2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu

This anime isn't that great. I came for at least a decent anime with episodes containing good volleyball matches and interactions between interesting character. I just finished watching episode 4 and as for now, this anime is very disappointing.
Story : 3
Just boring, generic and predictable. No good interactions between characters.

Art: 6
Looks pretty good cannot fault it here, it looks a bit scruffy but overall its not bad and pretty good
Edit: The art looks really good but the animation is pretty horrible to watch, especially during games (as i just watched episode 7)

Sound: 7
The opening for this anime is incredible. One of the best openings I've ... heard over the past year (its on the level of the jujutsu kaisen opening imo). The ed is pretty good aswell. Other sound is just ok.

Character: 1
Absolutely shocking. These characters are all so boring and I struggle to like any of them. The two main characters are boring and have awkward interactions that make me cringe. And all the other characters are just basic and nothing special. This is one reason the show is a let down.
Ep5: still hate kuroba
Ep6: New guy (ace) is a decent character, the head coach for the other team is another wimp.

Enjoyment: 3
The only enjoyment i got from this is vibing to the opening and seeing the ball get hit but other than that it was not very enjoyable

Overall : 3 (average is 4.0 but the opening isnt really good enough for me to give this score)

I had high hopes for this ever since the first episode, but that quickly diminished as the series goes on.
The story became a pile of rubbish, ruined by rushed pacing. The story itself is decent, but paired with bad pacing, then it'd be much much worst than it actually is.

The characters are non-existent. Basically, anyone other than the two main characters and the two rival characters, aren't developed to make them "characters". There are the captain and the other guy (forgot his name cause that's all they are, forgettable) that got little development. But all their interaction and development are so stiff and unnatural that ... when it comes to their friendship, it doesn't feel like friendship but as bromance.

Animation is average. But considering the studio behind it, David Production, I expected too much. Same thing happened with Hataraku Saibou season 2, but it doesn't seem like they are focusing on either anime since they don't have any fantastic animation.

Music is the only saving grace of this anime. And even then, it's just the opening and ending that are exceptional. The OST is average, and the timing is decent. The opening and ending are some of the best in this winter season.

Overall, it's a disappointing mess of a series that with a longer run, could have fix a lot of problems that I have.
(4.4/10)

Whenever shows that tend to be setting up on the wavelengths of superior ones before it, the most apt case of comparison will be the most unsightly one...and in this case, 2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Team will get the most flack for looking like the "superiorally" inferior rip-off to one of the most prominent volleyball shows ever made: Production I.G's Haikyuu!. But yet, I implore you to hold off that comparison.

Also, 2.43 is the height of the net for male volleyball: 2.43m, and the same could be said for the level of ambition for the show: too high, and when it drops, it ... hits the floor like a ticking time bomb.

Backtracking to when this show got its first PV, not gonna lie, despite the marketing that tries to show what 2.43 is at the hinds of its legs, some of us had the inkling that 2.43 is inherently similar to said show (at the time when Haikyuu! was all but wrapping up soon), especially with the volleyball setting. But while the show is heavily skewed in that direction, you could say that it was in actual fact a mix of that with some character drama, akin to Akane Kazuki's Hoshiai no Sora a.k.a Stars Align, but with the entire recluse of the original novel's setting that's similar to Summer 2016's Battery (similar settings, but a different sport of baseball).

It pains me to say this, but looking back at Battery and inferingly comparing to 2.43, there are indeed comparisons to be made: both are based off a novel, the synopsis of 2 guys (one strong and one weak, mentally) trying to recognize each other's radar of presence and support one another until they reach their objective and aim high for whatever they do. Yeah, you read that right: "grappling to find the true joy of the sport", and that's as much indicative for poorly mentally character-induced "drama" that just had a resolution with the many poutings and jealousies of the central duo that kinda rubs people the wrong way. You could argue that it's realistic, but I'd try to quote as much on the story and character fronts:

While Battery is not the standard hype-inducing kind of sports show that focuses most of its matter into the game being played, 2.43 inherently wants us viewers to see that the sport (which in this case, volleyball) is but only a medium platform to the plot...maybe too much, because it easily overshadowes the sport for a sacrifice for character development when hype-induced levels of animation like David Production's prove that it's effective to tell a story with great animation and visuals. And that right there is where 2.43 loses its hidden character drama plot, and I have an inkling that the production committee behind this show also knows it as well, and all they had to do was the get the best studio for animation effects, and it's DavidPro they've chosen to hide all these erroneously seemingly related-but-unrelated stuff to cover their tracks. Bad move.

Back to the whole character drama farce, it focuses heavily on the interaction between its characters, but also makes it glaringly rather difficult to say if it really even has much of a ‘story’ per se. Characters ARE a good source of material, and is one of, if not the most important agenda when it comes to character drama shows because of investment values for growth and development in the right stance. That being said, it's a disappointment that the characters doesn’t manage to carry themselves all that well, especially with the main Seiin duo Yuni Kuroba and Komichika Haijima. Both are physically efficient at what they do (and that's a good sign), but generically suck so bad at trying to relate with one another about their whims and getting along together (blame it mostly on the naive Kuroba) that unfortunately, isn't soakingly easy and is heavy to churn down on a one-way street. It’s like a never-ending struggle that feels like it could’ve been told better, but with the drama feeling so empty and everything feeling so bland (that is except the volleyball moments), it’s hard to really care much about anything that goes after the point of no return.

It’s quite obvious that a bigger topic is trying to be discussed behind the innocent front of sports shows but it’s just too bad that the message doesn’t properly come across unless you genuinely make an effort to really reach out for it. If I'd have to take a wager, replace the entire Seiin team for the opposing team, Fukuho Technical High School (which is Subaru Mimura and his team), because their circumstances are much more relatable and doesn't feel all that forced than what's found at Seiin. Take my word that when the focus is skewed in the main characters' direction, the side characters will try to make their mark as relevant as possible, and while 2.43 certainly did that, it's more so for progressing the "victory" plot than actually addressing the hidden core problem that is character motivation that development-wise, falls flat on its face with little to no stronghold. I know that Stars Align definitely did a better job than 2.43 overall, that's for sure, even if the character demographic is vastly different (young teens vs. young adults).

The bad times are over, and onto the good ones:
For anyone who has ever watched an inkling of shows made by David Productions, you know that the studio has the animation power to excel, and I'm nonchantantly sounding like a broken record, but it absolutely delivers in the similar veins to Haikyuu! on a production level. Also, its presentation is made to look like Stars Align in the watercolour space, so at least you'd have a better reference than always going for the juggernaut.

The soundtrack is supposed to help in the downtimes of moments like these, but somehow I find that to be particularly lacking, not because I don't remember what happened in those scenes where charater alleviation is supposed to be mattered most, but...it's just lacking, there's that. In other case, the OP slaps volleyballs to a T. It's definitely the right song for the right moment, and that is easily a plus for me. The same could not be said for the ED, much less its watercolour and creative visuals. It just sounds so generic and repetitive.

In conclusion, to be maligned into such a time as this to deliver on what is already the strong backdrop of similar shows of yesteryears past, I can't say that I can't recommend 2.43 for what it is, because as much as the anime has shown, hype for one aspect cannot uplift the others. It's like a weighing counter that has feathers on one side that are counteracted by the weight of solid objects on the other, and that's no good of a balance. If you like it, then I'm OK with it, no hatred for such lengths, but personally, I gear towards Stars Align more than 2.43 for a better experience.

2.43 should be the overall score for this anime, just like its namesake.

Am I the only only one extremely confused about certain parts of the ending?

The flow of the story is basically nonexistent and is extremely choppy and unclear. Like someone else mentioned in their review, the time skips and such are very messy.

The only likeable characters are Seiin's two third years, especially the tallest one who is actually quite amusing.
It's quite hard to gauge any of the characters' motivations since they're so wishy-washy and vague with unnecessary outbursts.

However I will see the anime through till its end just to give it the chance to ... redeem itself, I'm not holding my breath though.

I have to say though the opening is pretty good.

I gave the show a chance since it is a sport anime and I really like them.

While I would have love to see how the team finds success, it was just painful to watch since characters are so annoying.

They feel really forced and even if something happens which should have give them some sort of character development, they brush it of and go back to their core.

E.g,. One of the main characters (who is supposed to be the innocent type, just wanting to play Volleyball with a certain someone) just causes trouble and then denying that its his fault. Or him taking ... Volleyball too seriously and wondering why he can't see eye to eye with a certain friend, who is all serious and passionate about it. It just repeats itself.

There are other characters who behave sort of forced for the sake of drama. I quit. Sorry it's just not to my taste, since I have been spoiled with fantastic characters and their development in Haikyuu.

Nonetheless I hope others will at least give this show a chance and make a call for yourself.

I decided to drop it.

This anime is what we call "Peak-Mid". Its story is mid, characters are mid, animation is mid, direction is mid, artstyle is mid, voicing is mid, music is mid.

The anime seemed less into Sports Action but more into Sports Drama/ SoL. However, the issue with this is that the viewers aren't here to see tons of characters just talking to each other for 90% of the episodes 90% of the time UNLESS you got an incredible story/ character writing which ofcourse was not there and ended up being MID. The characters kept on talking and talking and talking and trying to make viewers understand their ... emotions, and here I'm like Bro I can't connect with you.

In the 2nd last episode our genius MC said "I don't want this match to end", and here I'm like, Bro I need to watch the next anime, please end! I came to see something like Haikyuu! and you're not even giving something like Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru. Neither action nor drama/ SoL.

The MC...the genius guy whatever his name was...looked like we got Kageyama's personality and Tsukki's height and face in one character (both are characters from another volleyball anime Haikyuu!). And we got another tall guy, our other MC called Kuroba who again looked MID in all aspects. His height was pretty exaggerated to be tall but didn't felt like he was tall as most of the teammates were themselves tall LoL.

Its made by David Production, the studio behind works like JJBA and Fire Force, both being incredible with their sound designs but here's where this anime lacks. It had only one good sound design, i.e., "The Devil Bazooka". Now, from the name one may think it sounds like a...BAZOOKA?...no it sounds like a bullet. Ok......can't be helped. The studio had so many things they could've done to sell this anime besides making 4 different MINI ANIME that no one will watch. Some good sound design or atleast hype animation nowadays works, but they went for everything MID. Looks like they just wanted to remind people that they do make anime besides JJBA and Fire Force.

Overall, skip this anime. If you want to watch some good sports anime, just watch Haikyuu!, Hajime no Ippo, Ashita no Joe, Slam Dunk, One Outs, etc. there's lots there. PEACE ✌.

1. Story (1)
Unoriginal plot, cringey dialogue, unrealistic goals, neverending cliches, confusing story line and structure

2. Art (6)
Yuni looked pretty good in some scenes, I would've rooted for him more if he wasn't such an asshole MC

3. Sound (9)
Amazing OP, never skipped it at all, decent ED except for the out-of-tune verse, amazing chorus, emotional OST that the anime didn't deserve, not a 10 bc exaggerated volleyball SFX, the volleyball hitting the ground sounded like a gunshot is this a sports anime or a mafia thriller

4. Character (1)
disgusting character design, superficial motivations, shallow personalities, redundant dialogue, contrived interactions, unmemorable/irrevelant extras, nonexistent character development, where ... is my redemption arc??

5. Enjoyment (5)
stuck with this anime for 12 episodes for 12 weeks, which says something

6. Overall (3)
decent music barely balances out the terribly executed plot and bland characters, OP is honestly the highlight of each episode


Read on for more dissing and hate :c

*** sorry, not spoiler free ***

1. Story (1) PATHETIC
why is this story pathetic? one, their team barely qualifies for the prefectural tournament in past years, but the anime follows their delusional goal of defeating the top contender aka the red team (theyre so irrevelant that i cannot remember their HS name for my life) but what are their skills? NOTHING, they have a so called "a c e" yuni who has limited/nonexistent volleyball skills and absolutely zero passion for the sport
follows their lame, undeep, one dimensional school drama instead of focusing on training and developing experience is this a homoerotic slice of life or a SHOUNEN SPORTS ANIME MY GOD
time line structure - in the first part of the anime, their ages were super unclear, I could not understand if they were in middle or school high school, first year??? second year???
training arc is a slideshow of the calender pages turning or the clock ticking instead of, yknow, ACTUAL TRAINING
so hard to follow the plot when there is no clear time structure, no deep motivations/goals of the characters except "to win" yeah wow everyone wants to win youre not special captain (i can't even remember his name)

2. Art (6) FAIR
The visuals in the OP were beautiful - amazing lightning and nice color scheme
the backgrounds in the anime were decently detailed, if only they could be like that the entire anime but no budget
Character designs are sketchy and it's painfully obvious that they are a ripoff of another popular sports anime
for a volleyball anime, their budget should go to the games/matches but those scenes were the sketchiest Ex) the blocks in this anime were so lame, the hands moved up robotically like a slideshow instead of the characters actually jumping
there was also a painfully obvious lack of muscles on these "athletes" but that is personal peference
instead of explaining specific volleyball techniques and their distinctive features, the characters force themselves to drop the title 2.43 every other line as if it is something deep but it's literally just a measurement of the volleyball net like why is that profound exactly its not

3. Sound (9)
OP is great, ED is great, emotional OST that regretfully doesn't fit the cringe dialogue

4. Character (1) PATHETIC
1) Yuni, our "MC" he heard first his buddy haijima went through a tough time with his "buddies" in middle school, but guess what he does at their first match together?? HE DITCHES HAIJIMA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MATCH WHILE THEY WERE LOSING BC HE COULD NOT GET HIS SHIT TOGETHER DESPITE BEING THE "ACE" even though he consistently received support/encouragement from haijima
furthermore, instead of apologizing for sabataging their team, he shits on the poor dude to the rest of his teammates like a snake, wow were they really childhood friends he DID HAIJIMA SO DIRTY
btw, this asshole never apologizes to him ever trust me i watched the whole anime
then in the second half of the anime, he became a background character with one line per episode talk about inconsistent

2) Hajima(the most decent character in the whole series), our boy deserves better but for the whole anime he carries his shitty ass team in middle school and high school
his ahole BFF Yuni the snake rats out on his "mistake" to the rest of the team, so now everybody hates him, but guess what his mistake was - it was just strongly telling his ex-teammate to get his shit together, and that dude "tried to commit suicide" which was LATER REVEALED TO BE FAKED so yuni just made haijima look bad for no reason
hajima also has an unhealthy dependency on yuni and overestimates him too much, saying that yuni is his "limbs" and dreaming about them going international when he needs to open his eyes and see and that yuni has zero (0) passion and laughable talent for the sport

3) the captain of seiin
he wants to win and has the passion, but so little skill that he isn't even a regular...how is this man the captain if his team can't even consistently depend on him?? (yes, he got booted off the team and became a bench warmer/floor sweeper who doesnt even join the team huddles because hes BUSY MOPPING THE FRICKING FLOOR LIKE A PEASANT), but bc haijima and yuni helped him realize his dream of winning the prefectural finals, he suddenly thinks he can go to nationals
His "character development" is making the match point against that subaru dude which doesn't even get fully shown bc the animators also think hes irrelevant
He's also a pushover by letting hajima dictate the team strategies and position, like is he the captain or not, grow a spine, dude

4) Subaru and his BFF manager kun
he was refreshing at first but became annoying as they milked his tragic past injury and relationship with manager kun
subaru's goal is to get his bff to nationals and constantly forces his goal onto his teammates like bruh do his teammates really care abt their captain's bf's tragic backstory to make it their high school goal
Manager kun's Incident In The Snow - pathetic, embarrasingly overprotective of subaru to the point where he would try to save him from falling on the frickn snow and breaking his neck seriously what a waste of club funds to compensate for his injury, they didnt spend enough club funds on strengthening the team to go to nationals, which is why they had enough to pay for the ambulance to take him to the ER PATHETIC
childish behavior - endorses a first year stalking their "rival" and disturbing practice - poor sportsmanship

5. Enjoyment (5) Mediocre
Honestly I only got through this by watching one episode per week but it was pretty entertaining seeing how the plot deteriorated exponentially each week, roasting the poor execution of plot quickly became a comedic pastime in this household

6. Overall (3) Poor
Never watching this shit again.

So, this is an anime that exists.

When I first saw we were getting another volleyball anime I was almost expecting it to be just as amazing as Haikyuu. However the first episode made me realize that would likely not be the case for me and I'll admit I was being really unfair to 2.43 for expecting such things.

Now, to break this down a bit:

Story:
2.43 has essentially the same overall story you've seen in just about every other sports anime ever. It has a few details that stand out but the smaller ones are not really touched upon and the biggest one by ... far is resolved in what I find to be a rather unsatisfying manner. Part of the reason for that might be the pacing which I find to be too fast. Things happen but there is barely any time to get to know the characters so whatever happens falls flat thanks to lack of emotional investment.

Characters:
Speaking of characters, they don't get fleshed out at all. I can barely name 3 to 4 characters out of 2 full teams worth simply because most of them don't seem to matter. There are 2 characters that get the most baseline character development while most of the others don't even get actual character traits. Now, I don't want to call the characters badly written, rather I feel like the writer forgot that the audience has no clue who any of them are and thus simply never established them in a way for the audience to get to know or relate to any of them. In a sense it might be more acurate to say a bunch of them aren't written at all but just thrown in there by gut feeling.

Art:
On to something better, the art. The art itself is fairly good for the most parts and the animation as well has moments that look great. That is until a) whatever is moving is further away from the camera or b) there's too many moving things at once. It's as if the quality is constantly swaying around sometimes being actually good, sometimes being all that isn't good and most the time just somewhere inbetween.

Sound:
I could not tell you anything about the sound. 2.43 has an opening, an ending and some soundtrack and regular sounds but they're not really noteworthy in any way.

Enjoyment:
In case you actually read up until this part and can't figure how my enjoyment of this anime was: it wasn't. I was constantly bored and didn't care about anything. At some point I genuinely did not want to continue watching it and only really finished it because I started it so I might as well see this through till the end. For all I care the best thing might have been the fact that most characters actually speak in a dialect that I'm just gonna assume is accurate to the region.

Should you watch 2.43 if you haven't yet? I wouldn't recommend it but if you want to feel free to do so and form your own opinion on it.

So normally I wouldn‘t write a review, especially for an anime that hasn‘t finished airing but I just wanna share my thoughts.

I decided dropping the anime while watching episode five so take this review only as a foretaste, an idea for the direction this anime might go into.

Before starting my review here some thoughts on the Haikyuu debate. Everyone‘s comparing this show to Haikyuu and I honestly don‘t see why. Both are so different in their approaches, we should give 2.43 credit where its due and evaluate it by itself, so here I go.

Lets start with the good things.
The animation and art style are ... solid and fluid and the volleyball scenes are enjoyable. It‘s kind of a laid back style but it fits the storytelling.
It‘s also a nice approach to focus more on drama and character backgrounds. The idea is, in contrast to the ‚normal’ sports hype, to get some real involvement real quick with the characters that can pay off emotionally in the intense matches. BUT!

Here lays the problem I have with this anime. The characters and the drama don‘t feel natural. The interactions feel rather artificial and honestly cringy at times. Also unreasonable, a great term to describe the actions of some of the (former) team mates. You just watched the two main characters blush at each other for no reason, hating one another at the beginning of the episode and being best friends at the end. So what I‘m trying to say is that there is no emotional hype or empathy building up, resolving in no pay off during the matches. It‘s honestly just weird and so are the main characters as well as the cousins and side characters.
Also, the pacing hinders enjoyment. There is a specific time skip in particular that threw me off, I didn‘t even understand what had happened. The anime jumped from the characters being in middle school to them being in highschool in a blink of an eye. Suddenly there were new characters, the relationship between the established ones were confusing, it was a mess haha.
What else. The opening is really nice, for real but the soundtrack.. Oh boy. It just plays at random times and doesn‘t help the dramatic side of the anime at all.

So these were all my thoughts for now. I don‘t think that I‘m ever gonna continue watching this show. I hope I could give you some insides tho.
This review, of course, is not complete. The anime might have a turning point and suddenly get better, I can‘t see into the future... So who knows haha.

A volleyball anime that doesn't have volleyball. Firstly, when you think about volleyball anime you can't not compare it to Haikyuu, it's simply a phenomenon in the genre, knowing that I was open-minded, not expecting anything like that and without making any kind of comparison, this anime is disappointing, apart from the opening, which is amazing. Everything is poorly developed, starting with volleyball matches (obviously, the theme of the anime can't be done wrong, right?) every volleyball match in this anime boils down to serve, lift and block, there's none strategy or that emotion of the ball coming from the rebound and the players giving ... their lives to save, everything is very still, there is almost no movement, I have seen a fate scene with a more exciting match and is not even a volleyball anime. The characters are detached and the protagonist is more charismatic as a door. But you must ask yourself: "the focus is not on the matches but on the dramatic development", that's what I thought at the beginning but there isn't, the formula is basically: create a conflict, time-skip, create another conflict, time-skip, resolves the first conflict that by this point you have forgotten what it was and the worst in a very superfluous way.

The anime is a good attempt at spokon but it remains that it tries to be a good anime. It never convinces you since the protagonists are repressed homosexuals, who do not let their feelings come out and this sincerely delays the whole series. Do not watch the anime is entertaining but having Haikyū do not spend to see this.


En español:
El anime es un buen intento de de spokon pero se queda en que trata de ser un buen anime. Nunca te llega a convencer ya que los protagonistas son homosexuales reprimidos, que no dejan salir sus sentimiento y esto sinceramente retrasa toda la serie. ... No vean el anime es entretenido pero teniendo a Haikyū no te gaste en ver esto.

To put it simply: I didn't like this anime very much. Seiin had the potential to be something great, but on all fronts in ended up falling flat. The idea behind having a more serious toned volleyball anime really interested me, as it did many others, but what I got instead was a poorly animated, not well written drama instead. Now, not to say I hated all of it, because there were moments that kept me hooked, but still, overall it underwhelmed me. Now lets get to the nitty gritty.

Story: 4/10
As I mentioned before, a more serious toned volleyball anime sounds like a great idea ... in theory, however most of the drama that comes from this is overly dramatic, and ultimately leads to nothing. Without spoiling anything, one of the bigger plot points in the first half ends being a false rumor, which made some of the character motivations and a good chunk of the plot feel worthless. It was all over the place plotwise, as if they weren't sure what aspects they should focus on.

Art: 3/10
Flat colors, unexciting and poor animation. At times it seemed all the budget would go into one scene where a character would spike the ball and that's it. For a volleyball anime you would think that the volleyball sections would be beautiful, but in all honesty they were quite boring.

Sound: 5/10
Honestly nothing to complain about, the soundtrack didn't really stick out to me all that much, but the OP slaps hard.

Character: 5/10
This is where Seiin's strong suit is for sure. While I didn't find a lot of the characters all that likeable, there were still clear and interesting character motivations for all the main characters. Seeing the backstories for both teams, Seiin and Fukoho, really added some depth to each character and you could cheer for both teams knowing what they were losing if they were to lose the match. I will say that there wasn't a whole lot of charcater development excpet for maybe Haijima who starts off as a rude, mean, and overly bossy, but by the end realizes how much he needs his team, and how much he cares for them.

Overall Enjoyment: 4/10
As I said before, everything about this anime was simply underwhelming. I wouldn't go as far as saying its bad because there were still some aspects that made it enjoyable to an extent, and some plot points definitely added an interest factor... However there really isn't anything special about it. It's pretty average and I wouldn't recommend it unless you like drama, or have some extra time on your hands.

TL;DR: This anime is flat and underwhelming in all aspects, while it isn't necessarily bad, I wouldn't suggest wasting your time on such an average and clichéd overly dramatic sports anime.

This is my 2nd review please excuse any mistakes or if it doesnt make much sence!! I dropped this anime after 3 episodes. It was quite boring I have to say. It doesnt have much oomph to it, it sort of just strings along and along. Theres not much development or any kind of entertaining plot over the episodes I have seen and I honestly just couldnt watch anymore. It was average it lacked entertainment. This might be your kind of thing if you like quiet slow kinds of anime the kind to just put on in the background I think this would suit well ... for that but it is quite a boring storyline.

To be honest i wouldn't recommend this to anyone the anime is pretty average or i will say below average animation is sometime decent but when compared to other anime of such kind it lacks everything from character development to pace of story and even the plot is quite confusing to me i donno its just me or i think the creator himself is quite confused the anime is incomplete so ill have to read its manga maybe that is better than anime i hope at least but i wouldn't recommend this to anyone i could've made more detailed review but don't wanna put spoilers ... for you if you still wanna give it a try no harm its pretty short 12ep only

2.43 Seiin High School Volleyball is like the greatest shounen sports formula speedrun ever. I've never seen a sports anime that rushed through every arc in this manner. There's a specific reason that any sports manga about high school sports is at least 250 chapters long. It is not plausible to even go into the first tournament before getting to know the main team thoroughly. Practice games, normal practice, after practice, lunch times, club room conversations, and of course a training camp are probably going to feature before the protagonists even start their first regional tournaments. Please go watch something more worth your time like ... Big Windup or Ace of the Daimond.

This review will contain some spoilers so if you haven't watched the anime or read the novel and don't want to be spoiled then ignore this.






I really wanted to love this anime. I love watching volleyball (irl and in shows) and love the sports anime genre in general. But this was just not it for me. I understand that this isn't really a full on sports anime per se, more on the drama end (completely fine with, I'm really not too picky with genres. Some I like more than others, but at the end of the day the genre doesn't ... really matter to me.).

In all honesty, there were some episodes that I really liked, others I hated, but as a whole the series was a 6 at best for me personally, but I'm really leaning towards more of a 4 here.

A lot of the time the dialogue just seemed dry and there was so much conflict being tossed around. One moment there's some big fight here but oh it's resolved within the episode. More conflict, yeah we were actually faking that the whole time so glasses would join the team or something. To me it was the equivalent of "and it was all just a dream" kinda thing. Could this kinda thing be executed well? Of course, but it just didn't here.

Then there's the issue with Hajima's backstory. Initially I thought it was going to be a big issue that he could really learn from and better himself. I was rooting for some character development regarding this incident, but then it turns out that the whole situation with Hajima pushing his friend to the end was all fake and that his friend just wanted an excuse to quit volleyball? This could have really been handled better. It was just so off-putting that the thing that seemed to be the main conflict that the show was centered around for the like, first half of the series was just a bunch of rumors.

I will admit that I did enjoy the last couple episodes since they did stray away from throwing in unseasoned and just, bad conflict. It showed the real desperation of players on each team doing everything in their power to win. The last couple of episodes seemed more realistic to me than most of the conflict between characters earlier on.

I also really do love the art style, especially the eyes. It seems so average for anime, but it was also something that just looked different to the average anime style. It's hard to explain, but really just know that I liked the art (animation was great too).


Overall it was a drag for me to continue this anime after all the weird conflict. It was boring at times and I put off watching the last half for so long because of it. With that being said please know that these are my personal opinions and I get why some people loved it and others hated it.

I know its not Haikyu and i know all Animes have a own genre. But i dont like it, cuz in my opinion its boring.

1. The "Story": PersonA: *comes back*; PersonB: "I do everything for you"
Plottwist they are both male, one sided love? Im not interest in Yuri and in that case Yaoi... And Yaoi isnt in the tags... it feel like its Yaoi... And the Story isnt that great...

2. Art: its average not many details

3. Sound: its good but i think they reusing many sounds (presets or sound effects) of other animes so i mean its a 4 but i give a 5

4.->5
...
5. Enjoyment: They have many characters with personalities but nothing special... stereotypes... and you can see everything beforehand. you know in advance what will happen. And i say it the Story... I dont Spoiler here... but in my opinion its boring.

Conclusion: I cannot recommend it, but im the "Action-Dude" (i think)

Drop:


The real problem with this program does not lie in the fact that its broadcast period was practically at the same time as Haikyuu ended, and that many fall into this comparison or if the animation is weak, but it is simply that the rhythm of the narrative is terribly BAD and there is no other qualifying adjective that deserves in this regard.
In just 3 chapters our leading duo has gone from their 3 year of middle school to 1 ° of high school and that already says too much in itself about the program, something that in a normal story rhythm would end up ... minimally falling into about 12 adaptation chapters But this show is not interested in doing things well, it is simply in charge of establishing a starting line and an arrival line, although everything in the middle of it is a tremendous plain where nothing is seriously worked in depth, nor the past of the protagonists, their present, trainings, thoughts and developments in general, absolutely nothing.
So if not even the directors of the anime know what to do with their program, imagine our expressions as spectators when consuming it, with absolutely robotic dialogues from the manual or with characters lacking expressions or emotions, reaching the point of being a blank page being unable to empathize with them.
It really hurts me because I am the first to say that I want to love these types of Anime, but when I am shocked by the reality of the poorly adapted they are, it is difficult for me to find positive points to the program, perhaps the greatest virtue has been its Opening and nothing more, regrettable disappointment


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Drop:


El verdadero problema de este programa, no recae en que su periodo de emisión fue prácticamente a la vez que acabo Haikyuu, y que muchos caen en esta comparación o si la animación es floja, sino es que simplemente el ritmo de la narrativa es terriblemente MALO y no hay otro adjetivo calificativo que merezca al respecto.
En tan solo 3 capítulos nuestro dúo protagonistas ah pasado de su 3 año de secundaria a 1° de preparatoria y eso ya dice demasiado por si solo del programa, algo que en un ritmo normal de historia acabaría recayendo mínimamente en unos 12 capítulos de adaptación, pero a este espectáculo no le interesa hacer las cosas bien, simplemente se encargar de establecer una lineal de salida y una de llegada, aunque todo en el medio del mismo sea un tremenda planicie donde nada se trabaja en serio con profundidad, ni el pasado de los protagonistas, su presente, entrenamientos, pensamientos y desarrollos en general, absolutamente nada.
Entonces si ni los mismos directores del anime saben que hacer de su programa imaginen nuestras expresiones como espectadores al consumir el mismo, con unos diálogos absolutamente robóticos de manual o con personajes carentes de expresiones o emociones, llegando al punto de ser una hoja en blanco siendo incapaces de empatizar con los mismos.
Realmente me duele por que soy el primero en decir que quiero me encanten estos tipos de Anime, pero cuando me choca la realidad de los mal adaptados que son me cuesta encontrarles puntos positivos al programa, tal vez la mayor virtud haya sido su Opening y nada mas, lamentable decepcion

Spoiler free review***

2.43 Seiin is a failed attempt at a drama oriented volleyball anime and there are quite a few reasons why it missed the mark.

Characters: Many of the characters this show introduced were 1 dimensional and fit a specific role in the show, they didn't show much growth/change over the series and were generally uninteresting. The main issues with the characters is that they are hard to enjoy and get invested in. They are generally unlikeable and their dialogue scenes are often awkward and seem very forced. The biggest offence in terms of characters is that the "Enemy" team is a group of way ... more interesting and likeable characters who at least I came to like and found myself cheeringfor in the later episodes of this show.

Animation/Art: The art style for this anime was it's one redeeming quality, I very much enjoyed the realistic style as well as the few scenes where the animation quality drastically increased and gave an almost unbeatable section of realistic volleyball action. My main issue is that the animation was very incosistent, stunning one minute and then back to the awkward and lower quality animation the next. Overall not that big of an issue though

Plot: This show is not Haikyuu and shouldn't be compared to it. 2.43 Seiin is a drama show with a sports focus which almost always fails miserably to hit the mark. The writing quality decreases with each episode as pointless conflicts are introduced seemingly out of nowhere to drive along the plot to an overall disapointing finish. Not a single conflict of this show was interesting nor was it engaging. As someone who was very excited for this show I was frustrated when the plot divulged into the same characters making dumb decisions for no reason or random drama sequences that either made no sense or had no long term impact on the story outside of the episode it occured during.


Sound: It was alright, not much to say about it


Enjoyment: I honestly struggled to enjoy this anime, there were a couple episodes in the later half of the season which focused on their opponents that I enjoyed somewhat as well as the well animated sports sequences were good. Overall It wasn't that enjoyable though


Overall: 2/10 I wouldn't recommend this show to sports anime fans unless they are desperate for more sports anime. The characters are bland, the plot is forced and uninteresting and the animation is inconsistent. If you liked haikyuu or other great sports anime and are like "Give me volleyball anime" you might not be that disapointed from the volleyball sections but the overall plot will most likely heavily disapoint you. If you like bad drama anime you might like this but who knows.


Anyways hope this helps someone, Thanks for reading my first review

Just watch Haikyuu it does everything in this show better. The characters, ploy, growth, animation, intensity and writing are all better. The story and pacing in this are terrible its only redeeming quality is its sound design and its somewhat decent animation. I ended up cheering for the other teams ace because of his knees and being a third year. only the antagonist is giving any kind of interest, even more than the "main character". none of the other characters are even some what interesting. I had heard nothing about this show and saw it was made by david produtions so i thought maybe it ... would good but no its trash.