I would not, by any stretch, call Haikyuu a tragedy.  Indeed, that term almost never applies to the sports genre (though some series do incorporate tragic elements, it’s not the same in narrative terms).  But in one important way sports anime and Haikyuu specifically can have something in common with tragedy.  They both at times have to generate drama and pathos despite the audience knowing how it ends.  Indeed for classical tragedy that’s basically the point.  But for sports series, it can be a tougher challenge.

That’s pretty much been the case with this season of Haikyuu, especially once it became clear that the Inarizaki match would effectively take up its entirety.  And indeed I think the series struggled with that for much of its run, with the focus on side characters undermining its ability to manufacture tension and excitement despite the fait accompli.  It’s only really changed in the last three episodes, with the focus turning squarely on the core cast, especially Hinata.  It’s been vintage Haikyuu for the first time in a good while.

While the visuals did take a bit of a dip again this week – off-model character renderings have been an Achilles heel all season – the energy level was off the charts.  Haikyuu does have the innate ability to generate some fiercely exciting action when it’s on its game.  That’s pretty much the Hippocratic Oath of sports series the way “just be funny” is for comedies, so it’s a good club to have in the bag.  This entire episode only consisted of a handful of points, but each one was tense and dramatic in classically Haikyuu fashion.

While each side had match points here, the real chance Inarizaki had to put it away was when Atsumu was serving for the match.  He elected to finally go with a spike serve (after having just served an ace with a floater) and that burst of ego probably cost his side their chance at victory.  Most of the drama here came from defense rather than offense – miraculous blocks, a dump at match point from Kageyama.  It’s also notable to me that Karasuno managed to hang on despite two of their core players not even being able to jump serve – something I would imagine Shouyou and Tsuki are both going to need to address before their second year.

Tsuki in fact became a sort of Greek chorus here, with his internal monologue providing the backdrop for the final few moments.  Shouyou’s defensive prowess once again came to the fore, all the fruits of his humiliating stint at the training came finally bearing fruit.  The speed of his improvement may tempt realism a little, but sometimes with freaks these kind of “level up” outbursts do happen – especially when they’re still kids.  His instincts are as unerring as his legs are springy.  And that, in fact, led to arguably his most important contribution of the set.  Not a spectacular spike of receive, but lofting a simple receive high into the air and giving his frazzled teammates a moment to slow the game down and breathe.

As Tsuki observes, in the end it all came down to Shouyou and Tobio, first years or not.  They are the kaibutsu indeed, and it’s their dance – everyone else is there as a guest.  Fitting, then, that they provided the block on the twins’ final quick to finish Inarizaki off – if anyone knows quicks, it’s these two.  And that, at last, is that.  With an episode to spare, too, giving the narrative a chance to follow Hinata’s example and breathe a little – which I consider a very healthy way to close out the season.