Kuroko's Basketball

After defeating Yōsen High, Seirin is interviewed for Basketball Monthly. After the interview Kagami heads outside to visit with his old friend, Tatsuya Himuro, and Alex, but instead of being able to resolve their differences he runs into one Shōgo Haizaki of Fukuda Sōgō Academy. He is trying to flirt with Alex, making Kagami mad, but before Kagami can act Kise arrives on the scene and reveals that Haizaki was a starter on the Generation of Miracles team before he arrived. Kagami heads back in to ask Kuroko about this news only to find out the final quarterfinal will feature a showdown between Kise and Haizaki, with the winner moving on to face Seirin in the semifinals.

Kise and Haizaki face each other head-to-head for the right to advance to face Seirin. At first it seems that Kise and Haizaki have the same copy ability as Haizaki is able to start duplicating Kise's teammates moves. However once Kaizaki has duplicated a move, the original user seems to be unable to use it. Kuroko reveals that Haizaki uses psychological warfare against his opponents. While he copies the moves of the individual, he also alters the timing of the move. When the original user tries to do the move again, they try to do so with the new timing and ultimately fail. Kise and his teammates fall further behind as the second half begins. Can Kise find a move that Haizaki can't use and somehow manage to turn things around, or is his team headed for certain defeat?

Haizaki's skill is not copying a move he's seen once, but to "pillage" it. Kaijo starts to be cornered as each player's signature plays are sealed away. Even Kise, who has a variety of moves thanks to his Copy skill, starts to run out of stock moves as the game progresses. Furthermore, the fierce game pace puts Kise's leg close to its limit... The groove is completely with Fukuda Sogo at an advantage, causing frustration as the Kaijo team couldn't move as they wanted. Kise finally kneels down, but at that moment, a cheer from Kuroko reaches him from the audience. Kise stands up once again as if to answer that voice and uses his new skill Perfect Copy to start the comeback run!

The final four of Winter Cup has finally been decided: Rakuzan, Shutoku, Seirin, and Kaijo. However, on the day of the semi-finals, Kuroko and Kagami both realized their basketball shoes were broken and hurriedly get on their way to buy new shoes. However, Kagami can't find shoes in his size! Thanks to Kuroko's suggestion, they seek advice from Momoi, and her reply is that he should use Aomine's shoes, as they both have the same shoe size. Of course, Aomine wasn't going to meekly hand a pair over, and they end up in a one-on-one with the shoes as the prize! Daiki quickly won but still offered the shoes to Kagami. Taiga grudgingly accepts and says that he'll take it for now but their competition isn't over yet. Taiga and Tetsuya rushed to watch the first semi-final match of the Winter Cup: Rakuzan Vs. Shutoku.

As the second half of the match between Shutoku and Rakuzan starts, Akashi uses his eye, it is revealed that Akashi was the one who found Kuroko's talent by using his eye on him, which meant that the eye can see potential of people, but it is said that in matches the eye is completely different, it predicts the future movement of the other players, thus nullifying both offence and defense of the other team.

Facing Akashi's Emperor Eye, which sees the future movements of the opponents, Shutoku looks like they had no hand to play. But the will to fight once again lights up within the eyes of the team members, and they face Rakuzan with the spirit of "unyielding tenacity"! Thanks to Midorima and Takao's trick play, they try to close the gap in one strong run, but to answer that, Akashi scores in his own goal to the shock of everyone around him. Against Shutoku, who bares their teeth without giving up until the very end, Akashi throws out words that show no mercy.

After the match Rakuzan vs.Shutoku, Rakuzan wins with the score of 86 - 70 against Shutoku. For the Shutoku team, it is a very huge defeat that even Takao and Midorima cried after the game. Kise, Kagami and Kuroko did have some short greetings before their match. The match started, how can Seirin stop Kise's Perfect Copy?

The battle between Seirin and Kaijo finally begins. Seirin tries to secure their victory by striking first, but Kise unexpectedly begins using his Perfect Copy at the start of the game, demonstrating his overwhelming strength.

The Seirin-Kaijo game was white-hot due to the battle between their ace players. With the defense and offense reversed now, Seirin goes on the offensive. As the last one to awaken, and one with potential comparable to the Generation of Miracles, Kagami was on his way to unleashing that latent talent. Kise felt that as a threat more than anyone else. That was why he definitely didn't want to lose!!

Kise's injury becomes worse. His coach orders him to step down the court for a while and rest until the last two minutes of the last quarter wherein he could use his Perfect Copy. Kagami's talents give way to Seirin having a 15-point gap in the lead with four minutes left in the game. Kise's frustration leads him to recover fast, determined to win the cup. Rico is surprised and realizes that Kise's Perfect Copy can now last until the end of the competition.

Kise recovers and manages to fill the 15-point gap. Kaijo becomes the lead with a score of 78-77. Seirin becomes restless and their moves become stiff as Kise's fast recovery and Kaijo's persistence to win makes the crowds cheer, putting Seirin under pressure. Kuroko devises a plan that requires time for observation in order to overcome Kise's Perfect Copy.

Kuroko finally finds a way to stop Kise, and Seirin wins with a deciding shot made by Kuroko. The episode ends with Kuroko telling a story about his past

Kuroko is first placed into Teiko's third string basketball team. However, after practicing everyday after school with Aomine, Akashi realised Kuroko talent as the "Phantom 6th Man." During a game between the third and second string, Kuroko proved himself and was upgraded to first string. But when he plays in a friendly game as starting player, he is so nervous he is subbed out immediately. The coaches are unsure if they should keep him on first string, but with Aomine's encouragement, they keep him on for one day. Now that Kuroko's nerves are under control, his help in the team is obvious and he is permanently placed on the first string bench.

Nijimura gives the captain position to Akashi because his father is sick. Akashi now becomes captain. The Teiko coach comes back. Midorima and Murasakibara gets into a fight, and Kuroko challenges them into a practice game. Then, Aomine and Kise get into a fight, but not a serious one. Akashi wants to get rid of Haizaki because he keeps skipping practices. Aomine plays a game, but he doesn't have fun and loses interest in basketball because he crushed the other team. Teiko goes to the National qualifiers, and Aomine meets his friend, while the face of Kuroko's friend is also revealed. Aomine ends up crushing his friend's team, and gets called a monster by his friend. Also, Kuroko's friend loses, and calls Kuroko, crying. The episode ends with Aomine sitting by the pool, a blank expression on his face.

The old coach advises to Aomine to keep playing basketball until he can find a worthy opponent. Teiko wins the National finals. The old coach collapses and the young one takes over coaching the team. The team individually undergoes rapid growth in power. Aomine leaves mid-practice and the coach gives him permission to skip practices, leaving Aomine in even more despair. After an act of insubordination, Akashi goes head to head with Murasakibara, and just when Akashi is about to lose, he switches personalities and crushes Murasakibara. Akashi gives the rest of the team permission to skip practice as long as they win matches. He later tells Kuroko who failed to convince Aomine that there is two of him.

Kuroko get's knocked unconscious in the game before the grand final, in which Teiko is set to play against Kuroko's friend, Shige's team. Kuroko regains consciousness, and since he cannot play in the game, asks Akashi to make Teiko play their best. Teiko, bored by scoring quotas, decide to play a new game. Kuroko gets to the match in time to see the conclusion of the game, with Murasakibara scoring the final goal for the opposite team in order to make the score read "111, 11". Devastated, Kuroko decides to quit basketball and visits Shige's school, where he finds out Shige has transferred and is going to quit basketball. Shige's friend tells him not to quit basketball, because he thinks Kuroko can melt their hearts.

Seirin prepare mentally for the grand final match of the Winter Cup. Kagami and Tatsuya finally properly reconcile. The teams from previous matches, including the teams of the Generation of Miracles come to watch the grand final. During the decider for 3rd place, Kise sits out of the match and Shutoku wins against Kaijo, 96 to 54, taking 3rd place. Rakuzan and Seirin warm up, and Akashi declares the winner will be Rakuzan. Furihata gives Kuroko a wristband filled with the team's thoughts. The game starts with Kagami taking the tip off. Kuroko fumbles a pass but Kagami manages to score the first goal with an impossible jump. And enters "the zone".

Kagami dangerously continues using up his stamina in the zone, Riko swaps Kuroko for Mitobe so that Kagami can focus on offence. Akashi pairs up against Kagami and Akashi takes control of the game until Mitobe's defense breaks the flow. Kagami exits the zone, and Kuroko re-enters the game. Kuroko is more visible than usual, which Akashi claims is due to his learning how to dribble and shoot. Disheartened, Kuroko is taken out of the match for one side pass, then put back in for the remainder of the first quarter. The first quarter is finished with a tie, 21-21. Kuroko is set to sit out the 2nd quarter to think of a solution. Meanwhile Rakuzan's Chihiro Mayuzumi reveals his ability to misdirect just like Kuroko, but with better base attributes.

Kuroko observes Mayuzumi's play from the sidelines. Seirin subs in first-year Furihata to lure Rakuzan, but he quickly gets fatigued after facing Akashi. Fukuda, a first-year, takes his place. Hyuga goes up against Rakuzan's Reo Mibuchi (who Hyuga admired in middle school) in a "Battle of the shooting guards", but loses. The same happens to Kiyoshi against Eikichi Nebuya. Another first-year takes Fukuda's place. One-by-one, Rakuzan crushes Seirin's players. Akashi demonstrates that he can also make alley-oops, finishing the second quarter with Rakuzan in the lead, 62-37.

Rakuzan vs. Seirin enters the third quarter. Seirin, not giving up, entrusts their scorers Hyuga and Kagami with all their hope. However, even that small glimmer ...

Izuki manages to interfere with Rakuzan's Kitari Hayama's five-finger-dribble offense, by predicting future moves and coordinating with Kuroko and Kagami. Kagami remains in the zone. Koganei faces Reo, and although Koganei doesn't manage to defeat him, Hyuga comes to understand how to beat Reo's three specialty shots (Heaven, Earth, Void).

Hyuga rejoins the match in fourth quarter and scores the first three, flourishing under the pressure and having worked out how to tell the difference between Mibuchi Reo's three shots, and the secret of "Void". Despite Kiyoshi's knee injury bothering him, he pushes back against his opponent Eikichi Nebuya. Akashi relieves control of the ball against Kagami who is going even deeper in the zone. However, Akashi has learnt how to enter the zone at will, reserving it for when Rakuzan is in trouble. His trigger being when he decides to abandon the rest of the team and use his own strength to win. Akashi enters the zone and scores on his own. Seirin calls a timeout with Rakuzan in the lead, 90-78. Seirin puts their faith in Kagami. In the audience, Aomine mentions that he suspects there is a greater zone within the zone. And that Kagami may need to open this second "door" to be able to beat Akashi.

Faced by Akashi's huge zone of defence, Kagami despairs, having reached the bottom of the zone, but seeing no way to open the "door". Kuroko suggests they give up relying solely on Kagami for now, and offers to take some of the burden. By watching and predicting Kagami's movement, Kuroko becomes Kagami's "eye" and is able to intercept Akashi. Although stunned, Akashi catches up and attempts to stop Kagami, but is intercepted again by Kuroko. One last time, Akashi attempts to intercept Kagami's dunk, but Kagami, with his teammates supporting him, manages to crack open the "door" within the zone and scores. Akashi misses a goal, and has fallen out of the Zone. A voice inside Akashi starts telling him to give-up. Rakuzan calls a time out with 5 minutes left in the game, and the score 92-90. Just as Rakuzan's coach is about to sub Akashi out, Mayuzumi chastises Akashi, asking rhetorically "Who are you?", which triggers an internal dialogue with his other self. Akashi strove for victory in order to keep his team together and in his weakness he created his other self. But then he started playing for victory itself, forgetting why. Now, his two selves appear to merge, or perhaps switch places, and, echoing his words to Kuroko in middle school, aloud he declares himself "Akashi Seijuro".

Akashi starts supporting the team by setting up perfect opportunities which also boosts their morale. The watching members of the Generation of Miracles recognise Akashi's old self. Seirin still manage to score, but Akashi enters the zone again and Akashi's support draws out his team members' potentials, making them enter an imperfect version of the zone, possible because they are members of the "Uncrowned Kings". Kagami is the only one who can stand against them, but reaches his physical limits, and exits the zone. The rest of Seirin are also exhausted and Seirin has no more time outs left. Suddenly, Kuroko's friend, Ogiwara, cheers from the audience, bringing Kuroko to tears. Aomine, Kise, Midorima and other past opponents adds their cheers, and the crowd starts to chant for Seirin. With the Rakuzan in the lead, 103-96 and 2 minutes left in the game, Kagami talks with the team, and manages to fully open the "door within the zone", unveiling the "True Zone", which is team play at the speed of the zone (possible because of the bond between the team members). Aomine realises that the person in front of the "door" is not a gatekeeper, but Kuroko, leading the way to team play. Seirin manage to score a two-pointer, but Akashi counters with a two pointer, and is not going to allow Seirin to win that easily.