STORY: I've mentioned in my reviews of the other seasons that Haikyuu!! is a character driven story, there isn't a grand plot line other than a sports team striving for victory so what makes this show so damn good is the characters.
This season is just one match, and an important one at that. This match is the last chance for the Karasuno we've come to know and love to enter nationals, this is the match that finally puts Karasuno back on the map as a powerful school and this is the match that becomes a defining moment for the development of some characters. The pacing never drags, in the past the back-and-forth point taking to keep the tension up was kinda over used and got old but in this match it feels entirely justified. Also that final scene with the third years had me in tears. 9/10
ART & ANIMATION: This show really knows when to push its sakuga. In the past with Oikawa's serves and now with basically anything Ushijima does. My favorite little symbolism thing is when a giant Ushijima is pushing down Tsukishima and Hinata, holding them down by their necks and as the point gets saved and connected by other members of the team, other members of the team join Tsukki and Hinata to push Ushijima back up and it's so god damn good. All this while still maintaining the Haikyuu!! polish from other seasons. 10/10
SOUND & MUSIC: The music and sound design is still really good as it always has been in Haikyuu!! I donated have much else to say. Everything from the actual score to the volleyball to the little chants that the teams get are all spot on. 10/10
CHARACTER: There has always been one character in Haikyuu!! that never sat right with me; Tsukishima. He's always been an uninterested, smug prick who always had to say something mean or uncalled for. In season 2 we got a little more backstory as to why he is like that but we never saw an actual change in his character other than him getting more involved with the training. This season he gets a tremendous moment to shine and has made him one of my favorite characters in the show. I will say that the flashback used for this moment gets shown one too many times for my taste. We even get to see how life is at Shiratorizawa's team. How their chemistries are and how the coach treats them, and it's great! This season only features two whole teams and it's good that the show doesn't paint Shiratorizawa as this antagonistic demon team that they've sorta been hyped up to be, but as just your average high school team with average high school students with their own relationships and reasons for playing volleyball. They do only really focus on two of the members and I would've liked to see maybe one extra episode dedicated to Shiratorizawa and their rise to fame. 9/10
OVERALL: This is when the show is at its best in my opinion. This third season really captures the highs and lows of high school volleyball and gives a great soundtrack, great animation and great characters along the way. 9/10
