Originally, this was going to be a purely Kurobas blog, but recently I've become enamored with Bleach to the point where I think about what kind of Soul Reaper I would like to be and how nice it is that the life lessons in Bleach are rather straightforward. So occasionally I'll go off on a Bleach tangent, but since I'm basically 80% sure only a few of you actually know what I'm talking about in the first place, I don't think it really matters too much to tell you all this... If the day does come when my readers hold the same burning passions I do, I might explode with joy! Or embarrassment, because I can't interact with real human beings online.
But now, onto the real point of this blog: The Effects of Fame
As I mentioned in the last post, the Generation of Miracles are currently a group of high school first years who have incredible talent in basketball. Their ace is none other than one Aomine Daiki, the one who, outside of Akashi (a topic for another day), was most affected by being a member of the Generation of Miracles.
 |
| Aomine Daiki |
The definition of fame is to be well known, and the Generation of Miracles is just that. As they won game after game, year after the year, the Generation of Miracles became respected and feared amongst middle school basketball teams. The sheer force of their power led to the teams they were facing off against lose the will to even bother trying to fight against them, and by their third year, the GoM themselves had no will to improve themselves, because their victory was already guaranteed. That aside, Aomine was the one who wanted to stop practicing because he already knew that no one could even offer him a challenge, and that as he got better, the gap between him and everyone else would only widen. As he says, "The only one who can beat me is me." But this kind of mindset only took over Aomine once he reached high school.
But what, exactly, does any of this have to do with fame, you ask? What I'm trying to explain here is chain of events.
First, the GoM "bloom". Their basketball talents become apparent and they begin to win all of their games with ease.
Next, the Aomine is told by their coach that he doesn't have to practice anymore, something that the coach had objected to having to do because the GoM were still children, and shouldn't be treated so laxly. They still needed someone to guide them on their path. The desperation that things brings both Aomine and the coach can be seen in chapters 220 and 221.
The following pages from chapter 220 best represent the eventual price of fame between Aomine and his then closest friend, Kuroko Tetsuya.
Of course, Aomine and Kuroko aren't they only ones being slowly warped by the pressure of being who they are. The end of chapter 220 shows the seeds of dissent among the GoM, who are beginning to become bored with basketball and falling into the states they are in as high schoolers, just a little too assured that they are indeed, the best of the best.So in the end, what is the true price of fame?
In Kurobas, the fame of the Generation of Miracles led to the expectations placed upon them to increase exponentially. Teikou Middle School was already a place where nothing except victory mattered, and being the best, the GoM were required to make sure that victory was absolute. However, being told at their age (roughly 13 at this point) that the only thing that mattered was the victory began to destroy them on the inside. Then, because they were so well known, the reputation that preceded them everywhere left their enemies without the will to fight, further warping the psyche of the GoM. There was no challenge for them, and no more fun in basketball.
Their skill lead to their fame, and that fame was ultimately their downfall.
