Settings In Kuroko no Basket
The settings in Kuroko no Basket heavily rely on real places and traditions in the country of Japan. Tadatoshi Fujimaki has also created in depth characters which make the characters seem real and relatable. They support the story and add the mood and narrative, making the story of Kuroko no Basket seem realistic, despite the supernatural basketball abilities the story depicts.
Some of the schools and stadiums take place in real life. For example, Seirin High, where the protagonist attends, is an actual school in Tokyo. However, the school’s name in Japanese is different and the main sport in the school is baseball. Another example includes the stadium where many of the basketball matches occur. The stadium is actually a real stadium in Japan called the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Some of the schools and stadiums take place in real life. For example, Seirin High, where the protagonist attends, is an actual school in Tokyo. However, the school’s name in Japanese is different and the main sport in the school is baseball. Another example includes the stadium where many of the basketball matches occur. The stadium is actually a real stadium in Japan called the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
However, many of the places in Kuroko no Basket are not based on specific places. For example, in the manga and anime, Riko and Hyūga take Seirin’s team to two training camps, one on the beach, and one in the mountains. Neither were named during their appearances. Despite being nameless, many of the scenery seen in the anime are beautiful and detailed, a little different from the normal, bold, anime style. The sunset on the beach seen in the picture below is one example of the many realistic background scenes in Kuroko no Basket.
School in Kuroko no Basket begins according to the Japanese school year. In Japan, the school year is based on three terms. The first term begins in April and ends mid-July. Then, the second term begins in September until late-December. The final term begins early-January and ends mid-March. The Japanese begin school in the spring as they associate it with a metaphorical meaning: spring is a new beginning. They link the blooming cherry blossom trees with a new beginning. This is important to the story because Kuroko no Basket’s narrative begins at the start of the school year. This is shown in the first episode and chapter where there are falling cherry blossoms.
The importance of the school year relates to the basketball tournament season which is one of the main plot advancers in the series. There is one basketball tournament for each term, one during the summer, autumn, and winter.
The first one during the summer is the Interhigh Tournament. It is the first tournament the protagonist’s team participates in. The Interhigh is preceded by the preliminaries which are regional tournaments. The regional tournament is separated into four blocks. The winner of each of the four blocks will advance to the final league of the preliminaries. From the final league, the top three teams from each region move on to the Interhigh. In the Interhigh, there are only a total of eight teams. The teams face off from another from a different region. Eventually, only one team is left standing. An understanding of the tournament’s style is essential as the first half of the manga and first season of the anime follows Seirin’s basketball team through the Interhigh tournament.
In the autumn, the basketball tournament is the National Sports Meet, or also known as the Nationals. This tournament gathers the winners from each prefecture to compete in an all-star tournament. There is not much information about this tournament, as Tetsuya Kuroko’s, the protagonist, team did not qualify for this tournament. However, Hyūga has stated that the winners of the Interhigh, National Sports Meet, or Winter Cup can call themselves the best high school basketball team in Japan.
The importance of the school year relates to the basketball tournament season which is one of the main plot advancers in the series. There is one basketball tournament for each term, one during the summer, autumn, and winter.
The first one during the summer is the Interhigh Tournament. It is the first tournament the protagonist’s team participates in. The Interhigh is preceded by the preliminaries which are regional tournaments. The regional tournament is separated into four blocks. The winner of each of the four blocks will advance to the final league of the preliminaries. From the final league, the top three teams from each region move on to the Interhigh. In the Interhigh, there are only a total of eight teams. The teams face off from another from a different region. Eventually, only one team is left standing. An understanding of the tournament’s style is essential as the first half of the manga and first season of the anime follows Seirin’s basketball team through the Interhigh tournament.
In the autumn, the basketball tournament is the National Sports Meet, or also known as the Nationals. This tournament gathers the winners from each prefecture to compete in an all-star tournament. There is not much information about this tournament, as Tetsuya Kuroko’s, the protagonist, team did not qualify for this tournament. However, Hyūga has stated that the winners of the Interhigh, National Sports Meet, or Winter Cup can call themselves the best high school basketball team in Japan.
The Winter Cup takes place in the winter, hence its name, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. It is stated the manga and anime that the Winter Cup has been growing in popularity and is on par, or even greater, than the title of the Interhigh Tournament. Before the Winter Cup actually begins, there are preliminaries for each region. A “best out of four” style is played during this time, and the two winners advance to the final league. In the final league, the four teams compete and the top two teams advance to the actual Winter Cup. Since the top eight teams from the Interhigh Tournament automatically advance to the Winter Cup, there are many teams competing for the Winter Cup title. In the year the story occurs, there are three basic rounds before the start of the quarter-finals because of the tournament’s memorial year.
Together with Interhigh Tournament, National Sports Meet, and the Winter Cup, there are three major high school basketball tournaments in Japan.
Together with Interhigh Tournament, National Sports Meet, and the Winter Cup, there are three major high school basketball tournaments in Japan.
As seen in the “characters” section of this website, Tadatoshi Fujimaki has created characters in Kuroko no Basket that are easily relatable and have a personality of their own. He has added many details to characters, such as what the prefer and dislike, that the characters seem realistic and alive. The characters, even the minor ones, are distinct and can reenact a real high school student/class. They create and interact with the setting to set the mood for the reader. Feel down? The characters are probably psychic and will whip up a few jokes within each chapter or episode. This is how the characters help set/create the setting of Kuroko no Basket.
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All of these elements and details (real places, scenery, traditions, rules, and characters) in Kuroko no Basket create its environment and the essential settings in this popular series.
*Important! In no way does the author of this website own or have any right to the series Kuroko no Basket as it is written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki and produced by Production I.G. The author of this website created this purely for educational purposes and in no way profits from this website. Anyhow, the author sincerely hopes you enjoy the perspectives and information this website provides. Thank you.