Original subtitles

That's Kagami's master?

After you returned to Japan,

Tatsuya polished his street ball skills under my tutelage.

You could say he's on par with one of those monsters now.

I don't know how much you can do in a couple of days,

but there's something I haven't taught you yet.

Hello.

Don't give me that. Why'd you suddenly call me out here, Tetsu?

Let me be direct.

Aomine...

teach me to shoot.

What?

I guess we trained a little hard between his games.

Our time is limited, though.

How much he'll learn depends not on Taiga's stamina,

but on his mental strength.

-How was that? -You can't be serious!

EPISODE 45 OF COURSE IT'S NOT EASY

What's up, Susa?

You haven't been making any progress.

I was just thinking it's almost time.

Oh, right.

Seirin's probably playing their second game around now.

Well, it has nothing to do with us anymore.

Yeah, but...

they beat us.

It'd be a shame if they lost their second game.

Yeah, but the stronger team doesn't always win.

You might even say they'll lose.

Go!

Three-pointer!

What's wrong with him?

I can't catch up!

There are two reasons.

The first is Seirin is far from hitting their stride today.

Against us, all five Seirin players gave 100%.

No, 120%.

But that hardly ever happens.

-You couldn't keep that up every game. -What's the other reason?

-They beat us. -What?

They say you shouldn't let your guard down after a victory.

After you win, everyone lets their guard down.

Imayoshi, you're terrible at drawing.

There's no such thing as a perfect human.

Besides, confidence and arrogance are two sides of the same coin.

In other words, in today's game, Seirin's greatest enemy is themselves.

Coach.

I think you should call a time-out.

You're right.

Seirin High, time-out!

Listen closely, guys.

Coach, hold up.

Look.

I'm sure everyone knows, but this is what we're aiming for.

Every one of the 50 schools here

fought tooth and nail through their preliminaries

to represent their prefectures.

Every school is carrying the wishes of teams they defeated in the preliminaries.

They practiced until they were puking up blood and survived desperate battles.

Only one school can beat them all.

Of course being the best in Japan isn't easy!

Everyone's desperate.

Letting your guard down for a second is fatal.

I know it makes sense in your heads...

but I think we still have weaknesses in our hearts.

Anyway, Coach, hit me with your best shot so I can get my head on straight.

What?

But I'm so weak.

You seem really excited. Hurry up and get it over with.

-Okay, let's go! -Yeah!

Why do they all have handprints on their faces?

Who knows?

Captain.

Kuroko and I are ready to go anytime.

-Put us in sooner rather than later. -What?

-Don't worry about us, idiot! -Ow!

If we need your help to win here, we're in no position

to be calling ourselves the best in Japan.

It's nice having seniors you can count on.

I'm disappointed in myself.

I should have noticed sooner.

You and Teppei were trying to say the same thing.

Guys with national experience see things differently.

No...

If you knew that, though, I wish you hadn't hit me.

Sorry, I got caught up in the moment.

Calm down! Let's get this basket!

SEIRIN - NAKAMIYA SOUTH

Yeah!

All right!

Honestly, I was scared you'd lose.

I'm glad you won.

TOUOU ACADEMY (TOKYO) SEIRIN (TOKYO)

Seirin High won their second game of the Winter Cup.

The other members of the Generation of Miracles

had also advanced to their third games.

On the fourth day we played our third game.

SEIRIN

Yeah! Nice rebound!

All right!

SEIRIN - MORIZONO NORTH

-Yeah! -We're moving on to the quarterfinals!

In Yosen's third match...

something unheard of was occurring.

YOSEN

Those guys...

Alex!

Tatsuya! I've missed you!

What a surprise to see you. When did you come to Japan?

Don't do that, Alex.

People don't often kiss here.

What? You're no fun.

Anyway, why don't we go somewhere we can be alone?

Excuse me, but could I step out for a minute?

-I'll be right back. -Sure...

Oh, crap. I was dumbstruck.

Who was that blonde girl?

Why?

Didn't he get a letter from a girl the other day?

Yeah, you're right.

I've never even had a girl talk to me!

Were they lying when they said joining the basketball team would make me popular?

That's why you joined?

It's not like that.

Whether or not you play basketball, you'll never be popular.

So mean!

You should start by getting rid of those sideburns and that chin.

How am I supposed to get rid of my chin?

Anyway, can I go buy some snacks?

He doesn't even want to tease me!

I'm sick of this team!

No one respects the captain.

Okay, okay. That's enough joking around.

Coach Araki?

I got the Seirin videos from our recon team.

Let's go back to the hotel.

You're playing Taiga tomorrow, aren't you?

Yeah, we are.

Have you already seen Taiga?

Yeah, of course.

By the way, I'm teaching him something I didn't show him while he was in America.

Really? I see.

But it's not as though I only favor Taiga.

I'll be cheering for both of you tomorrow, of course.

After all, it's a match between my two apprentices.

Win or lose, I'm expecting a great game.

Alex...

could you stop treating me like a kid? I don't enjoy it.

This isn't some child's quarrel.

Taiga is only my enemy now.

You're not my mother.

I'm grateful you taught me to play basketball, but...

I'm stronger than you now.

Game over!

That was crazy.

That was a basketball game, right?

That score wouldn't be unreasonable in a local game against a weak school,

but this has happened two games in a row at a national tournament.

It's the complete opposite of Touou's super aggressive style.

They haven't given up a single point two games in a row.

It's not enough to call their overwhelming defense impregnable.

This is the power of Yosen High.

Well, that's that.

What do you think, Okamura?

They're decent. They've got backbone.

When they hit their stride,

it's hard to imagine they're a team of first- and second-years.

They went as far as beating Touou in a shoot-out.

Their offensive power is probably the strongest in the tournament.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

A super defensive team against a super offensive team.

An unstoppable force and an immovable object.

Who will come out on top?

Seven out of ten, huh?

That should make it usable in a real game.

Amazing, Tetsu!

-That hurts, Momoi. -If you're here to distract us, go home!

But...

how did you get so much better in so little time?

We didn't do anything special.

In middle school he didn't need to shoot, so I never noticed,

but Tetsu sucking at shooting is like a side effect of specializing in passing.

Not that he had any shooting sense to begin with.

What?

Lose that side effect, and you'll be just as good as everyone else.

Combine that with your misdirection, and you've got a real weapon.

There's one thing that bothers me though.

Akashi's the one who taught Tetsu his current style.

Didn't he notice this?

Or did he do it on purpose?

Aomine...

-What? -Thank you.

What are you thanking me for?

I just couldn't stand how badly you sucked.

Murasakibara's strong.

It's even hard for me to score against him.

Besides...

I'm the one who should be thanking you.

What?

Nothing.

See you later. I've got to go.

The next time I see you, we'll be opponents...

Tetsu.

-Huh? -Let's go, Satsuki!

Hey! Wait up, Dai!

Dai!

Okay.

Okay, is everyone ready?

Let's go!

They're coming out!

They're the astounding rising stars making incredible progress in their second year!

Seirin High!

They're here.

With unprecedented shutouts in the second and third games...

It's the Shield of Aegis, Yosen High!

It proves we're brothers.

I'm sure you know, but today's opponent is at least as strong as Touou.

Half measures won't work against them.

We'll go with our strongest starting lineup.

Give them everything you have out of the gate!

All right!

You're a little stiff, Hyuga.

-Let's have some fun. -I know that.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results of your training.

Of course!

I'm ready to go.

I expect I can expect great things from you.

Don't distract us with lame jokes.

Let's go, Seirin! Fight!

Yeah!

We saw our opponent's style in the video. They'll come at us hard from the start.

But we don't have to do anything different.

Rebuff all their attacks.

Show them our strength.

Let's go then.

Are you ready?

Huh? Okay.

The Winter Cup second quarterfinal game between

Seirin High and Yosen High will now begin!

-Bow! -Let's have a good game!

-Let's have a good game. -Yeah.

They're huge...

Not that we haven't faced big guys before,

but three guys over two meters tall is intense.

It's completely different from Touou's piercing intimidation.

They have the intimidating presence of an immobile, giant tree with deep roots.

Haven't seen you since our street ball game this summer.

I didn't forget you this time.

Maybe I'll start by crushing you, Kiyoshi Teppei.

I'm glad you remember me, but I'd like to see you try.

Tatsuya.

Honestly, I didn't want to play you.

I wish things had stayed the way they were.

But I'm done worrying about the details.

If you're in our way, I won't hesitate! I'll crush you with everything I have!

I'm relieved.

Now I can play without reservations, Taiga.

You'd better not lose, Tetsu.

Tip off!

It's starting!

Yosen's starting with the ball!

Huh?

Oh, whoops.

Sheesh. He did it again.

Jumper violation, white Number 9!

-What? -Atsushi!

Oopsies.

You touched the ball too early.

Be careful next time.

He's always doing it. Don't be so easy on him, Himuro.

I thought I tossed it high enough.

I can't believe he touched it before it reached its highest point.

Seriously?

He can reach even greater heights than Taiga.

I didn't notice while watching the videos, but this guy isn't just huge.

His wingspan is exceptional too.

Just how wide is it?

His build is unfair enough,

but he also has unusually long limbs for a Japanese guy.

Well, we can't help that.

Let's stop a basket.

They're so intimidating!

They're so fast!

It's a battle of speed.

Their defense may be strong, but no one can outrun a pass.

He's open!

Go!

Who's free?

I'll crush him.

He's too tall!

I thought I had enough space.

He's unbelievable.

He makes Shinkyo's Papa look cute.

He's not just tall.

He's unbelievably fast for someone with such a giant body.

Countless teams have come at us in the same way before,

but we're not easily beaten.

Their defense isn't half-hearted.

But what if we go faster?

A sideways long pass?

In basketball, long vertical passes are used in fast breaks,

but you can't use crosscourt passes like they do in soccer.

Well, yeah. A pass like that would be blocked.

That's right. On such a small court, the players are densely packed.

It would never go through.

Changing your attack position in one pass is impossible.

But we have someone on our team...

who can turn that impossibility into a possibility!

All right! Nice pass, Kuroko!

What?

We completely outsmarted them!

And Kagami's shooting percentage is high!

That's impossible. How...

how is he already there?

Sorry, but it doesn't matter how fast you are.

It's not just his arms.

His legs are long too.

On top of that, his reflexes are exceptional.

He can cover that distance in a step.

You cannot escape from Murasakibara.

His defensive range covers...

everything inside the three-point line.

PREVIEW

If I win the Winter Cup, will I be popular with girls?

Everyone will be looking at you, not just girls.

Really?

They'll say they've discovered a gorilla that plays basketball.

EPISODE 46 FIRST BASKET

They'll treat me like a rare beast?