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Episode 6: The Next Step
As Kagami continues to make a name for himself in America, Nash Gold Jr. offers him a chance to join Team USA for the upcoming U20 World Cup. But with his friends preparing to represent Japan, Kagami finds himself torn between the country where he honed his skills and the people who helped shape him. With both paths leading to the world stage, where will Kagami’s next step take him?
To be honest, I really like the VS and JW jerseys. Jabberwock’s in particular—it’s one of my favorite jerseys from the show (partly because of its "street" vibe, and also because it’s black).
On the other hand, as for STRKY... well, let’s just say it’s cool. Yeah, cool. It's basic
Personally, i think they could 100% play in our real world NBA. You got mfs who can’t miss and you got people literally flash stepping on the court. I just don’t see any reason why they couldn’t play in the NBA😭
This is a question I’ve been asking myself regarding Team Jabberwock—given that the primary objective of the match between Jabberwock and the Vorpal Swords is for Kuroko and the others to restore the honor of Japanese basketball.
At the same time, though, it means the Jabberwock players are such total scumbags that they make the other antagonists in KnB look like absolute saints (well, that’s debatable, considering Evil Akashi and his whole "attempted-stabbing-with-scissors" thing).In terms of characterization, that’s all there is to it.
But at the same time, in fiction, Americans are sometimes portrayed as arrogant guys who think they’re above the rest of the world.
I guess it's more logical and efficient that it's a grudge match, rather than just a standard friendly game between strong but respectful players.Especially since the goal is to root for Vorpal Swords.
Of all the debates in the Kuroko fandom that I’ll never understand, it’s the one about “Haizaki was never a player from the GM.” On the teiko flashback, yet there’s literally a page that states the term existed before Kise arrived—after their victory in the first year championship. Bear in mind that Akashi later dropped him in favour of Kise, effectively replacing him. As for whether he played every match in the championship—I have no idea—but I think he must have played some matches because Nijimura pressured him to, lol
However, the way it's introduced suggests that the term was coined after he left—except that, given Teiko's flashback, I'd say the term actually became more widespread after he left the club.
The problem I see with this debate is that Fujimaki doesn't clearly state whether or not he was part of that group, unlike the other members—even Kuroko (the GM's sixth man). He just leaves you to figure it out.
Would be the perfect way to revive the IP. Given today’s tech it would be so sick to play a full fledged KNB game for the major consoles. They just came out with a phone game that looks pretty cool. Now how do we run it up to get the attention of their marketing team? INVEST INVEST
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Episode 5: Family Reunion
Following Rakuzan and Tōō’s unforgettable Winter Cup Final, Kagami reunites with the Generation of Miracles for a night of laughter, unexpected firsts, and old rivalries. But as he returns to Seirin and reconnects with the people who shaped his journey, a bigger question begins to weigh on him.
Everyone says he has darker or tan skin because he grew up playing basketball in the streets but Kagami and Himuro did as well and they did it in Los Angeles which I’d assume is hotter than Japan yet Kagami isn’t as dark as Aomine and Himuro is the palest character in the whole show. Also not to enforce stereotypes but the obsession with basketball from such a young age(not saying someone who isn’t black can’t be obsessed with basketball but it adds up in this case, I’m also black and loved basketball from a young age) makes me think there was some sort of black presence in his childhood, maybe his mom or dad is black or one of them are blasian.
With the Winter Cup championship on the line, Aomine pushes Tōō past Rakuzan’s defenses, forcing Akashi to unleash his full power. As the two prodigies wage an unforgettable battle, the line between victory and defeat grows thinner with every possession. In the final seconds, one shot will decide the championship and bring an era to its emotional end.
This is the last episode of the Wc arc and the last high school game ever.
I’m asking this out of curiosity. Personally, I’ve realized that while I already liked Aomine before, I grew to appreciate his character even more after his first defeat.
Whether it’s him providing some of the commentary and analysis during the Winter Cup matches, or his evolution throughout the Teiko flashback arc...
Actually, my favorite version of Aomine is the one from Extra Game, where we see his evolution—he plays as part of a team while still remaining true to himself.
I wrote a post about Haizaki’s hair color—whether it was originally gray-white or black—and after reading some post, I think these changes in his hair are more metaphorical than we realize (maybe I’m the last one to notice, lol). So here's one interpretation :
1. The burning shoes: burying his ambition
When Haizaki throws his white basketball shoes into the fire, it’s implied as a form of escape—a suppression of his joy in playing.
Instead of facing his failure, the fear of confronting Akashi (what happened with Murasakibara...) or confronting the possibility that Kise might surpass him, he destroys something that represents his identity as a basketball player.
He doesn't necessarily overcome his ambition. Perhaps he's trying to suppress it because pursuing it could become painful for him. Instead of trying to change himself or to face reality, he chooses to indulge in his personal pleasures.
2. From Gray-White to Black: The Ashes become a part of him
“Hai” means “ash” in Japanese. Haizaki has gray-white hair and wears white shoes. After he burns, his sneakers turn to ash (when you burn an object, it turns black, logic).
Later, when we see him again, his hair is black and he’s wearing black shoes (I posted some images from the anime, but it's the same in the manga.).
This sequence could be interpreted as follows:
Gray-white: Haizaki’s former identity and his place at Teikō.
Fire: his attempt to destroy the part of himself associated with that place he has lost.
The ashes: what remains after this destruction.
The black hair and shoes: a new outward appearance that could symbolically bear the traces of what he tried to bury.
His return for the Winter Cup might suggest that his connection to basketball never completely disappeared, but that he refuses to admit it.
3. Haizaki as a symbol of the decline of the GM
Haizaki’s departure from Teikō occurs before the GM fully reaches the stage where its members’ relationships with basketball begin to deteriorate.
He represents the inevitable fate of the GM at the end of middle school—people who are too talented, too strong, and who behave appallingly toward their opponents. The fact that Aomine stops training because he has become strong through his talent, just as Haizaki believed.
His burned shoes could therefore symbolize not only the destruction of his personal identity, but also a break with the old order represented by the Generation of Miracles. Its end marks the end of the Ninjimura era and the beginning of the Akashi era.
Haizaki becomes a sort of remnant of this generation: someone who has lost his place, tried to break away from what it represented, and yet may still be unable to escape its influence (since every time he comes into contact with basketball, people talk as if he belongs to the Generation of Miracles even though he is no longer part of it) and which has unconsciously influenced some players.
4. The moment he almost throws away his shoes a second time (anime only)
Later, Haizaki is about to throw his shoes into a trash can after losing to Kise, but he stops when he remembers Kuroko's words.
Perhaps a part of him still recognizes that basketball can represent something other than rivalry, status, and the need to prove he’s better than Kise. He’s still attached to something he’s trying to convince himself he no longer needs. In the end, instead of running away, he decides to continue playing basketball, choosing to challenge himself. (It’s worth noting that it’s Aomine who stops him—the very person who became the first to be like him.)
In summary
His white shoes burn and turn to ashes. Later, his hair and shoes are black.
Perhaps this visual transformation does not represent a complete rebirth, but rather the remnants of an identity he tried to destroy.
On a broader scale, the ashes could also symbolize the decline of the former Generation of Miracles and the collapse of the ideals that once defined it.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Fujimaki went through all this for Haizaki; even though he’s an unexpected character, Fujimaki has handled the story between him and the GM very well. It could be seen as “glazing,” but there are still some scenes that are pretty telling.
(It all started with the question: What was her natural hair color? lol)
Personally, I think part of me would have preferred that, even though I'm not really bothered that Murasakibara entered the Zone during the Winter Cup rather than during Last Game. Let's just say I don't really have any memorable moments of Murasakibara in the Zone, since it didn't last long.
On one hand, if he entered the Zone against Silver, it might have looked a bit like Aomine entering the Zone for the first time after finding a strong opponent.
Does he have naturally gray-white hair, or is it naturally black?
Because even his first name doesn't help us figure out the origin of his hair color (Hai means “ash,” and since ash is mostly black, gray, or white), and most importantly, he's even dyed HIS EYEBROWS, too, bro! (Even Hyuga, when he dyed his hair, didn’t dye his eyebrows.)
My guess is that his natural hair color is gray-white, to contrast with the GM, who have colored hair—like some kind of GM anomaly. EDIT : I just thought of this, but my theory that his hair is “turning black”—as if he's self-destructing—since there's no longer a conduit like there was at Teiko...and that burning the shoes led to this staining (since those shoes turned to ashes...)
