This will be a very personal post just a little warning, 5 years ago when I was still in high school my best friend stop talking to me out of no where. I really shouldn't say it came out of no where the signs were there but I just ignored them; I was oblivious to what was going on with my friend; maybe I should go to the beginning when I met my best friend. Out of respect for this blog I will just call this best friend MO. Now I met MO in elementary school when I was in grade 1, we were in the same class together I think he was the new kid(It's been over 15 years so it's hard to remember the details).

For the next few years our friendship for each other grew, we didn't really consider ourselves best friend but more on the line of brothers that were born from different mothers. Both of us only had sisters so it was very easy to see why we considered each of us brothers(since we both didn't have one). I would say that around preteens/early teens where things started to change and mind you I'm not talking about the liking the girls and puberty. During this time he tried to end our friendship on multiple occasions. I think this was at the stage where teenagers starts to rebel against his/her parents. Let me tell you he rebelled hard; to list a few I remember him stealing Trinidad Cigars from someone, sneaking out at night and the usual drugs with friends. His family I've met on many occasions and I'll be honest I was jealous of him. from the outside it looked like he had something I've never had...a family that got along. I learned over the years just because the outside looks good doesn't mean the inside is the same or as the old saying don't judge a book by it's cover.

I think when things actually changed is when everyone in the same year were applying for high school, a good majority were going to the high school. He was in the minority that was going to a catholic school. For the first 2 years we kept in touch; We went to the movies, had sleepovers at his house, and hanged on the weekends when he could. Everything changed on 'that' day when my loyalty for our friendship came into question. I really can't remember if this was before or during high school, I would like to say before.

Anyway it seemed his dad was arguing with him about where he was getting this extra money from(I'm the source if you wanna know). He came to my house at my doorstep on raining day(great timing), I could tell he was crying just looking at his eyes, he asked if he wanted to hang out was just a poor excuse just for his father not to find him one location I nodded and went with him. Out of everyone he could of went to he came to me that day and I knew why. I don't remember much that day but I remember asking that he should pay me back the money that I was giving him. After I got back my Dad was waiting fro me with questions since his Dad did call my place while I was gone.

He asked if I knew where he was and where MO was getting the money from, I was honest and told him it was me. After that day My Dad and MO's Dad met at a Tim Horton's and tried to fix this mess. Eventually I got my money back which was like 30 or 40 bucks may not seem like much now but back then if you were 12-14 in that time and had that money you had plans to do with it. After that he didn't talk with me that much went to a movie with him(girlfirend as well) and other friends from the Catholic school sooooo I didn't know them at all. To this day I remember the last day I saw him, I last spoke to him in person during the premiere of the Incredible Hulk movie in the summer of 2008. After that I just tried talking to him on Facebook, the keyword here is try since it is hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn't want to have one. Honestly at this point 5 freakin years later I don't want to talk with him either. I doubt so much that he's even reading this.

Thanks to this and events leading up to this day, I have a lot of trust issues when it comes to 'friends', I have gotten things stolen because of mutual friends(who come with friends) when they were over at my house. I don't really know what a true friend is to this day, I can honestly say he had the potential of being one but things never work out the way you want it to.

After that I turned to the internet and made this persona called 'Hunterslasher13' in order to forget him. I don't regret it because I've made a lot of new friends on the internet from YouTube, GamingUnion, MAHQ and IGN that have the same common interests. I don't know what those guys honestly think of me but I hope if they do read this then they might understand me a little better since I never  really share my feelings to them.

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After a late or early(depending where you are) viewing of Sony's Japan conference, the piece of news that hit me the most just so happen to come out of Andrew House's jacket. The PS Vita TV is such a smart idea if you really look into it. Firstly, it will allow content creator's to pull the actual gameplay from the device itself instead of those videos of a camera  recording the vita screen. Secondly, there is a potential of streaming vita games for an audience who wants it. Thirdly, people who thought that the vita had too much of entry point now have one. Lastly, the price  is the smartest idea in my opinion because for a while modded vitas that were selling for over $400 on the internet that could do those first two points I listed.

I think Nintendo should really take notes what Sony is doing for there platform I know that sounds ironic since Sony took notes from them in the beginning but still they should note what they are doing nonetheless.
Just one more additional point I have to include why this is such a smart idea, this piece of hardware is around $100 if you convert the yen into american money; you know what else is $100, Android consoles have been getting a little attention in 2013. What if this PS Vita TV is Sony's way of getting into that potential market. I really have to commend Sony for all these smart decisions lately, ever since the start of 7th generation they have been making a bad decision after bad decision; it was like watching a little boy fall down while learning to ride a two wheeler for the first time. It looks like Sony has finally learned though, they have learned to ride a two wheeler maybe in the future we'll see them do a wheely.

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I will admit that I am neither a basketball fan nor am I sports anime fan, going into this I wasn't expecting much really. How I got interested into this anime is really not that much of tale; I like to see different animes when I'm bored so I checked out youtube user YokuramaGameTalk for his top 10 best animes of 2012. He put Kuroko no Basket as his #1 anime of 2012, he absolutely loved this anime and after watching the first season I can see why. The first opening made me want to at least check the first episode since I'm a Japanese Rock/Pop enthusiast.

Now instead of going over how good this anime let's go into the premise of this anime. The main plot of Kuroko no Basket revolves around Kuroko Tetsuya and Kagami Taiga they are two first year students who enrolled into Seirin High(a very young school that was established a year before the plot). Independently each of them decide to join Seirin's Basketball club for there own reasons that are revealed later. It is learned in the first episode that Kuroko was on Teiko Junior High's Basketball team(a team that won every championship in the last 3 years), the 5 main players of that team were prodigies and were called the 'Generation of Miracles' for being so good at the sport. There was a rumor going around that there was a 6th player that was recognize by each of the 5 prodigies as an equal, with no game records he was the phantom 6th player of the generation of miracles. When Kuroko showed up to practice it was revealed he was the 6th player, that seemed impossible when Kagami played against him in a one on one match. From what could be seen he had no talent whatsoever in basketball, later it was learned he had a very unique ability at passing the ball. Kuroko doesn't have much of a presence even to his team mates. When he passes the ball he puts all the attention on the ball and not him(which can confuse the opposing team when there not paying attention to him).

When Kagami learns that Kuroko was on the same team as the 'Generation of Miracles' he asks how he would do against them, Kuroko honestly replies that he would be annihilated. This motivates Kagami to pursue a dream to being the best basketball player in Japan. Kuroko thinks this would be impossible unless he would become his shadow and Kagami becomes his light. From that day they became real teammates and together they would take down each player from the 'Generation of Miracles' and Seirin would be number 1 in Japan. It  sounds very cheesy but with all great goals come difficult battles. Each Generation of Miracles went to a different high school meaning there will be 5 strong teams to face off for this lofty goal that
Kagami has set up for this team.

Through out the show Seirin face off against 3 players from the generation of miracles and their respected teams, they are Kise Ryuto, Midorima Shintaro and Aomine Daiki. Early on in the show Seirin had a schedule practice match with Kise's basketball team, Seirin learned of Kise's copycat ability. When Kise sees a move once he can copy it and improve on it as well, the match was close but Seirin won while learning new ways to play as a team. After the practice match Seirin enters the Interhigh where all basketball teams see which high school is the best in Japan. The finals for the interhigh are determined by the finalist of the preliminaries of each region in Japan, there are 3 regions so 3 teams will be in the finals. Seirin slowly makes it to the finals in there region, the team they are facing off against is Shutoku High. This match was not an easy match because they have a member of the generation of miracles on there team.

THAT PASS...I mean I could do that too but I just don't want to

This match really showed off Kagami's and Kuroko's ability in Basketball, he literally punches a basketball to pass it to his teammates. For Kagami it showed how high Kagami can jump, which he keeps going higher and higher as if the rules of physic don't bind him(even though anime has no logic). When Shutoku High got the first basket of the match Kuroko retaliated by throwing the basketball across court to Kagami who was on the other side. I don't play the game but that was an impressive performance by our favorite blue haired protagonist. By the end of the game Seirin won the game against Shutoku one basket could have reversed the game but thankfully it didn't. After that match the audience is finally introduced to Aomine, one of the top players of the generation of miracles and the ace of Too Academy. We are also introduced to Momoi Satsuki, she was the manager for the generation of miracles but is now the manager of Too Academy. She is also Kuroko's self proclaimed girlfriends, I say self proclaim since her relationship with Kuroko seems one sided.

I don't like pink haired girls that much but...damn

During Seirin's last match it is revealed that Kagami has a limit to how many times he can jump in a match. He went over that limit in the match and now has bandages up his leg in order for it to heal. Kagami and Aomine face off in the court for a bit but it real showed off his ability and his speed. Seirin High and Too Academy face off, Seirin learns that there opponent is filled with ace basketball players all across Tokyo. So in short Too Academy is one strong offensive team with little to no teamwork. Seirin thinks up a plan to exploit there weakness of no team work, Momoi sees through there strategy. Eventually it seems that Too Academy won and Seirin's first defeat in the show is realized and they lose there chance to win the Interhigh. Even though they are defeated Kuroko see it as a way to become stronger develop his own kind of basketball style with Kagami.

After the match with Too Academy they decide to go to a training camp to improve there strengths and there weaknesses as well as there teamwork. We find out that another team is at the camp as well; Midorima and Shutoku's basketball team are there as well to challenge Seirin to three practice matches to help hone there skills as well as there own. Midorima's presence at the training camp was just a way to motivate Kagami and Kuroko to develop there own style of basketball. For Kagami he must learn how to win ariel type battles when jumping and for Kuroko he must learn to drive the ball in order to surpass the generation of miracles in his own way. After the training camp Seirin learns from there coach that the second quarterfinal match between Too Academy and Kaijo; a match between two of the generation of miracles Aomine vs Kise. Seirin rushes to the match to see who will triumph but also as a learning experience as well.

 In the time Kise has known Aomine he has never beat him not even once, so to Kise this was match to prove himself to everyone especially Aomine. Through out the first half Kise was watching and analyzing Aomine. He did this so he can copy his move to go past his opponent at amazing speeds perfectly. Eventually during the 3rd quarter he did it which shocked many even Aomine during the match. Every time Aomine made a move or take a shot at the basket, Kise would copy it perfectly it would look the same if you compare it to Aomine. At the end of the day a copycat is still a copycat, Kise could only do it for so long. During the 4th quarter that's when things went downhill for Kise. His copycat moves were getting a little sloppy and easier for Aomine to counter in the game. Eventually Kise's team lost the match and the chance to go the finals of the Interhigh.

For Seirin this match was an enlightening experience to say the least, they learned quite a bit more information about Aomine and Kise; for some it has got there blood pumping for the winter cup. Which could useful for future matches at the winter cup which our team is going for next season. During the last few episodes they tease two of the other generation of miracles for the second season, the tall Murasakibara Atsushi is shown. Kagami is amazed by his height when he walks by(which is around 6' 9'') while eating some junk food, while Kuroko recognizes him while looking at Murasakibara intently as he enters another hallway. The last generation of miracles is Akashi Seijuro is only slightly teased who is playing shoji alone in a classroom. The season ends on a high note of Kagami telling Kuroko that they'll show the generation of miracles his and Kuroko's Basketball.

Verdict
As someone who has never watched a sports anime in his life, this is a great starter sports anime. The matches are animated in a way that makes it look like fight in your favorite shounen animes. The characters are very likable, there wasn't one I didn't like. The story of this series is enjoyable and cliche since the goal of the series is said at the first episode and reiterated at the end of the last episode of season 1. Don't get put off by how good looking the male characters are and how many people put there favorite paring of said male characters. It has none of that I can say that proudly. So please support the official release buy the blu rays for season 1, so Season 2 can come and hopefully many more in the future.

Overall Rating: 4/5

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