Haikyuu!!

Hinata Shouyou wants to be like the legendary volleyball ace Little Giant so he starts a new volleyball club in middle school. He worked hard to form a team by convincing his friends to join. But his dreams of advancing in the tournament was crushed when his team was defeated by Kitagawa Daiichi, led by the King of the Court Kageyama Tobio. However this did not dampen Hinata's hopes of playing at the competitive level. He vowed he would defeat this king someday and that is why he is joining Karasuno High School's volleyball club. To his surprise, he learns that Kageyama wants to be on the same team as well. The rivals will now have to work as teammates.

Not only do they have to start working together, but they also have to get along with fellow freshmen and their upperclassmen. 

Hinata and Kageyama were kicked out when they fought on Karasuno's volleyball court

Kageyama and Hinata working together

The new and the old members of Karasuno volleyball team

This 25-episode series is action-packed, hilarious and is an inspiring story of a team. If you liked Prince of Tennis, Kuroko no Basket and Free!, Haikyuu!! is a great addition to that lineup. Initially I thought that Hinata and Kageyama would be the top players of two opposing high school teams. When I found out they were going to be teammates, I expected it was going to be quite a show. And it was. They're both talented, proud and full of energy that there was no dull moment in the series.

One thing I always look for in a sports anime are characters with personalities that make them easily distinguishable from the pack. A series like this will have a lot of characters so I'd like to see how some would stand out. Hinata and Kageyama are an unusual pair of main characters. Usually Hinata's type is tempered by a cool, composed sidekick (like Kuroko and Kagami in Kuroko no Basket). Not that the show didn't have the usual character types. There's a tough guy, a sadist, a joker, and a mother/father figure.

I'm not a fan of volleyball but I know that it's a fast-paced game. Haikyuu!! delivered. I also learned some things in the series but I wish there were more in-depth court side analyses like those in Prince of Tennis. Those little details aside, the series was fun overall. The humor works, the action scenes were good, and the characters memorable.

Rating: 10 out of 10