Slam Dunk and Kuroko no Basket, two anime that excels in their category, in basketball genre. These two were being compared when Kuroko no Basket was still airing but this issue came to a closure when Kuroko no Basket’s first season ended. However, I’m gonna bring up this ancient issue since I want to evaluate the similarities and differences between these two series that I didn’t manage to do last time and I also want to help those people who is hesitating on trying either of these two. In this evaluation, I’m going to be neutral so I’ll not say any bias thing. I’m just going to evaluate the similarities & differences of both series. Additionally, this contains both facts & conjectures from what I’ve observed.
Slam Dunk possesses a preceding atmosphere. Nonetheless, I clearly recall enjoying it before I discovered Kuroko no Basket until now. You’ll not get tired easily with it, it’s one of the significant characteristics that Slam Dunk possesses. The protagonist of this series, Sakuragi Hanamichi, is a hilarious person with boisterous personality. He’s seeking for a girlfriend that he really want to acquire from the very start. He suddenly joined the Shohoku Basketball Team to become much more closer towards Haruko Akagi. Sakuragi later had an argument with the captain of the basketball club, not knowing that the latter is the big brother of Haruko. The truth was soon unraveled to him after their argument, making Sakuragi a tame man. He joined the basketball team later on.
LOL, I didn’t notice that I already summarized the first episode, Anyway, I did it on purpose to show their difference when it comes to plot. As you can see, their plot are contrary with each other. Slam Dunk depicts a normal basketball player that is attempting to reach the no. 1 spot. Additionally, the characters posses mundane moves that you can encounter if you tried or watching real-life basketball matches.
On the other hand, Kuroko no Basket has a contemporary atmosphere. Its animation is advance like the other series nowadays. Its plot is outstanding as well. Even though, it’s about basketball, it doesn’t mean that you’ll not be able to like it, same with Slam Dunk, it has a characteristic of attaching viewers to it that are not fond of Basketball. But, a numerous fans of Slam Dunk are absolute Basketball fans. The protagonist of Kuroko no Basket has a hefty difference from Slam Dunk’s protagonist, as well as with the other Basketball series’ protagonists. He is a deadpan person and a straight forward person. Basically, he is a blunt being. Kuroko is depicted as the “Phantom Sixth of Generation of Miracles” when he was in Middle School. He always tends to have a “teamwork” revolving around his current teammates, because according to him, victory is useless if a team didn’t achieved it by having a teamwork. When he met Kagami, he decided to make him his new “light”. If Kuroko hail a person as his light, it means that this certain person has a big effect on Kuroko’s ability, if this person’s ability is outstanding, Kuroko’s performance is going to be outstanding as well. Because, it depends on the “light” if Kuroko’s performance will turn out good. He also want to achieve the no. 1 spot in Japan for his current team, Seirin. But before to achieve this, he must defeat all of his former teammates in Teikou due to the fact that they also attempt in getting the spot.
The characters in this series has an extraordinary moves that cannot be encountered easily, it’s kinda similar to “Prince of Tennis” in terms of skills. This aspect of Kuroko no Basket is one of the reasons why sometimes some viewers can’t manage to like it. These people keep spouting this sentence: “the moves in that anime is not realistic”. Well, it’s an anime so it’s not meant to be realistic, and what I’ve stated is my absolute logic. They should keep in their minds that not all sports anime are meant to center a normal sports club.
These two series are really contrary with many aspects. But it’s inevitable for the viewers of both series to avoid comparing it to each other since they both excel in their category in different era.
Both are recommendable by me so go ahead if you haven’t tried either of these two.
This evaluation can also be seen in the following sites:
Deviantart.com
Myanimelist.net
Anime! 