Kuroko has an unusual ability—people don’t notice him. At all. At first, I thought this was a goofy concept to base a sports manga around. How in the heck could you not notice someone on a basketball court? There are only five guys on each team. But, that’s the magic of this manga—Tadatoshi Fujimaki makes it believable. And not only that, he takes the concept and runs with it, turning it into so much more than just a gimmick.

You’d think a character that is the ultimate wallflower would be boring. In most cases it probably would, but not here. Kuroko is one of the funniest characters in the manga. His subtle reactions to being overlooked again and again are hilarious. If he got upset or overreacted, it wouldn’t be nearly as funny. But Fujimaki Sensei plays it just right so the gag doesn’t get worn out. And he’s not just a one-joke character, he’s full of quirks and surprising moments of courage. In other words, he’s a multidimensional character.

Another reason his character works so well is he has a great foil. His teammate Taiga Kagami is everything he’s not—loud, obnoxious, angry and has tremendous presence. You’d think they wouldn’t get along, but they're strangely drawn to each other. And after a few run-ins and a lot of hamburgers at the local diner, they begin to slowly realize the worth of each other. Both on the court and off. Watching their unlikely friendship grow is rather endearing. And even their names have a special meaning. Kuroko implies darkness or shadow, and Kagami implies fire or brightness. Kuroko is the shadow that can make Kagami's light burn brighter. 

As far as the basketball action goes, the games are riveting. Kuroko is the ultimate passer. He doesn’t shoot, he doesn’t want glory, in keeping with his personality, he just wants to not be noticed and help when he can. But his knack for being overlooked, and in this manga it borders on being a super power, is very useful because, while no one’s looking, he steals the ball or passes it out of nowhere to a teammate who’s ready to score. Again, it may sound a bit far-fetched, but again Fujimaki Sensei makes it work. The games are also the times when you see that there’s fire burning in Kuroko—he is a real competitor and driven to win.

A surprisingly fun aspect of the manga is the mangaka himself. He’s a real-life wallflower! His author comments are hilarious and very revealing in terms of why he decided to make such a unique sports manga character. He says he hates standing out, flashy clothes make him uneasy and he doesn’t like to shout. It makes total sense that he would create a manga where a wallflower is the hero. And that’s an amazing feat if you think about it.

As far as extras go, this manga has hilarious gag comics between chapters. They’re called "Kuroko’s Basketball Bloopers" and they are “scenes” from the manga, but as if the characters messed up or did it wrong. When I read manga, I think of it as actually happening. I don’t think of it as the characters acting out a story. So when you read these bloopers of the characters doing the scenes wrong, it is a hoot. And kinda meta.

Kuroko’s Basketball surprised me again and again. It’s not your usual sports manga. The whole concept of a wallflower being the hero is novel in of itself, and Fujimaki Sensei does so much more than I expected with it. Looking forward to seeing more characters not notice Kuroko as the series progresses.

These double volumes are sweet, too. They're nicely designed and pretty cheap. Four hundred pages for $16.99 is not a bad deal at all!

Kuroko’s Basketball by Tadatoshi Fujimaki is available here.

by Urian Brown