Haikyuu!! Season 4 Anime Review: Playing into the Big Leagues (Spoiler Alert đ)
Haikyuu!! is an anime that tops my list in terms of story, character growth, feels, and addictiveness. And Season 4 keeps the fun going! This season is filled with training, tournaments, and a lot of character exploration outside of the Karasuno team. Since I was watching it week by week, when it came to the second half of Season 4, I was getting a little impatient with the deviation from Karasunoâs games to the backstories of other teams. If I were binging this show, I donât think this would have bothered me as much. I genuinely appreciate how the author gives us a chance to understand all sorts of different characters and fall in love with different teams. Ultimately, a show thatâs just about scoring points in volleyball isnât going to win the hearts of millions of fans - itâs really the character connections and emotional attachments. Haikyuu!! is just awesome like that!
At the start of the season, you see the Karasuno boys volleyball team coming off their high of making it to nationals after beating out the top contenders in their prefecture. Theyâre very much the underdogs at this point, and they have a couple months thatâs dedicated to training and recovery. In the first few episodes, I was really frustrated with the fact that Hinata was so overlooked by everyone and not invited to any of the cool training camps. Most people will feel so much second-hand embarrassment from his actions, especially when he crashes the freshmen camp uninvited and gets kicked out. Ugh HinataâŚI love you but you give me so much anxiety sometimes. Anyway, the further along the episodes went, the more I got to enjoy Hinataâs fearless confidence and ability to soak in knowledge from the people around him, even in the most awkward of situations. Itâs so comforting that none of the characters can really break his shield of likability.
The fun really starts with the start of Nationals! The huge stadium setting, the character reunions (from the Season 2 Tokyo training arc especially), and the Karasuno team back on the court in its full glory is just mesmerizing. I wanted to keep gobbling all of the episodes up and never stop. The first match-up was ok and not especially memorable, but the match against Inarizaki was intense. The Miya twins were pretty despicable opponents, but that made the victory all the more sweet. I was really excited to see Hinata becoming better at receiving! My favorite scene was when he made a perfect receive to Aranâs spike. The slow motion and character reactions were extremely satisfying! But ugh, baby Hinata is still a baby in terms of volleyball skillâŚsucks that he canât level up 10x in a single game, but that is the way of life.
I also noticed that there were different animation styles going on in this season. I felt like there were moments when the characters were drawn in a more blocky way and moments where they were especially crisp. It could have to do with different studios handling the workload, or with certain budgets being saved for more pivotal scenes. I wasnât a huge fan of the more blocky animation style, but I wouldnât say it detracted too much from my enjoyment!
In conclusionâŚ
Overall, Season 4 is amazing fun because OUR BOYS MADE IT TO FREAKING NATIONALS! Theyâre rubbing shoulders with some of the best youth volleyball players in the world, and it makes you feel like they can do just about anything. I would be so frustrated sometimes when Karasuno was getting wrecked in a game, but the moments when they overcame challenges made it all worth it. I guess thatâs sports for ya! Season 4 is a must watch!