Haikyuu! Review

Haikyuu! Review

Warning: The following review may contain spoilers of the first season of Haikyuu!. If you wish not to know some plot details, or simply don't wish to find out what happens in the series, please exit the tab, and join me once you've watched the show. Or you know, you can continue to read, since you don't care about spoilers.

Anyways, with that said, thank you, and onto the review:

Despite not being a big fan of sports in general, I managed to enjoy Kuroko no Basuke's first season when I watched it last year. Though it was over the typical episode length in the anime series I usually watch, I still found myself really liking it overall due to the fact that the story didn't rely on every single shonen cliche that seems to be popular nowadays and it had mostly great characters.

I also watched Prince of Stride: Alternative in the winter due to the fact its main sport was running (or a fictional form of parkour called Stride), which I instantly related to due to being in cross country for four years (both years in junior high and the first two years in high school). However, I've decided to not do cross country these next two years despite liking it because it's not my main passion in life. I'm more interested in something in the arts field, and I still have four years under my belt post high school.

Besides, I can still run in my free time whenever I feel like it, so there's that too.

I remember first hearing about this series back when in started airing in the spring of 2014, but didn't really see more about it until the second season premiered a year later in the Fall season. When looking at it, I was instantly reminded of the video game Mario Sports Mix, where I played volleyball all the time with my favorite, Princess Peach, and how I had a lot of fun with it. Granted, I've never really tried playing it in real life (again, I don't really like sports that make me worry I'll get a concussion), but I may someday down the road.

At first, I wasn't completely sold on watching this series until after I watched Kuroko no Basuke and talked more recently with a new friend of mine that I met online who loves the series in general. Granted, I was intrigued by the fact that boys were playing volleyball (which I've never seen in real life before, since my school has an only girls' volleyball team), but I still wasn't really on board with this show, not even after seeing clips of a character that would appear down the line.

However, after it being a year since finishing KnB's first season, and me still not even being close to starting the second, I looked back at what I watched this summer and realized I was gearing towards shonen series. I thought, "Why not keep up the tradition?" and decided to watch this within a few weeks of wrapping up Seraph of the End, making this summer the Shonen Summer for me (or SS for short).

In the end, what did I think of Haikyuu? Did it impress me? Or did it leave me wanting more?

Well, it managed to do the former for me. But it was more than that. Not only did this show impress me, it REALLY impressed me.

Not only did the show have a great story, an amazing cast of characters, lovely animation, and a nice score, there were certain bonuses I never expected this show to pull out of its sleeves. And in the end, I think this could beat KnB in a sports battle whenever I actually watch the second season, which will hopefully be this fall (mighthavehintedI'mwatchingHaikyuu'ssecondseason#oops).

Basically, this show struck gold in every category, and is highly recommended for everyone to watch. Just to get that out of the way, since there's going to be a lot of squealing and overall fanboy/fangirl-like behavior in this review.

Let's begin with the story of this show:

Story

Shoyo Hinata has always wanted to play volleyball ever since seeing the so-called "Tiny Giant" play in the Inter High championships from a TV at an electronics store while biking to school one day, When he enters middle school, he's shocked to find out there's no male volleyball club, and vows to practice any way he can by himself in order to one day play in a game, if by asking his two closest friends to help him with receives or practicing against a wall in the gym. 

In his third year, three first years manage to join the team, and Hinata's two friends also decide to enter for an upcoming tournament, now that Hinata has a full team. Serving as the captain, Hinata promises that despite the fact their team is inexperienced, they will be able to win. However, they end up going up against Kitagawa Daiichi, a favorite to win the tournament who is notorious for their setter, Tobio Kageyama. He is known as the King of the Court, but the reasons as to why seem to differ based on several rumors. But what he is known for is his demeanor, as he is very serious towards volleyball and can be very intimidating.

Hinata's first middle school volleyball game proves to be his last, as his team, Yukigaoka, loses both sets within 30 minutes. After this game, he vows to eventually defeat Kageyama in a game once they get into high school, if they manage to cross paths on other sides of the net.

After getting more practice in before graduating from Yukigaoka, Hinata makes it into Karasuno, the same school where the Tiny Giant went and played for when he was in high school. He aspires to join the volleyball club with the intention to play for their team, but runs into Kageyama on his first day when he runs to the gym. 

Talk about another thing not going to plan! First, we have the fact Hinata's team lost in middle school in his first and only game, and now his self-declared rival is attending the same school he was going to instead of being an opponent. Things couldn't get any worse, could they?

Well, we're not going into over-dramatic territory, but Hinata and Kageyama find themselves in a pickle when the captain of the volleyball team, Daichi, temporarily bans them from any club activities until both of the two first-years are able to get along with each other following an incident with the vice principal and his toupee. As they try to find a way into getting into the club by saying they could be able to be friends and put down their battle weapons (this goes from straight-up fibbing to trying to challenge their upperclassmen), Daichi rearranges their situation. 

A 3-on-3 with two other first years who are joining the club will be on Saturday, and if Hinata and Kageyama win, they will automatically get on the team. However, if they lose, they will still be on the team, but Kageyama won't be allowed to play his favored position of setter for the year. He then assigns a second year that's a part of the team, Ryunosuke Tanaka, to play on their side, and the two begin to practice behind Daichi's back by means of early-morning practices (Koushi Sugawara, a third year like Daichi, finds out about the practices the first day the three do them, but he promises not to tell, and later helps out Hinata).

As Hinata and Kageyama continue to work together, they begin to understand each other more and form a partnership, and eventually come up with an attack that utilizes the latter's passing skills and the former's speed and agility that could leave various opponents in the dust. As the partnership grows into a somewhat friendship, the two begin to help out with the rest of the team in order to get Karasuno back to the Inter High championships and reclaim some of their former glory. 

But it's going to take a bit to get there. After all, we have a few practice matches against other great schools (one being an old rival, and the other hosting two of Kageyama's middle school teammates. Don't forget the senpai), and the Inter High preliminaries first. Oh, and we need an official coach too, plus get back a former ace. What will happen as Karasuno proves they are not the Clipped Crows and can fly again? Can they beat fierce opponents who are famous for several gimmicks on the court?

Overall, the story for Haikyuu! is definitely well-done. It is much like Kuroko no Basuke in the sense that the show has a balanced pace, meaning it doesn't move too fast for me to get lost or too slow so that I lost my interest. Plus, it does a good job at beating the typical shonen cliches that seem to pop up (and yes, that include the fact that Karasuno loses a game, but it happens later then in KnB), and the games are still very suspenseful, if definitely not more, surprisingly due to the two practice matches actually keeping me on my toes in the first half. Plus, gotta love the comedy!

But what I think sets Haikyuu! above Kuroko no Basuke is the fact that the story gives time for various characters to breathe, allowing them to interact in various situations that the latter had, but didn't use them as well. While the games of course give most of our players the time to shine, it's off the court where nearly everyone shows off more of their personality and distinguishes themselves as a person. This even goes to characters that don't really matter in the grand scheme of the plot, which I was happy to see. I'll discuss more about this once I get to certain characters in the next section, but when you've got a team that manages to not become a hive mind and bring diverse personalities to the table, it's always an amazing thing. 

I should also mention there were several instances of symbolism I felt were just on point. When the cats and the crows would come out to represent both Karasuno and Nekoma, I was just like:

The teams Karasuno go up against are Aoba Johsai (who they face twice: once in a practice game, and then in the Inter High preliminaries), Nekoma in a practice game, and Tokonami and Date Tech in the Inter High preliminaries before Aoba Johsai. We get brief game glimpses of Karasuno's female volleyball team, and a later game where Aoba Johsai goes up against Shiratorizawa. Outside of the games between teams, there's the 3-on-3 and a match-up between Karasuno and the Karasuno Neighborhood Association, which is made up of former Karasuno volleyball players.

My favorite game would definitely have to be the official match between Karasuno and Aoba Johsai, as this game is the most suspenseful. Normally, I don't like shonen battles or games that drag on for too many episodes, but I didn't really mind it for Haikyuu!, as there were enough twists and interesting events happening in the game itself to keep me wanting more. Plus, the atmosphere was so tense I was convinced it would pop at any minute and bring about ugly colors.

Oh, and can I mention the last few seconds of that game? DAYUM!

Unlike in KnB, I don't have a least favorite game, seeing as I pretty much liked/lurved all of the matches and had very few issues with them overall. 

But in the end, I was again impressed by a sports anime story with Haikyuu! It had all the same strengths as Kuroko no Basuke, along with some new ones for my viewing pleasure. I'm pretty sure the second season will have the same great elements, though may be a bit slower paced in the beginning.

Time to talk about the characters!

Characters

In my Kuroko no Basuke review, I started the character section by discussing the teams the Generation of Miracles were on (at least the ones that popped up) and what I liked/disliked about them. Much like with that show's first season, Haikyuu! manages to give each teammate their own variation in personality so they're able to stand out more from the leads. This also goes for more of the other teams this time around as well, though mainly to Aoba Johsai and Nekoma.

But one thing that's definitely better in Haikyuu! are the designs for each member being much more versatile, as the Karasuno volleyball team and the other main volleyball teams for that matter all look different (aside from Tokonami, since they were more of a side team, outside of the player who was Daiki's teammate in middle school). They don't look the same with their brown/black hair and black eyes; there's actually more than just that. As such, it felt like more of the characters mattered to the overall team, especially on Karasuno.

This section's going to be tricky to write because I have to choose a select amount of characters, since I'll probably be prone to gushing over all of the major characters because I like/lurve them that much. I swear, I could do that for 20+ people; it's a given.

So for now, I'm going to talk about the two main players from Karsuno, Hinata and Kageyama. But let's go over Hinata first:

Shoyo Hinata is a first-year at Karasuno, and serves as a middle blocker on the main lineup of Karasuno's volleyball team. Though he lacks the height that is needed to blocking balls from going over the net (he is 164 cm, which is around 5'4" in height), he compensates for this with his incredible speed and jumping reflexes, making him a threat on the court. He's given the nickname The Greatest Decoy due to how unstoppable he seems to be when working with Kageyama on his signature fast attack. Despite the fact that he's a beginner and isn't extremely tall, he wants to be able to get past tall blockers in order to see the other side of the net, much like the Tiny Giant. 

Hinata is typically very cheerful and loud, always seeming to be excited about something. However, when playing a game, he becomes a more determined version of himself, not willing to give up in either a practice game or an official match (where he can look quite scary). He can be easily intimidated by opponents that are taller than him by a certain amount, but he eventually shakes it off and keeps his head high. His confidence also improves throughout the series, as he doesn't get as nervous before playing games as he did before the Aoba Johsai practice match. 

But what also gives him more certainty is his partnership with Kageyama during games, eventually burying their old rivalry in the past. Despite the fact the two don't get along at points (Kageyama often calls Hinata an idiot or a dumbass on a regular basis), the two still have a good friendship and are able to work together incredibly well.

Much like with Kuroko, I managed to become immediately attached with Hinata once I started watching Haikyuu! And I mean, how could you not? He is just so adorable! I love Hinata not only because he has a strong will, but also because he's just so cute. He has some great skills on the court, and I like his relationship with Kageyama and how it isn't just a plain and simple friendship. It's slightly more complex than Kuroko and Kagami's bond from the forever mentioned KnB, and I like how the former two have more of a rivalry than just being plain BFF's. And even though Hinata may not look like a threat, there's always the great satisfaction in proving opponents and spectators wrong. With a mix of these two qualities, Hinata easily stands out among the pack as a strong character overall, but a very good lead.

Why must you be so cute?

Kagayama's up next:

Rumor has it Kageyama's nickname, King of the Court, was given to him due to his incredible talent as a setter at Kitagawa Daiichi. And while he was notorious in middle school for his talent, he was also known by the members of the volleyball team to have an incredibly bad temper, refusing to cooperate with any of them. As such, the nickname was born, and during a later game in the middle school championship, the starting lineup became incredibly fed up with Kageyama's orders to just move faster so they could hit one of his passes that they all purposely ignore one during the first set, and the coach asks Kageyama to sit on the bench for the rest of the game. What follows is KD losing that match.

Now in high school, Kageyama has learned a bit from that experience, but he still doesn't have the best social skills, often getting angry easily. However, he has understood that teamwork is pretty important in volleyball, and as such starts to rely more on the players of Karasuno rather than his own personal game. He has also grown to accepting other personalities that don't match his own, such as Hinata and Tsukishima, and his setter skills are improving (yup, he's still setter all right).

It's no surpriseI would draw parallels between Kageyama and Kagami because they are similar. Both have bad tempers, are aggressive at points, and occasionally have moments where they don't get along with their respective partners. But I think I prefer Kageyama because he doesn't read as stereotypical shonen male lead like Kagami did. For starters, we learn more about his background at the start of the show, and even if he looks like a total asshole in the first few episodes, I managed to sympathize with him. 

I'm glad he was able to turn around his behavior from trying to take control of the volleyball game (focusing on himself to be more clear) to focusing on the others around him, even if it took a little time. Plus, I can definitely see he's getting more comfortable being on the court and able to collaborate with Hinata. Their arguments, small or big, are done very well, and it's definitely a sign the two are adapting to their own strengths and trying to see how they can get better, a big reason why I like their partnership.

Time to shift onto the other main players at Karasuno. But this time I want to handle talking about them differently, giving them each a quick snapshot because I like all of them. Dedicating only a sentence to some of them would be too hard on my heart. XD

I'm going to go in order from upperclassmen to underclassmen, starting with:

Daichi Sawamura (Dadichi).

Daichi serves as a wing spiker (though is also pretty dependable for receives) when on the court, and is also Karasuno's captain. He's able to build a strong foundation for the team as a whole, and is very calm and considerate. However, he has proven to be incredibly intimidating when angry, and as such, he is feared along with being respected by his teammates.

Koushi Sugawara (Sugamama).

Koushi is the vice captain of the volleyball team, as well as serving as a setter (he was the official setter until the arrival of Kageyama). Koushi is typically very cheerful and gentle, serving as a beam of support during games, though he's also honest, admitting to Kageyama in the game with the Neighborhood Association that he lacks the skills Kageyama has as a setter and is slightly jealous because of it.

However, he is also a good player, being very perceptive of other's movements, and very intelligent, helping out Hinata and Kageyama with signals and signs when preparing for their fast attack. But above all else, he's someone that could be easily depended on, and that's probably why I like him the most out of the cast.

Though, to be honest, trying to decide between Hinata and Koushi on a daily basis is tough, as it always changes depending on my mood. It's like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy from MLP all over again.

Asashi Azumane.

Asahi is a wing spiker, along with Karasuno's official ace. Though he left after his second year following a match with Date Tech, a team infamous for their "iron wall," in which he never could land spikes past said wall and questioned his self-confidence on going back on the court again, he rejoins the team before the Neighborhood Association game following a talk with Hinata and Kageyama, gaining some of his old self-confidence back.

Despite his intimidating appearance, Asahi is actually quite fragile, being described as having a "glass heart," and Daichi mentioning himself that Asahi doesn't have any ace-like presence. However, he does starts to take his position on the court more seriously when he rejoins the team, and hopes he doesn't get the title taken from him while he's still at Karasuno.

Yu Nishinoya.

Yu is Karasuno's libero, known as the Guardian Deity. This is because he's known as being a great libero, earning an award for being the best out of his prefecture while in middle school. He's very energetic and easily excitable but still considerate of his teammates' feelings. He's very close friends with Ryunosuke (which I'll talk about next), and it's easy to see why, considering the similarities in their personalities, along with their infatuation with the team's manager, Kiyoko. 

Yu is also known to come out with random attack names for his receives, such as his most known one, Rolling Thunder (which makes me think of a Sailor Moon or Precure attack). Though he can act rather impulsive in real life, he's able to become more serious and focused during a game, giving his best on defense to make sure the ball doesn't hit the floor.

Ryunosuke Tanaka.

A wing-spiker on Karasuno who's easily the most intimidating out of all of them. Though he's actually pretty sweet, Ryunosuke is still brash, unapologetically loud, and easily angered. He's also very good at looking out for his juniors on the team, and gets very excited when scoring a point (in the 3-on-3, he rips off his shirt twice while screaming his lungs off).

Because he can be quite scary when he's trying to make frightening faces or just from his looks alone, most people are actually quite scared of him outside of the team. Though Daichi's there to make sure he doesn't go off the handle, he sometimes can't help but go after anyone who has a crush on Kiyoko Shimizu on opposing teams, since he has a crush on her as well. As such, he and Yu often act as guarddogs for people who get too close.

A highlight of Ryunosuke's character is when he asks Hinata and Kageyama to call him their senior (Tanaka-senpai), which he typically follows with a burst of laughter and, "AGAIN!" It's easy to see why underclassmen could look up to Ryunosuke, even though he at first seems to be pretty creepy (he reminds me of an upperclassman on my high school's cross country team I really liked).

Kei Tsukishima (Condescending Little Twit or Salty Hoe, depending on what you like better).

Kei is one of the first-years Hinata and Kageyama go up against in the 3-on-3 before officially joining the team. He's known by his passive attitude towards volleyball in general and the ability to be extremely blunt towards his teammates. He often pokes fun at Kageyama by referring to him as the King (even though it pisses the latter off) and doesn't really get along with Hinata due to the fact that he dislikes people who are very energetic and hot-blooded.

Despite this, Kei is still an effective middle blocker, due to being the tallest out of the team's main lineup, but his skills can only go up from here. Now, if only his attitude was improved on the sport in general, and he'd definitely be someone to watch out for.

Tadashi Yamaguichi.

The only person on the list that technically isn't on the starting lineup, Tadashi serves as a middle blocker. He is Kei's best friend and has been for a few years, seemingly being the only person the latter likes (even though Tadashi is told to shut up multiple times). Though he's a little shy and doesn't open up that much, he tries his best to contribute what he can to the team, even though he feels as if it isn't a lot.

As of now, he is currently working with Makoto Shimada from the Karasuno Neighborhood Association to perfect one of his special moves, the jump float serve. He is used as a pinch server during the Aoba Johsai match, where he almost gets a clean shot but not quite. But with more practice, I'm sure Tadashi will get one over the net. Next Aoba Johsai match, anyone?

So overall, Karasuno is full of a lot of diverse personalities and great characters, proving that yes, a sports team can be filled with people that can actually look after one another and treat each other like a family (throwing a lot of shade here). And while Seirin, again, had that in Kuroko no Basuke, I care about more of the characters here since they don't blend together in their looks and personalities. I like a group of characters with diverse personalities, and even if they act like one body at points, those traits still shine through. And Karasuno definitely has sparkle.

There are three other second years on the team, which I'll briefly mention when I do my character wrap-up. Same with Kiyoko, Ittetsu, and Keishin.

But what about the other teams? Time for a highlight of one of the players/captains, and that, my friends, is Tooru:

*braces self for fangirl impact*

Tooru is the setter and captain for Aoba Johsai's volleyball team, and is quite popular with the ladies due to his good looks. He used to attend Kitagawa Daiichi for middle school, and graduated after Kageyama's first year. Though he is known for being very flirtatious and childish, he's actually a very respectful captain, bringing out the best in his team members, and a very serious opponent others shouldn't underestimate. 

He also holds a grudge against Kageyama, who he affectionately refers to as Tobio-chan. This is because despite the fact that Tooru is a well-known setter in his own right (and also has killer serves), he feels inferior to him because of the fact Kageyama is also an incredibly good setter, and was pegged as being a great player as soon as he joined the middle school leagues. But he is also intimidated by Shiratorizawa's biggest force, Ushijima, which is his main reason for practicing as hard as he does, so one day his team can beat him.

Even though Tooru is kind of a slimy asshole (no, wait, he IS a slimy asshole), he is framed incredibly well so that we, as an audience, can sympathize with why he pushes himself as hard as he does. And even though he can be a jerk, he has his moments, whether it'd be his banter with Iwaizumi or any of his teammates, or pulling off a serve with the audience shouting "Ole!" in the background. After all, rivals don't have to be 100% evil all the time. And while Nekoma shows better examples of that, Tooru is a bit more complicated, and I'm interested to where the show will next lead his character.

Rather than make a LONG list over which other characters pop up in this anime, or skimming over some of the team members in Kuroko no Basuke, I'm going to go over team members from each team Karasuno faces off (not including the Neighborhood Association, but I'll list two in the Karasuno section) that I think are important and memorable. But like I mentioned earlier, let's first mention the last few members of Karasuno's volleyball team.

We have three other second years who aren't as important to the story, but Ennoshita stands out the most (the other two are Kinoshita and Narita), Kiyoko, the third year manager who has several boys all across the land crushing on her, Ittetsu Takeda, the faculty advisor who doesn't know much about the sport, but is still incredibly optimistic and adorable. And, finally, we have Keishin Ukai, the grandson of the legendary Coach Ukai who eventually begins coaching the team permanently following the Nekoma practice match (he originally was going to do it up until them following persistence from Ittetsu), who's very reliable and definitely cares about the players he's coaching.

Let's bring out the important boys out from the other schools, starting with Aoba Johsai:

Here we have Iwaizumi, Kindaichi (or by his nickname christened by Hinata, Onion Top), and Kunimi.

For Nekoma, we have:

Kuroo, Kenma, Yaku, Taketora, and Inuoka.

From Tokonami, only one's a stand-out:

Hayato.

Finally, there's Date Tech, which has:

Aone and Futakuchi.

Besides the various other team members, managers, coaches, and alumni, we also have the captain of the female volleyball team at Karasuno, Yui Michimiya. Aside from that, I think I covered everyone else for now. XD

Animation

The animation for this series was produced by Production I.G, who are also known for the other big sports series Kuroko no Basuke, Blood+, and Maria the Virgin Witch.

When I watched Kuroko no Basuke, the animation for the series was very well-done. There were a couple of issues I did manage to catch, such as odd hair from Kise earlier on, and weird muscular inconsistencies I'm pretty sure were able to get fixed on DVD. So when I started to watch Haikyuu!, I was hoping the great highs that were in KnB would be reached.

Good news is that they were, even maybe better too. Some of the quirks such as the silhouetted necks and realistic sweat pop up again, but overall, I can tell a lot of effort was put into this production. Nearly everything is this show was good in terms of animation, from movement to character consistences, and even when the animation dips a little bit, it's not majorly noticeable to throw off viewers because of it. Watching games is always exciting, and the comedy bits have their own feel to them as well.

There wasn't as much subtle manservice compared to Kuroko no Basuke, but then again, I shouldn't always be looking for that in every single sports anime I watch. We're not pulling a Free: Iwatobi Swim Club here. XD

But other than that, everything is gorgeous in this series, and I'm pretty sure Production I.G. will keep their focus on making it maintain that way.

Sound

The score for this series was composed by both Yuuki Hayashi and Asami Tachibana. Both have worked before on Soul Eater NOT! and Robotics;Notes together, though the former has lent his talents to DRAMAtical Murder, Kiznaiver, and Diabolik Lovers. Asami Tachibana has worked on the OST's for Aoharu x Machinegun, Seraph of the End, and Attack on Titan: Junior High.

The last collaboration between these two composers proved to be successful, but the funny thing about it was that the two shows in question (Soul Eater NOT! and this one) premiered in the same season. However, I prefer Haikyuu!'s score because there were more moments where I instantly glued my eyes to the screen, hungry to watch more. Like all of the scores I like, there's a great balance between pieces that are bright and peppy against ones that aren't. Both Hayashi and Tachibana work incredibly well together and on their own, their styles working together to create a very cohesive work.

Switching onto the topic of voice-acting, Haikyuu! brings out the best in that too. If you're expecting a lot of cross-over between this and Kuroko no Basuke, there's not a ton (outside of Yoshimasa Hosoya for now, whose role as Asahi is a complete opposite character compared to Junpei), and offering up the main roles of both Hinata and Kageyama to seiyuus that were relatively new at the time (Ayumu Murase and Kaito Ishikawa respectively). But all around, the cast for this series does an amazing job at bringing their A-game, and that goes even to the side characters that don't play a big role in the show's overall plot.

I have seen around that a demand for an English dub from Sentai Filmworks (the company who owns their series's distribution rights in the US) is pretty high, so we'll have to wait and see if that will come true in the future. I'm personally indifferent to the idea due to experiences with Sentai dubs in the past, but if it gives them the chance to expand their male acting pool, that'd be good.

Highlights include Ayumu Murase, Kaito Ishikawa, Satoshi Hino, Miyu Irino, Yoshimasa Hosoya, Yu Hayashi, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Koki Uchiyama, Soma Saito, Toshiki Masuda, Kazunari Tanaka, Hiroshi Kamiya, Kaori Nuzaka, Asami Seto, Shuhei Sakaguchi, Tomoaki Maeno, Daisuke Namikawa, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Arthur Lounsbery, Makoto Furukawa, Atsushi Tamaru, Yuichi Nakamura, Yuki Kaji, Seigo Yokota, Shinnosuke Tachibana, Kyosuke Ikeda, Hiroki Matsukawa, Masatomo Nakazawa, Nobuaki Fukuda, and Hiromu Miyazaki.

Verdict

Overall, I'm completely surprised I grew to like this anime series as much as I did. Much like with slice-of-life shows, I haven't found a bad sports anime yet, though I haven't explored the genre as much as the other one I've mentioned. But in the end, this series caught me by its claws from the first episode and wouldn't let me go. Everything across the board was addicting, and this guy is looking forward to more of this series.

This is highly recommended to fans of sports anime who haven't seen this show yet, to people who want to have a whole group of likable characters to root for, people who want a longer anime series to binge, or fans of all the feels, because this show will definitely give you those.

Score: 10/10

Positives:

Great story and pace.

Lovely characters who are all likable in their own way.

Great character development even for some of the side characters.

Pretty animation.

Fantastic score.

Great voice acting.

Games are entertaining and intense.

Very enjoyable to watch.

Negatives:

None major.