The Intense Sports Anime That's Heating Up On Netflix

If you've been into anime for a while or are just getting started, one thing you need to know is that these Japanese animated shows, usually based on pre-existing manga, can cover a huge range of genres. Whether you are into dark horror stories, magical adventures, or teen dramas, there's definitely something out there for you. One genre in particular that people might be surprised to know is super popular in anime is the sports drama. There's "Haikyuu!!", about a junior high student who is determined to excel on his school's volleyball team despite his small stature, "Yuri!!! On Ice," a drama about figure skating, and many others. While some people might initially think that sports are too boring a subject for the anime medium, rest assured that if the animation is good enough, a school volleyball game can feel like a major boss battle. 

If you think you might be interested in checking out a sports anime, there's one particular series on Netflix that is quickly rising in popularity, and with good reason. With three seasons that originally aired in Japan from 2012 to 2015, the anime "Kuroko's Basketball," or "Kuroko no Basuke," is about a high school basketball team aiming to win the national championship. Does that sound uninteresting? Guess again. Based on the manga of the same name that ran from 2008 to 2014, "Kuroko's Basketball" is an action-packed story that consistently keeps you on your toes, and it manages to slip in some supernatural elements as well. 

In "Kuroko's Basketball," the protagonist is a boy named Tetsuya Kuroko (Kenshô Ono). Before the start of the anime, Kuroko plays on the unbeatable middle school basketball team at Teiko Junior High along with five other players known as the Generation of Miracles, due to their amazing skill in the game. After middle school, all the players split up and attend different high schools, including Kuroko, who is discovered to be the unknown sixth member of the Generation of Miracles, a "shadow" player. He starts attending Seirin High School alongside a boy named Taiga Kagami (Yuki Ono), a talented player who returns to Japan after attending middle school in the US. Together, they aim to make Seirin's little yet powerful basketball team the best in the country, and they must defeat Kuroko's former teammates one by one to do that.

As of right now, Netflix has the first two seasons of "Kuroko's Basketball" up on the streaming platform, which is about 50 episodes in total. Overall there are 75 episodes in the series, so you can expect to see a third season drop in the coming months. The series is very well-rated and often included in best-of lists, and on the anime streaming platform Crunchyroll, "Kuroko's Basketball" has a 4.8 out of 5 rating based on 716 votes. "Kuroko's Basketball" is a great pick if you need a new anime to binge watch, and it's got enough action and drama to keep you engaged and on edge through all the episodes, as Kuroko and Kagami fight for the national championship. Check out the popular anime series "Kuroko's Basketball" on Netflix now.