FIF#112-Haikyu! To The Top

The Flying Crows of Karasuno High have done the impossible.  The greatest and most powerful team in their division, Shiratorizawa, has been defeated and now the way is clear for a straight shot to Spring Nationals.  There isn’t time to rest as the boys prepare for a new wave of training and some are being sent off to work with the best young players in all of Japan.  However, star spiker Shoyo Hinata isn’t among those students.  But don’t expect that to stop him.  Hinata will do whatever it takes to keep up with his best friend and rival, Tobio Kageyama and stand at the top as the new Mighty Giant.

Haikyu is back baby.  A couple years ago, on the suggestion of a good friend, I binged the first three seasons of the series (60 episodes in total) over the course of a week and a half.  I never would’ve ever guessed id find a soft spot for sports Anime like Haikyu or Free of Yuri on Ice.  I suppose they all have in common stories about underdogs rising to meet impossible challenges and either failing and learning a valuable lesson or coming out on top against all odds.  Haikyu Season 3 ended on the latter, showing Hinata and Kageyama taking down the incredibly powerful Shirotorizawa and the overly confident Ushijima.  My only question now is…where do they go from here?

To be fair, I probably should have rewatched the third season before stepping into this one (I just rewatched Season One and Two on Netflix).  Even so, there are so many tournaments back to back it’s hard to keep track.  The first episode of the new Fourth Season focuses on getting viewers reqauanited with the bad boys of Karasuno High and their many antics.  We do pick up the surprise plot point of Kageyama being selected for a training camp with the best of the best of the youth of Japan…but why is Tsukishima, the guys who is only now starting to care about Volleyball again, getting chosen for his own training trip?  If anyone else should be selected it would be Hinata for his jump and power…but then we wouldn’t have an excuse for Hinata to do something stupid like runaway to join the camp just because the rules don’t apply to him if he has the heart and drive…why do I like him so much as a character?

It’ll be interesting to see how we are introduced to the new opponents the guys will be up against and what team can stand against Karasuno now that Shiratorizawa has been knocked out of the Spring Nationals running…I think.  One thing I will note is that Production I.G. is stepping up the animation with this fourth season.  I mean Haikyu has always looked good because its Production I.G. but this season looks like it will be especially good visually.  It’s like the animation has grown and matured along with (most) of the cast.  Added evidence for this are probably two of the strongest songs in Hakiyu to date, probably my favorite OP and ED since the very beginning.

Haikyu is back and it looks to be the answer to your “feel good sports Anime” needs.  Even if you don’t know what’s coming next (and I sure as heck don’t), I doubt Haikyu is going to let anyone down with its continued adventures of overcoming all obstacles and the deepening bonds between teammates.  It’s time to fly one more time everyone.