2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Team Review

Positives

OST
This show has a really great soundtrack, the OP and ED slap and a lot of the songs that they play in matches are really good and fit the tone surprisingly well.

Art style
For an adaptation of a not very well known at all source manga the art style is brilliant. Some of the plays in the matches look brilliant due to close ups and other cool effects.

Plot themes
Some (take note that I say some) of the plot themes are decent. These include Subaru Mimura's injuries, Oda's height, Kuroba's "stage fright" and Haijima's leadership issues.

Negatives

(This section is going to be a lot longer than the positives)

Character development
In the whole of this show, I would say there are about 4-5 characters who they at least make an attempt to develop. These include:
-Haijima
-Kuroba
-Subaru
-Oda
-Ochi

I say 4-5 as Oda is barely developed, they have one scene where he talks about how hard it is to play volleyball as a middle blocker while being short, and then he does a block. He also has some issues with being benched but that's it. That's his whole character arc.
Haijima's arc is lifted straight from Kageyama, and Kuroba's is fully finished by about the 5th episode and he doesn't change until the end of the series.
Subaru experiences no change at all, but at least we get to see more of his character in the show, the same goes for Ochi.

As for the other characters, no attempt whatsoever is made to develop them. This is obvious when it comes to Fukuho's team as most of them we aren't even introduced to in terms of name, but the surprising thing is that there's even someone on Seiin's team who has about 1 line in the whole show.
Of course I'm talking about this guy.

I wouldn't even know that this guy was in the show if not for the matches and for the single line he says in the last episode.

Forgotten plot lines
There are many plot lines in this show that, while sounding like a cool premise initially, are never resolved, or if they are, it's done half-assed in a single episode.
Examples of this include:
-Yori getting beat up
-Haijima's old teammate "committing suicide"
They literally retconned a full suicide, essentially using it as a shock factor for 1-2 episodes before just completely forgetting about it.
Yori is also completely forgotten about after he is beaten up, and I think we see him about once in the rest of the show as he is sitting in a car.
Considering Yori is/was an influential figure is Kuroba's life, it's insane to think that he would completely disappear, especially as he shows he is fine with Kuroba playing volleyball, making his absence from the show completely delusional.
Another example is the "great coach". All the coach does is pair them up once or twice. That's all he fucking does.

Queerbaiting
When this show first started, it seemed obvious that this show would be BL.
This is shown by some of the dialogue between characters:
Haijima: "I'll drill it into you"
Kuroba: "You'll do what?" blushes

There are also other instances but tbh I have forgotten the exact lines and there's no way I'm rewatching this to find them.
But essentially it makes references like these throughout the first few episodes. Then it completely stops it, and makes no attempt at a BL whatever.
It clearly implied it in the first few episodes and then completely drops it. Very fucking annoying.

Confrontations
Another problem with this show is that everytime Haijima and Kuroba come into a confrontation with literally anyone, instead of talking with them or even shouting at them or anything, Haijima just sets the ball to Kuroba? And then Kuroba either spikes it or catches it in his hand? While epic music plays? Like I don't know what the fuck they were thinking when writing these confrontations because it makes dogshit to watch, zero closure on any of the issues that caused the confrontation, they just fucking spike a ball and it's meant to be really cool. No fucking thanks.

Haikyu sections
I know some people might say "just because it's volleyball doesn't mean it's ripping off Haikyu" and that's true. But "just because it's volleyball doesn't mean it isn't ripping off Haikyu" also makes sense. And this show rips off Haikyu.
A blatant example takes place in the 11th episode.
In an attempt to inspire the team, the cheer squad unravel a banner that says "Soar to new heights" (that may not be completely accurate but it's along those lines). And apparently the coach wrote it. It then shows a close up of the word "Soar" and it really inspires them.
You might remember in Haikyu when the literal exact same thing happens except the banner says "Fly". Also in Haikyu it actually fucking makes sense as they are called the Fallen Crows. In 2.43, it makes no fucking sense whatsoever.

Conclusion

This show is a clusterfuck of loose ends and poorly executed plot lines. The only good things are the OST, and some of the matches, although you would be way better off watching Haikyu for both of those things, and you would get a better plot also. I will not be watching the second season that it is trying to build up to (if it gets renewed that is) and I regret wasting my time. I had very high hopes for this show when it came out but it completely ruined itself. In conclusion, you probably shouldn't watch this show if you haven't.