Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 8, 2021 to Mar 26, 2021

Premiered: Winter 2021

Broadcast: Fridays at 00:55 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Dentsu, Animax, Movic, Fuji TV, Fujipacific Music, Shueisha, Fuji Creative, Tohan Corporation, Japan Volleyball Association

Licensors: Funimation

Studios: David Production

Source: Novel

Genres: Drama, Slice of Life, Sports

Theme: School

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Plot: Genius setter Kimichika Haijima moves back to Fukui from Tokyo after an incident within his school's volleyball team forces him out. There, he is reunited with his childhood friend, Yuni Kuroba, a member of the Monshiro Middle School Boys' Volleyball Team, who is unaware of his own talents. Haijima notices Kuroba's abilities and is determined to form a new volleyball team with Kuroba as the team's ace. At the prefectural tournament, Kuroba crumbles under the pressure, which causes the Monshiro team to fall apart after losing. The loss also creates a rift between Haijima and Kuroba, leading the former to quit the team.

Now, as students at Seiin High School, Haijima and Kuroba find themselves on the same volleyball team once again. Having learned from his past mistakes, Haijima helps Kuroba overcome his performance anxiety to become the ace and carry the team to the prefectural championship. With support from team captain Shinichirou Oda and vice captain Misao Aoki, Seiin aim to win the prefecturals and become Fukui's representatives at the Spring Tournament. To do this, they will need to beat Fukuho Technical High School, the reigning champions of Fukui. Will Haijima's team defeat the odds, or are they doomed to repeat his history of losing?

User Review: This review is spoiler free :D

2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu is quite standard. It doesn’t make you feel much watching it. The direction is...okay? The animation is pretty bad, except for the insane spikes that David Production will occasionally pour the whole budget into. The show just lacks substance. It lacks that “oomph” that propels it over being ordinary. It feels flat. It doesn’t come to life on your screen like a good anime should.

That’s not to say the show itself is bad. There are some good plot points, some likeable characters, and some interesting dynamics. I enjoyed the dual perspective of the two main teams, Seiin and Fukuho, as I constantly flip-flopped on who I was rooting for. Like I mentioned earlier, there are times where the animation IS great, feeling more like David Production’s other amazingly animated shows. There are times where the rivalry feels real, and there are times where I care about what happens to the characters. The thing that brings Seiin down though is that all of these times where I actually feel something are short lived. They feel like glances to a better show. It feels like the show is struggling to wedge itself out of the hole of mediocrity, but is only able to peak its head out. It feels frustrating going from that back to the usual bad animation and poor writing. Seeing the glimmers of satisfaction in a show is not very satisfying when they simmer out.

This show is ambitious in the fact that it has a background narrative behind the volleyball. At least, at the beginning it does. I couldn’t even tell you what it was now. Maybe that’s another reason this show feels half-baked. Somewhere along the line, it transferred from being a show about flawed characters who happen to play volleyball, to just volleyball. Don’t get me wrong, I like watching dudes hit balls as much as the next guy, but the show can’t expect to make that switch when the volleyball isn’t even that good. The narratives of the first few episodes are what drew me and many others to this show, and it just feels like a huge disappointment to somewhat abandon it.

If you asked me if you should watch this show, I’d say “how much free time do you have?” There are definitely better anime out there, better sports anime, and obviously better volleyball anime. But at the end of the day, I don’t regret watching this one. At its higher points, it was good. At its lower points, it wasn’t necessarily unwatchable. So, if you have some free time and are just yearning to watch a sports anime, sure, this one’s alright.

Overall, I think this show is the epitome of average. It's not good, but I wouldn’t say it's bad either. There are times where you laugh about how shitty the writing in that episode was, but there are times where that Demon Bazooka is just so damn cool. Give it a watch if you want. I probably wouldn’t redo it again, but I don’t regret watching it either.

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