Haikyuu!

[Thar]

Dat wig part.

Also, Tanaka-senpai is bawls as sh*t.

[Wildflame]

Ok, so I watched the first 2 episodes and it was fun. Will stick around.

[Nicο]

Tanaka's fun. I forget the personality of the glasses guy but I do remember hi-

 

Oh, oh yeah, he's a keeper.

 

 

Second episode was fun.

[spoiler=thoughts]
My only fear is like a lot of anime, including sports anime, that not much actually gets done every episode. I mean, in this episode they met their teammates, got rejected and then they came back to start to practice. I'm kinda surprised that took up a whole episode. It's always a little bit of a problem with manga turned into anime that it's not always set up to have the peaks and cliffhangers of a 22 minute television show, but hopefully each episode will have a little more happen further down the line.

NEXT EPISODE THE BEST DUDE SHOWS UP SO IT'S OKAY[/spoiler]

I kinda assumed that it wouldn't get much done each episode because it isn't just adapted from a shounen manga, but that it's especially adapted from a Shounen Jump manga. That said... the fact that this is the way it's been turning out has been working mighty well for me in this case.

 

I do think they could do a little more some episodes though, but at the same time, I don't want them to do too much, it's got about 100 weekly chapters and it's been rightly confirmed for 25 episodes, so uh... could be too little if they go too fast, but I assume at this pace it could be too much for 2 seasons (this I can dream of) even. I can't tell what I'm trying to think anymore, uh... I'd probably be fine either way.

[Rodrigo]

I'm so hyped for episode 4 now. Kageyama and Hinata are finally in sync, even if not friends yet, haha.

 

Hinata improved so much!

[Nicο]

I'm so hyped for episode 4 now. Kageyama and Hinata are finally in sync, even if not friends yet, haha.

 

Hinata improved so much!

True that.

 

I think glasses guy could be awesome after his conflict or whatever but he's kinda getting on my nerves himself by saying they have no reason to act like that. Isn't volleyball practically all they pay attention to? So they clearly don't think of it as something they'd wanna do as just a club activity. That's kinda my thoughts on that.

[Astolfo]

For those who watched Kuroko no Basket, he reminds me of Murasakibara.

[Agro]

YEAH MY BOI TSUKI SHOWED UP

 

Kay few things I need to say about him.

1. You can tell he's actually pretty humble and can be a nice guy when he wants to

2. He likes to be a sarcastic a******, but a lot of the time, he's really just motivating everyone else

3. His jokes/insults are always either funny or get the best reactions

4. I have headphones, glasses, am a little taller than he is, was blonde for most of my life, am a sarcastic a******, and was recruited to play volleyball in high school.

5. Guys, I'm totally Tsuki.

 

On another note: this episode was a lot better and did a whole lot more than the last one, thank god.

[Nicο]

I just like to chill with dat slow pace sometimes, especially in this case (would never work for an action thing), but I'm gonna say I cannot disagree, doing more usually ends up a better episode and would definitely get me more pumped.

 

This seems like it would never do too much, mind you, and it's like the weirdest mix of more and less, because someone thought the match would have already been this episode too. They done a really great job setting things up and actually introducing the other first years before the match, I have to say.

[Agro]

Tsuki's still my favorite.

Also, Hinata is my second favorite. He's basically adorable.

[Nicο]

Ah, yes. That's why Hinata's still my favorite.

 

Let's see. Last episode was pretty much entirely the match, but I can't say that was too little. Now it was over before I knew it and we are told of a practice match with a really big name team. Also visited a few interestingly normal places. Tanaka you perv. Then we busin' over to the next match already. 

[Rodrigo]

Now I wish I could marathon this anime right now instead of having to wait for weekly episode. =/

[Agro]

I like the progress this show is making after the slow episode 2.

So my list of favorite characters are:
1. Tsuki: He's an asshole because he can, but you can tell he's got deeper thoughts underlaying everything he does. I think that that'll become apparent sooner or later. I can relate to him more than any character, so far. He's basically me.
2. Hinata: Continues to be super adorbs. Backing up Tanaka and getting super scared make me love him more and more.
3. Suga: He's a great guy and his losing his starting spot to talent. Gotta feel for him.

[Agro]

Yo, so after a while of not watching since I'd gotten pretty far ahead with the manga, I realized the anime had caught up and so now I have to catch up myself with the anime, so I'll either post more or edit this post with every episode I finish. Starting on Episode 13.

 

Hinata is becoming my favorite. He's just too adorable.

 

The character design in this show is really attractive, and some of the razor-like lines you see in some of the scenes like when Hinata jumps for a spike is like really cool looking.

 

The writing in general is just enjoyable and well done. Though the final point in the practice match in episode 13 was total bullshit for like anyone who's ever watched a game of volleyball. A hit returned by the cat-setter dude the way it was would never have been that hard to return, and it likely wouldn't have even bounced that high in the air. But that's like the one issue I've seen in this whole thing.

 

This is probably the best sports anime I've ever seen. I'm having a hard time not loving every second of it.

 

ep. 14:

Lots of montage music. The manager actually doing SOMETHING was interesting to see, but I still want them to actually develop her more, cause she's just kind of quiet there on the sidelines. Also, I know it's normal for anime, but I really don't like that they changed the interlude music and the ED, those were too good to give up, should have stuck with them all the way through.

 

ep. 15:

That heartbeat extra long pause thing was a little bit much. They're starting to only use the manager as a laugh over how overprotective Kageyama and shorty are over her, so I'm a little unhappy with how that's going. Hinata continued his adorable streak in this game waiting to get a serve. This show remains great. And the ED remains not as good as the last one.

 

Will hold off on 16 and 17 to watch before I go to bed tonight.

[Wildflame]

Watched up to 16. Asahi is just the best.

[Agro]

Just finished episode 17. And man, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, I get so into these games and get such a good feeling from seeing Hinata and the rest of the team succeed and surprise people. Like MUCH more than I ever do for any other show, especially action or fantasy show.

 

And whatever the idea is that "sports anime make you want to play the sport" is holding true for me right now. Damn, I really want to go out and play some volleyball.

[Agro]

bump because grey-hair is great.

- the part where he hits everyone then high fives the libero was hilarious (god I'm so terrible with names)

- he's smarter and more knowledgable and the fact that that's showing through here is super great, since I was really starting to feel bad for him.

 

Also, dis is #5.

 

This show is so good at presenting multiple small issues for every player and then making you care about how they fare in those small issues before slowly solving them just after introducing more to keep your attention. There's no overall problem that needs to be addressed like a lot of shows have, and yet the show keeps moving along and making you care anyway, and that's spectacular.

 

You just want to see these characters improve their game and win more and more.

 

Also, Tenta, when you undoubtedly read this, we should talk about anime more often on like skype and s***.

 

And of course, Hinata remains adorable.

[Fusion X. Denver]

I was happy for Sugawara this episode. He really stepped up and proved his merit by bucking up the team's spirit and being a good server as well. 

And I like the new dynamic being presented here, with the team changing their playstyles and cohesiveness depending on who's serving. Shaking them up in the future will be fun.

[Agro]

with the team changing their playstyles and cohesiveness depending on who's serving.

This is a big thing for me. I've seen a lot of sports anime that don't do this as well as they could, which is weird because that's how playing on a team works. Different people in different spots make the team play completely different.

Let's use American Football as an example. (only god knows who'll actually get this terminology) If one running back is a big power guy and he's going to be running up the middle all the time, you're going to want the team to play with all their big guys in on the middle, pushing forward to make a hole in the defense (it's more complicated than that, but that's the simple gist) While you can use the same playstyle with a running back who is smaller and quicker, you also get a somewhat more effective option with letting your team spread out, with many receivers on the outside to make sure the opponent's can't put 8 men right up the middle. It's possible to use that same tactic with a large back, but it wouldn't work nearly as well since it's much easier to run draw plays (fake the pass to run instead) when the running back with the ball is fast and gets on top of the linebackers before they have time to react.

Teams in football call the second option of running backs a "change of pace" back, which is exactly what Sugawara is for whats-his-face (man I suck at names). This can be applied to a whole bunch of different sports in a similar manner, but I don't see it as much as I should since it's such an obvious thing to do. Even in Eyeshield 21, a manga/anime ABOUT FOOTBALL, I can't really remember any time when it happened.

So good on Haikyuu for pulling it off and doing it well.

[Rodrigo]

For those, and other reasons, Haikyuu is the best anime of 2014. Those little details, those small changes in their performance and playstyle when a player changes, they make all the difference.

 

And the chemistry between Kageyama and Hinata is plain ridiculous. Such a strong bond, such great understanding.

[Fusion X. Denver]

This is a big thing for me. I've seen a lot of sports anime that don't do this as well as they could, which is weird because that's how playing on a team works. Different people in different spots make the team play completely different.

Let's use American Football as an example. (only god knows who'll actually get this terminology) If one running back is a big power guy and he's going to be running up the middle all the time, you're going to want the team to play with all their big guys in on the middle, pushing forward to make a hole in the defense (it's more complicated than that, but that's the simple gist) While you can use the same playstyle with a running back who is smaller and quicker, you also get a somewhat more effective option with letting your team spread out, with many receivers on the outside to make sure the opponent's can't put 8 men right up the middle. It's possible to use that same tactic with a large back, but it wouldn't work nearly as well since it's much easier to run draw plays (fake the pass to run instead) when the running back with the ball is fast and gets on top of the linebackers before they have time to react.

Teams in football call the second option of running backs a "change of pace" back, which is exactly what Sugawara is for whats-his-face (man I suck at names). This can be applied to a whole bunch of different sports in a similar manner, but I don't see it as much as I should since it's such an obvious thing to do. Even in Eyeshield 21, a manga/anime ABOUT FOOTBALL, I can't really remember any time when it happened.

So good on Haikyuu for pulling it off and doing it well.

The deal with Eyeshield 21 is they had limited players. Normally they would allow some swaps, but they ended up having 95% of the team playing the entire game. Deimon Devilbats really only made switches for Yukimitsu who had sh*t stamina, Hiruma that time he got injured, and I think maybe they did the same for track team substitutes a couple times, hard to remember.

Although we saw a bit of this in the final arc when Japan competed to be in the NBA. 

 

Pretty much get the football analogy though, I agree. What's his face who's friends with Tsukishima, whenever he gets a turn, I'm wondering what effect he'll bring to the team?

 

E21 used to be the only sports anime/manga I was into, but Haikyu has really uplifted my sentiment for the genre. I need to check out Kuroko's Basketball sometime, heard that was excellent.

[Agro]

The deal with Eyeshield 21 is they had limited players. Normally they would allow some swaps, but they ended up having 95% of the team playing the entire game. Deimon Devilbats really only made switches for Yukimitsu who had sh*t stamina, Hiruma that time he got injured, and I think maybe they did the same for track team substitutes a couple times, hard to remember.
Although we saw a bit of this in the final arc when Japan competed to be in the NBA. 
 
Pretty much get the football analogy though, I agree. What's his face who's friends with Tsukishima, whenever he gets a turn, I'm wondering what effect he'll bring to the team?
 
E21 used to be the only sports anime/manga I was into, but Haikyu has really uplifted my sentiment for the genre. I need to check out Kuroko's Basketball sometime, heard that was excellent.

well yeah, taking nothing away from eyshield 21, I just thought it was a great thing to address in Haikyuu because I don't see it many other place nearly enough.

When tsuki's friend did something last episode (wasn't even playing the game) I gave him a cheer.

[Rodrigo]

So, to anyone who still doubts this anime's greatness, I suggest you watch episode 23.

 

I have no doubts anymore, no anime in 2014 will surpass this.

 

Even people who don't know about Volleyball can enjoy this great show.

[Fusion X. Denver]

This was an awesome show. Can't believe I almost passed on this.

 

Really great sport series, episode 24 had my empathy every step of the way. That last game was one hell of a rollercoaster.

Very well a contender for Best Anime of 2014 and a must-watch for fans of sports anime. Or anyone in general.

[Agro]

EPISODE 24 WAS FUCKING GOLD

 

Except when they put in that one dude because they needed an ace-in-the-hole. Should have set that up better.

 

BUT HAIKYUU IS #1 ANIME OF THE WHOLE YEAR SO FAR FOR ME

[Agro]

Let's talk about the best anime.