If you are a fan of sports anime, I recommend you watch Blue Lock. I thought I enjoyed Blue Lock because I am a fan of football and could relate to the feeling and the game in general, but one anime proved me wrong; Haikyu! Haikyu is a sports anime about volleyball. Before I watched this anime, playing volleyball had never crossed my mind. It was not something I ever fantasized about watching, let alone playing. But after watching Haikyu, I didn’t only fall in love with volleyball, I considered some seemingly “impossible possibilities”: what if I decided to become a volleyball player? Would I do well? Haikyu is magical! I never expected a volleyball anime to make me shout, laugh, and even almost tear up, but Haikyu did exactly that.
Haiku revolves around Hinata Shoyo, a high school volleyball player who dreams of becoming great. How would a person with small height become great in the midst of giants? Hinata Shoyo is like a little tree in a forest in the midst of other gigantic trees. How would that little tree contest for sunlight, water and other resources? He joins Karasuno High school (a once great school who fell from grace to grass). There, he meets Kagayama Tobio, a talented but difficult volleyball player. As the story progresses, they become friends and together with the rest of the teammates, they restore the glory of Karasuno high.
MY NOTES ON HAIKYU
Source
To start with, Haikyu is loaded with many inspirational and great themes. One of them is the power of dreams. Dream big and crush your limitations. Haikyu teaches exactly that! We all know that volleyball and basketball are games for tall people. But does that mean those who are not blessed with height don’t stand a chance to dream? Surely, they are at an advantage, but that doesn’t mean they can’t push past their limits and dream wide. Hinata Shoyo is not tall, and although he faces obstacles, especially from taller (2 meters) players, he trains harder and manages to overcome these obstacles. Step by step, he starts working to become the “little giant.” Who says the little giant can’t overpower the gigantic one?
Another thing I love about Haikyu is that the plot is well-written. Each character has their own backstory and this helps to build the plot. From the beginning, we know that Hinata Shoyo is the main character. However, the plot doesn't primarily focus on him as we also get to see the abilities of other players and the hindrances stopping them from achieving their full potential. While surfing on Instagram, I came across a comment that the matches in Haikyu are too prolonged. I don’t know whether to agree with this comment or not. Sometimes, I feel the matches have just the perfect pace, other times I feel they should be prolonged.
More importantly, I liked the animation style and visuals. This is also one thing I love about Blue Lock. Blue Lock and Haikyu are two sports anime that don't just show how things are done, but make you feel like you are in it! In Haikyu, the players are not just passing the ball around. They aren’t just playing it from one end to another. The anime shows their energy and passion! The slow motion makes everything superb!
This anime really did it for me. There were times when I felt energized and happy. Some sciences made me emotional, especially when teams lose. Those parts got me.
And of course, this anime is not without holes.
As much as I love the plot, I feel it is too predictable. For example, in almost all the games, I already know to expect a “mess up” from a player. Like, one player will surely flop whether at the start of the game or in the middle of the game, and will always regain energy and help the team secure points. While I think this is a good way to build the plot and also the character, I feel it became a little too repetitive because it happened in nearly every game.
In summary, I enjoyed Haikyu. It is one of the best anime I have seen in a while. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
Thumbnail designed using Canva.
Thanks for reading.