YoshiKyon

7/10

Anilist: Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Land vs Air OVA | Season 4 Part 1 | Season 4 Part 2

Whew. When I feel like watching stuff, I go all out apparently. Watched all of this in the last week and a half, with all of Plastic Memories as a break in the middle.
This was recommended to me by Thunder, one of my closest friends and someone who's always been a big fan of sports anime, as part of my 12 Anime in 12 Months:

12 Anime in 12 Months:

These are listed in the order I thought I would enjoy them, from most likely to enjoy to least.

• Shinsekai yori
• Plastic Memories
• Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song
• Kaiba
• Bloom Into You
• Princess Tutu
• Redline
• Monster
• Saint Onii-san
• Haikyu!!
• So I'm a Spider, So What
• In Another World With My Smartphone

Mild spoilers below the cut.

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I should note first and foremost: I thought, going in, that I really wouldn't like Haikyu at all - and, in the first few episodes in particular, I really had to catch myself from judging it early and force myself to have a more open mind. In particular, I tend to hate shows that are too formulaic, and my favourite shows mostly live on complexity of storylines, characters, or both. Haikyu has neither, and that's probably a part of why I don't rate it that highly.
I've also found that any show where one of the selling points is "it's really funny" is one that I won't like. I can only think of one anime where the comedy has even struck the right notes for me at all (Jujutsu Kaisen) and even that took until the second half to really get there.

What Haikyu does do is deliver on everything it promises. It's high intensity throughout, with the big moments given all of the attention they deserve, and it delivers spectacularly on building up tension and the subsequent relief or disappointment, as you'd expect from any kind of competitive environment. It's also incredible with character dynamics - while the characters themselves are somewhat bland, the interactions between them are what makes things tick.

And that's kind of where parts of Haikyu fall down, unfortunately. The first season, as is necessary, spends a lot of time building up the main characters, but it focuses so intently on Hinata and Kageyama that even some of the main cast feel sidelined throughout. Seasons 2 and 3 pick that up - the introduction of Hitoka helping a lot to bring more attention to the characters off the court - but the first half of To The Top then drops the ball again. By splitting the cast, those dynamics that were its main strength were lost, and the side-characters that fill those gaps aren't as interesting, developed or engaging as the full team together.

I'd imagine this is more a situation where this just isn't my kind of show - and I suspected as much, which is why it's so low on the 12 Shows list, which is ordered by how much I thought I'd enjoy them going in - but for the majority of the time, Haikyu plays to its strengths and pulls you into its atmosphere completely. It just falls spectacularly flat at times, and never really gets to the point of being outstanding, even at its best.