Haikyu!! Second Season

Episode 21

And it's another tense episode for Haikyuu!! as the match against Aoba Johsai continues! The addition of Kyotani the Mad Dog last week really shook things up, and this week he continues to keep not just Karasuno but also the audience on edge. It turns out that Aoba Johsai really knew what they were talking about when they gave Kyotani that nickname – the guy is a rabid player. That doesn't just feel like an idiomatic way of saying that he's intense about the game; in any other show, the look and intensity of his gameplay would be attributed to some sort of experimental (and probably dangerous) drug that he ingested or shot out of a creepy-looking syringe. It's somewhere between “inhuman” and “superhuman,” and not only does he shake up the players, he utterly disrupts their strategy.

Of course, that's precisely why Aoba Johsai brought him in. It's a tactic that we cheered in earlier episodes when Karasuno used Hinata that way, so it's an interesting exercise in viewer bias to find it frustrating when used against them. I love it when Hinata or Sugawara or anyone sneaks an attack in against someone else; I gnash my teeth in fury when it gets used against them. That's the mark of either a well put-together show or a viewer who is way too emotionally invested, and both are high praise. If we saw the smug look the Aoba Johsai coach wears most of the episode on Ukai's face, our reaction likely would be totally different even though it would presage the exact same thing – the only difference is that it's being used against our point-of-view team instead of for it. As someone who only watches sports in anime, that's a fascinating thought and it certainly is well done to the point that I can recognize its real-world equivalent in the sports fans I've met, once again indicating that this is a strong episode.

Despite the fact that we're rooting for Karasuno, most of the focus is on Aoba Johsai this time, and we hear more from Oikawa than any of the Karasuno players. If you're an Oikawa fan, that's going to make this a good week, and it also distracts us from Karasuno's best play, where Sugawara gets a chance to really shine. We've known since season one that he's one of the better tacticians on the team, and although he doesn't get much chance to play since Kageyama's the stronger setter, he really pulls through in an impressive way in this episode, reminiscent of how Ennoshita helped previously. It isn't a long scene, but it is one of the most dynamic in terms of actual gameplay.

Speaking of gameplay, the animation this week does an especially good job at showing us the different speeds of the ball itself depending on who hit it and how. There's an almost gentle feel to some of the serves that is deceptive and highlights the fact that Kyotani is grossly overpowered in his playstyle. “Calm” might actually be the key to winning back this game from Aoba Johsai, something that Ukai appears to be thinking, because the end of the episode reveals that Yamaguchi has been swapped in.

If you're a Hinata or Kageyama fan, this episode is pretty lacking, although they do have some of the better funny moments, but overall the intensity of the game is fantastic. It was easy to let the previous round lull us into a slightly less tense state of mind, but this episode reminds us of just how much of a threat Aoba Johsai is. If nothing else, given the limited amount of weeks left in the season, it would feel like a great triumph if Karasuno is able to put Aoba Johsai's Mad Dog down…or at least get him back in his kennel.

Rating: A-

Haikyu!! Second Season is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.