There are plenty of sports animes out there, but there is something very entertaining, thrilling and heartwarming about the volleyball sports anime named Haikyuu, and that is what this highlight is going to be about.  Watch the fan video from youtube to get a good idea what it is about:

Now I am not a fan of the sport anime genre to begin with, and I know nothing about volleyball, so naturally I wouldn’t be inclined to even take a look at this anime, but I decided to give it a try after I saw a coworker’s reaction to this show.  She was so obsessed with it (in a good way) that I couldn’t ignore it.  So I found it on Hulu and gave it a try.

On my goodness!  I fell in love with the story and the characters immediately.  A typical sports story, anime or otherwise, tend to follow the underdog overcoming adversity to win (Mighty Ducks, Little Giants, etc), and this certainly does use that archetypal story line, but there is something very addicting about this show. I found myself wanting to re-watch episodes, and follow the triumphs and defeats of the Karasuno boys volleyball team.

To quickly summarize, the show focuses on the fallen champs or “clipped crows” of the Karasuno high school volleyball team, who once went to nationals and were a powerhouse school, and now are nothing special.  The team begins to change when two unique and talented freshman join the team (Kageyama Tobio, a genius Setter, and the short Hinata Shoyo, a kid with incredible agility and speed).

The two started the team at a rocky start as Kageyama is not much of a team player, and has a quick pass that no one can really hit.  In middle school he earned the nickname of “King of the Court” from his teammates on the middle school powerhouse team of Kitagawa First.  Though the name may sound cool, it was actually a dig made at Kageyama about how he was a self-serving king whose tosses were sometimes impossible to hit by the spikers.

And, at first, Kageyama doesn’t really see Hinata as a worthy player.  He knows that Hinata is super agile and quick after their one time match in middle school where Hinata’s team was completely stomped on by Kageyama’s, but Hinata is not good on the basics of volleyball.  Kageyama’s mind is soon changed when he sees that Hinata has the speed to hit one of Kageyama’s fast balls once Kageyama adjusts his toss to Hinata,which is something he never considered doing in middle school.  And from that moment, the new attack strategy, which would later be known as the “weird fast attack”, is born.

From here, we see this disjoint and oftentimes at odds team start to pull together.  As they practice against harder teams like Nekoma from Tokyo, their team starts to evolve, and the “clipped crows” start to fly again as they shoot to beat the reigning champs in their district and go to Nationals.

I think what I really liked about this show is the heart behind it.  Hinata Shoyo’s drive to win, and to become the next “little giant” is exciting.  The little giant in question is the former short ace of Karasuno, #10, who led the team to Nationals back when Karasuno was a powerhouse school.  It is this “little giant” that Hinata saw on television during the national tournament, and began to believe that even a short person has a chance to fly in volleyball.  If you were not aware, height is a major factor, and, some would say, necessary factor in volleyball.  Hinata stands at 162cm, and is considered a shorty, but this makes you want to root for him even more because he is so underestimated all the time.

And the same goes for the entire team. You can’t help but want to see this team, whom everyone doubts, getting to nationals, especially for the third years who had to endure years of being called the “fallen champs”, and being defeated all the time.  Now that it is the senior year for the third years, this is the last chance they have of making it to nationals.

Left to Right: Daichi Sawamura, Koshi Sugawara, Asahi Azumane.

I love the growth of this team.  They aren’t good overnight, and, while they have talent on their side, talent doesn’t amount to much if it can’t play well on a team.  The main focus starts out on Kageyama and Hinata, but every member of the team is growing and learning.  Every member has a story, and a reason for being on the team.  I love the character dynamics on the team and how they sometimes butt heads and don’t get along, and I also love how there is actually an evolution we can watch.  Instead of there being just one really good player that carries the team as it happens in so many sports animes, this team can’t be carried by one player.  Kageyama may be a genius setter, but his team work skills definitely need work and there are times that the third year setter Sugawara is actually better even if he isn’t a genius because he has the trust of the team.

This team goes through crushing defeats, which I love, because they never give up after those type of defeats and they keep pushing forward.  I think it is this spirit of perseverance that really tugs at your heart strings and you really want this team to succeed.

Another interesting thing about this anime is that it goes into the back stories of the teams they play and defeat.  Normally, the teams played in a sports anime are either just there as filler or are super arrogant and someone you want to see defeated, but not in this anime.  There are a few teams that I felt bad for the teams Karasuno defeats (though still glad that Karasuno won).

Overall, if you want a sport story that really finds its way into your heart and is funny and entertaining as well, then check out Haikyuu.