The winner takes it all: a "Haikyu" review
I mentioned in a review from the long-ago times that I didn't like football. I'm going to amend this statement by unfortunately making it worse: I'm not a big fan of sports. I can understand the rules of games and like the mascots and colors, but I've never liked sitting down and watching a full four quarters of football or nine innings of baseball. I feel like I could be doing other things. Add onto that the option of sitting on a bleacher while being crushed on either side by yelling and drunk fans, and I'm even less enthused (not to mention I had to clean up my local football stadium as a cross country runner my first two years of high school; it was gross).
Needless to say, because of my lack of enthusiasm in sports, I've never been interested in watching sports anime, at least not for the gameplay. Kuroko no Basuke was my first introduction and is probably the most prominent example of the genre. Haikyu is a close second. I was kind of interested in it because of men playing a sport I had associated with women since junior high, but I didn't think I'd ever watch it. Along came my brother! He watched the entirety of this series over the course of 2016 and raved about it over and over again. I knew I had to pay attention and try this series for myself; usually when my brother likes something, it means I'll like it too. We ended up watching the first season together over the course of our first semester, and it was nothing short of incredible.
Now this incredibility is the result of many factors. One: I actually learned how volleyball worked and found the games really engaging. Two: the tone of the series is so fun and colorful that it's absolutely infectious. And three: the characters are some of the best I've ever seen. I'm not kidding. These boys are fully realized human beings that spark on the screen, energetic and lively. They learn to work together and form friendships and evolve to encompass something beyond caricatures, something that makes them seem like people you'd meet in real life. Even the guys we expect to serve as villains have such a rich complexity that makes you want to root for them while also hating their guts. It's brilliant character writing. Add to that some excellent perceptiveness, engaging conflicts, and beautiful animation that captures the excitement that a lot of sports fans get from watching the games I've never fully connected to, and Haikyu becomes one of my new favorite anime. It's that propulsive.
Shoyo Hinata has a dream: to be just like Karasuno High's the Little Giant. Even though he was only 5'7", he was the player responsible for securing the male volleyball team's win at Nationals. Shoyo, barely cresting over 5'4", wants to be just like him. In fact, he wants to be even better! But there's one catch: his middle school doesn't have a male volleyball club. No sweat; Shoyo creates his own with his group of friends and they're able to play their first game as a unit come the junior championships in the prefecture. Then they get crushed within half an hour by their opponents, Kitagawa Daichi, led by the King of the Court, Tobio Kageyama. A raging egomaniac frustrated by a lack of support from his teammates, Tobio is set on winning games no matter the cost to the effort his fellow players are giving to hit his sets. But his school still wins the game, leaving Shoyo absolutely defeated. When he sees Tobio before he leaves the stadium with his team, he vows to defeat him when they play again.
Neither of them expected to see each other at Karasuno High, though, and even vying for positions on the same volleyball team to boot.
Now, these two boys are going to have to learn to get along and realize they're not the sole savior of their team. But maybe they'll learn they're actually better together than by themselves. Maybe they can actually strengthen their partnership to face even the toughest of opponents. Maybe their teammates will help them and reveal their own strengths as players. All of these possibilities are wrapped up in the journey, so let's buckle up for the ride and see what happens.
Although Haikyu's set-up is very similar to what I've heard about and seen from other shonen and sports anime (rivals and friendship and all that jazz), I like that it focuses on the evolution of the bonds made between characters, whether friends or sworn enemies...for now. The game of volleyball brings so many eclectic personalities together in this show, and how they learn to work together and play some great games, whether practice ones or actual matches, is excellent. I also am a sucker for a good underdog story. Karasuno's volleyball team hasn't been able to recapture the glory they experienced when they won Nationals several years ago. After their coach retired, they lost more games than won, becoming known as the Wingless Crows. But with this team, maybe they'll have the chance to taste that pride once again. Although this season only covers into the summer tournament, the viewer gets the sense that perhaps Karasuno will reach their old dream once more, and it's an uplifting and powerful sentiment that really anchors the whole show.
Our first taste of volleyball comes in that very first episode, and although we don't get back into the official swing of things until about halfway through this first season, practice games are still filled with that same vigor as the main matches. I liked that viewers who aren't familiar with the sport (me!) get to learn alongside the somewhat clueless and adorable club adviser Mr. Takeda. Volleyball is a three-touch sport (one team only has three touches to get the ball to the opponent's side of the court) and each guy has a set position that handles offense, defense, and whatever else needs to get done. This exposition may feel tired and true in terms of its format, but I like that it's complimented with the high energy the show delivers in spades.
The boys of the Karasuno volleyball team, I have to say, are such complex human beings. I've never seen an anime where characters have felt this nuanced. Shoyo and Tobio could not be more different, what with the former's endless enthusiasm and the latter's sharply-worded criticisms and knowledge of the game. But both of them have the desire to win, to be on that court for as long as possible. As long as they're responsible, their team can win. But a team is about so much more than that; both boys had other players back in middle school that could have shouldered their drive. However, thanks to Shoyo's team lacking experience and Tobio's impossible expectations, things didn't work out. But when the two eventually learn to work together, they balance each other out and realize they can find allies in the other guys. It leads to a fast attack so alarming that it disorients opposing teams and brings up the team's morale.
Our main two aren't the only ones who receive this treatment. Haikyu is very much an ensemble show focused on developing everyone, even those who are secondary characters or villains. What I like about this development is that it's done subtly, often in lines that don't seem like they'd carry much emotional significance and then hit hard. My favorites are as follows: third-year Koushi admitting that he's jealous of Tobio's natural gameplay as a younger setter (and despite the fact that Koushi's an upperclassman, Tobio has the opportunity to be a starting player because he's a lot stronger; Koushi won't give up when he's needed, though), fellow first-year Kei telling a third-year from a rival team that he can't act like a high school student, revealing a painful self-awareness and hatred underneath his scathing exterior, second-year libero Yu projecting his own frustrations of failing at receiving the ball on ace Asahi, who is also dealing with his own self-pity on being unable to pierce through an incredibly strong blocking wall, and perhaps the best of all, Kei's best friend Tadashi breaking away from echoing Kei's ridicule and realizing he wants to play just as much as the starting players (he's actually such a softie underneath what Kei does AND DESERVES TO BE PROTECTED). These moments are so emotionally powerful and subtle, often relying on facial expression and body language to really hit home. It's smart characterization that doesn't need to be told to the audience; we see it all, even the characters themselves. There's a mutual understanding between Karasuno's volleyball team that makes them able to communicate with one another in a way that analyzes a problem and makes them want to reach out and help. It's so satisfying and perceptive that I couldn't ask for anything less.
The animation for this series is handled by Production I.G, a studio that has produced truly excellent animation for a variety of shows (everything from Ghost in the Shell to the new sports anime craze Run with the Wind). This series is no different. One of my favorite aspects of the animation is character expression. This is something carried over from mangaka Haruichi Furudate's panels of the Haikyu manga, and I'm so happy it is. The character's reactions are absolutely golden, from angry yelling where eyes turn completely white to the exhilaration of scoring a point. Everything is captured in such crisp detail (including the facial close-ups, which are my weakness). I also like the fluidity of the volleyball plays and the movement in general (including all the jumping that Shoyo and Yu do throughout the series). I do wish there was more consistency when it came to the quality of characters being fair away (particularly in one of the episodes more than halfway through the show), but my brother has told me the animation stabilizes in the second season, so that's good! I want the volleyball boys to look good from far away and up close while doing all the things.
The music is composed by Yuki Hayashi and Asami Tachibana, who really created such a bombastic score that perfectly matches the power of this show. I've been a fan of Hayashi's work for a long time (thank you, Death Parade and Kiznaiver), and his blend of orchestral and electro-rock is perfectly complimented by Tachibana's matching ideas. There are piano-focused pieces that anchor dramatic moments, guitar and drum-heavy pieces that set up climaxes so well, and those wicked unexpected songs that sneak up on you when you're not expecting it (looking at you, "One Point"). Everything is represented well. Even the openings and endings are great.
The voice acting is also super strong. Although I watched this in Japanese, I've seen bits of the dub and despite what the memes mock, it's actually very good. The casting is pretty much spot-on (Adam Gibbs and Greg Ayres as Koushi and Yu respectively are highlights), although I'm not the biggest fan of Cameron Bautsch as Tadashi, and the script is filled with so many zingers by ADR scriptwriter Katelyn Barr that Hostess is shook. However, since I watched all of the show in Japanese, I have more to say there. The only nitpicks I had were a couple of higher-pitched readings by Kazunari Tanaka's Coach Ukai (RIP). Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed every voice. Ayumu Murase's exuberance as Shoyo is absolutely amazing with how high his voice pitch is, Kaito Ishikawa is great at being stern with Tobio, Miyu Irino is such a precious Koushi, Kouki Uchiyama has a great underplayed snark as Kei, and I love the rambunctious energy of Nobuhiko Okamoto's Yu (and his emotional yelling almost had me crying in the club too). I was also blown away by the intricacies of Daisuke Namikawa's Tooru Oikawa, Tobio's upperclassman from middle school who serves as the ringleader for the biggest rival team of the season. Namikawa's peppy cheer as Tooru's fake side contrasts beautifully with his real and very snaky calculating nature, a voice drop so shocking and awesome that I was clutching my pearls. And on top of that, for all of Tooru's evil charm, he is given depth just like the other characters. Can I get an amen?
After that RuPaul's Drag Race reference, I think you know just how much I loved this show. Haikyu makes me not only want to scope out more sports anime but to keep watching more of its own volleyball games. It's a really fun show that goes by quickly but packs so much character development, energy, and joy into its episodes. The amount of times I almost cried, smiled, and laughed is numerous, and I really loved every single moment of this wonderful show. Prepare to fall in love with all the boys and become invested in volleyball. Whether you stream via Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, or Yahoo View or buy Sentai Filmworks' DVD or Blu-Ray, the choice is yours. Have fun. This is truly something special.
