The end of Haikyuu’s 4th season has left many viewers with a void and they may be looking for anything to fill it up. There is a plethora of wonderful anime like Haikyuu, including both sports and non-sports shows. In this article, we will give you some of the best recommendations.
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Top 10 Best Anime Like Haikyuu!! To Watch
1. Welcome To The Ballroom
Produced by Production I.G. which is the same animation studio behind Haikyuu, Welcome to the Ballroom has a lot of character dynamics in common with the volleyball series. It’s also a fantastic sports anime, centering on a less popular and anticipated sport in anime – ballroom dancing.
The show follows Tatara Fujita, who is a timid young man drawn into a dance class and discovering his love for the freedom of performing in front of an audience. His passion for ballroom dancing began with a spark, similar to Hinata’s after watching the Little Giant.
Tatara’s enthralled by Kaname Sengoky’s imposing presence and embarks on a journey into the realm of professional ballroom dancing competitions alongside Shizuku Hanaoka, his classmate who frequently trains at Kaname’s dancing studio.
The anime features incredible music, wonderful sceneries, gorgeous animation, as well as similar character dynamics and evolution as Haikyuu.
2. Run With The Wind
Also produced by Production I.G., Run with the Wind is a similar anime to Haikyuu but it focuses on running track.
Kakeru Kurahara used to be an elite runner for his high school. After being chased because of theft at a grocery store, he met Haji Kiyose, who encouraged him to live in a dorm.
Later, Haji admits that the dormitory is used exclusively by the track team of Kansei University. Haji’s ultimate ambition is to compete in the Hakone Ekiden, which is a prominent Japanese university marathon relay competition. However, just months into the deadline, the track team members are utter amateurs.
In addition to having the same anime production studio, this series shares a lot of connections with Haikyuu, such as cheery animation and action scenes emphasizing athleticism.
Moreover, Kakeru was depicted as a similar character to Haikyuu’s Kageyama since he concentrates on himself before discovering what it meant to be a team member, although he was represented as being a little more melancholy than Kageyama.
3. Ace Of Diamond
Eijun Sawamura’s dream to compete at a higher level was achieved when the boy was discovered for his unique throwing technique and offered a spot at Tokyo’s elite Seidou High School.
He is a brilliant player yet surrounded by others who are equally talented. Eijun claims that he’ll be the baseball team’s ace if Satoru Furuya doesn’t take the spotlight as well as the starting place before him.
Due to new talented members added to the current strong roster, the baseball club of Seidou High School aspires to beat Japan’spowerful adversaries who pose tough challenges to their route to the championship.
If you are a fan of Haikyuu, you should watch Ace of Diamond (AoD), an inspirational sports anime. Similar to the volleyball anime, AoD characters are immensely engaging and humorous, making viewers root for them to reach their goals.
The anime features a lot of great characters and the series occasionally concentrates on a single character so that viewers can realize how vital each member is to the team.
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4. Kuroko’s Basketball
After graduating and achieving 3 straight championships, 5 basketball team members of Teikou Secondary school separated. Currently, they consider their former teammates as rivals. The five were dubbed Generation of Miracles because of their incredible abilities, which left opponents in misery and spectators in awe.
As Taiga Kagami and Tetsuya Kuroko first arrived at Seirin High, it was clear that they weren’t typical student-athletes. On the one hand, Kagami is the most proficient basketball player at school, thanks to his playing time in America, however, he can be pretty vocal about this fact sometimes.
Kuroko goes unnoticed while fulfilling his duty for the basketball squad. Despite his lack of athleticism and ability to score points, he is an outstanding member of Teikou’s squad. He was known as a player who could quickly pass and aid his teammates due to his remarkable abilities. This explains his “Phantom 6th Man” nickname.
If you appreciate how characters depict battling spirit and collaboration in Haikyuu, then this basketball anime could just be to your liking too.
5. Food Wars
Even though Food Wars is a non-sports anime, it shares a lot of similarities with Haikyuu. This anime is really funny and has a tremendously active protagonist, similar to Haikyuu.
Souma Yukihira is a fantastic cook, having learned from his dad, who runs a restaurant and serves delicious meals. When Souma enrolls at a culinary school, he impresses everyone with his cooking abilities.
However, he still has a long way until graduation, much alone being regarded as the school’s finest chef.
6. Yowamushi Pedal
Sakamichi Onoda initially wanted to participate in an anime club at his school and meet some fellow otakus. Unluckily, the club has been dissolved. So, he decides to take on the responsibility of resurrecting it by recruiting new members, which results in little luck.
Onoda resolves to ride his ancient, hefty urban bike to Akihabara where he comes across Shunsuke Imaizumi, who is a dedicated cyclist practicing his cycling on a steep hill. Astonished by Onoda’s technique to ascend the hill, Imaizumi asks him for a race with the anime club’s membership on the line.
Yowamushi Pedal is one of the anime shows that are like Haikyuu. Despite the fact that they are about different sports, both series illustrate great team spirits. Each team in their respective show has to face powerful competitors and challenges to conquer.
Moreover, both series demonstrate their rise while being considered underdogs. Also, supporting characters have some screen time so that the audience can understand more about them and their parts in the plot.
7. Hunter x Hunter
Hunters devote their lives to dangerous duties such as traveling to new places and tracking down rare objects and beasts. To become one, a person must complete the Hunter Exam, which is a highly risky selection procedure. The majority of participants in this examination wind up disabled or dead.
However, the applicants of the infamous exam have their reasons for participating in it. For the main character Gon Freecss, it’s to find his dad. He believes that by being a Hunter himself, he is one step closer to meeting his dad.
Hunter x Hunter has a storyline that is substantially different from Haikyuu. Nevertheless, many of the concepts are quite similar. The HxH is primarily focused on 2 children, Gon & Killua.
In some ways, their relationship is equivalent to a kinder bond of Hinata and Kageyama. Each of them has their own abilities, however, they’re more powerful when they work together. Killua, resembling Kageyama, is cold, quiet, and has a little edge to him, but Gon, similar to Hinata, is lively, active, and kind.
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8. Cheer Boys!!
Haruki Bandou is a fresher who enthusiastically accepts to quit judo after he has suffered an injury to his shoulder. He also found no satisfaction in this type of martial arts even though his family owns a dojo.
Nevertheless, he didn’t anticipate that his best buddy Kazuma Hashimoto would also quit the judo club at university. Even though Haruki is concerned about Kazuma’s new plan, the latter has already planned an unconventional activity: a cheering squad containing only male members.
Despite his reservations, Haruki reluctantly assists his best mate in the formation of the squad. Haruki and Kazuma persevere in forming the Breakers, Meishiin University’s first squad containing only male cheerleaders, despite stereotypes, physical hurdles, and self-doubt that undoubtedly follow.
Cheer Boys has the same motivating sensations as Haikyuu regarding not surrendering major challenges to achieve a long-term objective in sports. The anime also emphasizes male buddies working together to acquire good collaboration abilities.
9. Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club
Haru is a more restrained counterpart of Kageyama in Free!, which is one of the animes related to Haikyuu focusing on swimming.
Haru believed that swimming was a solitary sport and even if it was a relay, he was the only one who could win the race. This theme corresponds to Kageyama’s journey of becoming a team player.
Eventually, Haru realizes that the swimming team means everything to him. And, to win, he must rely on his teammates. This anime is full of heart and tackles problems such as deciding on the future after graduation from high school.
10. DAYS
DAYS is a soccer anime like Haikyuu. Tsukushi and Jin are the protagonists of this series. The former is a normal kid with no remarkable abilities or characteristics, while the latter is a genius soccer player. The pair meets on a rainy night and is drawn into this sports world.
DAYS and Haikyuu are comparable in that the main characters from the two anime have just lately begun to play their respective sports.
They are first viewed as weak players, however, as the story progresses, they show actual potential to become great. Moreover, Hinata and Tsukushi learn how to make new friends and work as a team. They also refuse to be discouraged by others and utilize that as fuel.
Final Words
Haikyuu is a popular anime series that has a large fan base. Nevertheless, from our suggested list of the best anime to watch if you like Haikyuu, we hope you have discovered a couple of new series to watch.
If there are any other recommendations that we may have overlooked, we’ll see what we can do to update our list. Also, please comment below and let us know your opinion on our choices.