I’m feeling quite detached from Haikyuu at the moment, and I wonder if the reason isn’t more complicated than it may appear. Maybe the perceptible drop in animation quality is a creeping drain on the series’ appeal. It’s only intermittently been so bad that I consciously notice it, true. But maybe the wonderful visuals were just that important to Haikyuu’s appeal, and without them it starts to be a house of cards in a storm. That’s not a question that could ever be answered definitively but it is an interesting one to consider.
Occam’s Razor still seems to suggest that the series simply isn’t as interesting this cour. A lot of fans complained about the Hinata “exile” mini-training arc, but in hindsight it was among the most interesting so far. And it was thoroughly different from anything that preceded (or succeeded) it, which is notable in a series that can be a little same-y even when it’s on its game. What’s going on right now just plays as very vanilla Haikyuu to me, and the taste is getting monotonous.
The introduction of a new character, Kita Shinsuke (Nojima Kenji – !), doesn’t do much to shake things up. Haikyuu does have a habit of tossing new characters in out of the blue and expecting us to care about them, and while it sometimes works that’s a pretty high bar. Shinsuke is actually the captain of the Inarizaka squad despite his minimal role on the court. And that role seems to be mainly putting the fear of God into complacent teammates terrified of his razor-sharp criticisms (in addition to some very good defensive work). Shinsuke is super-analytical, seemingly robotic, and a bit boring.
Kita does manage to keep Inarizaka from switching off with a big lead (which has apparently happened before), which makes his insertion a successful stratagem. But with the second set closed out he’s back to the bench for the start of the third, which sees Karasuno change up their rotation to have Tsuki in position to deal with the twins’ quicks. It’s Tobio who provides the first big momentum-changer of the final set, though, single-handedly blocking an Aran spike and ending Osamu’s serving rotation after only two points. I still expect the Crows to win this with enough of the season left to set up the next match, but at this point that no longer looks like a sure thing. I rather hope it does, though, as this Inarizaka matchup just isn’t firing me up.
leongsh
November 14, 2020 at 9:43 pmI’m curious about where you are reading the online comments about the Haikyuu anime.
Your shade on the Inarizaki captain, Kita Shinsuke, is a bit bewildering. Yes, he is just been given his time in the spotlight but even in this short bit about him, it shows that he is really what the higher level version of Sugawara is. He put in his work, never slouched off, never got a jersey until his final year at Inarizaki, and to be the captain as well. He doesn’t even need to shout at his team to control or tell off. He is cool, calm, logical and collected most of the time – cuts right to the heart of it to put the fear of god in his teammates. He may be robotic in his approach but he shows care and emotions too when the situation warrants it. There’s more but it’ll go into spoiler territory.
bennydelon
November 14, 2020 at 11:55 pmI always found Inarizaki interesting because of their Shinto theme, mostly shown through imagery of foxes, rice and agriculture, which are symbols of the kami Inari.
In Kita, the Shinto ideas are integral to the character. Being methodical is not unique to Japan, but the way it’s portrayed in this case is quintessentially Japanese.
Kita’s grandma understanding of the world is of course based on Shinto’s philosophy: everything can be a kami, from ancestors to small objects. And even though Kita says he has stopped believing in the kami, his way of life is still very in line with those ideas.
I’m actually surprised he’s so popular among western fans considering all this. But I guess he’s just very nice and likable, even if people don’t fully understand his philosophy.
Riv
November 15, 2020 at 3:34 amI agree, I’ve been feeling disengaged from Haikyuu too. For me, I don’t think it’s related to the drop in animation quality, and I’m wondering if it’s due to the fact that I know the manga ended. I’m not reading the manga, but I’m guessing that it comes to a close after the nationals tournament ends. Which would mean that we have some more game arcs where individual characters will probably improve their skills, but I can’t imagine there’s going to be much more significant character development. And while I am invested in Karasuno winning, I need more beyond little side stories about their opponents to really grab me.
I know you’re not fond of the direction Daiya no Ace took, but I actually love how that series developed and think it does a much better job with sustained character growth than Haikyuu. Looking back on Haikyuu now, I can see that my interest started to wane in the Shiratorizawa match–then it picked up a bit with Hinata and Kageyama’s training arc, but now is declining again. I feel like there’s a lot of wasted potential. To take Kageyama, who is my favorite character, at the beginning, we had him learning how to be a team player, becoming friends with Hinata, etc. And then his development just stalled outside of improving his volleyball skills. His relationships with the other characters stagnated and became very one-note. Whereas in Daiya no Ace, Sawamura and Furuya (and some other characters too) keep experiencing significant character development, and their relationship with each other has changed dramatically, in addition to their baseball skills growing.
So to summarize, I feel like there was a lot of potential in Haikyuu that is not being realized.
Guardian Enzo
November 15, 2020 at 8:59 amI do think Haikyuu suffers from too wide a focus. Too many opponents, too many sidebar arcs. Some are better than others, but collectively they suck too much oxygen from the characters that matter.
Ultimately I think the visuals matter so much because in terms of writing this series has always been pretty good, never exceptional. It was the animation that made it distinct and with that compromised, the whole package begins to look uncomfortably close to mediocre.
Kim
November 17, 2020 at 10:52 amI still very much enjoy Haikyuu but I feel this season is weaker than the rest. I think part of the problem is the character development moments for Karasuno actually feel very few and far between. Hinata himself has done very little this arc so far