Story: 8/10
At the beginning of this anime, I wasn't really into it. Maybe it was cause I'm not a really big fan of volleyball or maybe cause I didn't really like the rival idea (despite the fact that there's a rival in almost every sports anime.) However I just wasn't enjoying it. I dropped it for a few months then I finally returned to give it another shot. I was surprised, was this the same anime I was watching and dropped months ago? Cause to me it was much more different. Anyways, back to the story.
It's your typical sports story, two rivals who try their best to outplay each other but are forced by the team captain to work alongside each other. The team then strive to win some sort of championship. We see the team's strong sense of camaraderie develop as each episodes passes and soon we begin to feel attached to it. However with this anime, each match felt intense, it felt as if there was no guarantee that the team would win, it kept me wanting more. I want go into too much detail into the story however I'll just tell you this:
This anime has changed my view on volleyball.
Art: 7/10:
The art in this anime was very pleasing to look at. There were some scenes where the main character, Hinata, jumps to slam the ball past the net and the way the studio handles those moments are just very beautiful in my opinion. You could feel the energy and power he's putting into that spike!
Sound: 8/10:
I absolutely loved the openings to this anime, the second opening being my favorite one. The soundtrack in this anime is also very... what's the word.. dutiable for this type of anime. An intense and upbeat style for intense moments and slow and calming music for sad moments. This anime soundtrack has music for almost every feeling the human can experience (except the naughty ones, stop drooling you perv.)
Character: 9/10:
Cliche characters with a twist. I know I'm contradicting myself but hear me out! The characters in Haikyuu behave how you expect to behave like however as the anime progresses, we begin to see them develop and break free and really change into their own little unique character. The cast of Haikyuu are really a fun and wacky bunch to watch, the way they interact with each other (Hinata and Kageyama especially) leaves a smile on my face.
Overall: 9/10:
This anime was a fun ride, at the start I was turned off however the more I watched, the more I began to see how good this anime actually is. I recommend it to any sports fan out there, if you're looking to laugh, cry and laugh some more, this anime is for you.
