What's up everybody, my name is Ohara.
And today I'm gonna share with you guys:
three (3) reasons why Haikyuu is amazing.
Have you ever watched a show that, somehow,
got you downright hooked on something,
you had no interest in at all?
Or even genuinely disliked?
Well, you probably know where this story is going,
but I'm gonna tell it anyway.
Because that is exactly what happened to me-
when I first discovered Haikyuu.
I mean not only did I not care for volleyball,
but the bunch of times I was forced to play
during high school, I found the game..
painfully underwhelming.
Usually going home with a bunch of
burning scrapes on all my knees and elbows.
And then, BOOM, a couple of nerdy years
and one (1) season of Haikyuu later,
I'm standing in the gym,
excited out of my mind to play some volleyball.
How the hell did that happen?
Now, I'm guessing that this story,
at least to some degree,
might sound very familiar to you.
And I think we all can agree,
that whenever a manga or anime manages to
spark such a sudden passion for something,
that we used to have no interest in before whatsoever,
it must be doing something very, very, right.
So, if you're like me and you're wondering,
how the heck an anime about volleyball, above all things
became so widely popular and unbearably entertaining,
you came to the right place.
Because in this video we'll be discussing:
the three (3) things that make Haikyuu,
one of the Top Shounen of the new era.
I would say, compared to your average Shounen anime,
Haikyuu does most things pretty well,
that a decent Shounen needs.
Like, having an appealing art style,
Or having adequate pacing.
With all of these things, Haruichi Furudate,
the author of Haikyuu, does a pretty damn good job overall.
However, what really sets the story apart
from the average Shounen anime, are three (3) things,
in which Haikyuu easily surpasses much of its competition.
Which also allowed it to successfully run
in Shounen Jump magazine, for over eight years.
These three (3) things are the spot-on use
of a completely polarizing protagonist duo,
it's perfectly crafted story structure,
and finally, the immense amount of realism
and research that Haruichi has put into his work,
to make the story feel as incredibly convincing
and intriguing as it is.
So, let's start by taking a closer look
at the two heroes of our story.
First of all, before we get into the two protagonists,
I want to mention that, I believe Haikyuu
has a very strong character set-up in general.
Over the course of the story,
we increasingly meet new teams,
with new characters and philosophies,
and somehow, most, if not all of them,
are immensely well-developed
and easy to connect with.
That being said, let's move on to our heroes.
The main characters in Haikyuu
are the small, but hard-working, Hinata Shōyō.
As well as the talented, but socially awkward, Kageyama Tobio.
Strictly speaking, the story focuses more on Hinata,
as he follows the road of the typical Shounen Hero.
However, Kageyama comes very close in importance,
and enjoys a similar amount of screen-time.
What makes this quite unlikely duo
such a fantastic premise for the story however,
..is exactly that.
They are the exact opposite of each other.
Hinata is incredibly charismatic,
and easily forms relationships with teammates
and opponents alike.
His biggest weakness are his lack in height,
as well as his inexperience, that he has to overcome
through hard work and training.
Kageyama on the other hand, has been blessed with
immense talent and instinct for the sport
and is one of the most promising young prodigies in the country.
However, he lacks basic social skills,
that isolates him from his teammates.
As a result, Hinata and Kageyama have completely opposing character arcs.
Where one has to become better and stronger on the court,
While the other has to become a better person
and learn how to form real friendships.
Two very popular themes of Shounen,
that Haruichi splits into two characters here.
What both have in common however,
is their strong will to fight and work hard in order to grow.
So, in essence,
Haikyuu is about these two ambitious young men,
with opposing strengths and weaknesses,
that strive to become the best volleyball players in the country,
by learning from each other and growing together.
One, striving to become stronger
and One to become a better person.
The lesson here is that One can be successful
without the other, and this makes both of them
immensely easy to identify with
and makes us, want to see both of them succeed.
Now the next thing we have to talk about is
Haikyuu's crazily perfected story structure.
One of the most important criteria for a great Shounen story,
at least according to Hirohiko Araki,
the author of JoJo's,
is that the protagonists are always rising, rising,
and yeah, you guessed it, rising again.
But the reason why an always rising arc is so important
is that we always want to see the character keep progressing further.
Even if he has his setbacks and low points,
the overall development always points upwards,
towards being a bit better than the last chapter.
To better visualize this point, imagine a manga:
where the hero is weak and friendless at the beginning.
Nothing too uncommon, right?
However, if he never gets any better,
no matter how hard he tries,
it would be kind of depressing to keep watching
this person's eternal struggle, right?
No.
What we want to see in Shounen,
is how our heroes succeed and grow,
and finally manage to be that one annoyingly arrogant guy.
There always is an annoyingly arrogant guy.
As you might have guessed,
Haikyuu has brought this "always rising structure" to absolute perfection.
The story starts with Hinata being the only person on his volleyball team during Middle School.
Not even having the chance to have proper practice,
but having to force his friends to toss him balls.
From there the story progresses,
from finally joining Karasuno High,
the former school of his idol,
over playing at the Inter-High, then the Spring High,
all the way to the Tokyo Nationals.
Despite having to face progressively harder challenges along the way,
our heroes prevail in the end and keep fighting and growing.
This gives the entire series a sense of continuous positive motion, that we all want to be a part of.
The reason that not more anime can pull off the tactic of the "always rising arc" by using tournaments,
is, what do you do once the tournament is over?
And how do you come up with increasingly stronger and stronger opponents for the heroes without becoming too repetitive?
Haikyuu solves these two quite common problems by ending the series once a true high point has been reached.
And, more importantly maybe, is that Haruichi lets his antagonists grow as well,
and have them be a natural part of the journey.
Rival teams, like Nekoma or Aoba Johsai, grow alongside the Karasuno team.
And additionally, we might have opponents that might not be as strong as Karasuno,
But have unique tactics or a unique setup, with which they can pose a true threat to Hinata and Kageyama.
Everything in the story's development feels organic,
and that already brings me to my final point:
Setting.
So, what's so super exciting about the setting in Haikyuu?
I mean, it's pretty much our normal world, right?
We have Japanese High Schools: with teams that play volleyball in tournaments.
No crazy magical powers.
No furries. No nothing.
Well, let me tell you that it's,
actually, exactly the seamlessness of the Haikyuu world,
that makes it so good to watch.
The level of realism and naturalness that Haruichi creates, is what fully emerges the reader..
So, us..
..into the story.
and that's what sparks this level of passion for the sport.
He has, without any doubt, sunk hours over hours into research about his story.
From the basic rules and techniques of the game,
over the structures of Japanese High School volleyball,
all the way to the history and organization of the Clubs themselves.
This includes pretty mundane stuff you probably never thought about... Like,
How many referees are there at each tournament?
Or how do the uniforms have to look?
Or, how does the sports club actually finance itself?
All these things are just.. there..
and make it easy for you to lose yourself in the story.
But, if these things hadn't been thought about properly-
the plot would surely have been very different.
Can you imagine watching a sports anime,
where the techniques aren't correct?
You'll always know something is kind of off and especially so if you actually like the sport itself.
So, I guess my point here is:
For amazing anime, the devil truly lies in the detail.
And Haikyuu does a damn good job at it.
So good even, that professional player: Kim Yeon-koung, praised the accuracy of the anime in a review on her personal YouTube channel,
Noting, that the creator of the series, must be a person with high level of volleyball knowledge.
So, if a Pro is able to enjoy the show to its fullest,
it's no real surprise that we can as well.
So, to recap: What makes Haikyuu stand out among so many others Shounen anime today?
It has an incredibly intriguing and fun protagonists duo.
It has a constantly rising story structure,
in which we see Hinata, Kageyama and really almost everyone else in the show,
work incredibly hard to become better players and better people,
which, let's face it,
is just ridiculously entertaining to watch.
And finally, the story world is researched and created in so much detail and with so much dedication-
that it's really hard not to become involved in it.
These three (3) extraordinarily well-executed things, are what make Haikyuu a true Top Shonen of the new era.
And, goddamn, now I really want to go out and play, but you know, you can't. So, that's it for today guys.
Let me know what you think about Haikyuu and what other shows I should talk about on this channel.
If you enjoyed this video, leave me a thumbs up,
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I hope to see you around next time, and until then have a wonderful week.