. This is the moment Kuroko really leaves Teikou behind and becomes Seirin’s Kuroko. He recognizes Kagami’s humanness, and the humanness of his other Seirin teammates. And in doing so, he, too, finally becomes human, and not just a shadow. Kagami’s belief made Kuroko a real boy. It’s ridiculous, and simplistic, and way too pat. But it’s unbelievably romantic, and the kind of thing we read manga for.
(edit: and here is said love letter to KuroBasu and its view on romance)
Because I'm a bit late to finish the Teikou Arc-anime, i didn't expect that it would disappoint me a little. There are parts that they had to cut like: Kagami and Kuroko meeting for the first time--as complete strangers though. Then Kuroko showing his utmost gratitude to Akashi (Well, i'm so disheartened about this because i ship them badly. 😭💔) and Ogiwara faces Akashi. And i think there's a lot more. And now i have reached the final arc, and am half looking forward half don't wanna end it now state. 😂 Indeed, i really love this anime, The Basketball which Kuroko Plays.
Can we all just take a moment to notice and appreciate that our beautifull Shin-chan never got completely rotten by the other guys’ shitty attitude? Sure he didn’t confront them, and he too had grown overwhelmingly strong, but he clearly knew things had gone sour and just kept playing because he had to; he didn’t fall into the cruel tactics of toying around with their opponents or dissing them like the others did and never approved of the guys skipping practice. I feel like maybe if he and Kuroko had talked things out, they could’ve figured out some way to help everyone
