Anime Review | Haikyu!! Season 1 Collection 2 (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Haikyu! Season 1 Collection 2 (UK Rating: 12)

This is the second part of the first season. The first half introduced the protagonist, Hinata Shoyo, a short boy who while still in junior school sees a high school tournament match and is sold instantly on the sport. Seeing the famous "Little Giant" of Karasuno - a fellow shorty who manages to be the best in a sport of tall people - he decides to follow in the Little Giant's footsteps. It's harder said than done, however, especially when he finds his school's team has been disbanded due to lack of interest. He fights and begs and practices alone until his fingers bleed, but his efforts pay off when his friends agree to play with him in an official tournament. This tournament is where he meets "The King of the Court," a genius player on the opposite team, and so a rivalry is borne. Sho is crushed, but his dreams survive.

The first half of the season was dedicated to introducing each of the characters of the team. Sho is the quintessential anime hero, and in a sport requiring height, he's a short bean sprout. He's always happy and energetic, with a huge jump to make up for his height. He dreams of becoming the team ace and spiker. In contrast to Sho, is Kageyama. Known as the king of the court, Kageyama judged everyone to his own standards, and couldn't abide those who didn't take the sport as serious as he felt they should.

The series played with the expectations that Sho and Kageyama were to be rivals throughout the story, perhaps at competing schools. Then, instead, threw them together as juniors on the same team as they both join the Little Giant's school, Karasuno. The school's volleyball team is already made up of some great characters and the addition of this pair makes for a compelling cast. It's the relationships and interplay between these characters that makes the series stand out against everything else out there. The natural relationships between roles in the team bleed over into the characters' personal lives. Kageyama, as the setter, needs to understand the players he's tossing for, since the team Ace and the Libero have history to get over and the team spiker sees his time may be coming to an end with the addition of the genius Kageyama.

The first half of the season was a lot of exposition, setting up the characters, and the premise for the story and giving the boys of Karasuno their first match, placing them in a practice match against the old rivals of their school, Nekomata. While Nekomata didn't have star players with special skills, it instead had a team with solid fundamentals who could work together. The practice match showed Karasuno if it wanted to make it on the big stage, its players would need to learn to work together.

The first part may have been the place for setting up the premise and introducing the characters, but that doesn't mean the character development ends there. Over the course of this second half, each of the characters continues to grow as more of their back-stories are revealed. The irritable and prickly Kageyama tries to become more of a team player, even attempting to give high fives and smile… while his team is terrified and confused.

The animation and art on the court is fantastic, which makes sense as this is from Production I.G,  which had plenty of time to develop its style from working on Kuroko no Basket. The same types of dramatic and dynamic bursts of action from that are also found here. The game plays out with smooth animation and then a sudden big move or play happens and the animation shifts into high gear.

8/10

Great - Silver Award

Haikyu!! Season 1 Collection 2 is a fantastic series that is solid in every aspect. The art, animation, and sound are all top class, and the cast highly likeable. Even for those who don't like sports or sports series, this is a show that can change minds. Hopefully, the next season should be with us soon and brings the Spring tournament for the boys of Karasuno, and also the final tournament for the third years. Cubed3 can't wait and hope you come back to see how a second season stands up after this superb first one.