Kuroko no Basuke Magazine: Issue #5

Fangirl Mania

Hi there, Talia here for this month's issue of Fangirl Mania, replacing keyqueen13 who had to retire because of arthritis in her legs. Just kidding. Ignoring my lame (wink, wink) attempt at a joke, for my first article, I decided to choose somebody with hordes of fangirls; Kise Ryota.

Kise is the well-known "copycat" of the Generation of Miracles. He is charming, sociable and not too hard on the eyes either. He is a first year at Kaijou and, of course, a regular on their basketball team as well as a model. Kise is an unusual basketball player because he has only been playing for a short time compared to his former teammates.

However, despite his many fangirls both in and out of the manga/anime, I must admit that I disliked Kise the most out of all of the Generation of Miracles after first meeting him. Kise fangirls, don't shoot me, okay. Disliked is past tense. I do like Kise; I just didn't like him at first.

Kise is the first of the Generation of Miracles that we meet. He goes to Seirin to say hello to Kuroko, of whom the latter greets him back rather coldly. I can't honestly say that I don't know why.

Kise is boisterous and cheerful, sure, but how much of that do you reckon is an act? All that his outgoing personality does is hide his many faults. He is self-centered, childish and, quite honestly, a spoiled brat.

So, if I'm fangirling about Kise Ryota, why am I doing so much Kise-bashing? I'll tell you why.

Kise's basketball style is changed by Kuroko's influence, that's for sure, but that's not the only thing that changes; so does his personality. He still retains a certain amount of his lighthearted energy, especially around his fangirls and Kasamatsu (who I will most certainly talk about later), but he grows up. He becomes more determined and shows that, despite the fact that he's blonde, he has some wisdom and, dare I say, intelligence.

Kise shows us a new side of himself. He is still slightly cocky and hates to lose, but who doesn't occasionally act like that when they're really good at something? No. It's the fact that he is one of the first of the Generation of Miracles to actually learn from Kuroko. He doesn't just dismiss Kuroko's basketball style. Instead, he embraces the lessons learned. So, in actual fact, despite his many faces, Kise can be surprisingly humble.

One of my favourite Kise moments was when Kaijou was playing against Touou. Kise took his childish notions of "I want to become as good a player as Aomine" and discarded them. This was because he knew that he couldn't get to that level with the mindset that he was miles away from it. By taking away that admiration he had, he probably also took away the comfort he felt in playing against his old rival. His determination really shines through here, and I found myself admiring him more than any other of the Generation of Miracles. Yes, he even got to a place of higher admiration (but not love) than Akashi, with whom I am undeniably obsessed with (for good reason).

So, Kise as a basketball player is just one facet of him that we can fangirl over. One of the others is his relationship with Kasamatsu. I can't help feeling cuteness radiating from my tablet whenever I get a glimpse at their bromance. But it's not just the fact that there could be a little more to their relationship than meets the eye. We also see a Kise around Kasamatsu that's more relaxed. He doesn't try so hard, showing that, despite Kasamatsu's complaints, there is actually a level of trust and respect between the two that give indication of Kise's utter belief in his friends.

Kise is also unfailingly kind when he's not on the court. He always treats his fans with the utmost respect, only getting slightly egotistical from the attention. Even though most of his former teammates have certain people that they don't always get along with, Kise is almost always nice to them. This just further shows how kind he is because, let's face it, a few of them are downright annoying!

I think it would be nice to have someone like Kise as a best friend. He'd always be kind and I imagine that he would also have some sort of protective instinct. A bit like a mother bear. And he'd be a good person to just hang out and laugh with. Sure, he has his weaknesses, but everyone does.

On a final note, has anyone else heard the term "copycat" applied to Kise and imagined him with ears? Just me asking an empty library? Okay then.

Until next time, peeps! Talia's out.