Haikyuu's second season continues with its excellent high-quality storytelling that made many fall in love with the first season. While Haikyuu is most certainly a sports anime at its core, it's also an extremely well-crafted tale of the trials and hard work that every player goes through. Most importantly, Haikyuu makes you actually care about what happens in the show. Whether it's a loss or a victory, Hinata or a player on the opposing school's volleyball team, the show manages to grasp us as viewers and force us to invest heavily in the fictional world of Haikyuu.
With most sports anime, the pacing of the story
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is hard to bear. In some shows, a match can last nearly half a season. With Haikyuu, it never felt this way. Each episode had a succinct amount of storytelling and the pacing was perfect. From the training camps they attended, to the matches that were played, every episode was a thrilling ride that always managed to be satisfying. One of Haikyuu's biggest strengths is how it properly sets up each story arc with the necessary back stories to each character. This type of information provided is exactly why this show is so good. It gives you the “why should you care” for nearly every aspect of the show. Haikyuu also mixes the elements of a story masterfully. Comedy, action, shounen, it's all there and perfectly balanced. Comedy was put in at the right times and had me rolling on the floor on more than one occasion. The action is thrilling in the big matches and the shounen aspect of “improving” is so engraved in the viewer, it just feels so good to root for Karasuno. The attention to detail in the story is by far one of the best of any shows I've seen and it truly makes for a great watching experience.
Production I.G has done a great job with the animation for Haikyuu. The animation quality is top-notch and most importantly, consistent. In fast-paced action scenes, the animation becomes incredibly intense, but it's very well done and gives a much needed “oomph” for climaxes in the story. Character design is varied and unique as well. Far too often in other anime shows, the characters all look alike. Haikyuu does not experience this with its large cast of characters that are appealing and uniquely designed.
Haikyuu's voice acting, background music and OST are, like the rest of the show, great. The OP and ED are fitting for the theme of the show. The background music in scenes are also utilized very well. Some other shows try to force insert songs in scenes that do not fit well but Haikyuu does not suffer from this. Haikyuu's OST is near perfect and manages to help emphasize the emotions experienced in the show. Google Haikyuu's OST and prepare to be blown away (or just listen to it while watching).
The characters of Haikyuu are most definitely its strongest point. I briefly mentioned this earlier, but Haikyuu fully develops each character in the show. The characters all grow throughout the series. None of them are 'perfect' from the start and altogether gives it a certain type of realism. Most people like to root for the underdogs and that's essentially the same feeling you get from Haikyuu. There is no 'Gary Stu' as each person has their strengths and weaknesses. Even the seemingly perfect Oikawa Tooru has his own weaknesses in that he is not a 'prodigy' but someone who worked his way up. I also appreciated that each character in the show has an impact. For example, Yachi, the manager, is not someone who just stands on the sidelines cheering Karasuno on. Haikyuu shows you her back story as well as her perspective. This greatly adds to the storytelling and to her character in general. Same goes for Tsukishima. His backstory is fleshed out and tells us why he acts the way he does. Each character is important to the overall story and is truly a 'cog in the machine' for Haikyuu.
My initial thoughts upon seeing the preview for the first season of Haikyuu is that I couldn't possibly find volleyball interesting. Now, 50 episodes later, I can't fathom how I'm going to wait for the third season. Haikyuu is not 'perfect' and of course has certain elements like 'they can't be losing all the time' armor plot. But again, Haikyuu is a fictional anime with the sole purpose of entertaining you. In this case, it is very much about the journey, not the destination. If you only care to look at the small conveniences that a story may take, you'll miss out on everything else that makes it great. For me, Haikyuu was an enjoyable show that I looked forward to watching every Sunday. With fully developed characters that you can care about, a great OST and masterful storytelling, Haikyuu is worth your time as it is an excellent example of just how entertaining anime can be.
Apr 2, 2016
Haikyuu!! Second Season
(Anime)
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Haikyuu's second season continues with its excellent high-quality storytelling that made many fall in love with the first season. While Haikyuu is most certainly a sports anime at its core, it's also an extremely well-crafted tale of the trials and hard work that every player goes through. Most importantly, Haikyuu makes you actually care about what happens in the show. Whether it's a loss or a victory, Hinata or a player on the opposing school's volleyball team, the show manages to grasp us as viewers and force us to invest heavily in the fictional world of Haikyuu.
With most sports anime, the pacing of the story ... 
Mar 24, 2014
Log Horizon
(Anime)
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What started off as what seemed to be a bland-version of Sword Art Online turned out to be one of the hidden gems of anime shows. Log Horizon starts off slow with the usual setup of a "no-faults" main character, but with a slight difference. That difference is how the main character, Shiroe, strategically approaches each situation that makes Log Horizon an exciting show to watch. Shiroe isn’t the typical shounen main character that powers up throughout the story and then overpowers his enemies. Rather, he’s the guy in the background, the “villain in glasses” who controls the flow and direction of battle. Overall, Log
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