oh my god this is perfect, to the verryy detail. I can go on gushing about its beautifully flowy sentences, its painfully melancholic story and concepts (especially the part about hanamichi's never-quite-healed spine, his proof of being, his not making a big name for himself but rather growing up into Anzai sensei), its superbly apt and insightful characterisation. .thing. I have seldom read such perfect fic. Only one thing doesnt sit quite right with me: last line of akagi's paragraph: embracing life without basketball, with anticipation. It sounds a bit out of sync with the other ending sentences, and the 'with anticipation' bi tsoundforced and odd.

It was nice but you have jumbled their ages! But I think you did it on purpose [Well you better did it on purpose or else I could've strangled you.. KIDDING! _]... Keep up the good work...

Nicely written, but their ages are totally erroneous

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Just like your other stories.

Keep it up!

It's gorgeous! Sorry for I can never structure beautiful sentences as you do. All I can say is I love this ficlet of yours (in fact I love all of your works I've read so far)! It's too good!

I love Micchi. I love your way of showing his passion for basketball, instead of mere repetition of the original (such as Shoyo match which has been used for hundreds of thousands times). Your version is refreshing, and goes harmonious with Inoue's characterisation in the mean while. Yes, I love Micchi's bit, for I'm always interested to read stories on him. But to make an exclusive Mitsui fan fall for stories about others, you did really a great job!

Thank you, Laziness Incarnate-san, for the wonderful piece, and I'm looking forward to your next excellent outlet.

I like the thought about Sakuragi being a basketball coach in the future. I already foresee him giving all the team members their unique nickname. Heh. I never really thought about Miyagi and basketball. What you write about it is interesting.

wow that was beautifully written! I must say that this is the best SD fanfic I've read so far. Awesome characterization and how you tied everything together fits perfectly.

I loved this.

The whole idea was... I don't know, something that I've never seen in the SD section. It's creative, it makes sense and it gives us a very accurate insight on the players' pasts and futures.

Very, very good.

Much love for this fic.

Re: Miyagi

I think that he chose Shohoku over Ryonan because of Anzai-sensei, as opposed to Taoka-sensei (poor Taoka-sensei). But he wasn't particularly motivated before he met Ayako. I also think that your version is a very good explanation of why that might be.

dont know if this sounds bad... but holy shit! i really liked this! i never liked 'existential' crap, even the word bugs me 'cos some chick once used it in uni and i was like.. "blah!" but yeah, this was very well done. i liked the whole format, the way you plotted every character, the begining and end sentences of each viewpoint.

Argh! in my favs!

As usual, your organization and story structure is outstanding. You really tied together all the characters with the progression of age and the role basketball plays in their lives, and you stayed very true to the characters and their thoughts.

Mitsui and Miyagi's backgrounds were done fantastically. I love the irony in Mitsui's observation of the thugs around the school- that they looked tough but weren't doing anything at all, not knowing that he would eventually join them before rediscovering his love for the game. The introduction between Miyagi and Ayako was timed terrifically, and yeah, I know it must be hard to have written on Miyagi's past when there isn't much revealed about it. Despite that, you still managed to flush out what we know about him: about his dealing with the taller basketball players and being used to it. I thought it was great for you to show Miyagi wishing to deviate from basketball and to show a phase in his life when he wanted to get away from it.

Rukawa's past was excellent. It was wonderful that you gave his love for basketball a starting point, as well as a psychological influence that makes sense and fits Rukawa's character. It was also amusing to see how each of his first child actions becomes his first words.

Akagi's future is portrayed poignantly, and done very well. It was touching to see how Akagi still had an aching feeling for basketball even though he was playing it, and the way you summed up Akagi's character- that he was used to dealing with challenges, that to start from the bottom wasn't necessarily a weakness but a road to strength- was exceptional and again displays your wonderful understanding of the characters. I enjoyed the subtle jab about the benchwarmers too. _

Ending with Sakuragi was a great way to close things off, and I loved your sentence about him being the red-haired devil instead of the white-haired Buddha. That was absolutely genius. Showing his love for basketball and how it'll stay with Sakuragi mentally and physically was superb, and the blunt mentioning of Sakuragi "chucking balls into hoops until the day he dies" really sounds like something Sakuragi would say.

A very creative and insightful look into the Shohoku players' minds. I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad to see more works from you.

why didn't you include kogure? _

i just have to say, honestly, that this is well-written. it's putting into simple terms their "nausea" (to use sartre's term) about a life without that transcendental relation with a phenomenon, that is, of basketball; and this is evident in the series. their existential relationship with basketball is the very one thing that could maybe justify their actions as to why they're full of zeal to win the national championship(s). anyway, you've got simple prose here, but it actually hit the target. keep up.

Beautiful work as usual. Very nicely done. There were some lines I found funny:

His first memory: failing to toss an orange rubber ball into a laundry basket at his father’s feet. His second memory: succeeding in tossing an orange rubber ball into a laundry basket at his father’s feet. His distant third memory: a mother’s smile.

Rukawa and his obsession with basketball..good thing his father didn't kill him.

His first word: “ball,” an echo of his father’s voice. His second word: “basket.” His third word: “mama.”

This is even funnier.

These lines made me think:

Sakuragi Hanamichi is eighteen years old and has forgotten what life was like before basketball.

and...

Sakuragi Hanamichi has forgotten what life was like before basketball, gladly.

It was always nice to see that the redhead changed his ways after discovering basketball. I also liked the cult part..it was funny.

Miyagi's past did sound vague and confusing.