Wednesday 10 February 2016

ANIME REVIEW: HAIKYU! SEASON 1 COLLECTION (BLU-RAY)

Haikyu!! Season 1 Collection 1 (episode 1-13) BLU-RAY
Haikyu! Season 1 Collection
Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: 12
Running Time: 325 Mins
Audio: English & Japanese DD 2.0
Release Date: 29/2/2016
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes 

Desperate to beat the 'King of the Court,' Shoyo Hinata keeps his goal in mind when he has to team up with Tobio Kageyama. If he wants to be a success, he has to be part of a winning team and put his beef aside.

If readers remember popular manga Prince of Tennis, this is pretty much along the same lines with the two trying to work out their differences and maintain team rapport at the same time Red head Shoyo is a likeable type who is friendly, short but tries his hardest to be the best, though he can creep himself out with how nervous he is about matches. Tobio, on the other hand is fearless, liked by almost everyone even though he is in competition with and as the king, he might actually surprise his team-mates with being humble - about some things.

Simply, Haikyu!! does for volleyball what Prince of Tennis did for, er tennis. Based on the original manga by Haruichi Furudate, the anime version brings it to another dimension with a neat new way of showing how the volleyball matches played out. Being a shonen anime by Shonen Jump manga, it deals with high school aspects of daily life; the competitiveness, teamwork, team-building, it's ideal for those who love series about sports, but that's not all it features, it's about overlooking the competitiveness, and instead focuses on the friendship players can gain from being together on and off the court.

In the Blu-ray version, what viewers will notice is that the game play is frantic, high-speed and has a motion blur effect that is normally hard to master, at least in most anime. Directed by Susumu Mitsunaka, this is the second anime series directed by him, and it's set to be most memorable and hopefully will lead to him directing more in the future.

Contains episodes 1-13.


Bonus Material: Clean Opening Animation, Clean Closing Animation.

Summary: Enjoyable for sports fans and shonen anime series - a bonus for those who want to get into a new style of animation from a new director.