True to its name, Haikyu!! sports some of the best volleyball players in anime. As the characters repeatedly reflect on, volleyball is a sport where one must rely on one’s team to succeed and move forward. Players can’t just be strong on their own: they have to complement their teammates and grow alongside them.

Naturally, all the best teams in Haikyu!! have a notable strategy that plays to their strengths and those of its stars. Karasuno, like a murder of crows, relies on high-flying jumps and powerful synced attacks to aggressively score again and again. As they forge ahead on their journey to reclaim their status as volleyball champions, they not only hone their own talents but encounter many challenging players with their unique skills.

10

Koutarou Bokuto Is Fukurodani’s Driving Force

Fukurodani – Wing Spiker

Especially when they’re just starting out, Karasuno’s first-years look to their senpai to figure out how to improve. The one most enthusiastic about training kouhai that aren’t even from his own school is Bokuto, who came to adore volleyball more and more the sharper he honed his skills. When his teammates can keep him on his game, he is an unstoppable force on the court.

Bokuto consistently ranks among the top five high school spikers in Japan (just don’t remind him that he also consistently fails to make the top three). His fast and powerful spikes are difficult to receive, and as the ace, they often make the difference between Fukurodani winning or losing a match. Exhausted as Akaashi often is with him, there’s a reason the two are very close both on and off the court.

9

Yuu Nishinoya Is Faster Than Lightning

Karasuno – Libero

The libero is a unique position in volleyball, responsible solely for defense and getting their teammates out of a tight squeeze. For his prodigious skills in the position, Nishinoya is proudly known as the guardian deity of Karasuno — at first only by his teammates, but later it’s how he’s announced before the stadium at nationals. Small and lightning-fast, it’s hard to keep track of just how many narrow saves he’s made to keep the ball in the air for his team.

In particularly intense moments, players may slide and leap right off the court and sometimes even into the barriers around it. The hot-blooded Nishinoya is sprinting and diving all over the court every minute of the game, laser focusing on saving the ball with intensity that’s a startlingly far cry from his usual loud hamminess. He is the fastest and strongest in stamina not just on Karasuno’s team, but among all the high school liberos.

8

Atsumu Miya Is the Best High School Setter

Inarizaki – Setter

Inarizaki boasts several powerful players in addition to a wicked cheer squad, and the one who brings them all together is Atsumu. Atsumu’s dual-wielder serves would be a strong enough weapon, where most players specialize in either spike or jump floater serves. However, his perfect sets make him and his spiker twin brother, Osamu, a force to be reckoned with in a whole different area.

Don’t be fooled by the wide-eyed admiration on his face when he beholds strong players: the only thing on his mind is how to crush them as cruelly as he can. Like the foxes Inarizaki is named for, he’s as cunning and tricky as he is strong. He enjoys maneuvering opponents into making mistakes, such as baiting Shouyou into a foul by pretending to go for a dump instead of a set.

7

Kenma Kozume Is a Genius Strategist

Nekoma – Setter

Most people would overlook Kenma, small, quiet, and reserved as he is, and for the same reasons he would usually like it that way. However, his power isn’t physical: in addition to being a skilled setter, he’s known as Nekoma’s brain, for his ability to perfectly analyze their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses and come up with a strategy to defeat them. He finds ways to win volleyball matches as calmly and efficiently as he works out the mechanics of his beloved video games.

Kenma’s true potential and terrifyingly sharp mind are really brought to light in the latest franchise movie Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle. Though he just played against Shouyou once before, he’s the only one able to plan and implement a way to shut down Shouyou’s spikes, much to Karasuno’s horror. While he often shocks his opponents, his teammates know and love exactly how cunning and ruthless he can be when he puts his mind to it.

6

Aran Ojiro Is Inarizaki’s Strongest Spiker

Inarizaki – Wing Spiker

Out of all Inarizaki’s strong players, it’s Aran that Coach Ukai specifically warns Karasuno is the most essential to shut down. The ace of his team, his fast and well-placed spikes are powerful enough to knock Daichi right on his rear and send Hinata tumbling end over end to receive them. Not only does no other player give them such trouble, but in Karasuno’s very next match, Tanaka is shown doing the same thing, becoming stronger after playing Aran.

Racking up points through serves alone (called service aces) is one of the most valuable things a player can do for their team, as several demonstrate over the course of the show. Aran is no exception, delivering service aces just as well as he spikes. Dedicated to the sport, he is a much more straightforward player than some of his teammates, who prefer giving their opponents the runaround, and is a major reason why Inarizaki is one of the best teams in Haikyuu.

5

Asahi Azumane Is Karasuno’s Beloved Ace

Karasuno – Wing Spiker

The position of ace isn’t an official one, but it is coveted by every player all the same. The ace is a team’s most valuable player, the one who may not shine the brightest, but whose support of their teammates is the strongest and whose presence can make or break a match. Asahi is all that and more to his Karasuno teammates, who trust him wholeheartedly and are more confident in their game when he’s on the court with them.

Technically, Asahi is hardly as flashy as Nishinoya or Hinata and Kageyama. But on many occasions he’s the one saving the day, often multiple times per match, receiving difficult shots and slamming down powerful spikes. As timid as he can be off-court, making him one of the most relatable Haikyuu characters, during a match Asahi is as fearless and strong as the samurai he’s often compared to, determined to protect his team.

4

Tooru Oikawa Is an Incredible Setter

Aoba Johsai – Setter

Sure, he’s not a genius, but that doesn’t define one’s worth as a player at all. Driven by his fear of falling behind prodigies like Ushiwaka and Kageyama, he’s worked tirelessly all through his school career to become great, living up to his motto of “If you’re going to hit it, hit it until it breaks.” Though he never quite gets the wide recognition he craves, his wild serves and skill as a setter are famous in Miyagi Prefecture.

Oikawa’s most valuable skill isn’t physical: it’s his leadership and capacity for bringing out the best in whatever team he’s playing on. For as many strong players as they have, Aoba Johsai is a team that revolves around Oikawa and his abilities, and his teammates trust him as their captain just as much as they dunk on him for his personality. From his friends to his rivals, it’s those who know him best that respect his true worth as a volleyball player.

3

Wakatoshi Ushijima Is a Widely Feared Spiker

Shiratorizawa – Wing Spiker

For the first three seasons, Ushiwaka’s name is synonymous with indomitable power for a reason. He is one of the top aces in Haikyuu, who many other teams across the country fear to play more than they fear Shiratorizawa as a whole, with devastating spikes and perfect control of the ball. Even his blocks are a hard and insurmountable wall, enough to injure Tsukishima’s finger to meet them.

In addition to his considerable bulk and physical strength, Ushiwaka has another ace up his sleeve: his left hand. As becomes clear in Karasuno’s match versus Shiratorizawa, just getting used to playing against someone who spikes left-handed when one has only ever faced right-handed players is a feat on its own. Often, his opponents don’t overcome their own muscle memory in time to stop him from running away with the game.

2

Tobio Kageyama Is a Volleyball Genius

Karasuno – Setter

Kageyama is introduced as a powerful prodigy who’s hamstrung by his need to be in control of the whole match himself. Once he comes to Karasuno and learns the true value of teamwork, he becomes unstoppable. He works to improve his already amazing sets to match his teammates’ skills, namely pulling off killer quick attacks with Hinata that get stronger game after game, stunning and terrifying their opponents.

Trust in his team hasn’t exactly made him less demanding, though: Kageyama will also force his teammates to evolve on the spot to match his talents, such as setting wildly high tosses that Tsukishima can only hit with a stronger jump. He also has considerable talent in analyzing other players’ strongest moves, studying Oikawa’s serve and Kenma’s feint until he can perform them himself. Talented in all aspects of the game, Kageyama fears no team or player.

1

Hinata Shouyou Evolves Into a Powerful Champion

Karasuno – Middle Blocker

Since his love of volleyball was first sparked by the Little Giant, Shouyou’s passion and drive to succeed have been inextinguishable. As he explains to everyone who doubts his abilities because he lacks the height of most traditionally strong volleyball players: “I may be small, but I can jump!” As impressive as it is to see him constantly springing up into the air, higher and higher each game, he develops considerably thanks to the influence of his teammates and opponents alike.

Though he starts out with some raw talent, Shouyou becomes a truly, scarily strong player once he gets more technically skilled. His bottomless stamina, uncanny ability as a decoy, and contagious optimism that keeps his team going become just as crucial to his victories as his speed and jumping power. Combined with Kageyama’s genius abilities, they quickly become feared as Haikyuu’s best setter-spiker team, and love nothing more than beating their opponents at their strongest.