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Shelf Life - Haikyu!!




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phia_one



Joined: 15 Jan 2012
Posts: 1654
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:06 pm Reply with quote
Definitely need to pick up The Cat Returns on blu-ray at some point since it's my favorite Ghibli movie.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2457
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:30 pm Reply with quote
I've been watching Haikyu's first season and was planning to post about it on the Anime forum, but I'm glad to have this opportunity Laughing

I'm on episode 21, and so far the show is wonderful. Volleyball isn't my preferred sport, though I have a passing knowledge of it, but this gets me excited for these matches, and as a sports show that's pretty much mission accomplished. Some spikes and receives are amazingly well directed in their fast cuts/pace, and sometimes the show manages to actually surprise me with a play, even after 20 episodes.

Not everything's all flowers - I find volleyball in general to be one of the boring sports alongside basketball, and whenever the show's not being particularly inspired the sport is very meh. I think I've noticed the same animation being done for 4 different characters (that whole "spike on the left, receiver can't get to it and falls down a second after the ball hits") the start has a lot of BIG EMOTIONAL SPEECHES to the point where it gets silly and Hinata's conversation with the Tokyo boy in that one episode felt like an annoying toddler.

And that's all the bad things so far. I like every character (including the rivals), I like the animation, I like where the story is going and how these characters are developing. It's just really pleasant to watch, and unless somehow these last 4 episodes sour the experience, I'm definitely in for the long run.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 10:38 pm Reply with quote
I'm pretty much never motivated to double-dip on a title, but the Cowboy Bebop BD and the Haikyuu!! dub have sorely tested me. But I already paid too much for the first season BDs, and I love the Japanese seiyuu so much I'd probably rarely listen to the dub anyway. I can listen to the VAs in season 2, which I have on pre-order. Smile

Mother's Basement did a segment on Haikyuu!!'s OP and it's a good analysis of the animation for the whole series (and a nice intro to those who've never seen any of the series at all). Some people might have a little trouble with the character designs and shading choices, but it's something you get over quickly because the story just swallows you up.

One of the things I just love about this series is how effortlessly they can invest you in the opposing teams, leaving you wanting both sides to win. Smile Who am I kidding, I love everything about this series.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 7:38 am Reply with quote
The essence of any sports anime is to explain why subject A is interested in topic A... and why he hasn't done it up to the point. The best examples aren't even about the sport, they're actually about why the people who want to do it can't like Princess 9.

I not a fan of sports anime because of how artificial their premises can get to explain why their high school student who has never touched a B suddenly wants to play A so he has to learn how to handle his B. Haikyu readily handled the first one as he saw someone short as him play the game as an ace. The series falls hard on the second...

I made it through three episodes of Haikyu!! before realizing Hinata is an idiot. He's not a likable shonen idiot, he's just the idiot's idiot. Ok, it's volleyball because Hinata can't do it alone and it's volleyball because if it was one of the big ones, every school would have clubs for him.

But it is volleyball and every other school should have clubs for him to go to. Outside leagues, amateur events... social media ring a bell? No, it has to be school related because he has to go to Koshien or something?

No, nothing grand like that, he just wants to play the sport but can't. No, I mean he can play but he just... can't. Wait, shouldn't that be "won't"? It's not? You're really going to go with "can't"? An injury, parental pressures... he's short, how about coaches telling him he's too short? No? No. You're seriously going with... can't?

Just can't? What element am I missing here? Oh, WSJ. Should have saw that one coming...
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:00 am Reply with quote
You should've stuck with it longer. They're kinda out in the sticks, so no, there's not a ton of clubs nearby playing volleyball. So he made do with what was available (that he knew about), and that was trying to get his friends to play though they had no interest, and practicing with the girls' and women's teams until he could enroll at Karasuno.

And yeah, it had to be school related because his dream was to play where the Little Giant had played, in the volleyball version of Koshien.

Maybe that's not enough to satisfy you, but you really denied yourself a great series over that small detail.
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moogrin



Joined: 12 Jun 2016
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:13 pm Reply with quote
I was interested when I saw they released a Haikyuu dub, but I already bought the pricey 2-part sub release of season 1a few years back and I'm not interested ENOUGH to re-buy it.
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myskaros



Joined: 13 Jun 2011
Posts: 598
Location: J-Novel Club
PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 3:47 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
But it is volleyball and every other school should have clubs for him to go to. Outside leagues, amateur events... social media ring a bell? No, it has to be school related because he has to go to Koshien or something?

No, nothing grand like that, he just wants to play the sport but can't. No, I mean he can play but he just... can't. Wait, shouldn't that be "won't"? It's not? You're really going to go with "can't"? An injury, parental pressures... he's short, how about coaches telling him he's too short? No? No. You're seriously going with... can't?

Just can't? What element am I missing here? Oh, WSJ. Should have saw that one coming...

So this is explained in the show.

First, you have to be a student at a school to even be on their school grounds. These aren't public schools like in the US, you have to apply to get in. Is it possible there's a way to get on the team for another school? Sure, maybe, but I think your problem solving expectations for an ostensibly stupid 13-16 year old (he has very bad grades) are pretty high. Not to mention there could be other social reasons he has to stay with his own school's team/environment.

Second, he does already play with his surrounding community, but he wanted to play in a league of peers, not with younger kids or older adults in community leagues. In the first or second episode he remarks how he's finally able to play on a real team instead of a mishmash of kids from other sports teams or the local "granny" team.

There's no "can't play" anywhere in the show, so I'm honestly confused how you reached that conclusion.
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SailorPluto1313



Joined: 26 Jan 2016
Posts: 118
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:57 pm Reply with quote
moogrin wrote:
I was interested when I saw they released a Haikyuu dub, but I already bought the pricey 2-part sub release of season 1a few years back and I'm not interested ENOUGH to re-buy it.


I also bought the sub release a few years back, but I ended up spending the money on the Collector's Edition Boxset and was so glad I did! I love the Japanese VA's a lot but I actually really enjoyed the English dub! I was a little worried at first, but the dub is really entertaining. There are a few voices that may not fit as well as one would hope, but that's what you sacrifice in a dub sometimes.

Overall Sentai Filmworks did a great job with it and it was soooo worth the buy! I say all this as a die-hard fan, so I mean I am bias on the subject, but I'd say that the dub could potentially respark your interest in the series. But hey, that's just my opinion. Very Happy
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