Ani-Me #29: HAIKYU!! Gives You A View From The Top (Patreon)

Well, that was fucking delightful.

Which is neat to know, because for a long time now I’ve heard talk of this mysterious “sports anime” subgenre and I’ve been rather curious. But the first season of Haikyu!! is also a great deal like what I imagined it would be. For it so succinctly taps into what I’ve come to love about anime’s style, which is its ability to zoom in on the specifics of a given moment. I’m not just talking about the way it visualizes the exacting game of inches of an epic sword fight or something. But more its ability to slow down and capture a thought or feeling in the midst of action. It is the ability to take the interiority of the character and effectively stop time to go into the minutiae of a dramatic moment. And as I watched this show it suddenly struck me that, oh duh, this is the PERFECT way to dramatize sports. Because honestly? Dramatizing sports in live-action can be soooo difficult to film exactly in the way you want. There’s so many damn variables and trying to get the right way of manufacturing tension is so hard (especially with crowd sports). But in animation? You can get the impossible shot at all times and accentuate every detail. So this was a real forehead slap moment for me.

Especially because I already love sports movies and TV shows through and through. It’s particularly funny when people tend to balk at sports stories like “let me guess, the good guys win!” as if that’s what matters. Because they’re often failing to realize the binary nature of winning and losing has little to do with the story being told. Instead, the sports are often just a way of finding dramatic flex points for the characters on screen. It’s all a way of getting at something more important. For instance, it’s a way of playing with the romantic relationship dynamics of Bull Durham. Or it’s the way Bad News Bears or Slapshot mine anarchy for laughs. In Raging Bull, boxing is but an extension of pathos and inward-focused misery.  And Hoop Dreams isn’t just one of the best (and more prescient) documentaries of all time, it’s exploration of culture, class, the “promise” of stardom amidst the difficulties facing Black America. And as for what I expected out of this much beloved volleyball anime? I suppose I expected something more akin to the great Friday Night Lights, a beautiful television show which mixed sports with the slice-of-life family stories that powered our emotions. And instead I was like…

“Wait, it’s *just* about the sports part?!?!”

I’m sure there are examples of other anime that are much closer to the FNL approach, but there’s something so stalwart and brilliant about the way Haikyu!! keeps so much of their focus on the court itself. This not only brings us into the beautiful intricacies of a game that you perhaps didn’t know so much about. It’s also a way of being damn sure that you bring the character dynamics of the show right into the sports elements. Iit forces them to mine various forms of drama from the smallest of moments. Gah, there’s so much that’s great about this show, from its characters, to its mechanical details, to its thematic philosophy. But I first want to point out the reason the show works in the first place… It has to do with plotting!

So remember when I was talking about the structural problems with FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood - in the sense that often it would introduce a neat conflict and then wait way, way, way long to resolve it, often while failing to creating meaningful new conflicts within it? And how this made the show feel like it was treading water and getting repetitive? Well, Haikyu!! goes in the exact opposite direction to its complete advantage. Within the pilot episode, you’ll meet our two leads and set them up as rivals and uh oh! Turns out going forward, they’re going to be on the same team. This may seem a small thing, but to me it shows that the show understood everything from the beginning. Because it’s not telling you where it’s going and then making you wait. Nor is it some left-field twist without purpose. Instead, it’s a delicate set-up. Because it doesn’t erase that conflict that is established. Those lingering competitive feelings stick, but now it means learning to share a court and understand how to work together. Then it’s about integrating that newfound cooperation with other plots and characters. Honestly, it’s actually a perfect example of everything I talk about in terms of good dramatic plotting.

To wit, the show will 1) set a clearly defined goal (beat this next team! or learn to do a new move!) then it will 2) play the conflict really, really hard before 3) bringing it to a point of dramatic result, either in terms of one person gaining advantage over the other OR reaching a point of impasse before 4) figuring out how to achieve synthesis and move forward into the new reality. A new reality that just so happens to have its 1) new clearly defined goal. See how that works? You have a similar cyclical structure, but you’re building new alliances or new faultlines and focusing on new issues. You are essentially reframing the core conflict. It sounds simple, but it’s that exact cycle of dramatic conflict that helps a story feel like it’s growing and evolving. You can even see it done in so many classic movies like The Godfather, to The Good The Bad and The Ugly, or more lighted hearted fare like Pretty Woman. And here in Haikyu!! The evolving conflict just so clearly drawn in the same manner.

Note the way it will build a conflict and find some kind of catharsis within every episode, even if it sometimes has nothing to do with a team winning over another. Sometimes it’s just a character finding their serve again! Or the declaration that Karasuno boys are back in competitive contention! Sometimes the moment of synthesis will be even more unexpected and beautiful. I particularly love that one moment in the show where Tadashi gets his big floating serve moment in the climax, fails so brutally, and yet it still changes the momentum. For in falling behind, they’re no longer playing that tight. Stuff like this is writing gold. And in nailing the little details of synthesis, the overall structure of the show becomes more clear. Because I love the way the rest of the team is slowly introduced over the course of the first few episodes. I love the way every little storyline is introduced, often earlier, and comes back to play a pivotal role. And I love the way the ending is about taking stock of loss and reframing your own sense of self. Because of this? It doesn’t matter if a given match goes a few episodes longer than you’d expect, it’s all part of the show’s dramatic modus operandi. And the show teaches you to trust the rhythm in the way that all good shows teach you to trust them. So in the end?

I think it’s a perfectly structured season of television.

A deeply emotional one at that. Early on in the season I admit I was like “oh this is cute and well-orchestrated,” but as things got into the tournament I was like GO HINATA! GO MY SWEET SWEET BOYS!! I WILL DIE FOR YOU. A lot of this speaks to the power of characterization (which a lot of anime shows seem to be good at? But then again, I’m mostly watching the good ones). I’m also kind of noticing how many anime leads tend to be under-sized, thin-skinned, energizer bunny idiot types, but Shoyo Hinata might be one of my favorite versions of the character yet. Especially with how much his heart rests on his sleeve. He’s also a perfect counterpoint to Tobio, whose clash of stoicism and prickly outbursts makes him the perfect foil. But really, it’s the entire team. From Stephen Merchant Tallboy to Hawt Asahi Ace to good guy Captain Daichi, I love them all. And I was grinning ear to ear at the proclamation of them all giving it a go again in next season’s spring tournament.

Granted, the watch was not without its funny observations. For one, I like how every single dang character is apparently 1000% insightful into the human condition. It’s just so amusing when EVERYONE in the crowd is an expert of volleyball analysis and knows exactly what everyone is thinking. But honestly, it’s so smart to do this. Because it’s the perfect way of bringing the audience into the given moment, too (and honestly it always makes me laugh). Also, I watched some of this season with Landon and I kept asking, “sooooo is the team manager and sole female character Kiyoko ever going to get to speak? Or, ya know, have any discernible character traits?” I understand they seem to be trying to do this out of characterizing shyness for some comic effect, but it would be great if there was something more going on there. Perhaps with time. And I’m hopeful because some of my favorite moments of the show are the humane digressions. Like the way that one episode follows the girl’s team and builds to the moment where Yui cries when she is finally alone - and everyone knows that’s what she’s doing. It’s just *also bursts into tears.* And perhaps my favorite episode of the entire season is when our boys are wiping the floor with the first round tournament team and then we suddenly go into THEIR flashback stories. They’re so humanized and thus you suddenly care so much about this team you weren’t thinking about at all just a few minutes ago. This does my favorite thing, which is to remind you that everyone’s a person.

Beautifully, they do this almost purely through volleyball.

But that’s the great thing about sports shows, right? They give you insight into people. And the fact they give you insight into sports themselves is just a neat bonus. Especially for me, because I freaking love sports. I grew up playing them and a lot of the neighborhood kids were the best athletes in the town. Like a lot of kids, I grew up playing schoolyard football, basketball, baseball, soccer, street hockey and even pond hockey (cuz New England). By the time things got to competitive leagues, I was still playing soccer, but I looooooved basketball and baseball. But by the time I got to high school, I finally had to make a choice of focus. I was just good enough at distance running that I had to give up the other sports I loved, all because there was just a much better chance of competing at a higher level and college scholarships. Man, my track and field days were some of my favorites. Our team was incredible. Our coach was incredible. And it all seemed like it was going up, up, up, but then I destroyed my knee at the end of junior year and that was pretty much that. But there’s so much I learned in all that experience. Particularly because I always felt like I had to learn first.

Because growing up, I was good, but never as good as the friends I was playing with. I never liked that feeling and it created this chip on my shoulder. I knew I had to work harder. I knew I had to be the most annoying player on defense to justify being on the court. I also knew I had to use my head as much as possible, which just breeds this kind of passion for the intricacies. I often idolized the craftiest players. Even in terms of general fandom, my friend Justin turned me onto the writing of Bill James years before Oakland even gave that a shot in Moneyball. I came to love strategy as much as competition itself. And I feel like I carry so much of that with me even now. Because honestly, one of the reasons I don’t get to watch as many movies or shows as my critical compatriots is I spent a loooooot of time watching the NBA and Dodgers games, etc. I genuinely don’t have the time to keep up with it like I used to, but the social element of it still informs so much. I just love the mechanics of sports the way I love the mechanics of learning. And it’s that “love of learning” that fuels so much of why I like Haikyu!! I know the show is often a huge exaggeration, but I loved learning about team volleyball and the little details that make it so much more enthralling to watch the game itself. It’s a gift, really.

But perhaps the best thing about sports is they bring the principles of drama right into real life. So much may seem random, but these games of inches bring so much out of ourselves and our ability to focus, execute, and tap into our own emotions. For instance, I’ve spent the last few years thinking so hard about anger and how to understand its usefulness as an emotion. Make no mistake, there’s a lot of toxic anger in sports because there’s a lot of toxicity in men and the business world in general. But the double edged sword of that is that it can be a tremendous tool as well. In therapy, you’re reminded that initial feelings of anger are often about “fighting for selfhood.” But if you just let them fly with no control, they can so easily go outward and hurt others. But it’s also so easy to direct our anger inward, through hating oneself and replaying every moment or every decision, which makes you feel the smallness and pain again and again. Really, it’s something that needs to be released in a healthy way. A way that takes that anger and turns into fuel to grow and expand. Sports really can teach you that. It’s not just exertion. It’s how it teaches you to live with failure. Because there’s always another match, or at bad, or shot attempt that you have to do. You have to break through those walls by necessity. And as we watch Shoyo and Tobio get out their anger on the court the next day after the devastating loss, we see them learn that lesson, too. It’s the way to rally, to find purpose, and not let grief and regret eat you alive.

There’s so many ways that can apply to things that don’t have to do with sports.

It can be a part of any system where you have the things you can and can’t control. It can be a part of self-reflection and process. And it can be a part of understanding how to go from what you want to what you need. To wit, three of my favorite moments that speak to this dynamic all come near the end of the show. The first is in the initial stages of the loss when all they feel is the devastation and the deep exhaustion. The couch takes them out for food and it’s a reminder they have to take a moment to give thanks, to eat, to refill, and most of all, to cry together without judgment. It is one of the most heartening things I’ve ever seen in a sports show precisely because it’s taking an active examination of what it means to actually heal.

The second moment is when the seniors make the big decision to stay on in the spring and be a part of the team. They are all warned against this and told to consider their “future” and put academics first (as few have a chance to go pro), but it seems that decision would be motivated by the fear that you somehow won’t be able to balance it with academic life. But one of the big lessons you learn with age is that your future is always how you live in the now. If you truly care about something, then you want to be a part of it. And we get so few opportunities in the life to do so. There are few things better than an opportunity that is cherished.

And the third and final moment? It’s unsurprisingly the poetic action of the very last moment of the tournament. It is when Tobio goes for Shoyo with the pin-point pass and… it still ends up getting rejected back at them for the final point. It gets at this idea that this dependency and trust between them was a “weakness” that the opponents could foresee coming in the final move. But that’s the whole thing. It doesn’t matter that it didn’t work. There are so many right calls that don’t work. The real victory, that is the human victory, is that regardless of the result, he learned to trust someone completely. And that the two of them have built a meaningful foundation for everything going forward. There is nothing weak about that trust.

For in the end, there’s nothing more powerful.

<3HULK

PS - Adding a little postscript here because there was no good place to put it. So I’m gonna keep watching this show at my own pace (I literally already started season two after I finished this essay) but I didn’t want to get bogged down in a bunch of seasons before writing about it. Honestly, I want to keep exploring different shows as much as possible so I want to keep writing about shorter things or the first seasons of a given show. But if it's fitting, I’ll come back and update this essay or add a new post or something as I go on. With that, I’m actually going to watch Ping Pong, too because it’s short and I want to see how another sports show compares! So bonus column!

PSS - Also, I realized I have three questions about anime tactics in general that make me curious! The first is that I instinctively know that Japanese culture has a higher degree of formality, especially within language, but I’m curious if anything good has been written about how much of that is either true or exaggerated in anime for effect, or even if it’s something that taps into an issue of translation? Similarly, is there any insight to the use of the word “strong” because I feel like it gets used A LOT in anime, often with perhaps different usage than we would use here? And lastly, has anyone written anything personal or thoughtful about how ADHD or Autism is reflected in works like this, perhaps with Shoyo or Tobio or characters from other shows? I’m not saying I think the show is expressly exploring these conditions, not at all. But as I watch Tiktoks that teach me so much more about those subjects and how they relate to media figures, so I’m just curious if there’s any pieces out there that talk about how it’s reflected within shows like this. Okay, thanks!

Bye for real this time!!

<3<3HULK