That really was the finale this time, not that you could tell the difference. Sometimes even with pre-announced split cours a series will try and give the last episode before the break some sense of finality, but Haikyuu pretty much just rolled with it here. Apart from the lack of a preview there’s nothing that would have tipped you off that there’s no episode next week. That’s all fine – split cours are a part of life under the current production system – though with sports anime you do tend to lose a certain amount of momentum with those three-month breaks.
I must say the focus on Ryou and his romance subplot seems to come out of nowhere, more or less. Kanoka is the girl’s name, though perhaps we knew that already and I forgot, and that she’s sweet on Tanaka-kun there can be no doubt. He has his sights set elsewhere, though given how hopeless than goal is I imagine he might come to his senses and realize what a good thing he might be passing up. Ryou and Kanoka seems to be a very standard osananajimi setup, and this being Haikyuu! I don’t imagine we’re going to dig any deeper than that.
The opponent for the cour crossover is Hyogo’s Inarizaki High, second-place finishers at the Inter-high and one of the favorites in this tournament. This is one of those scenarios where Haikyuu!! has to manufacture drama in the execution, since there can be no suspense over who’s going to win the actual match as it’s only the second round. Inarizaki fills the role of the power school to a “T”, complete with a big band and obnoxious cheering section. The underdog role is the most natural for Karasuno, so they should be very familiar with it (though I confess, actually booing the opposing server is a Haikyuu!!! first for me and seems like very bad form).
We know the key man on Inarizaki – Miya Atsumu, Tobio’s playmate from the national camp. Turns out he has a less flashy twin brother, Osamu (Kabumoto Hideaki). Since Osamu can also set and Atsumu can also spike, their formation should be an interesting one to watch. Apart from that it looks like a fairly straightforward Haikyuu!!!! bogeyman, and while I’ve no doubt this match will prove troublesome we know how it’s going to turn out so it’s just a matter of seeing how we get from point A to point B.
On the Crows’ side, Shouyou seems pretty on-form – as Suga (again sadly reduced to the role of non-participant observer) notes, the little giant gets excited instead of nervous now. He’s still a baka (“I forgot to spike!”) but not running scared. Inarizaki’s tricksy middle blocker will be a puzzle for Tobio and Shouyou to unlock, but they will sooner or later. And someone we don’t expect will provide a moment of heroism, as usual. Maybe an injury sub or pinch-serving situation as usual – though I’d love it if Haikyuu!!!!! upped the ante and went outside that formula.
All in all, Haikyuu!!!!!! is nothing if not dependable – I don’t really feel as if any of the seasons so far have been significantly better or worse than all the others. I did like Hinata’s training camp arc at the start of this cour, because it was that rare deviation from routine for this series and really effective at that. After that, though, we’ve returned to the usual – and that’s fine. That’s Haikyuu!!!!!!!, which means the usual is why we’re all here. This is a series that never blows me away but also rarely disappoints me, and I see no reason to expect “To The Top’s” concluding cour this summer will be any different.
bennydelon
April 4, 2020 at 10:29 pmI’ve been trying to write this comment for the past weeks but I wasn’t sure how to make it non-spoilery.
You often seem to be sure Haikyuu won’t develop a character or idea any further, “this being Haikyuu! I don’t imagine we’re going to dig any deeper than that”, etc. I think you have a preconception of what Haikyuu can and cannot do and it’s affecting your perception of what it’s actually doing, making you miss the foreshadowing.
I don’t want to over-defend Haikyuu’s writing, because I agree with many of your criticisms, like the matches being too formulaic. But I would trust Furudate a bit more when it comes to the characters.
For example, I wouldn’t have expected Shiratorizawa’s coach to be relevant again after their match with Karasuno, but he was brought up again for the training camp. Washijo is a short person that gave up on playing volleyball because of his natural disadvantage, so he’s a perfect ideological antagonist for Hinata. I think it should be pretty obvious now that we haven’t seen the last of him.
Guardian Enzo
April 4, 2020 at 10:47 pmI’m not sure where that’s coming from TBH. I’ve readily acknowledged both the growth in Shouyou’s character in the first part of this season, and how much it surprised me.
Stöt
April 4, 2020 at 11:38 pmHow can you not see where that is coming from? You were surprised because you’ve been downplaying the character development side of the story since day 1 (or episode 3, idk). And you just did it here again, even after being “surprised” (read: proven wrong) just a couple of episodes ago.
It’s bleeding obvious to everyone else (i.e. 2 people in the comment section ;)).
Haikyuu never disappoints, and sometimes blows me away. It’s great, and anyone who doesn’t agree are most likely just jealous of the animation budget!
Guardian Enzo
April 4, 2020 at 11:45 pmIf that helps you.
bennydelon
April 5, 2020 at 12:29 amWell, for this post in particular I mentioned the example of Tanaka’s backstory: “this being Haikyuu! I don’t imagine we’re going to dig any deeper than that” that’s a quote from your review.
And for example, when the training camp arc was finished you mentioned how you were disappointed that Washijou didn’t really acknowledge Hinata. Implying that you think that’s all we are gonna see from Washijou, and you don’t expect the series to keep developing his relationship with Hinata in future arcs.
Again, I don’t think the show is perfect at all, and I don’t agree with Stöt that Haikyuu never disappoints. But I wanted to address this trend in your Haikyuu reviews of thinking that the show’s character development is shallow, so everytime we get some, you think that’s as far as the show will go.
Guardian Enzo
April 5, 2020 at 9:20 amThat implication came from you, not from me.
leongsh
April 5, 2020 at 4:10 amIt’s difficult to write a number of responses/matters without any spoilers. It’s why I don’t regularly comment and even then, just to say that most whatever the anime (and manga) shows like throwaway moments do come back up later for a bit more exposition. Furudate-sensei sprinkles these liberally so that they are seeded and the story can come back to.
I won’t go so far to say that it never disappoints like Stöt but I do have to say that Haikyuu does a lot of things very well that the disappointments are minor in the whole scheme, in my opinion. The volleyball action in Haikyuu is really done very well and very grounded. The key matches can be a bit long but there’s a lot that Furudate-sensei packs into a match. Sometimes, the mangaka loses focus but the manga does pull through in the many key moments that it has within those key matches. There’s a lot invested by the mangaka and mixes it up a lot to avoid too much familiarity. You can call it formulaic in terms of overall match progression but that’s more to the limits of the matches and scenario of the competition itself. There are other sport titles that go the other less used route, watch/read “Ahiru no Sora” and you’ll understand that other route. Back to Haikyuu, the amount of varied volleyball action and key moments in the matches are what could likely be the cause of the burnout that the manga had a drastic change. Won’t go further than that for anime only followers. For manga followers, it’s obvious what I mean.
However, whenever I read Guardian Enzo’s posts on Haikyuu, it always has that air of “damning with faint praise” and oftentimes, as you have correctly pointed out, that he writes it in the view that “the show’s character development is shallow, so everytime we get some, you think that’s as far as the show will go.”
The source of that can be seen in that Haikyuu is a sports anime ensemble piece with two leading characters that has more than half of its content devoted to the sports action, and that his favourite character has been left with not much room since he became the sacrificial player for one of the 2 leads. That ensemble of Haikyuu has a huge cast of distinctive characters and a large number are sufficiently memorable. That’s no mean feat. It also means that Haikyuu has to be judicious in how many characters the anime/manga can develop and grow. So, a number do fall to the wayside after been given their respective amount of time in the sun to move and support the story but they are brought back in small doses to not detract from the core story being played out.
With the large percentage of the manga (and anime) devoted to the sports action, it is imperative that the show weaves in the character development and growth within the action and that is what it does and does a very good job. For some major supporting characters, these lead to key moments that you can feel that the characters earned it. An excellent example was Tsukishima’s moment. It was woven over the many chapters/episodes and let loose in that roller-coaster thrilling match against Shiratorizawa. There’s more to come.
Guardian Enzo
April 5, 2020 at 9:25 amOr it could be that the character development actually is shallow most of the time. Occam’s Razor and all that…
We’ve reached an age in anime fandom where there’s no middle ground tolerated by most – if you don’t unilaterally praise a series, you’re a hater. I don’t like it – I think the medium is ill-served by it and it makes this less fun – but it’s inescapably a fact. The fact is that Haikyuu paints in primary colors most of the time – subtlety is not a major weapon in its arsenal. It’s possible to enjoy the series while acknowledging that – I know, because I do. There are a lot of sports series I don’t watch or write about, because I don’t. That may not satisfy those who demand unrelenting praise and no criticism, but it is what it is.
bennydelon
August 17, 2020 at 2:47 amThis comment comes super late, because I had given up on trying to discuss Haikyuu here, but I was checking your reviews to Eizouken (which I’m watching now) and realized you were having a similar reaction to criticisms in the comment section.
Often when people disagree with your reviews you start complaining about the current age of anime fandom, and how “if you don’t unilaterally praise a series, you’re a hater”.
I’ve been following Lost in Anime for 8 years, and I do it because I like the way you write. I believe most people commenting here are the same: we like your blog. But that doesn’t mean we can’t disagree with you from time to time, and it’s disrespectful from you to classify us as part of a new generation of obsessive anime fans that cannot take criticism towards their favorite show.
I’m not saying those types of fans don’t exist. But if you look at leongsh’s comment or my comment you will notice we were partially agreeing with you and acknowledging some of the faults of Haikyuu, but trying to engage in a respectful discussion about character development in the show, which you answered with personal attacks.
Anyway, I hope you can take this as constructive criticism.
Pieislife
April 5, 2020 at 11:39 amShoyo looks like a little Yokai
Guardian Enzo
April 5, 2020 at 11:45 amIt’s that full-body tangerine look.