This week is the long-awaited introduction of the other first year members, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi! I’ve decided to read ahead up to the end of the first match in the manga, so I was super hyped for this episode, though it’s not surprise that Haikyuu delivers once more.
What I love about Haikyuu, other than its fantastic presentation is how it remains quite down-to-earth. The characters don’t break way from the archetypal shonen cliches, but the series never has them fit into the mold entirely.
Hinata’s ‘template’ in terms of personality comes from shonen characters like Black Star (Soul Eater), but what’s different about him is that despite his strong desire to win and what not, he’s a genuinely likable guy. His persistence never comes off as annoying, he doesn’t go around picking fights with others for no reason, he doesn’t have a bad temper, he’s respectful, good-natured and willing to learn…there’s a lot to like about Hinata. The same goes for Kageyama. Characters of his ilk would be Akashi (Kurobas), but of course we don’t have superpowers in our volleyball here, and the almost ‘villain’-like archetype is never taken too far with Kageyama. He says some mean things, has a bad temper and is way too arrogant for his own good, but he’s aware of his flaws, and they actually bother him. It’s little nuances in character writing like this that make Haikyuu a lot more refreshing, even if it doesn’t break out of the mold entirely.
Anyways, back to this week’s episode. The introduction of Tsukishima was pretty badass (I think I screamed a little when I heard Uchiyama Kouki’s voice for the first time), it’s clear he’s on to Kageyama’s insecurities and plans to make use of it to step all over the poor guy, and has an extremely condescending attitude towards Hinata to the point of completely ignoring him. Yeah, I’m not the biggest fan of Tsukishima since he embodies the dickhead character type I dislike in general, but I’m sure I’ll warm up to him. It’s not because he’s an awfully written character mind you, in fact I think the writing was a success since we’re supposed to antagonize him from the get-go.
We do get some more development of the relationship between Kageyama and Hinata this week too, as the two practice in their first match to earn entrance into the gym and become proper members of the Karasuno High School Volleyball Club. Kageyama’s refusal to toss to Hinata was pretty damn harsh to watch, but Hinata himself understands this. He internally admits that he’s not good enough to stand on level ground with Kageyama as a teammate even if Kageyama himself has some glaring problems as a player, and is willing to practice receives until he earns Kageyama’s approval. That’s kind of incredibly admirable *sniffs*. It was an incredibly satisfying moment to finally see Hinata being able to return Kageyama’s balls, and in that split second Kageyama finally decided to toss to Hinata, Hinata finally manages a spike despite his exhaustion…it’s great moments like this that make me love sports anime. The moment when someone finally manages something they’ve painfully practiced for, when they finally hit the ball right, it’s an overwhelmingly satisfying emotion, and to see that translate so well into Haikyuu was just pure, unbridled joy to watch, as someone that plays sports (me).
What once again helps to solidify this experience is of course the mind-blowing animation in Haikyuu. The final step Hinata makes before he takes the leap to try to reach Kageyama’s toss wouldn’t have worked so well if the presentation wasn’t up to par, but to have been able to feel the pressure of that one step and that leap was just an amazing experience. It’s not something any sports anime would’ve been able to do, and it was executed so competently that I am seriously surprised that this director’s only other work is the horrible Cuticle Detective Inaba. Haikyuu also had some fantastic sound selection this week to match the great animation as well, particularly in the scenes where Hinata cycles to school. It was just such a pleasure to experience that.
Next week we’ll finally see the outcome of Hinata and Kageyama’s training together. Given the length of the match I’d say it should take at least one and a half episodes to finish, and this will be a pivotal point for Haikyuu. It needs to be able to adapt the volleyball matches well. Though I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t disappoint, after how good the first 3 episodes have been.