#knb chapter 17

Furihata is at all time panicking about something, we stan an anxious king.

The first years seriously lacks faith at this point, apart from Furihata they don't get much spotlight in the story, but it's still nice to see how much they grow in the background. They ended up being vital in the victory against Rakuzan because they believed in their teams and in their own strength.

Midorima going back on defense before the ball go through the hook is not because he's full of himself, pretentious or because he wants to look cool. It's just him doing everything in his power like he always does. (and yeah, maybe he is showing off a bit too, but honestly i can't blame him, his shots are insane)

Taisuke Ōtsubo kanji translation.

大坪 Ōtsubo 泰介 Taisuke

大 (Ō)

• Big (in size, degree, or amount)

• To a great extent

• Outstanding

• Showing respect or reverence for someone or something.

坪 (tsubo)

• A unit of measurement for land area

泰 (Tai)

• Peace, Calm

• Huge, vast, very large

介 (suke)

• To assist or help someone

• To intervene, mediate

• Magnifying

• Shell, armor

It was too much without Kiyoshi who plays the same position as him and who was, at the time, the strongest center in highschool.

Crazy the change a single player can make, the miracles are truly something.

Also it's interesting how Otsubo (the center) and Midorima (the Shooting guard) are the pillars of this team because it's the same for Seirin with Kiyoshi and Hyuga playing in the same positions.

And there is also the parallels between Takao and Kuroko both being shadows of their teams.

Kuroko is truly a veteran, it makes sense for him to be more at ease than the others, he is used to competitions while the Seirin 2nd years are still pretty new to this.

A, the match against Kaijo was just a practice game and before that he never really doubted he would win all his official matches in Teiko because the official ones where only play by the titular of the first string (so the GoM). So for Kuroko that may be the first official match where the chance of winning are extremely slim and with a completely unknown issue

This exact panel is an incredibly good summary of Shutoku's team.

Ōtsubo and Midorima, the pillars of the team, take most of the space, the same way they take most of the spotlight in the team.

Takao is shadowing them, behind and half hidden but the readers can still see him, which illustrates how he is the shadow of his team, we (the readers) know and appreciate how important he is, but the spectators in the manga don't care or pay attention to him.

Only Miyaji's shoulder and arm are visible, he is often ignored by both the spectator and a good part of the readers.

Shinsuke Kimura isn't even visible in the panel, and he ends up being almost anecdotal in the story, I even had to concentrate for a second to remember his name. RIP supporting characters who don't have time to be fully developped because it's realistically impossible to give enough spotlight to every character on every major team.

Both Kuroko and Midorima chose the more dramatic way of saying things, they had to wait for the ball to pass through the hook before they finish their sentences.

When i say the GoM is what you get when you take a bunch of theater kids and make them play basketball i'm not joking. All of them are so dramatic in the best way possible.