#despite its many flaws this might be one of my fav games of all time

[regrettablemeasure]

I FINISHED IT.....

[genesisrose74]

here’s the thing, gen. i low key really wanna watch haikyuu, have for a while (and more so now and it’s totally not because sapnap has mentioned it a few times and i’m a simp or anything) but my high school had a volleyball team. that was our school sport in a sense.

in australia we don’t have a school sport culture like in the us. honestly school sport culture from the us terrifies me. but my high school was the one you went to if you wanted to play volleyball. one guy from my graduating class played for australia in thailand in 2018 (also the year i graduated lmao). anyway off topic

high school was not poggers for me, and volleyball being a major-ish thing for my school i can’t not associate the sport (which i actually kinda enjoy playing and am not bad at. head of department for PE, plus the volleyball team coach asked me once to play for the school. i did not want to)

this is a long ass winded way to say, please convince me to watch the show. i wanna but not enough to just... watch it. i need to be convinced. i am like techno. i easily succumb to mild amounts of peer pressure. just yell at me to watch it and i probably will tbh

- <3

Oh wow, your school must’ve been pretty well known for its team :0 well I am totally and completely in love with this show and here’s a bit of why to possibly convince you about giving it a try!

Why You Should Watch Haikyuu!!

Here’s a little short summary first:

Japan is pretty big on volleyball (especially recently) because their team is one of the world’s best, but while there’s absolutely competitive elements in the show for sure, it’s incredibly heartfelt, funny, and built upon the foundation of enjoying the things one loves. The main character is Shoyo Hinata (my fav, the bestest boi 🥺), who originally plays soccer but becomes inspired by a talented high school volleyball player and decides to take up the sport. His school doesn’t have a boy’s volleyball team, but he’s absolutely in love with the sport and decides to try practicing with his friends and as many people as possible. Eventually he gets enough people to play in the last tournament of their middle school year, and despite the fact that his team is clearly not great, he has lots of drive and enthusiasm to where he isn’t deterred. He’s very agile and can jump like a beast, but clearly has a lack of real game experience.

Fast forward to the first year of high school, Shoyo is at his dream school and realizes that one of the team members he encountered at the tournament - Kageyama - is on his team. Kags is incredibly competitive and has some character flaws that have to do with teamwork, and he and Hinata are very competitive with each other and bicker all the time. The story basically follows their high school team and their attempt to get to Nationals, while also showing the character growth of Hinata, Kageyama, and all their friends along the way.

Now to some of the reasons I personally adore this show, down to every last detail:

One of the reasons I love this show so much is because of the fact that it’s realistic in more ways than one. It doesn’t follow this perspective that “volleyball is the one and only thing that all these characters can care about”, but keeps a consistent focus on the plotline while exploring different aspects of life. No one individual or team is especially overpowered or given insane plot armor either, which many sports shows can sometimes resort to.

The manga author and original creator of the story, Haruichi Furudate, was a volleyball player in high school himself, and puts a lot of his own realistic perspective into the plot. The anime itself is incredibly well done animation wise, to the point where professional players on the college and national scale have praised its accuracy, and it depicts common struggles of athletes (honestly any athlete or performer) in a real way: performance anxiety, health, not being a natural prodigy at something, injuries, you name it. One of USC’s liberos even said that she experienced similar performance anxiety to what’s depicted in certain episodes of the show. I resonated with it especially, as I’ve played volleyball and performed in multiple other sports/extracurriculars and felt similarly. It does it in a comfortable, tasteful, and impactful way that doesn’t devoid the show of its overall emotion or humor.

Additionally, Haikyuu is one of the only shows so far that has gotten me so immersed in what’s going on that I’ll be sitting on the edge of my couch to see what happens - even when I’ve seen that episode or clip before. I’ve gotten multiple friends into the show as well, and they’ve all felt the same. You want to root for these characters (and even some of the ones not on the main team, if you’d believe it), becoming elated when they discover something about themselves or break past a boundary. When I say I’ve gotten emotional over this freaking show, I mean it.

The original soundtrack is one of the best I’ve ever seen in an anime. God tier insane. Makes you feel chills as you experience exactly what the characters are at the same time you’re watching it. The intro and outro music is also incredible. You never skip an opening because it’s that good.

Nothing goes forgotten, each character is thoroughly and intricately developed, and it can make me both laugh my ass off and cry my heart out. I might just be more emotional lol, but trust me when I say it’s immersive. I deeply, truly hope that you consider giving the first few episodes a shot to see if you like it, and let me know if you end up doing so! Season one is a little slower in early progression just to set a basic plot foundation, but it picks up very nicely as the episodes continue.

alsjfnsldksjd this is so fucking long but I could say so much more about how much I love Haikyuu. Please please please 🥺🙏 I implore you to watch and appreciate it!