It's been years since I've seen ep 1 of Haikyuu and the montage of Hinata practicing by himself cut with his first official volleyball match is pure excellence.

And there's more character in the eyecatch than in some series' entire runtime.

I don't know if there's a perfect first episode of anime, but Haikyuu comes pretty damn close.

Also, it's on Netflix, so you dopes watching the DNC don't have any excuse to not be doing something better.

I... might not tweet my entire HQ rewatch takes.

But, I can't not say how great Tanaka is with Hinata and Kageyama.

Also, I don't understand how anyone sees Suga as anything besides a little shit.

He is pure gremlin energy with a nice face.

Tsukki starts as such an asshole. Now I'm remembering his growth and... oh man. It's so good.

And Yams is so cute.

Ok, HQ doesn't have a single secret sauce, it has several.

The first is slowly mixing in the characters. By my count, there are around 12 leads. Meeting all of them in the first episode would be way too much.

So, they slowly introduce them.

Ep 1: 2 characters (Kageyama and Hinata)
Ep 2: 3 characters (Daichi, Suga, Tanaka)
Ep 3: 2 characters (Tsukki and Yamaguchi)

This is called: intelligent storytelling.

Oh, and that they spend three episodes where the emotional payoff is something as simple as Kageyama setting a single ball to Hinata... and it is a fantastic character beat for both boys.

BACK ON MY BULLSHIT FOR EPISODE FOUR

Tanaka: still great
Tsukki: still a bastard
Yamaguchi: can't serve (lol)
Hinata: springs for legs (everyone's quick reactions are great)
Kageyama: grumpus because reasons

The image of Kageyama setting and no one there to hit it is an excellent character moment.

And Hinata being his pure, simple sunshine self is absolute gold leading into the quick is truly great.

(As is Tsukki being bitchy in a way that sets up HIS growth later on.)

Also, keeping your cast relatively small and the story relatively focused gives other characters the chance to have their own moments, even in episodes that are not about them.

Like Suga's envy of Kageyama's talent coming through in his speech to build him and Hinata up. Or Daichi's leadership showing through letting the first-years bicker during this practice game.

Oh, hello Takeda.

You're a good advisor.

Oh, hello Ukai.

You're a good... grocery store guy.

(For now.)

Back to Takeda. Having a neophyte to go over volleyball basics is a good thing. Lets the non-sports nerds get a grounding point for terminology.

So much adorable nervous Hinata in this episode.

And so much good-natured ribbing from his teammates (ok, all of it from Tanaka).

And here's a nice character beat. Tsukki is being shit, as per usual, but when Hinata doesn't rise to the bait, he and Yamaguchi seem concerned.

This rewatch is reminding me that Tanaka is truly the MVP of early Haikyuu.

TALK SHIT GET FUCKED

AND TSUKKI PLAYING ALONG

I LOVE THIS PREGAME STUFF

Hinata being a nervous wreck. Sometimes what helps is for the very worst thing to happen.

And that's exactly what happens when he serves.

And Kageyama's reaction is... perfect.

Does he know that? Absolutely not.

Because, like Hinata, he is a dumbass.

So, Karasuno has talented players, a good offense and a shaky defense.

Which Big 12 team are they?

Oklahoma State, obviously.

Oh, and this trio of episodes closes with our favorite fuckboy rival showing up.

So, I have that to look forward to.

You know, along with... everything else.

BACK ON MY BULLSHIT

Tanaka continues his early-show MVP status by basically stating he wants to punch Oikawa in the face.

He's such a good judge of character.

Hinata just had a total moment of awesome and it's so satisfying.

On multiple levels.

Also, love Suga saying to the neophyte advisor "yes, that WAS as awesome as you think it was."

/spittake at the "random" location they cut to during Takeda's speech in S1 E7

Hinata standing behind Tanaka while talking shit remains the purest energy.

Welp, time for the chaos demon, I mean "Guardian Deity" of Karasuno to return.

And for Takeda to go get them a real coach.

He has a very determined look on his face.

Noya makes such a cool entrance.

And what does Hinata say? "You're shorter than me".

Dork.

Noya looks so happy to be back. And him having less of a filter than Tanaka is quite fun.

And he clearly has a... passion for clothes. In addition to being loud as fuck.

Also, when he's pissed, you can hear Okamoto Nobuhiko's proto-Bakugo coming out.

Which is super neat.

Does anything really piss him off besides the other new boy not being back in the club yet? I don't remember.

And Noya being susceptible to praise from Daichi is cute. As is being called "senpai".

You can see why he and Tanaka such bros.

Also, Noya does a good job explaining the fundamental idea of volleyball "don't let the ball hit the floor", and making it sound cool.

And more importantly, making the audience not want the ball to hit the floor when it's on Karasuno's side.

And it's time for Takeda to continue begging to get a lazy store clerk who reads manga while working to become the team's coach.

Of course, he's perfect for the job.

And now we're introduced to this mysterious ace who hasn't come back to the team for... reasons.

Hello Asahi.

And Hinata, there is NO reason to hide behind Kageyama when you see him. He's completely harmless.

>I know Asahi's upcoming arc and my heart is breaking at where he is right now

ROLLING THUNDER

That's it, that's the tweet.

Noya has got so much feelings about Asahi. It's quite compelling.

/is trying not to go full shipper trash but you've seen all my AsaNoya fanart RTs so I don't know why I even bother

>Hinata being so desperate to get Asahi to come back he compliments Kageyama

Why yes, this is a neat character moment. For Asahi and Hinata.

AS IS Kageyama using his new-found growth to also try to bring Asahi back.

I guess what I'm saying is how well-written this anime is.

Let's see how the coach recruitment is going.

Ukai singing, thinking he's alone, like a DORK.

And then he sees Takeda standing there. And talks about how he would rather still be playing. And then Takeda reveals that they're playing their biggest rivals in a practice game.

Also, HS Ukai had the same buzzed haircut as Tanaka. Amazing.

And like that, we've got ourselves a coach.

First order of business, play against the JP equivalent of a local beer-league team.

Ukai does not have time for everyone's (read: Asahi and Noya's) bullshit.

This is a good thing, actually.

Oh right, Kageyama is pushing out a third-year, (who we like!). So, it's time for that character beat to come back around!

Everyone's reaction, esepcially Ukai's (with bonus Takeda), to the quick attack by Kageyama and Hinata is always great.

And now, in a quick flashback, we see a lot of things come to a head.

>the source of Asahi's lack of confidence
>the broken broom that Suga refused to throw away
>the big fight that pushed Asahi away from the club
>the incident that kept Noya from the team

A lot of this will be fully paid off later.

But for now, we'll have to be satisfied with Asahi getting his first successful spike in an absolutely fantastic scene.

Special shoutout to Okamoto (Noya's seiyuu) sounding like he's about to cry telling Asahi to call for the spike again.

And to Hosoya (Asahi's seiyuu) for letting loose with his shout for the ball.

All of it culminates in a moment as good as you'll see in any sports anime.

And we're just talking about practice.

Have I mentioned Hayashi Yuki and Tachibana Asami's brilliant soundtrack?

Well, if I have, IDGAF. It should be mentioned all the time. It's a major reason that all of these moments work.

I can watch The Bullshit or I can watch more Good Boys Playing Volleyball.

Yeah, this decision is easy.

Because hey, who doesn't enjoy seeing all the hard work behind the scenes of a team coming together so that you're emotionally invested in their matches when they actually count?

Oh no, Hinata's de-

No, wait. He only got hit in the head. Nothing to really hurt there.

Kageyama is so adorable. Trying to be cool by calling his shot and building up Hinata but still coming across like an awkward dork.

And that's another of HQ's secret sauces. All of the boys on Karasuno have their moments of awkwardness or where they lack confidence.

You know, like how teenage boys actually are.

Also, there is as much care in the silly light moments (the "ghost at the training camp", for example) as is put into the practice and game scenes.

I appreciates that about Haikyuu.

Oh, and this bit of Ukai's history and why he is struggling with the setter choice for the practice game is nice. Quick and easy way to get into his head.

Oh, and hello Kenma.

Don't be afraid of Hinata. He's harmless. Mostly.

Oh hey, let's have our other three Karasuno boys (the ones who still don't have nendos and who I would totally get to finish off the team) have a moment. Like, we get to see why they fell behind even the first-years.

And after a lot of buildup (over several episodes), we're at the Nekoma practice match.

Why does it feel like the time has flown by?

(Because time goes faster when you're watching a great show. It's science.)

Both teams have "punks" on either side. And both teams have someone to keep the punk from being too much.

That's fun.

Kuro's pregame hype speech to Nekoma is about plasma distributing oxygen to the brain.

And fandom thinks he's so cool.

Ok.

You know, they keep emphasizing the opponent's reactions to Karasuno's quick attack with Kageyama and Hinata.

There's a reason they do that, because it's always fun.

I'm trying to think of something as disrespectful as a "setter dump" in volleyball.

Oh right, it's like a Panenka penalty.

Google those if you don't know what I'm talking about, lol.

Anyway, another thing I appreciates about HQ is that they are efficient in giving us backstory for opposing players.

Kuro and Kenma's relationship is shown in a quick scene, like maybe a minute at most.

Gaaaaah. This match is so good in a way sports usually aren't.

Because yeah, I'm sure watching it would be neat. But, we're seeing Hinata (and the rest of Karasuno) coalescing into something special.

The episode ends on a Hinata spike that is out. And it's a moment of hope.

One thing I keep noticing with Hinata is his eyes. They're so intense at certain moments. They are almost scary.

And then he breaks out of that and looks like the adorable cinnamon roll he appears to be.

But, those eyes tell the truth.

And now we're into the continued value of Takeda for people who don't know volleyball, with Ukai providing commentary.

Complete with a nice metaphor for where the two teams are at in their development.

I love Ukai as the new coach who is growing into his role.

This also makes a certain moment in... about two seasons utterly devastating.

Anyway, wow I forgot how intense this last point is in the Nekoma match was.

That's fantastic and there wasn't even much at stake.

Oh, and it shows the value of the random bounce of the ball in the sport. Like in about all others.

And then we see the post-game. Where we learn that in an alternate universe, Nekoma is full of boys who are similar (though not identical) to Karasuno and we'd be seeing a story of similar quality if it was from their perspective.

In short, they're not the villains.

Like, they're competitive. And they each want to beat each other in the absolute worst way.

But, they're good boys. All of them.

As for Hinata, his big takeaway isn't "I want to win" or anything like that.

He wants to make the stoic Kenma excited about volleyball.

GEE, I WONDER IF THAT'S A SETUP THAT WILL TAKE SEVERAL SEASONS TO PAY OFF

Lots of Daichi-centric setup in this episode as the boys get ready for the Inter-High tournament. Others get their moments, sure, but he's the focus of this ep and what will be the first round game.

What Haikyuu does with that first round game is one of its best moves in S1.

Of course, the moment between Kageyama and Hinata at the end of the episode, showing where they've come from, is plenty neat and fun. As they usually are.

But, they are not the focus for this first game. And not the next one either, to be honest.

With tournament arcs, we all know that our boys aren't losing in the first round. That's just... not gonna be a thing.

So, what do you do besides the normal shenanigans to generate some drama? Well, you focus on some other teams for a hot second.

HQ decides to focus on the Karasuno Girls team for a bit. Their captain, Yui, has had a couple scenes with Daichi. We like her. We don't want to see her and her team lose.

And the captain of the first-round opponents for the boys went to MS with Daichi.

This episode is focused on the buildup to the match. The pregame rituals, the cheering sections, the moment right before they all go out on the court for the first time.

It's fantastic and really builds the drama and we're ready to watch our boys kick some ass. Which they will.

We even get Noya and Tanaka needing to take it down about 5% there.

Which is always fun.

Anyway, it's time for the most important episode.

Not the best episode, not the most dramatic, the most important episode.

Because it's told from the other side of the net.

We see Daichi in middle school, already competitive, and crushed at losing his last match. His teammate is now a third-year for the opposing team, who have just lost the first set.

We see their hard work, just like Karasuno
We see them celebrate their points, just like Karasuno

We see the same thing for the girls, their effort, Yui's passion for the sport and how she encourages her team.

There's a montage centered on the two teams, desperately trying to stay in their respective matches.

And when the Karasuno boys win, the one they focus on is the one who hasn't experienced winning a match, Hinata. And that's nice.

But, that's not the point of this episode.

Because the Karasuno girls lose. And we see how crushed they are by it.

We see Daichi's friend after Karasuno wiped the floor with them. And how crushed he was by it after all the effort he put in, even regretting not putting in more.

And then how common this feeling is.

The point being that losing is awful. It's the worst. As a fan, we think we know how bad it is, but in those moments, we see that it's worse, by an unimaginable factor, for those who actually play.

And at this point, I don't want to see the Karasuno boys go through that pain.

To me, that's what underscores the rest of the season. We want the team to win so badly because we care for these characters on such a level that we don't want them to experience the crushing pain of losing.

That's a pretty neat trick.

But, no time to ruminate on that. It's time for the next match.

Where Asahi has to exorcise his demons.

The opponents are Date Tech, who is Michigan State football if they weren't dirty and the least bit likeable. Highly focused on defense.

I do love the methodical, almost point-by-point presentation of this match. Really gives you a feeling of the match's flow. And the reaction to the stupid quick attack Kageyama and Hinata have is always good.

But, this isn't Hinata's episode.

It's Asahi's. And he gets a fucking great moment. One that feels a lot bigger than a single point.

BACK ON MY BULLSHIT

New episode starts and it took <30 seconds for me to get emotionally invested in fictional HS boys volleyball.

As per usual with HQ.

Asahi gaining confidence gives me so many of these hu-man emotions.

Oh look, Hinata and Tsukki getting sun/moon imagery.

This is not my bullshit, but I know people for whom it is.

So, Haikyuu does this thing where they change how time flows (normal speed to super-slow) in certain moments for dramatic effect.

I bring this up because my favorite of these moments (it's Noya, and if you've seen it, you KNOW THE ONE) just happened.

This is then followed by a point decided by a semi-random bounce to decide the match.

There are few, if any, sports anime that get how to portray the flow of a game like Haikyuu. It's absolutely fantastic and gets me riled up like I'm, you know, watching a real sport.

Oikawa is such a fun antagonist. Perfectly balances being a bit of a bastard in the way teenage boys can be while not being too malicious.

He wants to win. He's confident and has reason to be. And you want the boys to wipe that smirk off his face.

So, one thing that's fun is how the official matches, while they always have lots of Hinata, he's the main character after all, there is always someone else who gets some development in the match.

Asahi in the Dateko game, and obviously Kageyama is the focus for Aoba Johsai.

Setter dump exchange between Oikawa, and then Kageyama is such a delightful start to this match.

Both of them practically telling the other to fuck the right off.

Ok, I'm seeing a lot of stuff here that sets up... other stuff for later in the match. That I probably only see because I've seen this before.

That's a sign someone knew what they were doing.

Oh right, just because the focus of this match is Kageyama doesn't mean there aren't other characters getting moments.

They spent all this time building up the cast, and now they're using them.

Because this is a great show.

I love the end of this ep, where Kageyama is falling back into his bad habits. And Ukai shows his coaching chops by subbing in Suga.

Just as good the first time I saw it.

And Suga, even in this moment where he is getting what he wants, is being the good teammate.

To everyone. Like the refreshing gremlin bastard he is.

Not to mention he's been waiting for this moment (and us with him) all season. It's so great to see him get this moment to shine.

Hell, this episode is just full of moments for all the different Karasuno boys. It's a great display of what Haikyuu is about (the whole becoming more than the sum of its parts), while still focusing on those parts.

Urge to fist-pump and shout when Karasuno makes a huge play: Significantly Rising

I can't be sure, but this is probably the episode where I first considered handing out one of my super-rare 10/10's to Haikyuu. This episode is where the show truly starts to peak.

Because, how does something as mundane as a substitution bring tears to my eyes?

And I'll finish the season on Tuesday, when I'll say whether that grade holds up!

(Spoiler: Yes)

All right. Time to finish S1 of my Haikyuu rewatch.

And try to hold all these emotions.

Kageyama being awkward is always good. And he's awkward a lot.

And now it's time for yet another example of "we could have any number of these boys be the protagonist and it would still work".

This time, it's Oikawa. The resident pretty-boy bastard and currently antagonist. And how Kageyama didn't turn out like he did by accident.

And yes, so many characters' issues can be boiled down to "trying to play a team sport by themselves".

Because, you know, overcoming that mindset is most of the point of Haikyuu.

Damn those set-deciding points are so good. Every time my heart is in my throat.

And I know what's gonna happen.

Another huge part of sports that Haikyuu portrays is the importance of momentum or flow in a game.

And making Hinata the impetus of that momentum for Karasuno is making this episode a blast. Because while he's always been the protag, it's been a second since he's been the focus

Oh hey, Yamaguchi. Nice of you to show up for a minute.

No, seriously. I love this moment so much.

Everything about it is fantastic.

And the series of points leading up to the end of this ep, where Karasuno ties Seijoh...

It's pretty damn close to peak Haikyuu. Which means I was losing my shit watching it.

Hahaha. They keep connecting what's happening now to the first episode.

Because they know what they're doing.

HAHAHA I KNOW WHAT'S COMING AND THAT POINT GOT MY HOPES UP

So, there is a feeling you get as a sports fan when your team loses a season ending game. A pit in your stomach that forms in an instant and feels like it's been there forever and will never leave.

That HQ forms the same pit in my stomach is the highest compliment I can give.

Most of the time, the pit goes away. Not always, but most of the time. But, you never forget that feeling of caring about something so much, wanting it for them so bad, and knowing there is nothing you can do about it.

I've watched a lot of sports anime in my time. And none of them have ever recreated the pit. None of them have come close.

If you want to know why I gave HQ one of the three 10/10s I gave in the 2010s and still think that score is appropriate, it's the pit.

On and after giving me the pit, they fucking twist the knife with the post-game dinner scene.

And now we're on to the last episode. Where we see how the boys are thinking much more about their loss than their wins.

Because, you know, that's how it's always works.

Now, a lot of this is just wrapping up some moments for most of the cast.

But, it does give us a some great moments where we see what playing volleyball means to all the boys. The best of these is Suga, and he gets one of my favorite quotes of the series.

"I don't play volleyball for merit."

It's such a great little moment.

And also, Takeda's talk is fantastic. "Don't choose an option you'll regret in five or ten years."

Because the boys love volleyball so much there's no way they'd regret continuing to play.

And seeing Kageyama and Hinata not knowing what to do with their frustration, only able to run and scream about it.

I feel for them. The pit hasn't gone away, and it will be a long time until it does, if it ever does.

But, the show understands that there is only one way to make the pit go away.

Win.

And now, as the season ends, I want to see these boys win as much as anything.

So, I'll make this official.

Haikyuu S1, original score: 10/10

Upon Further Review: 10/10

It's on Netflix, you animals.