The Beginning
On a quiet evening in early September, I was scrolling through Netflix when I stumbled across a familiar title. Reading “Haikyuu” in big block letters on the screen, I vaguely remembered catching a glimpse of the same show on my little cousin’s laptop as he watched on with what can only be called mild interest.
Finding it again, on a day where I could care less about what show I watched, I took a chance — I clicked the play button and settled down on my sofa, fully expecting to fall asleep to the mindless chatter of a simple kids show with an insubstantial plot. To say I was largely mistaken would be a grand understatement.
I’ll say it now, as to avoid any confusion — I was an avid anime hater. Emphasis on was. I never saw anything particularly interesting about overdramatic TV shows with predictable plots and largely ranging animation that could be anywhere between disappointingly mediocre and “look-at-this-fight-scene-we-used-half-our-budget-for-HYPE.” (A little harsh, I know, but it had to be said.)
I will admit though, that I never really gave anime a chance. At the time, the only anime show I had watched was Fairy Tail, and sure, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t something I felt that I could watch again. And as someone that gets obsessive with their favorite movies and TV shows, that was a big deal for me.
But Haikyuu was a completely different beast. Maybe it was the fact that I watched it without knowledge of the show’s story, or maybe it was that my last experience with anime had been in middle school, and a lot had changed since then — but either way, Haikyuu had been a revalatory experience.
I will say, this is more of a glorified rant on everything good about Haikyuu, than anything, so — watch out for a bunch of spoilers for the show below.
The Story and Its Intricacies
Shouyou Hinata, the main protagonist of the show, develops a love for volleyball when he watches a high school national tournament and sees a player too short to be considered any good at the sport, “fly” above the net in a powerful jump to score his team a point.
The premise is nothing grand; Shouyou portrays the typical male protagonist we come across in all feel-good media—determined, stubborn, and constantly looked-down upon. In this case, he’s a little too short for volleyball.
And so, after years of trying to put together a volleyball team by himself, Shouyou steps into his first official tournament in his final year of middle school, hell-bent on coming out the winner.
But nothing goes as planned. Their first game is against a powerhouse school, led by the top setter in middle school volleyball, Tobio Kageyama. As expected, Shouyou’s team is defeated almost instantly and Shouyou and Tobio develop a strong rivalry, vowing to defeat each other and every one else in high school (a bit dramatic for middle-schoolers, but then again, this is anime).
Unfortunately, both players step into the gym of Karasuno High School the coming fall and realize that they are going to have to be teammates.
And here the story begins, as two passionate personalities clash violently, forced to work together in order to reach a goal they had once declared they would grab alone: to win the National Tournament.
Once again, as expected from a show about determination and hard-work, Tobio and Shouyou learn to work together — but this is not what makes Haikyuu a truly amazing show.
It’s the fact that after nearly a full season of seeing the growth of these characters (almost 22 episodes), the day of play-offs arrives — and Karasuno is knocked out of the tournament during the preliminaries.
All the character development, the growth in physical talent and abilities, none of it was enough to even qualify them for the National tournament.
And here is when Karasuno, but especially Kageyama and Shouyou, realize that sheer determination to win cannot undo the hard-work and preparation of the opposite team, nor the affect of time. Time to learn, time to practice.
And so Shouyou changes his strategy, and as the show progresses he understands that he can’t just rely on Kageyama’s skill or his teammates’ skill, but has to hone his own.
And even when Karasuno qualifies and finally plays at Nationals, there’s this underlying thought in my mind, and I believe it’s best explained by a quote from the show itself:
“There’s no match that you can’t win, and there’s no match that you’ll win for sure.” — Coach Ukai
And as the second match of Nationals comes to a close, Karasuno the winner, the latest season of the anime ends.
Of course, I was too invested in the story to wait for the anime to continue, and a small (e.g. very large) part of me was curious to see how the end would turn out. Most sports-related, coming-of-age stories either in movies or books, almost always portray the protagonist facing a huge obstacle, overcoming it, and finally reaching their goal (which in this case is winning) — the ultimate happy ending. But Haikyuu had already broken so many cliches, so what’s a few more?
And so, I was on Amazon the next moment, ordering the manga novels the show had been adapted from. After flying through them in about two hours, I was left in a state of shock and amazement. I have come to the conclusion that no other show is going to beat Haikyuu for me (Spoilers for the manga below).
Karasuno High School does not win Nationals. They are taken down brutally after placing top 8 in the country, when Shouyou collapses on the court from overexhaustion. The seniors on the team say goodbye as they head off to college, both to the team and professional volleyball. Karasuno does not win Nationals the following year, or the year after, and by that time Shouyou and Tobio have already graduated high school, and the arc ends, just as a new one begins.
At this point, I had already put down the novel, confused about what I was supposed to feel. I expected some kind of joy or excitement or at least pain and heartbreak, but neither happened. I couldn’t fault Shouyou and Tobio for losing because that’s the way life is. Sometimes, you try your hardest and you still lose. The effort you put in is either not enough, or there is room for improvement in time you don’t have. I couldn’t fault the seniors for leaving volleyball behind either — realistically, most people don’t play beyond high school. Volleyball is just that: a sport played for fun.
But after finishing the manga, somehow, through all the emotions this story has taken me through, I am left feeling satisfied.
I started this show convinced that it was about winning — or at least about volleyball, but now I understand that it’s really not. Because by the end of it, I realized that volleyball was just the setting, the side-plot — what really makes this show was the characters.
And now I can confindently say this: Haikyuu is actually about passion and self-acceptance.
The Climb
Shouyou Hinata is deeply flawed in the way he used to look at volleyball — he thought if he only tried harder, pushed himself further, results would come. Experience has taught him life is anything but: he loses the preliminary tournament his first year because of that recklessness, loses the national tournament because of his negligence toward his own weaknesses. He realizes, as high school comes to an end, he has focused so much time on perfecting one skill in volleyball, he’s too dependent on his teammates for anything else.
But what makes him strong is what he does for all of it. Shouyou accepts his weaknesses, but also accepts the fact that he loves volleyball despite them. And so he does the best thing he can do — he learns from them. By the time Shouyou graduates high school, he has a plan. Two years in Brazil, playing beach volleyball, learning everything — once again — from scratch. He is no longer all about winning, but now focused on bettering himself.
And when he returns to Japan years later he’s a completely different person than he was in high school. Reunited with Tobio Kageyama, now feeling his equal, Shouyou takes on the world with him and his new team.
And through it all, there’s a lot that I learned from this story.
But mainly, I learned that not everyone has the same goals; many graduated high school and left volleyball behind, moving onto a new chapter of their lives. Others — like Shouyou and Kageyama — didn’t, instead choosing to follow their passion, and many, many, years later, earning a spot on the Japan National Men’s Volleyball team, playing on the one world stage — together.
And either way, it’s through a love for themselves and their passion, that they were able to make it.
Admittedly, the show and story do have their flaws. Life isn’t as idealistic as its presented in any TV series. But after sitting through countless “realistic” and heart-wrenching movies and shows (which feel more like watching a trainwreck in slow-motion than anything else), Haikyuu was a nice reprieve.
This story, that focuses not on the game, but on the individuals, not on winning, but on perseverance and acceptance of one’s true self, is one that I know I will never forget.
