Kuroko's Basketball

Kuroko's Basketball
Company type	Manga franchise
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	December 2008
Founder	Tadatoshi Fujimaki
Successor	Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game (sequel manga)
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Area served	Japan, North America
Key people	Tadatoshi Fujimaki (creator)
Products	Manga, anime, light novels, video games, stage plays
Owner	Shueisha (manga publisher)
Website	kurobas.com

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Kuroko's Basketball, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 10 August 2025

Kuroko's Basketball is a Japanese sports manga series created by writer and artist Tadatoshi Fujimaki. It was published in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2008 until September 2014, compiled into a total of 30 volumes. The narrative centers on a high school basketball squad striving to compete in the national championships.

An anime adaptation produced by Production I.G aired across three seasons between April 2012 and June 2015. Following this, a sequel manga titled Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game was serialized in Jump Next! from December 2014 through March 2016. This sequel was later adapted into an anime film released in March 2017. The franchise further expanded with stage play renditions beginning in April 2016.

In North America, the series was licensed by Viz Media, and by November 2020, Kuroko's Basketball had surpassed 31 million copies in circulation, placing it among the highest-selling manga titles.

Plot

The basketball team from Teiko Middle School achieved national dominance by winning the middle school Nationals for three straight years. Its standout players, collectively known as the "Generation of Miracles," dispersed to various elite high school teams across Japan. Among them was a lesser-known "phantom sixth man," now a freshman at Seirin High School—a rising team with strong potential but relatively little recognition. This sixth player, Tetsuya Kuroko, partners with Taiga Kagami, a naturally gifted athlete who grew up in the United States, as they aim to elevate Seirin into Japan’s premier high school basketball team by confronting Kuroko’s former teammates: Ryota Kise, Shintaro Midorima, Daiki Aomine, Atsushi Murasakibara, and Seijuro Akashi.

Seirin’s initial challenge came in the form of a practice game against Ryota Kise’s squad. Although Kise could mimic Kagami’s techniques while adding greater power and speed, Kuroko’s distinctive skills were instrumental in securing Seirin’s victory. During the Interhigh preliminaries, Seirin overcame Shutoku High, led by Midorima; however, the match proved difficult due to Midorima’s formidable abilities and Takao’s effective counterplays. Their winning streak ended with a decisive defeat against Touhou Academy, featuring Daiki Aomine. Further losses to Senshinkan and Meisei resulted in their elimination from Interhigh. The team was bolstered by the return of Kiyoshi Teppei, Seirin’s founder, and underwent rigorous training ahead of the Winter Cup, including another confrontation with Shutoku.

In the Winter Cup preliminaries, Seirin drew against Shutoku before defeating Kirisaki Daichi, which was captained by Makoto Hanamiya of the Uncrowned Kings—known for his unsportsmanlike tactics—thus securing their entry into the tournament.

Manga

The series Kuroko's Basketball, both written and illustrated by Tadatoshi Fujimaki, ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2008 through September 2014. Its 275 chapters were collected into 30 tankōbon volumes published by Shueisha between April 2009 and December 2014. A crossover chapter featuring Kawada's Hinomaru Sumo, scripted by Ichirō Takahashi, was released in November 2015; Kawada had previously collaborated with Fujimaki on this series.

Fujimaki introduced a sequel manga titled Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game in Jump Next! starting December 2014, concluding in early 2016. The North American licensee Viz Media began issuing the series in combined two-volume editions starting in 2016.

Anime

The manga was adapted into an anime by Production I.G, which debuted on April 7, 2012. The initial season comprised 25 episodes and concluded on September 22, 2012. During its original broadcast, Crunchyroll provided a simulcast of the series. The second season aired from October 6, 2013, to March 29, 2014, also consisting of 25 episodes. Its DVD and Blu-ray editions featured a special episode inspired by chapter 124 of the manga along with an audio drama CD. The third season began on January 10, 2015, and wrapped up on June 30, 2015, delivering another set of 25 episodes.

In 2016, three compilation movies summarizing the anime’s Winter Cup storyline were released in Japan: Winter Cup Compilation ~Shadow and Light~ (September 3), ~Beyond the Tears~ (October 8), and ~Crossing the Door~ (December 3).

During the KuroBas Cup 2015 event, an announcement was made regarding an animated film adaptation. Named Kuroko's Basketball The Movie: Last Game, this movie adapts the Extra Game manga and premiered in Japanese cinemas on March 18, 2017. The original production team and voice cast reprised their roles for this project.

On October 19, 2020, SAG-AFTRA granted approval for an English-language dub under the "Netflix Dubbing Agreement." The English dub of the first season launched on Netflix on January 15, 2021; followed by the second season’s dub on May 15 and the third season’s on September 18. The English version of the Last Game film became available on Netflix on November 15, 2021.

Light novels

Five light novel series titled Kuroko's Basketball: Replace, authored by Sawako Hirabayashi with illustrations by Fujimaki, center around the Generation of Miracles characters. The initial novel was published on March 4, 2011. A manga adaptation illustrated by Ichirō Takahashi began serialization in Shōnen Jump+ starting January 2015.

Audio CDs

The soundtrack for the Kuroko's Basketball anime includes compositions by Ryosuke Nakanishi and R・O・N for the first season, with Alpha Eastman contributing to episodes 21 through 25. Yoshihiro Ike composed music for the second season.

Video games

There have been three video games released based on Kuroko's Basketball:

Kuroko's Basketball: Kiseki no Game for PlayStation Portable, launched August 9, 2012
Kuroko's Basketball: Shōri e no Kiseki for Nintendo 3DS, released February 20, 2014; it sold approximately 45,681 units within its first four days
Kuroko's Basketball: Mirai e no Kizuna for Nintendo 3DS, released March 26, 2015

Moreover, Kuroko appears as a support character in the crossover fighting game J-Stars Victory VS. A mobile game called Kuroko no Basuke Street Rivals, developed by Fivecross, is slated for release in 2023.

Stage plays

Starting in 2016, a series of 2.5D musical stage adaptations were produced featuring Kensho Ono returning as Kuroko from the anime. Notable cast members included Yuuya Asato portraying Taiga and Shota Onume as Aomine. These productions were directed by Norihito Nakayashiki, renowned for his work on Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyu!!, expanding the franchise’s reach into live theater.

Year	Dates & Locations	Title
2016	April 8 – April 22 (Tokyo)	Kuroko no Basuke The Encounter
2017	June 22 – July 9 (Tokyo) July 13 – July 17 (Osaka)	Kuroko no Basuke OVER-DRIVE
2018	April 6 – April 22 (Tokyo) May 1 – May 6 (Osaka) May 11 – May 13 (Tokyo)	Kuroko no Basuke IGNITE-ZONE
2019	April 30 – May 1 (Osaka) May 4 – May 5 (Aichi) May 7 – May 13 (Tokyo) May 18 – May19 (Fukuoka)	Kuroko no Basuke ULTIMATE-BLAZE

Reception

By September 2012, the Kuroko's Basketball manga had achieved sales of nine million copies within Japan. The first volume alone had surpassed one million copies in print by May 2013. Total circulation climbed beyond 23 million copies during 2013, increased to 27 million by April 2014, and exceeded 31 million as of November 2020. The series' individual volumes regularly appeared on Oricon's weekly top-selling manga charts, and it ranked as the third highest-selling manga in 2013 with sales reaching 8.76 million copies that year. In 2014, volume 24 saw an initial print run of one million copies, while volume 30 had a first print run of 700,000 copies in 2015.

The Kuroko's Basketball light novel collection also enjoyed commercial success in Japan throughout 2014; the inaugural novel Replace secured ninth place among top-selling light novel series and was sixth in volume sales with over 215,000 units sold. Additionally, the anime DVDs consistently featured on Oricon's weekly rankings for Japanese anime DVD sales.

Frequently compared to Weekly Shōnen Jump’s earlier basketball-themed manga Slam Dunk, the series has been noted for its differing approach. Azusa Takahashi of Real Sound highlighted that while Slam Dunk prioritized realistic storytelling, Kuroko's Basketball emphasizes entertainment through fantastical elements such as characters’ distinctive "special moves." The anime adaptation was honored with the 2013 Tokyo Anime Award in the Television Category.

Controversies

Following the anime’s broadcast in 2012, Kuroko's Basketball gained notable traction within the dōjinshi community, particularly inspiring numerous yaoi dōjinshi, despite the absence of yaoi themes in the original work. Various sites connected to the series and its creator Tadatoshi Fujimaki—including a broadcasting station airing the anime, a convenience store chain retailing related merchandise, and Fujimaki’s alma mater Sophia University—were targeted with threatening letters containing suspicious powder or liquid substances. The underlying motive and whether these incidents were perpetrated by a single individual remained uncertain. As a consequence, several dōjinshi conventions, including Comiket, prohibited sales of Kuroko's Basketball-themed doujinshi, causing substantial economic setbacks for creators. On December 15, 2013, Hirofumi Watanabe was apprehended and subsequently sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment.

To support affected dōjinshi artists, the Comic Market Preparatory Committee established Kuroket, a dedicated event for Kuroko's Basketball doujinshi. This gathering took place during Comiket Special 6 – Otaku Summit 2015 and attracted around 2,400 participating dōjinshi circles.

External links