Manga / Kuroko's Basketball

Teikou Middle School Basketball Club. A super strong school with more than 100 club members, boasting several successive championship wins. But even within that glorious history, there is still a team that can without fail be called the "strongest"—a generation of five players with talents that you would see once every ten years called the "Generation of Miracles." But there was a strange rumor that there was still one person the five geniuses acknowledged as superior...

Kuroko's Basketball (Kuroko no Basuke) is a sports manga by Fujimaki Tadatoshi, which ran from 2008 to 2014 in Weekly Shonen Jump. It chronicles the high school adventures of Kuroko Tetsuya who, despite having been a regular player on the famed Generation of Miracles team, cannot dribble, fails at shooting, has low stamina, and often goes completely unnoticed while on the basketball court. Needless to say, when Kagami Taiga, the other protagonist of the story who has come back bored from American basketball standards, plays Kuroko, he easily wins. With that effortless victory, he advises the other to stop playing basketball forever, noting that talent and skill are more important than passion at times.

Kuroko, in response, demonstrates to Kagami—and the rest of the Seirin High basketball team—that his unique talent from the Generation of Miracles is his ability to quickly relay passes based on his lack of presence on the court. He makes it onto the Seirin regulars as a result and gains an ounce of Kagami's respect in the process. Kuroko's goal in his high school years is to defeat all the members of the Generation of Miracles, using his limited presence (as a Shadow) to help Kagami (as a Light) achieve greatness.

Of course, the Generation of Miracles (who have all gone their separate ways after middle school) do not take Kuroko and Kagami's challenge seriously—in fact, they do not take Seirin seriously, as its basketball club is only a year old and its team used to be comprised entirely of freshmen. Along the way in the manga, Kuroko and Kagami meet - and subsequently defeat (or are defeated by)—other members of the Generation of Miracles who, on a whole, have grown apathetic towards the sport as they believe themselves to be too good for defeat. Kuroko’s Basketball is a good example of the shonen genre, especially for sports, in that there are extended training montages, ridiculous skills on-and-off-court (even by manga and anime standards), and a decent mix of humor, friendship, action, and drama. The romance, on that note, is minimal at best, and generally played for laughs.

After the end of the series, Tadatoshi wrote a sequel manga— Kuroko’s Basketball: Extra Game, which follows the characters after Kuroko's second Inter-high.

An anime adaptation by Production I.G aired in the Spring 2012 season. A second season was released on October 2013, with a third premiering in January 2015. The series also received a series of compilation films, and a wrap-up movie, Kuroko’s Basketball: Last Game, which adapts Extra Game and the match against Jabberwock in May 2017. Despite the anime's popularity, it wasn't until 2020 that the SAG-AFTRA database revealed that an English dub would be produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment (under their pseudonym Unforeseen Productions Inc). A couple of months later, it was announced that the first season would be released on Netflix on January 15, 2021.

The franchise also had a series of stage play adaptations, beginning in 2016. The fourth and final play, Ultimate Blaze, was performed in 2019.

After the series finished up, Tadatoshi went on to write another Shonen Jump sports manga, Robot × Laserbeam, but centering around golf rather than a more aggressive sport.

Now has a character page. Please move any character tropes there.

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Kuroko's Basketball provides examples of:

A-F

• The Ace:
  • Each member of the Generation of Miracles is The Ace for his team, while Kagami is for Seirin.
  • Aomine is especially notable, as during middle school he the ace for the whole Generation of Miracles.
  • Hanamiya Makoto is The Ace for Kirisaki Dai-Ichi; he's of special note as the only one of the Uncrowned Kings who still functions as The Ace after the advent of the Generation of Miracles (with Kiyoshi surrendering that position to Kagami for Seirin, and the other three surrendering to Akashi as part of Rakuzan).
• A-Cup Angst: Poor Aida in a one-piece, especially when Momoi introduces herself in a stylish bikini...
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Downplayed, but at the start of the manga (which was in 2008), the author hadn't reached Art Evolution yet and most characters do not look very appealing, especially in volume 1. In contrast, the anime, which was produced in 2012, took the character designs from after the Art Evolution, making all characters look more attractive from the get-go. However, this is averted after mid-season 2 onwards, as the attractiveness of the characters in the manga and the anime is now the same.
• Adaptation Distillation: The stage plays omit most the minor matches in favor of the matches against the GOM's schools and others like Kirasaki Daichi. They often substitute the matches for exposition on what happened in the game before heading on to the major games.
• Adaptation Expansion: The Extra Game was a fairly standard short story about about Kuroko and Kagami teaming up with the Generation of Miracles to take on an American Streetball team called the Team Jabberwock. The movie called The Last Game decided to add backdrop on a bit of Kagami's backstory when he first moved to Japan, and ends with his moving back to America.
• Adapted Out: Many characters aren't present within the stage plays due to theatre constraints, such as a majority of the Seirin first-years besides Kagami and Kuroko.
• All for Nothing: The first Seirin versus Touou match.
• All Men Are Perverts: Well, except Izuki, Kiyoshi, and probably Kuroko. Case in point? The hot spring incident.
• Always Someone Better:
  • The Generation of Miracles were this for the entire middle school basketball circuit, but unfortunately for them, the Generation of Miracles being the most talented players of Japan made them Lonely at the Top. After barely defeating Team Jabberwock with the help of Kuroko and Kagami, it's implied that the NBA must be way stronger than they are right now. Aomine in particular wants to go America and join the NBA. Team Jabberwock's two aces, Nash Gold Jr. and Jason Silver are both individually better players than either of the five or Kagami.
  • Kagami is this for Himuro.
  • Haizaki was this for Kise from when the latter joined the first string, up until Kise's Perfect Copy, after which the roles get reversed.
• Ambiguously Brown:
  • Aomine - this is lampshaded by Kise during one of his flashbacks.
  • Kagami has a bit of this too.
    Kagami: "Am I the only tanned indoor sportsman?"
• Apologises a Lot: Sakurai. Until he gets annoyed and starts throwing three-pointers while pouting.
• Arc Words: "Do you even like basketball?" Kuroko repeatedly asks this question to the Generation of Miracles, only to be met with either apathy (Midorima, Akashi and to a lesser extent, Kise) or hostility (Aomine and Murasakibara). Through Seirin's victories over them, he's able to get his answer by reigniting their love of the game.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Kise to Kagami in Quarter 162.
    Kise "I thought you were somebody I knew, but... who are you? I don't know any idiots who rely on anything when they play basketball!"
  • Ogiwara gives one to Akashi, of all people, in Quarter 226.
    Ogiwara: "Do you... enjoy playing basketball?"
  • Mayuzumi gives one to Akashi right at the critical moment of the Rakuzan vs. Seirin final, which provides him the last push he needs for his original self to resurface.
    Mayuzumi: "You're completely different from the man I met on the roof that day. As a matter of fact... just who are you?"
• Art Evolution: Substantially.
  • Comparing the first and latest appearances of any character introduced early into the series will show drastic leaps in style and ability, as with Kise or Midorima. Even Akashi, who appears last of the Generation of Miracles, Fujimaki becomes visibly more comfortable drawing.
  • The anime goes through this as well. While it was pretty well-produced from the beginning, the anime subtly becomes smoother and cleaner within its animation and character designs. By the time Last Game was released, the character designs were by far the best the series had to offer and the animation quality was leaps and bounds ahead of where the series first started.
• Artistic License – Physics: Hilariously lampshaded in Quarter 156 when Aomine apparently starts talking physics in order to explain why Murasakibara is so hard to block.
  Subtitle: "He's not strictly correct."
• Artistic License – Sports: The manga generally follows the rules of basketball, but the moves that the boys attempt are this in spades. Not to mention all of those special abilities that they have that borderline on downright supernatural.
• Art Shift: The manga and anime can go from Super-Deformed and simplified, cartoonish drawings to absolutely stunning artwork in a matter of pages/seconds, sometimes within the same scene.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Kuroko's Misdirection Overflow. Sure it gives Seirin a big advantage on court, but it can only be used at the very end of a game and can only be used once on any team. This is especially problematic when facing teams that Seirin are sure to go up against again sooner or later.
  • Kise's Perfect Copy is a usable technique, despite the short time limit, but when he combines it with the Zone, it becomes this, big time. It makes him the strongest player in the game, capable of destroying even Jason Silver one-on-one, but he can barely sustain it for two minutes before he gets completely exhausted and is no longer able to play.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: At the end of the Touou vs Kaijou match, Kasamatsu helps an utterly defeated Kise to his feet and escorts him to the player lineup, which is a marked contrast from his normal behavior when dealing with him.
• Backstory: A lot of it for pretty much every main character, from Kuroko to Kagami to Kise to Midorima to Aomine to Kiyoshi to Hyuuga to Aida to Momoi to... you get the point.
• Badass Normal: Only a handful, as pretty much everybody has some unique ability or skill that sets them apart from the rest. However, Otsubo and Kasamatsu are the two perfectly straight examples. Otsubo has nothing special except being pretty big, and yet he goes toe-to-toe with Kiyoshi and Nebuya and equals them completely (he outright outperforms Nebuya, though it's implied that he wasn't giving it his all). Kasamatsu, on the other hand, is of average height and weight, and has no unique skills, but he's so blindingly fast that predicting him is almost meaningless, as Imayoshi (with Momoi's predictions) and Izuki found out the hard way.
• Bag of Kidnapping: How Touou get Aomine to watch the Winter Cup qualifiers in Quarter 100.
• Beat Panel: Seirin's reaction to anything Kiyoshi does in Quarter 55, to the point of it being a running gag.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Hyuuga and Aida most notably (he's the only guy she hits for staring, blushing, and drooling at Momoi's ample cleavage)
• Benched Hero: Kuroko and Kagami during the Seihou game. Kagami is also benched at the critical moment in the Seirin vs Touou match, due to his injury acting up.
• Berserker Tears: Himuro gets these in Quarter 165, while yelling at Murasakibara.
• Big Damn Heroes: Kiyoshi becomes this during Seirin's match against Yousen, since he comes in and tips the scales in Seirin's favor during the crucial part of the match.
• Bittersweet Ending: Hurray! Team Vorpal Swords won the match against Team Jabberwock! Now that's all said and done, Kagami reveals that he'll be leaving Seirin and moving back home to America to hopefully become a NBA player in the future. It's not all sad news though, as the GOM promise to keep on playing basketball for as long as possible.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • The burger joint where Kagami and Kuroko often hang out.
  • The clock in Episode 10 of the anime, "Citizon" instead of Citizen.
• Blank White Eyes: A comedic staple of the series, often used to express extreme emotion such as shock or anger. Expect it to come with chibified forms of the characters that are sometimes heavily inked when showing fear, shock, or rage.
• Boring, but Practical: Furihata's entire playstyle. While he doesn't have the raw skill and special shots of most of the other players, his presence on the court slows down Seirin's pace, which prevents them from making silly mistakes while caught in the pressures of the match.
• Break the Badass:
  • Hanamiya and Kirisaki Dai-Ichi have a particular love of doing this; they routinely target the aces of opposing teams and try to cripple them. It almost borders on a fetish for Hanamiya in particular. While they prefer doing it physically, they also try to destroy their opponents' spirits, making them fit this trope.
  • Murasakibara does this to Kiyoshi, driving him to exhaustion and then breaking his spirit by mockingly throwing his words back in his face. He manages to shake it off with the support and determination of his teammates, but it's a near thing; Kiyoshi barely makes it back in time for the last minute of the game.
• Break the Cutie: The Teikou arc is essentially this for the entire Generation of Miracles, but particularly Kuroko and Aomine.
• Breather Episode: Quarter 94, which follows the Seirin team as they attempt clean up their club room, happens directly after the climax of the second Seirin and Shuutoku match and the revelation about Kiyoshi's injury. It's even mentioned to be one in universe, as the team is supposed to use the day for relaxing before resuming training.
• The Bus Came Back: For the Seihou team in Quarter 75.
• Butt-Monkey: Kise's teammates really like treating him as one of these.
• Calling Your Attacks: Or rather, calling your moves/skills. In the beginning of the series, it's mostly the observers naming the moves, though toward the second half of the series, the players will sometimes yell out the names themselves.
• Can't Catch Up: Though he looks to be on par with the Generation of Miracles, the truth is that Himuro will never be able to catch up to players like Kagami and reach the level of a prodigy. It's something of a complex for him.
• Career-Ending Injury:
  • Kiyoshi's knee. It's so bad that the Winter Cup is the last tournament he'll ever be able to play in.
  • Alex's eyesight deteriorated bad enough to cut her WNBA career short.
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: So much that it hurts!
• Cast of Snowflakes: Everyone noticeably gets drawn with a good amount of detail to distinguish from one another. This is more apparent in the anime, especially in Last Game.
• Catchphrase:
  • Hanamiya, after tricking someone: "There's no way I'd say that, dumbass."
  • Aomine's "The only one who can beat me is me."
  • Kiyoshi often runs into games with a "Let's have some fun~!" Quite a bit of his teammates have used this one as well.
  • Midorima's "Man proposes, God disposes."
  • Akashi has two: "I am absolute," and "Lower your head.". The original Akashi also has one: "Even average people can pull this off."
  • Hyuuga has "You worry too much, idiot!" Kiyoshi steals it once while Hyuuga is in full-on Heroic BSoD mode.
• Character Title: This manga is about Kuroko's basketball style.
• The Chessmaster:
  • Riko Aida and Momoi act as these for their teams, predicting opponents' moves and thinking of countermeasures. When their teams play against each other, they try to outwit each other.
  • Hanamiya Makoto is this, to a degree only slightly less than Akashi. The Spider's Web lets him entirely shut down enemy pass networks, but relies entirely on his ability to read the opposing team's pass course throughout the game.
  • Akashi's best skill lets him throw perfect passes at his teammates, improving their performances instead of scoring by himself. Not to mention that he's a ludicrously good strategist; often times he deliberately lets his opponent break past one layer of Rakuzan's defense, thus screwing themselves over in the process.
• Chick Magnet:
  • Kise always has hordes of fangirls coming to watch his matches.
  • Izuki too, at least in Seirin. Though they always run away when he starts telling jokes.
• Childhood Friends: Aomine and Momoi, Kagami and Himuro. The Teikou era Whole Episode Flashback shows us that Kuroko and Ogiwara were this. Coincidentally, two of the three pairs listed have had major falling outs over basketball.
• Close-Call Haircut: Kuroko gets this with a basketball during Seirin vs. Kaijou when Kise copies his Ignite Pass Kai.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander:
  • Kiyoshi manages to be both this and a Guile Hero.
  • Murasakibara usually thinks more about the snacks he's eating than what's happening around him.
• Colour-Coded Characters: And to what a degree! All the members of the Generation of Miracles have a color as part of their names and - with the exception of Kuroko and his blue hair (Kuro = black) - their names all match the color of their hair (and eyes). Aomine (Ao = blue) has blue hair, Midorima (Midori = green) has green hair, Momoi (Momo = peach/pink) has pink hair, Murasakibara (Murasaki = purple) has purple hair, Akashi (Aka = red) has red hair, and Kise (Ki = yellow) has yellow hair. Also Haizaki (Hai = grey), before Akashi kicked him out of the team and Kise replaced him, though Haizaki's hair was actually blonde in his middle school years. The newly revealed Nijimura, captain of Teikou before Akashi, even follows it (Niji = rainbow) despite his hair being the least colorful of the lot (black). Though he does, apparently, have rainbow-colored wristbands.
• Color Failure:
  • The Seirin regulars suffer from this after they see the picture of Shinkyou's ace.
  • Happens after the rest of the team see Kagami's grades.
  • The default reaction after tasting Riko's cooking.
  • When the Seirin team get caught by Riko trying to peep into the girls' side of the hot spring.
• Combat Commentator: Though the series has no set commentator, this duty often falls to the coaches, managers and players watching in the stands.
• Combination Attack:
  • Mostly performed by Kagami and Kuroko in the beginning, with several notable alley-oops and impressive displays of coordination.
  • Midorima and Takao's Sky Direct Three Pointer takes the cake. It requires ludicrously good timing from both parties, immense trust between both passer and shooter, and is only usable by Takao and Midorima because they're the only ones accurate enough to make both the pass and the shot. It's also damn near completely unstoppable, with a grand total of one weakness that only Akashi can exploit, and even for him, it's very hard to do. As of Extra Game, Akashi and Midorima can do it too, with Akashi filling in for Takao.
• The Comically Serious: Both in-series and in the joke intervals, nearly all of the characters, even the Generations of Miracles (besides Akashi probably) themselves, have a ton of moments like these. Kuroko, Midorima and Aomine are frequent offenders of this.
• Comic-Book Time: The anime manages to stretch the first Yousen game over five and a half episodes, which is more than twice the actual match duration.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Both Kuroko and Kagami have this in the beginning.
  • For Kagami, it's his tendency to always go for dunks, as they can be easily blocked if his opponent is skilled enough.
  • Kuroko is blatantly a specialist in passing, stealing, and assists. Additionally, his misdirection loses effectiveness if the player he's shadowing isn't on court, since there isn't anyone capable of scoring against skilled teams. This becomes less of a problem as Seirin's other players improve, and Kuroko himself develops new tricks.
• Crippling the Competition: Kirisaki Daiichi make this a habit. They were the ones who gave Kiyoshi his Game-Breaking Injury after all.
• Crowd Surfing: Kagami tosses Fukuda on top of the lunch crowd and tries to demonstrate his American surfing skills. It doesn't work.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • During middle school, every time the Generation of Miracles played, this ensued. After the GOM spilt up, any team that takes on a Miracles without one of their own suffers from this with no exceptions.
  • The first Touou versus Seirin match, as Aomine nets Touou the win by practically double the points despite showing up at the halftime mark.
  • An offscreen example (we only get to see the final score), but Kirisaki Daiichi beats the absolute crap out of Meisei in the Winter Cup prelims, winning 180-45, thus quadrupling their score.
  • Yousen in their first two matchups of the Winter Cup, winning 81-0 and 72-0, respectively.
  • Team Jabberwock utterly destroys Team STRKY 86-6, in the first chapter of "Kuroko’s Basketball: Extra Game," this is taken up a notch when you realize that Team STRKY is composed of the graduated captains/third years from the schools the GOM attend.
• Curtains Match the Window: All seven members of the Generation of Miracles team, including the manager Satsuki Momoi◊. They practically form a rainbow when they stand together. As an unofficial member, Kagami has this too.
• Cuteness Proximity: Riko for Team Pet Tetsuya #2.
• Date Peepers: Kise and Aomine spy on Momoi and Kuroko's date in the extra of Quarter 108.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Furihata, one of the freshmen benchwarmers, finally gets some serious match time during the Seirin vs. Kaijou game.
  • During the last match, everybody gets its screentime. Especially notable with Furihata again, who figures out before anybody else that Kuroko is losing his lack of presence and then manages to subvert his role as The Load by being used to mark Akashi.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Kagami to each member of the Generation of Miracles.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Kise says as much to Midorima, to justify eating with Kuroko and Kagami. Midorima of course doesn't agree. Nevertheless, tensions between the GOM notably drop after each Miracle's respective defeat by Kuroko, ultimately allowing them all to be friends again.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength:
  • At the start of the manga, Kagami doesn't know how to regulate the strength of his jumps, and thus unknowingly puts a lot of pressure on the body when he does so. He spends most of the first training arc trying get some control over this.
  • Murasakibara also seemed to have this in middle school, as his pats on the head and similar gestures would often hurt Kuroko a bit if he wasn't careful. He also didn't seem to notice just how much his strength and speed had improved, when he first bloomed. This gets turned into a plot point in Extra Game Chapter 7. Turns out that Murasakibara knew his strength was so great, he could potentially hurt his teammates or opponents just by playing seriously, and so he consciously limited himself. However, faced with Jason Silver, who is even bigger and stronger than he is, Murasakibara takes off all the limits, which allows him to come close to him in strength. This gives him the advantage, as while Silver is still stronger than him, Murasakibara is more skillful because he trains exceptionally hard, whereas Silver refuses to even work out, let alone practice seriously.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune:
  • 6 of the 7 opening theme songs, as well as Glorious Days (the ending theme for Last Game) are done by GRANRODEO, a rock band that Kissho Taniyama (Tatsuya Himuro) fronts.
  • Kensho Ono (Tetsuya Kuroko) does the 4th ending Fantastic Tune, the 6th opening ZERO, and the insert theme Against the Wind for Last Game.
  • Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Kazunari Takao) does 3 of the ending themes ^note  the 2nd, 3rd, and 7th one and the contemplation film's openings and endings with his band OLDCODEX.
  • Shigehiro Ogiwara's VA, Yu Hayashi, does Ambivalance with his band SCREENMODE.
• Dope Slap:
  • Kise is often on the receiving end of dope kicks from Kasamatsu.
  • Kuroko's inflicted a few hits on Kagami, ostensibly to reign in his temper.
  • Hyuuga has a tendency to do this as well, though he favors a karate chop to the top of the head instead.
  • Riko does this to the entire team in Quarter 143 at Hyuuga's request. The funny part about is that the boys keep on acting like nothing's wrong, even when the other team questions why the hell they have red marks on their faces.
• Double Take: Common reaction in people who get surprised by Kuroko.
• Down to the Last Play: Happens often in climatic matches.
• Dramatic Wind: Often. Kuroko and Murasakibara get it almost every other play... which makes very little sense, as they're usually indoors.
• The Dreaded: Anyone from the Generation of Miracles is automatically this, and to a lesser extent the teams they come to join in high school. Kagami eventually becomes this as well, since he managed to defeat them all.
• Dream Team:
  • The Generation of Miracles, during their middle school years. Becomes a Deconstructed Trope, as being on a team that powerful turned most of the members into jerkasses when playing basketball, prompting Kuroko to leave the team, and is also what caused the team to fall apart. This is averted in the present day, as though they're collectively still through of as this, they are no longer a 'team' since they all go to different schools.
  • In the sequel manga Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game, the Generation of Miracles, Kuroko, and Kagami all form a street-ball team called Team Vorpal Swords to take on Team Jabberwock, a visiting street-ball team from America that utterly defeated the Generation of Miracle's seniors and disrespected Japanese basketball.
• Duality Motif: Akashi has heterochromia. In the anime his eyes were mismatched even before his Split Personality took over his body.
• 11th-Hour Superpower:
  • Kagami managing to master ball-handling with his off hand during the last five seconds of the Seirin vs. Touou game during the Winter Cup. Riko even says it happened "in the eleventh hour".
  • Murasakibara activating the Zone during the final few seconds of the Seirin vs. Yousen game. Sadly, it wasn't enough to help him win against Kagami.
  • Averted during the Seirin vs. Rakuzan match, where Kagami activates the Zone mere seconds after the game begins.
  • Again during Seirin vs. Rakuzan, Kuroko develops a quasi-Emperor Eye, based on his ability to predict the actions of his current and former teammates.
• Embarrassing Old Photo: The photo of Hyuuga that Kuroko and Kagami dig up in Quarter 95. It's so bad that even Kuroko cracks a grin at it.
• Embarrassing Slide: After Riko scouts out Shinkyou, she comes back armed with pictures of their star player. However the first picture she accidentally shows Seirin is that of a cute kitten.
• Epic Fail:
  • Whenever Kuroko attempts a basketball move that doesn't involve Misdirection.
  • Kagami has a few in Quarter 83. First he jumps too high when going for a dunk and hits his head on the basket, and then, after scoring the winning shot with an epic dunk, he loses his grip on the basket and falls.
  • There was quite the epic one where Takao flips his okonomiyaki...on to Midorima's head. Needless to say, the latter wasn't very pleased.
  • The NG gag reels at the end of just about every chapter spoof this mercilessly. For example, in the NG for Quarter 90, Kuroko fails his Vanishing Drive during a dramatic one-on-one with Midorima.
    Kagami: "Hey... there's a limit to how much you can fail!!"
• Epileptic-Friendly Filter: The series repeatedly dims the lighting during some fast camera work basketball games.
• Experienced Protagonist: Despite being a first-year, Kuroko stands out as one of the most experienced members of Seirin, being a veteran of Teikou and having multiple national championships under his belt. Additionally, he's naturally the one with the most information on the Miracles, in juxtapositon with Kagami.
• Expository Hairstyle Change:
  • Hyuuga goes through two in quick succession during his first year at Seirin. The first was him gaining Delinquent Hair after losing his passion for basketball and the second was him going back to his original style after regaining it.
  • Riko cuts her hair short after Seirin reaches the finals of the Winter Cup.
• The Faceless: Akashi, who is always shown from the back or the neck down. When he's face-to-face with the main characters, he has a Face Framed in Shadow. The Reveal of his face at the end of Quarter 113 is pretty scary, complete with Hellish Pupils.
• Fanservice: Plenty, especially during the Hot Springs Episode.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Averted with a vengeance, as both Riko and Momoi are lethal chefs. Sort of played straight with Sakurai, who is the most feminine guy on the Touou team and is also a Supreme Chef.
• Fetch Quest: Quarter 12, in which the Seirin freshmen attempt to buy a Black Iberia Pig sandwich for the second years.
• Foregone Conclusion:
  • Runs rampant in Quarter 128, where everyone is absolutely convinced that Seirin will be defeated by Touou. However, Seirin has a few tricks up their sleeve...
  • Opposing teams generally didn't even bother to put up fight when they played against the Miracles post-bloom, as to according to them, every match would turn out the same way. This type of behavior from their opponents caused most of the Miracles (especially Murasakibara) to lose their passion for basketball, which resulted in them seeing each game as something of a chore.
• Foreshadowing: Nearly every match against a Miracle establishes, develops, and expands on Kuroko's ability to predict the actions of the GOM themselves and his own team.
• Funny Background Event: In Quarter 36, Kise's monologue is littered with fun shots of the rest of Seirin's attempts at okonomiyaki flipping.

G-L

• Game-Breaking Injury:
  • The leg injury that Kagami receives during the the first Shuutoku game, which causes him to be benched during the most important part of the Seirin vs. Touou match.
  • Kiyoshi's knee injury, which he got the year previous during the match against Kirisaki Daiichi starts acting up in the climax of the second Shuutoku match, which causes him to miss the free throw that would have won the game.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man:
  • Kuroko to Kagami in Quarter 32, when Kagami starts thinking he needs to stop being a team player to win.
  • Done once more to Kagami in Quarter 77 by Tetsuya #2 (The team dog).
  • Riko does this to the entire team in Quarter 143 at Hyuuga's request with quite the epic Dope Slap. Needless to say, it worked.
  • Himuro does this to Murasakibara in Quarter 165.
  • Quarter 179 has Miyaji do this to Midorima, after they're stuck by a 20-point gap in the fourth quarter against Rakuzan.
• Gonk: Kaijou's coach. Lampshaded during Kaijou's match against Touou that he attempts to dress sharply to match Touou's coach that looks like a host, but the Kaijou players all scream at him that it won't work. It doesn't, he got choked with the tight suit and tie instead. Then he reveals that He Was Quite A Looker when he was in Japan's National Team (he's the one in front of the others with V sign. In case you didn't recognize the others, from left to right is Rakuzan's coach, Shutoku's, Touou's, Riko's dad, and Yosen's )
• Graceful Loser: Subverted by Dad in Quarter 15. Though his first lines of dialogue to Kagami (complete with Love Bubbles!) seem to indicate this, he quickly starts cussing him out and has to be dragged away by his captain.
• Gratuitous English:
  • Quarter 76, where Kagami and Himuro have an entire conversation in English. It's justified though, as the two knew each other in the States and are probably more used to chatting to each other in English.
  • Done as well in the anime, sounding far more natural than most examples of this trope, thick Japanese accents aside.
  • Kagami tends to lapse into English if he's angry or shocked enough.
    Kagami: "THIS IS JAPANESE RUNCH TIME RUSH!"
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Murasakibara is a firm believer of this. It's averted for Kuroko, who gained this Misdirection skills through lots of hard training. This is the main reason why the two are foils for each other.
• Have We Met?:
  • Midorima asks this when Kagami introduces himself to him. The fact that he clearly does know (having attended every Seirin game to that point) is promptly lampshaded by Takao.
  • Something similar happens with Murasakibara and Kiyoshi; they played against each other in middle school, but the former initially doesn’t remember.
• The Heart: Kuroko tried to be this in the end of his time at the Teiko basketball team, but failed. Despite the GOM having officially split up, he came back with a vengeance and is finally getting through to his old teammates about the importance of team spirit, especially Kise.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Kuroko suffers from a short-lived one halfway through the second Seirin vs. Touou game.
  • Kiyoshi gets hit with this hard during the Seirin vs. Yousen match.
  • Kuroko and Ogiwara get hit with massive ones after Teikou's third national victory, which also doubles as serious Break the Cutie moments.
• Hero Insurance: Averted. Moments after Kagami destroys Kaijou's backboard, the rest of Seirin are seen worrying about how they're going to pay for it.
• Heroic Second Wind: It happens all the time. Seirin get an epic one during the second match with Touou, thanks to Kuroko's Misdirection Overflow. By the end of the series, it repeatedly happens multiple times in one match: case in point, Seirin v. Rakuzan. Direct Drive Zone is more like Seirin's Heroic Sixth Wind between Kuroko rejoining the game, Kagami re-activating the Zone despite having been forced out of it earlier, Izuki tricking Hayama by out-predicting him, Hyuuga's triumphant return and overcoming Mibuchi, and Kuroko and Kagami's epic team-up to stop Akashi.
• Hero Killer: Aomine and Akashi both fit this trope for different reasons... at least, as much as possible, given that this is a sports anime.
  • Aomine, because he's just so much more powerful than literally everyone else. He annihilates Seirin by double their score during his first match with them, then slaughters Kise and Kaijou, winning by twelve points despite being part of the same group as Kise, and Kise getting a huge boost in strength partway through the game. Even in defeat, it takes everything Seirin has, Kuroko using his trump card, and Kagami both activating the Zone and managing to master off-hand ball handling at the last second in order to win. In addition to that, in Aomine's case, he is the ONLY person to completely defeat Kagami and Kuroko while they're working together. Not even Akashi manages that.
  • Akashi, because his goal is to prove himself superior over everyone else, and he's more than capable of doing so. Between destroying Midorima and Shutoku despite Midorima and Takao's Combination Attack, and the insanity that was the Seirin v. Rakuzan final, Akashi is about as close as it gets to this trope in a sports anime.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners:
  • Kagami and Himuro pre-series.
  • Kasamatsu and Kise. (Especially with their bickering.)
  • Kagami and Kuroko are the crowning example of the series.
  • Kuroko and Aomine while in middle school, before Aomine's change in attitude.
  • Midorima and Takao.
  • Kiyoshi and Hyuuga, though Hyuuga will deny it to the end.
• Hot-Blooded: Seeing as it's a sports manga, lots of characters qualify as this, but especially Kagami.
• Hot Springs Episode: During the training session between Touou and Seirin, culminating with Momoi and Aida pressed chest-to-chest, among other things.
• Hour of Power: Kise's Perfect Copy, which allows him to copy moves from the Generation of Miracles, can only be sustained for five minutes. That is, until the Seirin vs Kaijou rematch where his sheer determination to win allows him to make it last for two extra minutes.
• How We Got Here: Quarter 140.
• I Am Not Left-Handed:
  • Kuroko unleashing Misdirection Overflow during the Winter Cup match against Touou.
  • Akashi reveals near the end of the Shutoku vs. Rakuzan game that he subtly lowered his speed just enough to get the drop on Takao, thus enabling him to defeat his and Midorima's otherwise-unstoppable Combination Attack.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episodes/chapters are called Quarters, the anime episode titles are taken from the episodes' dialogue.
• I Let You Win:
  • It is hinted that Kiyoshi let Kagami win during their faceoff in Quarter 55, due to the fact that he was wearing his indoor shoes at the time.
  • During their final one-on-one in America, Kagami deliberately allowed Himuro to win. Contrary to his expectations, this did more harm than good, as he failed to realize that Himuro has a huge Can't Catch Up complex concerning him.
• Interclass Friendship: Kagami and Akashi have this with their teammates - the former's family is implied to be well-off considering Kagami has a very spacious and expensive apartment to live by himself, while Akashi is explicitly shown to be the heir of the rich and prestigious Akashi family.
• Ironic Echo: "I believe you could jump". During the final minutes of the first Seirin vs. Shuutoku match, it's first said by Midorima, after he successfully predicts that Kagami could find the strength to pull off a third jump and moves to counter it. Then, seconds later, it's repeated by Kuroko, who has predicted both Kagami's and Midorima's actions, and thus ends Midorima's counter before it could even start.
• It's Personal:
  • The main reason why the second years bench Kagami and Kuroko during the match against Seihou: they want to get revenge for their defeat last year themselves.
  • The Kirisaki Daiichi match is another one for the second years, especially for Kiyoshi and Hyuuga, since they were the team that injured Kiyoshi's knee the previous year.
  • The reason for the formation of Team Vorpal Swords in "Kuroko’s Basketball: Extra Game," after watching Team STRKY get crushed by Team Jabberwock and seeing the Jabberwock disrespect Japanese basketball, Kuroko and Kagetora quickly assemble the series's Dream Team of the GOM, Kuroko, and Kagami.
  • Chapter 2 of "Kuroko’s Basketball: Extra Game" takes it up another level after Nash hurts Kuroko, right in front of the Generation of Miracles and Kagami.
• Japanese Delinquents:
  • Hyuuga, of all people, tried to become one of these during his first year at Seirin, even going as far as dyeing his hair blonde.
  • Later on we have Haizaki, a former regular of Teikou.
• Jerk Jock: Hanamiya Makoto and the rest of the Kirisaki Daiichi team, who actively participate in Crippling the Competition. Aomine has shades of this too. And Haizaki is all asshole all the time.
• The Juggernaut: Murasakibara, when he can be bothered to go on the offensive.
  • Extra Game's Jason Silver is definitely this. It takes Kagami and Aomine working together just to stop him once, and even then, he just takes it up a notch. It takes Kise and Aomine activating Perfect Copy and Zone, respectively, and then working together to stop him, at that point. Kise using Perfect Copy and Zone simultaneously is the only one who can stop him one-on-one, and even then, he can't sustain it.
• Last-Name Basis: Almost everywhere, as per Japanese tradition. The only ones that avert this are Riko and Alex.
• Lethal Chef: The series seems hell bent on averting the Feminine Women Can Cook stereotype, as both Riko and Momoi are this.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: This contrast is present in the dynamic between Kuroko and Kagami, as well as Kuroko and Aomine. Kuroko is a 'shadow' player who is nigh-invisible on the court; he focuses on supporting flashy 'light' players like Aomine and Kagami instead of making himself shown.
  Kuroko: I am a supporting actor, a shadow. But a shadow will become darker if the light is stronger and it will make the white of the light stand out. As the shadow of the main actor, I will make you, the light, the number one in Japan.
• Lightning Bruiser: Almost every ace in one way or another, but particularly Aomine, the fastest player in the circuit. Murasakibara is of special note for being just as fast if not faster than Kagami even though he outsizes him by 18 centimeters and 17 kilograms (7.1 inches and 37.5 pounds).
• Limit Break: The Zone, a state of extreme concentration which lets a player play with the full 100% of their potential. This is Truth in Television: the Zone has been proven scientifically as an extremely mentally focused state where one's physical and mental abilities are dramatically increased. Here
• Love Bubbles: Kuroko, of all people, gets them after he tries a delicious sandwich.

M-R

• Manly Tears:
  • Kise is moved to tears after he experiences his first ever defeat.
  • Kise (again) and Kasamatsu after losing to Touou in the Inter-High, despite giving it their all.
  • Murasakibara after losing to Seirin, Midorima after losing to Rakuzan, and Kise again after losing to Seirin again.
• Martial Arts and Crafts: The Seihou team base their playstyle around basic martial arts movements.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • Seirin suffer from this at the end of Quarter 155 after Murasakibara switches to offensive play.
  • Everyone in the court during the Seirin vs. Yousen Match when Murasakibara breaks the godforsaken goalpost with his dunk. Even his teammates are terrified.
    Fukui: Honestly, I've never been more glad he's on our side.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Kuroko's name has layers and layers of meaning going on, referencing shadows, stagehands, and the color black all in one.
  • Quite a few other examples; like Kuroko, the Generation of Miracles, they have the Theme Naming of colors, parts of their last names mean the color their hair is (i.e. "Ki" in Kise means "yellow" and he has blonde hair)
  • In the sequel manga, Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game, the three prominent street-ball teams are Team STRKY, Team Jabberwock, and Team Vorpal Swords; STRKY is an acronym for the high schools the members went to (Shutoku, Touou, Rakuzan, Kaijo, and Yosen, in order). The Jabberwock was a dragon-like creature that served as an antagonist in Alice: Through the Looking Glass, which was slain by a boy wielding a Vorpal Sword (Team Jabberwock is a street-ball team from America and serves as the antagonist and Team Vorpal Sword is a team composed of Kuroko, Kagami, and the Generation of Miracles).
• Memento MacGuffin:
  • Kagami's ring, which was given to him by Himuro.
  • Also, Kuroko's single wristband, which originally belonged to Ogiwara. This definitely doubles as as Tragic Keepsake, seeing as he only got it after Ogiwara quit basketball.
• The Movie: Kuroko’s Basketball: Last Game, which adapts Extra Game and the match against Team Jabberwock.
• Mr. Fanservice: Kagami. He gets tons of shirtless scenes, especially in the anime. There's even a scene where he only uses a small towel to cover his lower body.
• Ms. Fanservice:
  • Momoi generally, especially with her F-cup breasts (as analyzed by a very jealous Aida Riko) and bikini/bath/shower scenes.
  • Alex, the woman who taught Kagami basketball in America, enjoys walking around naked or in her underwear, greets everyone by kissing them on the mouth (including Riko), and has by far the biggest bust in the series.
• My Greatest Failure:
  • Kasamatsu has never forgiven himself for making the mispass that caused Kaijou to be eliminated from the Inter-High preliminaries the previous year.
  • Though it's never stated outright, it's heavily implied that failing to fulfill his promise with Ogiwara and indirectly being the reason why he quit basketball are this for Kuroko.
• Naked First Impression: Alex is first seen when Koganei catches her in Kagami's bed wearing nothing but panties. She is still mostly undressed when introducing herself to the Seirin team.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Secretive as he is, Kuroko is the most blatant offender, gradually unveiling his skills in every important match as the situation calls for them. To date we have Cyclone Pass, Ignite Pass, Vanishing Drive, Ignite Pass Kai, Misdirection Overflow and Phantom Shot. It's justified though, as the moves are picked to pieces by opposing teams almost as soon as they're shown, or in the match right after.
• The Nicknamer:
  • Riko's dad.
  • Kise and Murasakibara may count to a lesser extent, as Kise adds "cchi" to the end of the names of people he's acknowledged, whether they want him to or not, while Murasakibara adds a "-chin" to a shortened version of the name.
  • Momoi is this as well; she has a nickname for every member of the Generation of Miracles, and eventually, Kagami.
• No-Sell:
  • At first, Kuroko's Misdirection has no effect on Takao, due to his 'Hawk's Eye' ability.
  • This happens again during the second Seirin vs Touou match, due to Imayoshi marking him and Aomine's ability to read his playstyle.
  • Hyuuga's Barrier Jumper gets hit hard with this; it's awesome at first and then gets countered by pretty much everybody after they see it one time, for no discernible reason.
• Not So Stoic: Kuroko suffers from a major Heroic BSoD and then utterly shatters in the aftermath of Teikou's third national victory. The chapter after that, it's clear that he's close to tears after discovering that he has no chance to fulfill his promise to Ogiwara, due to him transferring out of the area, and quitting basketball.
• Not What It Looks Like: Quarter 140. Koganei finds a naked woman in Kagami's bed. And then said naked woman passionately kisses Kagami on the lips while proclaiming that she's missed him. The woman is Kagami's old coach. Why she's naked is another matter entirely.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: A few characters have been noted to be much sharper than their usual attitudes would suggest, like Kiyoshi and Kise.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Akashi's theme Kaibyaku no Teiou, which pairs really well with his incredible intensity.
• Once More, with Clarity: The scene where the Generation of Miracles pass by Seirin. When it first shows up in Seirin's Whole Episode Flashback, it's really only a nice little throw in. However, when it's seen again in Teikou's Whole Episode Flashback, it's the prelude to Kuroko being reintroduced to the joy and passion of basketball. Also, it's heavily implied that the memories of that run-in is what convinced him to attend Seirin in the first place.
• Only Sane Man:
  • A duty which, sadly, falls upon Midorima more often than not, especially with Kise's antics and Kuroko's indifference towards said antics.
  • It's getting hilarious when this duty in Seirin team falls upon Izuki of all people. Especially noted in hot spring chapter when Seirin boys tried to peek on woman's bath. That he pointed out that his and Kuroko's skill is not for peeking.
  • Kasamatsu is this for the Kaijou team.
• Own Goal:
  • Seijuurou Akashi purposefully scores an own goal when playing against Shutoku to make his team get serious, as he thought they had gotten too relaxed after initially getting a large lead on their opponents, resulting in Shutoku overtaking them. He then promises that if they lose the game, he will pay for the own goal by quitting the team and ripping out his eyes.
  • The Generation of Miracles' last game in middle school concluded with one of them making an own goal. They did this for a lark, so that the scoreboard showed a score of 111-11 (with the Generation of Miracles winning). This is considered the height of the Generation of Miracles' arrogance and it is part of the reason why Kuroko left them and nearly quit basketball altogether.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Riko's dad, big time. He pulls a gun on the Seirin team after he finds out that they attempted to peek on Riko in the hot spring.
  • Kiyoshi is one for the Seirin team when things get serious.
• Paper Fan of Doom: Riko uses one a lot in the anime.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Midorima's idea of a good disguise seem to be exchanging his usual specs for sunglasses. It fools nobody.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy:
  • Childhood friends Momoi and Aomine have, respectively, pink and dark blue hair.
  • Momoi and Kuroko fit this trope as well.
• Please Put Some Clothes On: When Alex introduces herself to the team wearing nothing but underwear, Kagami does this.
  Kagami: Just shut it and put some pants on!
• Porn Stash: The previous year, Riko found a sexy teacher stash during the clubroom cleanup and punished the members by making them do five times the normal training menu. This year, the team tries to clean everything out beforehand... but miss one.
• Power Copying: Kise. It eventually turns out that he just has extremely good visual comprehension skills.
• Power Glows: Often; the Zone gives this off, and occasionally people's fighting spirit or power will be shown like this. Murasakibara is the most common offender; he practically radiates purple whenever he gets mad.
• Power Perversion Potential: Lampshaded in Quarter 109, where Seirin theorize that Izuki's Eagle Eye and Kuroko's Misdirection will be good for peeping.
  Izuki: "IT'S NOT THAT KIND OF SKILL!!"
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Due to the nigh-impossibility of recreating every single basketball play in real life (especially with the main characters "abilities"), the stage play reinterprets these with choreographed sequences that often simplify the moves for the actors' benefit; accompanying the plays with explanations on what's happening within the scene.
• Previously on…: Previously on Kuroko’s Basketball, a deep kiss was unleashed.
• Progressively Prettier: Downplayed. The stage play cast didn't look all that bad during the first stage play, but the plays onward from Overdrive give the cast significantly better wigs, with better fits and much less tacky colors.
• Reaction Shot:
  • The series has several, but the one that takes the cake has to be the entire crowd (including the Generation of Miracles!) gawking at Kuroko's Misdirection Overflow.
  • Akashi's shot into his own hoop against Shuutoku deserves an honorable mention. Bonus points for it playing this trope literally as well.
• Real Men Cook: Kagami and Sakurai, with Sakurai showing definite signs of being a Supreme Chef. It's a good thing they can too, as both their managers are lethal chefs.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Kuroko's calm, calculating demeanor and lack of presence to Kagami's hot blooded nature, rashness, and his position as the team's ace.
  • Kagami and Aomine are a subversion. Their personalities are different, but they're both still firmly on the 'red' end of the spectrum.
  • Akashi and Kuroko are a color-inverted example. Akashi is more stoic than Kuroko, and Kuroko gets worked up far more when he wants to win than Akashi does, at least until Akashi snaps.
• Retired Badass: Alex was a skillful player by herself, all the coaches with at least one Generation of Miracles member in their school all were members of Japan's national basketball team at a point with Riko's dad. And Nijimura.
• The Rival: It's a basketball manga so this pops up pretty often. The Generation of Miracles are all rivals to each other now that they've separated into different schools, the Crownless Generals were the rivals for the Generation of Miracles, and Kagami aims to defeat all five members of the Generation of Miracles.
  • Hanamiya and Kiyoshi are less of this and more mortal enemies, but they still treat it like a rivalry.
  • Kiyoshi is this to Nebuya, but it's mostly one-sided until Kiyoshi needs to beat him in order to win.
• Rousing Speech:
  • Hyuuga's speech in Quarter 19 almost falls flat, as him bringing up their loss the previous year depresses all the second years. He quickly turns it around, though.
  • Though they lost, Kasamatsu gives an epic one to Kaijou in order to snap them out of their funk in Quarter 73.
    Kasamatsu: "Buck up everybody! You've tried your best! We're among the best eight teams in the entire nation! Go back with pride!"
• Running Gag:
  • Kuroko seemingly appearing out of nowhere, only to reveal that he's been there the whole time.
    • Invoked by Kuroko at one point. At a team gathering, he claims he's been there the whole time, when that time, he actually was late.
    • And hilariously inverted later on. Kagami goes to talk to Kuroko when he's concentrating on practicing by himself. When Kuroko notices him, he says, "Please don't sneak up on me like that. I'll get angry."
  • Kagami being so excited for upcoming matches that he forgets to sleep the night before.
  • Someone from Seirin always ordering alcoholic drinks whenever the team goes out.
  • Kagami scrubbing Hyuuga's back with the wrong kind of brush. (And the rest of Seirin's Say My Name moment afterwards.)

S-Y

• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Kuroko and Momoi, especially in her introduction scene.
• Say My Name:
  • Midorima is a common offender, particularly in the first Seirin vs. Shuutoku match.
  • Aomine and Kise exchange this trope constantly during the match between their teams. Quickly reaches over-the-top levels, especially with Kise, who is executing this trope while calling Aomine "Aominecchi".
  • Quarter 58: Hyuuga? HYUUGAAAAA!!
  • Kagami and Himuro's one-on-one clash in Quarter 162. KAAAGAMIII! HIIMUROOO!
• Screen-to-Stage Adaptation: Had a series of stage play adaptations from 2016 to 2019 starring none other as Kensho Ono as Kuroko.
• Serial Escalation: There are plenty of examples - the amount of time Kagami manages to stay in the air, many of Aomine's shots (notably the one against the backboard), and, of course, Kuroko's ability to stay below the radar despite the fact that he has blue hair in a world where the vast majority of other people have normal hair colors.
• Serious Business: Of course, basketball.
• Smart People Wear Glasses:
  • This trope does not apply for Hyuuga, much to Kagami's surprise.
    Kagami: "I thought guys in glasses are supposed to be..."
    Hyuuga: "YOU THOUGHT ALL MEN IN SPECTACLES ARE GEEKS?!"
  • It does apply to Riko (who scored the second best grades out of the entire school) and Midorima (though he does rely on pure luck every once in a while as seen in "Idiots Can't Win".
  • Also applies to Imayoshi, who is called incredibly smart by acknowledged tactical genius Hanamiya Makoto, and is even pointed out as possibly being smarter than him.
• The Smurfette Principle: Momoi with the Generation of Miracles with Akashi joking about how unfair it was that Aomine got the only girl and later Touou High. Aida with Seirin High. Somewhat justified as it's a shonen manga about boy's basketball.
• Smooch of Victory: In Quarter 19, Riko attempts to motivate the guys by promising them this. It's not very effective...
• Special Person, Normal Name: Downplayed with the Generation of Miracles. While their surnames are rather unique (especially in the case of Kuroko, as it would be very hard to find someone that actually has the surname Kuroko in real life), their first names are completely ordinary and can be seen basically everywhere in Japan.
• Spiritual Successor: Of the other famous basketball manga series, Slam Dunk.
• Spit Take: Common reaction in people who get surprised by Kuroko.
• Split Personality: Akashi as first noted by Midorima Shintarou and later, when "the other Akashi" takes over everyone else notices as well.
• Spock Speak: Kuroko speaks pretty formally for a teenage boy. When he stops doing so, you know shit's getting serious.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The Generation of Miracles were this for the Uncrowned Generals.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: People never notice when Kuroko enters the room, until when he says something.
• Stopped Caring: By the time the Teikou years draw to a close, all of the Miracles suffer from this. And also Ogiwara.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Very notable when spectators are able to calmly talk about how a player's move works while he's doing it. Lampshaded and Played for Laughs in the Quarter 107 bloopers omake, where Kuroko misses the ball because of the speech he's making.
• Team Dad: Kiyoshi is occasionally this for the Seirin team, with definite overtones of Papa Wolf.
• Team Pet: In the 74th Quarter, Kuroko picks up an adorable husky that Aida immediately falls in love with and the rest of the team decides to name Tetsuya #2 because the dog's eyes and lack of expression look just like Kuroko's.
• Team Spirit: A running theme throughout the series. It's especially important to Kuroko.
• Teen Genius: Both Hanamiya Maktoto and Seto Kentaro of Kirisaki Daiichi, with Seto having an IQ of 160.
• Theme Naming: For Seirin and the Generation of Miracles. Also for the Uncrowned Generals. Also, excluding Kuroko and Akashi, all Teikou graduates, including Momoi, Haizaki and Nijimura, when the first kanji in their surname means the Colorful Theme Naming, the second kanji in their names means Location Theme Naming.
  • Seirin (in order starting from Sunday): Hyuuga(日), Izuki(月), Kagami(火), Mitobe(水), Kiyoshi(木), Koganei(金), and Tsuchida(土).
  • The Uncrowned Generals: Kiyoshi(木 = tree/wood), Hanamiya(花 = flower), Hayama(葉 = leaf), Mibuchi(実 = fruit/seed), Nebuya(根 = root).
  • Teikou: Kise (瀬 = shoal), Midorima (間 = chamber), Aomine (峰 = peak), Murasakibara (原 = prairie) , Momoi (井 = well), Haizaki (崎 = small peninsula ), Nijimura (村 = village)
• Those Two Guys:
  • Furihata, Kawahara, and Fukuda—the other three Seirin freshman besides Kuroko and Kagami.
  • Mitobe and Koganei have this kind of dynamic, despite not actually being an example, as they get a good amount of screentime and character development.
• Title Drop: In every single chapter; you just have to look for it. The last page of Quarter 227 gets a special mention though; not only does it drop the chapter's title (which is itself a Call-Back to Quarter 1), Akashi drops the title of the series itself. Especially notable in that the Akashi at that point was on a First-Name Basis with Kuroko and yet still used his last name then.
• Tournament Arc: The Inter-High, Winter Cup and Nationals make up the three big ones in the basketball calendar.
• Truth in Television: Serin occasionally using Kiyoshi as a Point Guard seems weird at first glance, given that he's the largest of Seirin's players and P Gs typically are small, quick guys who pass and move at top speed. However, it's actually a common technique called the "Point Forward", giving a bigger guy the ball-handling duties to create mismatches and space the floor more efficiently. Originally pioneered in the 1980's by legendary coach Don Nelson and expanded in the mid-2000's by larger Forwards like Le Bron James, Dirk Nowitzki, and Amar'e Stoudamire, the tactic has fallen out of favor in the modern NBA thanks to smaller, faster lineups; it still sees use when teams need an extra size advantage, however.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Averted in the first Seirin vs. Touou game.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The last years of Teikou really did a number on the Generation of Miracle's personalities. Standouts are Aomine and Akashi.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Kiyoshi and Hyuuga are the crowning example; according to Izuki, the more they argue, the more in sync their teamwork is!
• Weak, but Skilled:
  • Kuroko. He doesn't have the talent or the build for basketball, but because of his highly refined and practiced skill at Misdirection, he was able to achieve the status of the "Phantom Sixth Player" of the legendary Generation of Miracles, and is respected by the rest for his skill of Misdirection.
  • Izuki is this as well. He even acknowledges it himself right at the end of Seirin vs. Rakuzan.
    Izuki: "Point guards with weak specs have to win with their heads!"
• We Meet Again: Kagami pulls a rather intimidating one on the Meijou Institute team (A.K.A the thugs that he, Kuroko and Kise completely trashed in a street game some chapters before) in Quarter 16. It freaks them out so badly that they practically throw the game, losing 41 to 108.
• Wham Line:
  • In Quarter 128. Also counts as a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
    Izuki: "It didn't run out. We made it run out."
  • Quarter 226 gives us this line from Akashi, who has just being asked whether he enjoys basketball.
    Akashi: "...I'm afraid I don't understand the question."
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Or rather, "what is this thing you call enjoyment"? Turns out, by the end of their Teikou days, some of the Miracles, such as Akashi, can't even answer the question of whether they enjoy basketball or not.
• When It All Began: Not a direct example, but throughout the series other members of the Generation of Miracles constantly ask Kuroko why he left after they won the third championship at Teikou. This gets later shown in a flashback.
• Whole Episode Flashback:
  • Quarters 95 to 99, which show the forming of the Seirin basketball team and explain how Kiyoshi got his Game-Breaking Injury.
  • Quarters 204 to 227 chronicle the forming, blooming and breaking of the Generation of Miracles. Apart from clearing up a bunch of lingering plot points (such as the whole debacle between Kise and Haizaki and what exactly is going on with Akashi), it also introduces a bunch of new characters, like their old captain and, more importantly, Kuroko's childhood friend, who has a central part in the chain of events that lead to Kuroko quitting the team.
• Why Won't You Die?: Non-lethal variation; Murasakibara says it to Kiyoshi once the latter comes back onto the court despite being completely destroyed, physically and mentally, by the former.
  Murasakibara: How many times do I have to crush you? You're way too tough.
• Wild Take: Common reaction in people who get surprised by Kuroko.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Many new opponents get introduced with no other badge of honor than "better than/able to defeat Kise".
  • It gets reversed when Haizaki gets introduced as "the guy who was stronger than Kise"... and then Kise gets to show how much he improved by utterly demolishes him.
• Worthy Opponent: Over the course of the manga, Kagami evolves from Unknown Rival to this in the eyes of the Miracles. Before he arrived on the scene, the Miracles considered each other as their only worthwhile opponents. The lack of these during their Teikou days is a huge part of the reason why the Miracles are what they are today.
• Years Too Early: Touou taunts Seirin this way during their Winter Cup match. Unfortunately for them, it triggers Seirin's Heroic Second Wind.
• You Must Be Cold: Kagami brings Kuroko his jacket in Quarter 124, after the latter goes to brood outside in the cold.
  Kagami: "You'll get cold, idiot."

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