The facts:

Title: Haikyu!!

Producer: Production I.G and Toho

Director: Susumu Mitsunaka

Writer: Taku Kishimoto

First released: in Japan on the Mainichi Broadcasting system on the 6^th of April 2014

Series: Haikyu!! (4 seasons and continuing)

Plot summary:

Haikyu!! is about a boy named Hinata his aim to be able to jump high enough and have the ability to spike a ball so hard that not even the tallest blockers can block the ball just like his idol idol ‘the small giant” once did. Hinata joins Karasuno’s volleyball team and has to work together with Kageyama a setter that had given him grief in his first every volleyball game. After joining the team Hinata and the rest of the team work together and get stronger, defeating any team that opposes them, eventually.

What I like most:

What I like most is how each character is so invested in their goals and how they all communicate to each other. Kageyama aims to becoming the best setter so he is constantly reflecting and adjusting, Hinata wants to become really good at volleyball so he is constantly practicing and asking for help.  Taku Kishimoto did a really good job capturing the high school teenage boy vibe with the constant theme of going to get meat buns and sleeping and the obsessing over something as well as some of the characters falling over their heels for girls.

What I like least:

What I like least is how dramatic it is in parts. I know it’s important to keep the viewer invested in the characters but really, I’m just here to watch sports anime, if I wanted to see high stakes anime than I would watch an action anime. There seems to always be tension in this show. The characters work really hard towards a goal, they than accomplish it and stragit away its back to training because there’s only 30 days till their next match. This makes it quite stressful to watch because I am constantly wondering, will they do it in time? What going to happen?

Interesting fact:

Strategies used in volleyball games in Haikyu!! are based off real strategies used by professional volleyball teams.

Recommended age:

I would recommend this to kids aged 8+. There is no violence or swearing and no blood, just over excited teenagers playing sport. With it being a sports anime there is the occasional injury but the animation is very good at focusing on the characters face rather than the wound and than they reappear moments latter with bandages and a smile, ready to play.

How to explain to your parents:

This is an exciting tale of how a young boy engages in his passion of volleyball with fellow school students and how his rivalry with another students pushes him to become a better player.

Film/Tv crossover:

Haikyu!! has 45 books to its name, an anime that is still being made, 4 movies, 4 video games, a card game and is featured in 2 games.

In Bibliography:

Furudate, H. 2022, ‘Haikyu!! To The Top’, Crunchyroll [image] Available https://www.crunchyroll.com/haikyu, Accessed 9 October 2022.