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The character interactions in this lastest season is what disappoints me the most. The development of meaningful narrative has been lost and the attempts to show backstory and development in the Miya twins, Tanaka, Nishinoya and Tsukki comes across as forecful and artificial.

You may disagree with me but i believe that this latest season is simply mediocre compared with previous seasons and lacks the energetic "exciting" flow that got me hooked in the first place. On a small note, i will say i never had a problem with the sound and music in Haikyuu however it is definitley not used in any meaningful way in ... this season to generate hype or excitement. The very game of volleyball has also become more robotic as exhasberated with the less appealing art-style with some people completely shifting blame onto the withering direction of the animination but i believe it only helps reveal that Haikyuu has lost the very thing that makes it exciting to watch-its simplicty. Put it like this, we watch Haikyuu because it has a simple premise that is executed wonderfully. But the writers have caged themselves in the safety of the narratives simplistic structural framework-refusing to trying anything new and never straying from their methodical writing formulae.

Before, the character interactions felt real and genuine-but now the emotional tension that the cast tackles drags on with little to no purpose much like the tiring and predictable long sets that Karasuno endures-for them only to lose a point because of "character development" that repetiviely shows that they are a team that endures whatever obstacles they face. The tenth episode has multiple scenes that proves this point as well as the scenes that forces "plot hardship" upon Nishinoya just to break the notion that he is a consistently good and reliable player.

The story itself has not changed and has not become necessarily bad but it definitley is not executed in its usual fashion. The narrative has been washed out by these very poorly attempted character interactions. More examples of this is supporting characters like Hitoka, Ukai and Take-chan who have seemingly lost their purpose in the show-i can not even remember even one piece of dialouge from Hitoka, nor can i see any logical reason to attempt to justify the bad character designs of Ukai and Take-chan-who were once brimming with life but now have been reduced to their stereotypical roles as robotic volleyball teachers. The only real exception for all of this is Tanaka-chan who saw a brief moment of meaningful development during the season which was only short lived with him only to return to his usual self with Kanoka offering predictable support to him as a mere sexual object, and his shell of a sister Saeko watching his games as if her input mattered in the first place.

The same goes for the upper classman of Karasuno-who have lost their purpose due to miminal dialogue and bad character interaction with their juniors. Believe it or not, their role was not just to strictly mentor them as their seniors, nor was it to push their underclassman to be better-but it was to have genuine friendships. Let me ask you, do any of the characters from Karasuno seem like friends in this latest season? If you answer yes then that is of course your opinion, but i will extend you the point of Kageyema and Hinata, what meaningful interactions have they had so far? None, of course.

It becomes embarrasing to even say this but Inarizaki has exponentially better character development then the Karasuno team this season and this is not the first instance of the writers doing this with a foreign team. Whenever Karasuno battles an unfamiliar team the writers of Haikyuu have this twisted mentality that they must make the watcher invested in this new team-but the methodical way they do this basically kills our interest in Karasuno-they make them seemingly invisible, making them disappear into the shadows of the teams they are about to face which inturns makes them seem lifeless. They do this instead opting to make meaningfuly development across both teams.

However, i must say that the happy Hinata moment at the end episode 10 was quite a wonderful constrast to the serious nature of sport-he is the only character who seems to have fun playing volleyball in this series with both Kei and Kenma being his opposite character foils. But it is also quite jarring to this against the lifeless seriousness radiating from everyone else.

To summerize, this is not the same Haikyuu that i once enjoyed. It is like watching a group of friends sitting at a table in complete silence playing on their phones-with genuine conversation going nowhere because it is completely and utterly superficial. This season is definitley not terrible. But it has become a hollow shell of what it used to be. It is at best mediocre.