The story itself is of a typical shounen genre and the experience of winning and losing that it portrays is another ordinary taste that every anime with similar genre has. The taste of winning a match and conquering others is certainly unforgettable, but the taste of losing will etch inside the heart and leaves all sort of regrets and blames inside as an invisible torture. What comes next is the determination and the enthusiastic fire that is bright enough to melt it. And Haikyuu managed to do just that.
The highlight of the show is the characters' insane determination and their endless will to keep going, to keep coming up with different attack and defense styles and to train non-stop just to improve the styles as to win the next match. It hurts to lose something even after you gave it all you got and others comfort you with words that has no meaning to you, but it hurts more not to try harder and to lose again.
The story depicts it well, that we can emphathize their bitterness in losing and their happiness in fighting through the other god-like teams with their overwhelming strength and teamwork as we cried out inside in joy for them.
The characters are made up of a vast ensemble of different quirks for each player inside the team and for the other teams as well. The art style managed to match each characters with their personalities perfectly, from a cowardly ace with huge body, a small-sized middle block with insane jumping power and speed to a new cute and shy manager who is lack of self-confidence but brings a huge impact to the team. The characters' charms are the main drive that keeps the story entertaining and serious depending on the situation, you can laugh at the interaction between the mis-matched duo, Kageyama and Hinata and the entire team yet at the same time you can feel their passion and drive while playing a match, and how they keep backing each other up that you just want to cheer for them.
The sounds match quite good with the tense and cheerful situation, to keep us either on the edge of our seat or dwell inside our joyful heart as we want to see more of their actions and quirks. Most noticeable OST for me is " Fly High " by Burnout Syndromes which is perfect change for the show and rise up my love for it even more.
Overall, Haikyuu is not just an anime that those who are interested in volleyball will enjoy, but it will appeal to anyone that is up for a shounen anime for a change as it is entertaining with a bit of comedy and present a grasp of losing and winning as a team. The very embodiment that makes Haikyuu much more interesting.
