HAIKYUU!!

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MOVIE ComedyHaikyuu!!: Owari to Hajimari
MOVIE ComedyHaikyuu!!: Shousha to Haisha
MANGA ComedyHaikyuu!!
ANIME ComedyHaikyuu!! 2nd Season
OVA SportsHaikyuu!! Ningyou Anime
OVA ComedyHaikyuu!!: Lev Kenzan!
OVA ComedyHaikyuu Quest

REVIEWS

• 

  BlueBlur

  80/100
  Deserving of It's Hype and Your Time

  Without a doubt, Haikyuu remains as one of the biggest shows to come out last decade and for some reason it escaped me for quite a while. It began airing right when i started watching anime and throughout 2014 I didn't pick up a single new anime to watch weekly for some reason. I only started doing that in 2016, so I had to catch up on a lot of stuff that I really should have watched when it came out. So Haikyuu came out in my first year of high school and I didn't end up watching it until my first year of university. Damn.

  Volleyball was always a sport that I enjoyed playing in gym class and is honestly one of the coolest sports to watch competitively. Enjoying sports anime really depends on how much you enjoy the sport and volleyball is one of the best sports to make an anime about. The matches are fast paced, the dynamic between team members is great and the high level of skill is immense. This is why Haikyuu works so well.

  Despite the matches usually lasting many episodes, it never feels like a regular battle shounen. There's rarely any down time during them and there's always something cool happening. Every technique the characters use is realistically flashy. It looks cool in the anime and is still completely possible in the real world. The players feel like they could exist in real life. The only thing that's unrealistic is the insane level of skill these high-school students have but that doesn't really matter, considering it makes the matches always intense.

  Now to the core reason to this shows success: the characters. A recent trend among battle shounen is how the rival characters usually are more friends than foe. Naruto basically perfected the antagonist main rival character so to see it flipped in such a creative way in Haikyuu was refreshing, even after six years of watching anime. Having Hinata and Kageyama on the same team, forced to work together was such a nice way to handle their rivalry. The main thing I was worried about was that it would take too long for them to really become friends but to my surprise it actually happened very quickly. It would have become repetitive if it took too long so I'm glad the story opted to develop it efficiently. The rest of the team are also really great. The third and second year team members all have memorable designs and personality traits, especially Nishinoya and Sugawara. Tanaka is probably the most enjoyable character to watch apart from the main duo, and it's cool that he's such a valuable team member as well. They might all be cliched but they're done so well that it doesn't matter. There are three other team members that don't do anything and they seemed pretty useless. It's not much of an issue since I've already seen most of S2 at this point so I know they're actually somewhat important. Especially Ennoshita who seems like he's gonna play an important role later in the series.

  The teams Karasuno faces in this season are all really entertaining and unique as well. Nekoma is a great friendly-rival team that makes me pumped to see an official face-off later down the line. Date Tech is a little less interesting but still has some cool characters and a good gimmick to overcome. Where this show really shines is Seijoh's team led by one of my new favorite characters: Oikawa Toru.

  Prodigy characters in this type of show can usually go down the path of being rather boring antagonists but Oikawa Toru is one of the greatest examples I've seen. He's a great volleyball player and always fun to watch along with his smart-ass personality and constant insults towards Kageyama. His random bursts into English during some scenes are always really funny as well. Entertaining villains is something anime goes 50/50 on whether they get it right and Haikyuu always nails it. Oikawa Toru being this show's crowning achievement so far in this department.

  Haikyuu is a show that knows how to create naturally hype situations. The fantastic character dynamics, amazing soundtrack and hype-as-f**k animation blend together to create battles that are hard to look away from. It's no small feat to create a sports battle shounen that works as well as Haikyuu and I think this show should be commended for that. It's a great first season for a show that will get continually better and better.

  Haikyuu deserves it's hype and deserves your time if, like me late last year, you somehow haven't seen it yet.

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• 

  pntweir

  100/100
  Hey so, one of the best anime I've ever seen.

  I just want to start this off by saying how much I absolutely adore this anime. Show-stopping, spectacular, never-the-same, amazing, wonderful, funny... Y'all.
  I'm gonna start off by saying the non-personal reasons I have for loving this anime first, because that's what matters in a review, and I'll also be reviewing Haikyuu as a whole and not just the first season, so, yeah.
  So in general, this anime follows the story of Hinata, a first year student finding his way in the volleyball world, especially as a short person. His drive and energy is legit inspiring. I don't like to just say it, but for real. I hear anime protags giving their speeches about what's important and what's not, but it never really compares to Hinata's drive.
  Another thing, the main cast of the show, Kurasuno's volleyball club all have very interesting stories of their own. The character development that Kageyama faces during the show is so great to watch. He went from somewhat annoying and aggravating, to my favorite character in the show. Literally in s4 he'll breathe and my brain says: serotonin.
  As well as the fact that the show gets you to care about the other teams just as much as the main team. It makes the watcher feel so much more when watching the matches. Half of the time, I hope both teams win, because I care so much about all of them. Neko, Aoba, Fukurodani, etc, I love all of them so much even if I root for Kurasuno in the end. Most shows tend to rely on the audience hating the other side in order to make you love the main team, but Haikyuu doesn't do that. In s4, I could not express how happy I was to see Kuroo and Kenma again. Like when they showed up on screen I was screaming, y'all. Same with Bokuto omg.
  I think it's so wild how this story makes you care about it. In reality, it's just some volleyball anime. But it leaves this impact on the watcher that I rarely see in other sports anime, or just anime in general.
  Also I know way too about volleyball now... lol.
  Now to talk about why this anime is so important to me, specifically.
  I'm a transgender man. I have a small frame, I'm actually the same height as Hinata (5'3-4), and I've never been involved with men's sports. Whether it's because I personally don't believe in myself like I should, or knowing that I won't be treated the same as all the others in guys sports. Watching this show makes me feel as if I'm apart of that world that I've never gotten to be apart of. That specific part of the -teen boy experience- that I've never gotten, one of many. It's like I get it back. I also get the feeling of having a close net group of male friends, something I've never really had as well as a trans guy.
  I empathize with Hinata so much too, as someone who is looked down upon in sports because of my body. But seeing him try so hard everyday, and seeing him be one of the best on the team, and just... everything. It inspires me so much. In fact, I plan on trying out for volleyball next year. I'll be on testosterone by then so hopefully I won't get fuckin bodied by all the transphobic white boys at my school :)
  Anyway. Haikyuu's given me something irreplaceable, I finally get to experience that feeling I never got to, even if it's just an anime.
  So yes, watch this anime. The original Japanese dub is awesome and the English dub is fucking hilarious. Seriously, watch this shit.
  Fly high, Daichi... RIP to a real one

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• 

  kpal

  94/100
  Filled to the brim with passion for the sport of volleyball and with compelling characters who inspire you to be better

  Haikyuu is a sports anime I had always heard a lot about but I never tried to watch because I thought it would be a typical underdog story and I have seen enough of those. However with so many people being emotional about the manga's end I felt like I should definitely give it a try.

  The show at first seems slow and typical, two rivals, one of whom is an underdog while the other is a volleyball genius and both of them ending up in the same team and eventually becoming a super duo. But it isn't the story that sets Haikyuu apart from every other underdog story, it is the execution. The love for the sport that the characters in the series have can be felt at every moment, that I find myself caring for the sport and wanting all these characters whether they are from Karusuno or not to achieve greater heights. I felt this even more in the second season.

  The first season starts off a bit slow but once the main rivals Aoba Johsai come in, the series starts gaining momentum, the team properly comes together and then the tournament starts. Haikyuu is exceptionally good at executing the matches, that even those with completely predictable outcomes manage to be compelling. I am far from a sports enthusiast so even I am surprised about how much I enjoyed the matches, as the series goes on, the matches are no less interesting than an action sequence.

  Characters:

  Hinata: Hinata is seemingly the typical passionate, driven and optimistic hero and he really is all that and initially I wasn't really drawn to him and his journey but his drive and enthusiasm eventually grabbed me. His passion for the sport is overwhelming and drives forward everything in the show, not just him but his entire team. His hunger for growth is inspiring, even if he is like many other characters on paper, he is certainly one of the better executed ones.

  Kageyama: Kageyama is also like several characters we have seen before, arrogant, rude and extremely talented but again he is one of the better ones, his arc in the season was satisfying as we slowly see him becoming a team player. Also unlike how he looks he is not the brightest bulb for things not related to volleyball. He and Hinata are pretty silly together and his "Hinata BOKE" is imprinted in my brain.

  Karusuno Team: They are a lovable team who like our main duo are passionate about the sport and are intent on reviving their fallen name. Nishinoya is great to watch and shines as much as the main characters in the matches. Tsukishima the tall smarty is also a key character who will be explored more in further seasons. The series dedicates a good amount of time to all the team members which helps us root for their success.

  Oikawa: Oikawa is the captain of the main opponent of the season Aoba Johsai, he is a setter and is Kageyama's senior from middle school. He is one of the best characters in the series, time is also dedicated to him and his team and by the end you want Karusuno to win but don't want Oikawa and his team to lose either.

  The thing that the show does really well is it tries to give some amount of depth to most characters we encounter, all the opponents key characteristics are highlighted and we even get to know them to some extent. The passion for the sport that every character radiates makes me want to play some kind of sport too or just move.

  Soundtrack:
  The soundtrack and score do exactly what they are supposed to do, they perfectly reflect the drive and passion for the sport that all our characters have and the show itself manages to have at every moment.

  Art and Animation:
  I love the character designs and yes Hinata is just another orange hair boy but I think it suits his character so I don't mind. The attention to detail at some points is great and the animation during the matches is just exceptional.

  I feel my review doesn't do justice to do show but almost no review will, it is difficult to capture the feeling that Haikyuu gives while watching in appropriate words. While at its core it is an underdog story, every opponent is presented as a human that rooting for Karusuno isn't as simple as it ordinarily would have been.

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