菊地洋子 — Supervising Animation Director
Episodes 5
I'm Just Going at Full Strength
After defeating Yōsen High, Seirin is interviewed for Basketball Monthly. After the interview Kagami heads outside to visit with his old friend, Tatsuya Himuro, and Alex, but instead of being able to resolve their differences he runs into one Shōgo Haizaki of Fukuda Sōgō Academy. He is trying to flirt with Alex, making Kagami mad, but before Kagami can act Kise arrives on the scene and reveals that Haizaki was a starter on the Generation of Miracles team before he arrived. Kagami heads back in to ask Kuroko about this news only to find out the final quarterfinal will feature a showdown between Kise and Haizaki, with the winner moving on to face Seirin in the semifinals.
Read MoreThis Is Mine
Kise and Haizaki face each other head-to-head for the right to advance to face Seirin. At first it seems that Kise and Haizaki have the same copy ability as Haizaki is able to start duplicating Kise's teammates moves. However once Kaizaki has duplicated a move, the original user seems to be unable to use it. Kuroko reveals that Haizaki uses psychological warfare against his opponents. While he copies the moves of the individual, he also alters the timing of the move. When the original user tries to do the move again, they try to do so with the new timing and ultimately fail. Kise and his teammates fall further behind as the second half begins. Can Kise find a move that Haizaki can't use and somehow manage to turn things around, or is his team headed for certain defeat?
Read MoreDon't You Get In My Way
Haizaki's skill is not copying a move he's seen once, but to "pillage" it. Kaijo starts to be cornered as each player's signature plays are sealed away. Even Kise, who has a variety of moves thanks to his Copy skill, starts to run out of stock moves as the game progresses. Furthermore, the fierce game pace puts Kise's leg close to its limit... The groove is completely with Fukuda Sogo at an advantage, causing frustration as the Kaijo team couldn't move as they wanted. Kise finally kneels down, but at that moment, a cheer from Kuroko reaches him from the audience. Kise stands up once again as if to answer that voice and uses his new skill Perfect Copy to start the comeback run!
Read MoreI Know None of That
As the second half of the match between Shutoku and Rakuzan starts, Akashi uses his eye, it is revealed that Akashi was the one who found Kuroko's talent by using his eye on him, which meant that the eye can see potential of people, but it is said that in matches the eye is completely different, it predicts the future movement of the other players, thus nullifying both offence and defense of the other team.
Read MoreMany Times Over
With 40 seconds left in the game, Rakuzan is in the lead, 105-98. Kagami scores with 27 seconds left. With 17 seconds left, Izuki is the only one not fired up, deliberately trying to keep calm and use his head to catch Rakuzan off-guard. He predicts that Rakuzan will take a shot and steals the ball, making a perfect pass to Hyuga. Hyuga forces a foul as he scores a three and is allowed a free throw. Hyuga's shot rebounds and Kiyoshi uses his last strength to take it. With three seconds left the ball is passed to Kuroko, who goes to shoot. Akashi defends but Kuroko states "I am the shadow", and Kagami does one of his impossible jumps to dunk and Seirin win, 105-106, winning the Winter Cup. Akashi experiences his first ever loss, but is thankful to Kuroko and congratulates him with tears in his eyes. Some days later, Seirin see Kiyoshi off at the airport, as he is going overseas to get a surgery for his knee. Meanwhile 3rd years from Seirin's opponent teams are studying for college, while their teams appoint new captains and prepare for the next season of Basketball. Seirin return to school to practice but Kuroko is late. Kagami is sent to find him, and Kuroko explains that he was getting a photo from Momoi. As Kuroko and Kagami head back to practice, Kuroko's locker opens to reveal the photo- a team photo of the Generation of Miracles reunited.
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