Haikyuu!! - Season 1 Review

Hinata is inspired by the Small Giant playing volleyball on TV. Three years later, he goes to his first-ever volleyball tournament with his team and is set to play against the school of Kageyama Tobio, also known as the King of the Court.

After just joining the Karasuno Volleyball team, Hinata is faced with a new obstacle. His middle school rival, Kageyama, is also a potential member of the team. When the disapproving captain arrives, he quickly kicks them out until they can get along.

With sophomore Tanaka on their side, Hinata and Kageyama are up against freshmen Tsukishima and Yamaguchi and third-year team-captain Sawamura in a three-on-three match.

Kageyama and Hinata both win their places on the team. But when the team's new coach, Ittetsu Takeda arrives, his announcement of a practice match with one of the top volleyball teams in the prefecture has both of them scrambling.

After the 3 vs 3, the first years are welcomed into the club as full members just in time for a practice match with Aoba Johsai. Will Hinata be able to handle the pressure of his first real match?

Hinata and Kageyama are in full form, and it looks like victory is inevitable. But when Seijoh's captain Oikawa returns to the court, will Karasuno be able to fend off his super serves?

Sophomore Nishinoya, the "Guardian God" of Karasuno Volleyball Club, returns to rally the other club-members during practice. Meanwhile, Takeda is still pulling for Keishin Ukai to be the next coach of Karasuno High-and he has a plan that just might work.

With the match against Nekoma looming, temp coach Ukai arranges an exhibition against his local volleyball association ... and now Azumane must prove he deserves his title.

It's time for the Karasu versus Neighborhood Association team practice-match, where Asahi lives up to his title. With Hinata in pure awe of Asahi's gameplay, Kageyama makes moves to get Hinata back on track.

Gearing up for their match against Nekoma (and for the Inter-High preliminaries), the Karasuno team heads to training camp. But even with their much-improved skills, Keishin must make a difficult choice for setter: Kageyama or Sugawara.

With the practice match against Nekoma fully underway, Karasuno seems to be the team to beat-thanks to the fearsome power of the Hinata-Kageyama duo. But Nekoma devises a clever and unexpected plan to reverse their losing streak...

In an epic showdown, Nekoma and Karasuno battle it out for the win. Though Karasuno suffer a close defeat, the resulting alliance the two teams form could lead them to victory at the Nationals.

With the Inter-High finals fast approaching, the pairings of the preliminaries are announced, and the tension is mounting amongst the members of Karasuno volleyball club. ?Meanwhile, not to be left out, Yamaguchi is secretly working on mastering his unique jump float serve.

Karasuno's first match at the long-awaited Inter-High preliminaries is against Tokonami High School. With Karasuno leading 3-0, it's becoming clear that Karasuno is back in action-and better than ever!

While Karasuno seems to be winning against Tokonami, the outclassed team are determined to turn things around. Meanwhile, on the other court, the Karasuno girls' team isn't doing nearly as well...

With the second match underway-this time between Karasuno and Dateko-Dateko's best tactic is their killer serves. Karasuno do their best to counter their serves, until pulling out their last ace: their own version of Nekoma's tactic "Pipe".

With Hinata and Kageyama's clever moves, Karasuno is now in the lead against Dateko. But with Aone blocking, Dateko seems poised to flip the script. Now it's up to ace Azumane to show his skills, and break through Detoko's "Iron Wall".

The match vs Date Tech continues - neither team managing to gain a decisive lead. As the match nears it's end, Asahi steps up as Karasuno's Ace. Will he finally gain his revenge?

It's a head-to-head match between Oikawa and Kageyama, and it shows no signs of letting up. It turns out their competitive duel goes way back. During the match, Aoba Johsai pulls a tactic that threatens to send Kageyama into "King Mode".

Switching things up, Sugawara replaces Kageyama, giving the first win to team Aoba Johsai. But during the second match, Karasuno takes the lead ... until Oikawa's predictions start coming true.

Sugawara takes the court and throws off Aoba Johsai's rhythm. This gives Kageyama a chance to watch his senior in action.

After a grueling loss of the first set to Aoba Johsai, Karasuno is as determined as ever to win the second set and hang onto their chance to make it in the preliminaries.

Karasuno plays the third set against Aoba Johsai, fighting to move on in the spring preliminaries

Karasuna and Seijoh are 24-24 in the third set and the rallies are getting longer and longer.

The third year students have a tough choice to make as the entire team recovers from the tournament.