#teiko gives you free trauma

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This school mentality is so unhealthy, the way it fucked up those poor kids make me so angry. They are MIDDLE SCHOOLERS, club activities should be fun, not some anxiety inducing nightmare.

The true villain of KnB is the faceless director of Teiko and the system of the school.

The worst part is that they used to have teamwork, they used to be very close friends, their bond was very strong and deep. But this school destroyed them.

And here we have the first instance of unreliable narrator :

"The other five were fine with that" Wrong. Murasakibara was fine with that. Midorima and Kise just accepted it and they ended up believing it in some degrees but they always preferred when the team was a team. Aomine had enough on his plate to care one way or another. Akashi was absolutely NOT okay with this, he tried to stop it and his failure was the final push that caused him to switch with his other personality.

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Kise getting reprimanded by everyone. The one saying "You waited too long, Kise you idiot" is probably Nijimura.

Aomine has darker skin, Murasakibara calls him 'Kise-chin', Haizaki calls him 'Ryota' and is also probably already out of the team at that point because Akashi is already captain.

It's interesting to see that Akashi is the only one not sweating at all (and maybe Midorima but that might be because the panel he is in is too small to add sweat), because as we see later in the series, during the Shutoku and Seirin matches, he barely sweats when he plays, unless it's the end of the match or if he was in the zone at some point. Had Fujimaki already decided that at that point? Or did he just want to deepen the contrast between Kise's panic and exhaustion and Akashi looking completely fine?

Kise calling him captain is cute, maybe it's to hide whether or not he calls him Akashichi outside of matches. We're not supposed to know how close the GoM was yet.

In just one panel it shows Kise freaking out a bit at the thought of being scolded by Akashi, this makes him seem more stern and scary than he actually was (at that point).

Bringing up the 20 points quota without letting the readers know the true reason behind it (keeping Aomine motivated) also make it seems like Teiko was already pretty bad when we know they still get along and play well together when it happens (i mean, the school was already bad but the miracles were still in good spirit). It keeps the fact that Kuroko is an unreliable narrator hidden for a while. At that point the readers have to believe everything Kuroko says is the unaltered truth, because that's what Kuroko believes too.

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He says it himself right after, Kuroko reacts that way because he knows how it feels to stop loving basketball and to almost quit because of it.

But I think he's also probably wondering how many teams and players quit basketball after a crushing loss to Teiko? If Seiho was enough to break his senpais' spirits, Teiko must have destroyed the spirit of so many players Kuroko had no idea about.

He knows about Ogiwara but the situation was a little different, getting whipped didn't demoralized Ogiwara, he never gave up until the very end and he wouldn't have stopped playing basketball because of a defeat. He quit because the GoM toyed with them with their 111-11.

“Having doubts about something you love can be painful” is something that resonates very strongly with me, it’s truly a devastating feeling.

Even though Himuro's harshness towards Kagami was related to basketball, Kagami still has a clear mind about it. He knows the problem isn't basketball itself, so he will never hate basketball because of that.

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'There are many things i'd like to say to you' YEAH I BET, All of Teiko former members have a lot to say to each other and if their communication skills were just a little bit better, they wouldn't be so miserable.

Those kids only know how to communicate with basketball, someone please, take them to therapy.

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It's mind-blowing that Kise didn't figure it out on his own, at this point he knows that Ogiwara from Meiko's school was Kuroko's childhood friend.

The fact that he can't completely understand why the 111-11 upset Kuroko really shows that at this point Kise is seriously lacking in empathy. It's probably because the only friends he has at this point are/were miracles, and since something like this could never happen to them, he can't fathom how hurtful it could be.

If at the end of the year something like this happened to Kaijo, he would definitely understand that seeing your friends hurt hurts you too. Character development and team bonding, we love to see it.

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Kise didn't say that Kagami and Kuroko will for sure have to part way. He said that if the only thing Kuroko appreciate about Kagami is his attitude toward basketball then as soon as his attitude change, Kuroko will no longer appreciate him and they'll have to part way.

And he's right, because Kuroko and Aomine's bond was based solely on basketball and when they lost it, they stopped seeing each other as well. They said it themselves, outside of basketball they had nothing in common or great chemistry, they would not have been friends if they did not have the same passion. Sure, the care they have for each other and their bond is still important and real, but without basketball between them, Aomine and Kuroko had nothing to bond them together and they drifted apart.

When Aomine's attitude towards basketball changed, Kuroko no longer enjoyed spending time with him. Yes, Aomine abandoned Kuroko on the court when he grew strong enough, but we often forget that Kuroko abandoned Aomine off the court as well.

Kuroko is a victim like all miracles, but like them, he is not without faults either. And he knows that, he'll be the first to try and correct his mistakes and regrets.

When Kise sees for himself that the bond between Kagami and Kuroko already goes beyond basketball, he is reassured. He understands that the same thing won't happen, that even if Kagami changes, Kuroko will stays by his side and stop him.

Also Kuroko's 'look at these biceps' and 'yeah i forgot to think ahead', he's not even trying to be funny but his blunt honesty is hilarious.

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Once again the answer is trust and teamwork, seriously Teiko damaged all these kids so much. The adults in this school should never be allowed around children.

Both of them will get there at some point, they will understand what they are both missing. But until then, Seirin and Kaijo will have to be patient with them. Thankfully both team are really great and their senpais are very reliable.

And the worst part is that none of them did, the GoM didn't enjoy it, the teams they destroyed didn't enjoy it, the coaches watching all of this happens didn't enjoy it.

The only people who enjoyed what was happening was the chairman of Teiko because it brought fame to his school, the monthly basketball magazine that had a lot of articles to write about the 5 basketball prodigies and maybe the spectators who saw the matches.

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There's so much subtext in this scene, it's hard not to go feral.

1- Kuroko's complete and absolute trust and respect he has toward the GoM and their abilities, it will be even more visible during Teiko flashback. It's a core part of the character, they have something that he will never have, no matter how much he trains, he is envious but his admiration is greater than his envy. It's particularly visible when it comes to Aomine and Akashi. He speaks as if the respect and friendship they have for him is unbelievable, the idea that they can see him and truly consider him their friend and a valuable player is mind-blowing. Which make the end of Teiko flashback even more heartbreaking.

He never considered himself a Miracle, when all the Miracle truly consider him one of them, they never doubted Kuroko's as a player even at this point. It wasn't "Kuroko isn't strongh enough so i don't need him anymore" it was "I don't need ANYONE's help, including the other miracles"

2- One of them WILL be number one, Another example of Kuroko growth as a character. At this point, he still talks like basketball is a 1-on-1 game and whoever is better wins. But in the end Seirin win, not because Kagami is better than the GoM (he isn't) but because SEIRIN is better than the GoM.

Basketball is a team sport, there is no number 1 player, there is a number 1 team and its Seirin. (At least at the end of first year, their chances in the next years are significantly lesser)

3- Kuroko in his head "You face them now you the match end at 22-222, you wouldn't even understand what is happening, they would show you the true meaning of defeat"

4- Kagami ability to take criticism and to get fired up by it is what make him a likeable character from the start, despite him being a little mean and violent at this point. His pride isn't hurt by Kuroko's comments, he just accepts it and is ready to get better.

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We all know this scene was Kuroko testing Kagami to see if he could be useful as his new light and not Kagami testing Kuroko.

At this point in the story, Kuroko's goal is to prove the Miracles wrong. But he's not sure what exactly they're missing, he himself lost sight of it and joined Seirin in hopes of figuring it out. (Spoiler what they lack is TRUST AND TEAMWORK)

This is another very underrated character growth. Kuroko didn't start the story believing in friendship and teamwork. At this point, he plans to use Kagami (and Seirin) to prove his point. Teiko's mentality not only affected the GoM, it also affected Kuroko and he had to unlearn it. But his growth is more subtle and gradual than the GoM's, so the fandom often dismisses it.

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Here we have Kuroko's first development as a character. His goal has changed. Before it was "beat GoM to prove my point", now it's "Make this team the best in Japan".

He's still in the Teiko mentality, he doesn't realize that the way he says it implies that he values ​​a player's usefulness more than team effort.It shouldn't he "I will make you the team the best in japan" but "Together as a team we will be the best in japan". But it's still a drastic improvement compared to chapter one.

A whole mindset is hard to change but thanks to Riko and Kagami he is moving in the right direction.

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Once again, the way Kuroko says it shows that at this point he's not thinking about teamwork and friendship. He said I will make you better, He still unconsciously views Kagami as a tool to be used to prove his point to the Miracles.

At this point Kuroko only wants one thing : to defeat the GoM.

He doesn't want to be the best in Japan, he doesn't want his team to be the best in Japan, he doesn't have the competition in mind at all as long as he gets to defeat them. Because he is angry, because he is hurt, because he is worried, because he loves them and because he doesn't know what else he could do to both help them and stop them.

He doesn't even understand what they lack, what he lacks, but he is the only one among them who, at the very least, understood they all lack something.

(Once against the answer is obvious to us IT'S TEAMWORK)

This interaction he has with Kagami is the very first step toward his new goal and toward a more healthy mindset. They already began to grow after knowing each other for two days. They bring out the best in each other.