(25 episodes)
What’s it about ?
Adaptation of a volley-ball manga series.
Characters
Shoyo, our protagonist. He’s actually quite good at volleyball, with great speed and jumping ability. Unfortunately, his middle school doesn’t have much of male volleyball club. And by that, I mean he was alone in it for two years, barely got a trio of first-years in his final year, and just about managed to rope two of his friends (who know next to nothing about the sport, being in other clubs) to participate in the district tournament. That they even manage to score some points in the one match they get to play is a miracle. Especially as they’re facing…
Kageyama, one of the local rising stars, very serious about everything he does, and very angry at most of his teammates for underestimating the scrappy underdogs. This is serious, guys, stop taking shortcuts ! And he’s entirely aware of Shoyo’s potential.
By the end of the episode, Shoyo moves to high school, giddy to be joining a proper club that’ll let him have a rematch with his rival… Wait, what are you doing here, Kageyama ?
Production Values
Perfectly okay for this kind of thing.
Overall Impression
Well, it’s a generic sports series, featuring hot-blooded rivals. It’s got the usual message of “never give up !”. It’s competent on every level, with well-placed flashbacks laying out the backstory in the middle of the match, but there’s no real spark or originality to it.
I’m not interested.
