Blue Lock vs Haikyu!! – Which one takes the throne as the better sports Anime?

Haikyu!! and Blue Lock are both sports anime but so different from each other. If you’re a fan of both the anime you must have noticed the difference between how Blue Lock and Haikyu deal with the sport. Haikyu takes the realistic route while Blue Lock doesn’t shy away from sprinkling the fantasy and battle shonen elements generously.

This is what makes the Blue Lock vs Haikyu!! a question worth pondering over. Both anime have established themselves in terms of reception and sales reaching similar heights of commercial success. But if we were to ask which is a better sports anime? Would it be Haikyu!! or Blue Lock? 

Blue Lock vs Haikyu!!

Blue lock is a shonen ani-manga series about Football/Soccer. The manga quickly rose to the heights of fame overtaking the sales of renowned titles such as One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen in 2023.

Throughout its run from 2012 to 2020, Haikyu continued to rank among the best selling manga, bagging awards alongside. As for which is a better sports anime from a viewer’s perspective, it can be judged based on a few criteria: 

The Portrayal of Sport

Haikyu!! has paid utmost attention to the portrayal of Volleyball. The anime is rooted in reality. Whereas Blue Lock has taken the Shonen way out and spun a story around Football. This has led to experimentation with the concepts of football while glorifying them and blowing things out of proportion. For example, the dramatic representation of Isagi’s thought process. 

The Execution

Blue Lock started unconventionally by debunking the idea of sportsmanship in a sports anime. The execution of the plot is mental. We see the progress in the heads of the characters and from their perspective. At the same time, Haikyu executes the plot on the Volleyball Court.

The Characters 

Taking Sugawara and Yukimiya as examples, Haikyu tries to keep things realistic by acknowledging the limits of a character. Sugawara understands he’s inferior to Kageyama in terms of skills and instead of giving up or overshooting, he just plays the sport for as long as he can. It shows how much the sport means to them realistically and endearingly.

But with Yukimiya he gets a chance to shine, which is a peak shonen moment. Both moments were rewarding in their might but Haikyu uses the sport as a central focus better. 

Which one is a better sports anime?

Haruichi Furudate wanted people to know about Volleyball and Haikyu!! became his way of doing that. Any Haikyu fan can see through the educational purpose of the anime besides the entertainment purposes.

As for Blue Lock, it has gone above and beyond to spice things up. And it has to be said that it works well. Or Blue Lock wouldn’t be as famous as it is now. Saying that, Haikyu takes the throne for the better sports anime while Blue Lock is undeniably a better battle shonen. 

Conclusion

Drawing comparisons can be fun unless we’re dragging an anime to make the other look better. While there are certain areas where one has done better than the other, both the anime are good in their rights. They’re attempting to do very different things and have succeeded in doing that. Blue Lock vs Haikyu!! can be a good point of discussion but that’s as far as it extends.