Haikyuu!!’s second half eclipses the first and makes it one of the best sports anime out there, let alone this season.
What They Say:
Based off of the original Weekly Shonen Jump manga series from Haruichi Furudate, Haikyu!! is a slice-of-life sports anime revolving around Shōyō Hinata’s love of volleyball. Inspired by a small-statured pro volleyball player, Hinata creates a volleyball team in his last year of middle school. Unfortunately the team is matched up against the “King of the Court” Tobio Kageyama’s team in their first tournament and inevitably lose. After the crushing defeat, Hinata vows to surpass Kageyama After entering high school, Hinata joins the volleyball team only to find that Tobio has also joined.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I may have been quick to judge when I said Haikyu!! wasn’t cream of the crop. Like some of the best shows, Haikyu!! takes a while to really get going. I mean, in the first 12 episodes, we didn’t really play volleyball ever. At the time, the show was in the midst of its greatest match to date, a practice match. There was no tournament and no stakes, just pride on the line. Sports anime—actually just stories in general—is at its best when there are stakes.
The stakes are the same as any sports anime: Win the game. For the last 10 episodes, we’ve been in matches—first against the Iron Wall of Dateko (Pittsburgh Steelers reference?) then against the powerhouse Aoba Johsai. What transpired in those matches was some of the best sports anime.
It always has to do with how everything is presented to us. With sports anime, it has to seem as much like the real sport as possible. Baseball, it’s easy. There’s sort of a player-determined pace in baseball, with only the pitcher being in control (in MLB rules, the pitcher can only hold onto the ball for 12 seconds before having to pitch it if there are no men on base). Volleyball is a little different. The pace is determined first by the server then by nothing. It’s constant action. We see Karasuno and Johsai volley for a minute, maybe more, during the later portions of their match but I was edge of my seat for every second of it. It’s heart pounding. We start to wonder if the ball will ever fall to the ground and that’s exactly what’s going through the players’ minds. They just want to see the ball fall, hopefully on the other side. Because, especially in the third match, they’re tired.
In sports anime, the interim moments are key. What are they thinking between serves and how does this serve their dramatic need? Karasuno always has their mind on the prize: winning. How can we get past this Iron Wall? How can we defeat someone that’s so good? They always came up with a way. It always felt good because there’s an aspect of team sports involved. Because each point they really focus on meant something to the character that made it happen.
In the Dateko match, Karasuno had something to prove. Their Iron Wall is what stopped them last year and what dropped Asahi’s confidence so low. This year, they tear down the wall quickly with Kageyama and Hinata. They use the same technique Nekoma did against Hinata in trying to just shut him down with one guy who times his blocks with Hinata’s quicks. When it comes to the final point, though, it’s Asahi who shines. He breaks through the Iron Wall with his spike. It’s a catharsis for his character to go through because he literally breaks down a wall that he’s put in front of himself. Like Hinata says, he sees the light on the other side and feels how good it is when the ball hits the ground.
The Johsai match was much harder. Kageyama is growing. Just like Johsai’s Oikawa, Kageyama is starting to learn how his spikers want the ball instead of how he wants to spike it. He starts working with Tsukishima, his hated enemy, and gets several points off of Tsukishima’s fakes. He tosses the ball up for Asahi and Tanaka just how they like it and even awkwardly high fives.
But it wasn’t always like that. He struggled early on and tried to take everything onto his own shoulders as the “catcher,” “quarterback,” or “point guard” of the volleyball court. He’s forcing the ball where it needs to go, not where it should go for the player’s sake. Kageyama’s taken out because he’s not winning the game, he’s losing it. The final fake over the net blew it for him when it worked so well the first time.
Kageyama out. Sugawara in. Sugawara brings the team’s morale back up. He provides the spark to Kageyama’s fire. He compliments people when they make a nice shot. He works with Kageyama’s partner Hinata to make a point, both in the game and figuratively. Sugawara has nowhere near the talent that Kageyama has. But Sugawara has experience and he has a level head. He can bring the team back from the brink of defeat and he does.
But there’s three games to a match. If Karasuno wins one, they have to win another. At the third game’s end, Kageyama goes to Hinata and the ball falls on the wrong side of the court. They blame themselves. They should have been stronger. They should have done more. They shouldn’t have made mistakes.
It’s what happens after that gets me the most. It’s usually right after the game that everyone breaks down and cries. Not Karasuno. They’re reflecting on their loss. They’re second-guessing every action they took. Until…until the coach takes them out to eat. Muscles at their limit and bodies aching from the match, they stuff their faces with food. The true symbol of loss is the food is a little saltier than normal, at least for Karasuno.
In Summary:
Haikyu!! was a surprise hit for me, on the level of Ace of the Diamond. With both shows, I didn’t expect to be as wowed as I was. But both set up for a while before really getting into their respective high tension games. Characters and their personalities are set up before we jump into what matters: the sport. Kageyama’s pride. Sugawara’s compassion. Asahi’s self-confidence. Tanaka and Nishinoya’s silliness. Daichi’s leadership. Tsukishima’s reservedness. Hinata’s enthusiasm. We feel everything from every character before we get into a game and that made the rest of the show so worth it.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: PS3, LG 47LB5800 47” 1080p LED TV