Hello good people! I've decided to bore you all to tears with my very first post here #goals. I couldn't think of what to post, and ended up with this.
If you're wondering what this post is about, just look at the title. It's about how the wonderful person you see before you (aka me, Mielikki2002 :P) got into Haikyuu!! This is likely to be one of the lamest posts you've ever read. If you end up reading this you must be extremely bored, but hey, I don't mind so go for it! Just don't say I didn't warn you.
To start out, let me give you a bit of background information about me: I absolutely detest watching sports on TV (with very few exceptions). As the great random kid from the Haikyuu!! manga once said, "It's boring! If I see a game on TV, I change the channel." Naturally, given that particular fact about me, I'm sure you can understand that a sports anime about volleyball (or any other sport for that matter) did not appeal to me in the slightest.
I first became aware of Haikyuu!!'s existence thanks to my pal Netflix. One day, I was just going to watch my shows when this anime pops up in my recommendations. I looked at the title, saw the image, and read the description.
"He's too short to play the game, but nothing is going to stop his volleyball dreams from coming true."
Yes, that is honestly the entirety of Netflix's description for Haikyuu!! and in my now-educated opinion it is sorely lacking. After reading that, I skipped over to the next show listed and didn't spare it a second glance.
An anime about volleyball? What could possibly be interesting about that? I don't even like watching real life sports so how could watching fictional characters play make it any more interesting? Those were the kind of thoughts I had. Not to mention that the plot seemed really basic too. He can't play because he's short? Sounded pretty dumb to me.
Going in, I was expecting a subpar plot of this short guy being an amazing player and beating a ton of tall guys at volleyball. As you are well aware, this is not the story of Haikyuu!! I also expected some overarching central theme of "Height doesn't matter! Let's show everybody that anyone can do anything!" and all that other 'Let's skip and hold hands in this idealistic world we live in' garbage. Almost like a poorly written kids show. (I know, this was a terrible assumption on my part and I would later be eating my words)
Anywho, as you can see, I did not have positive thoughts at all toward this show. So I kept watching other anime. Anime that I deemed more interesting like Blue Exorcist, Violet Evergarden, etc. (great shows, by the way) However, Netflix was very persistent and Haikyuu!! just kept appearing in my recommendations, almost like some creepy horror movie doll. So what did I do? I kept my blinders in place and trodded on, completely ignoring the show.
2 months later and I've reached a standstill. I had watched all of the animes that sounded interesting to me that Netflix had to offer and wanted to start a new show. Of course, right there, staring straight at me was Haikyuu!! Thus began the internal debate. Should I give this anime a shot, even though it sounds lame? Well, volleyball's not that bad I guess... Ugh, but do I really want to waste my time if it's trash?
I ended up deciding to try watching. Two things made my choice for me, and looking back, they're pretty pathetic reasons to watch a show.
1. The color orange
Since the theme color of the cover was orange and it was about sports, it reminded me of basketball. "I actually like basketball, so maybe this won't be terrible?" (seriously, what kind of logic is that??)
2. Noya and Ukai's hair
"I like that guy's hair. That guy looks cool too..." were my thoughts regarding two of the people I saw. Such a great reason.... lmao
Looking back, I am very amused that these reasons were what ultimately convinced me to watch Haikyuu!!
So I watch the first episode. Learn about Hinata, laugh quite a bit (since it's dub), and by the end I'm hooked. It was nothing like what I was expecting. Here I am, already emotionally invested in this weird looking (I don't still think this, don't worry) main character and his journey toward participating in his first ever volleyball game. Though I will admit Hinata kinda annoyed me a bit. And he loses. He experiences a crushing defeat almost immediately. Right there I was impressed because it was real. He didn't win like I was expecting, he lost just like anyone else in that situation would have. Next thing you know the episode ends with the King of the Court, this self-centered jerk that our main character just declared war on, being his teammate?! Best believe I was hitting that next episode button immediately.
**For the record, I should've trusted Netflix, they're a good pal. In this instance it was like when Takeda wanted Ukai to be the coach. Netflix was the all-knowing Takeda, and I was the oblivious Ukai.
Me: This ain't a bad show you got here. Why didn't you tell me, Specs?
Netflix: Yeah, I've told you several times, actually.
Voila. That is how I began watching the masterpiece otherwise known as Haikyuu!! and slowly (jk it was almost instant) developed an obsession. Thanks for reading my super long, completely pointless post. If you made it this far, then kudos to you. Color me impressed.