Haikyuu!! To the Top Part 2

Haikyuu: To the Top, or the 4th installment to this series, was painful to watch--especially the first four episodes. What this season suffered from what the last three seasons excelled on was the pacing. Haikyuu has always been a series that delivered its character growth, memorable moments, and most importantly, hype through its volleyball practice, games, and playoffs. This season, the series decided to change the formula by having training and character backstories that served no purpose.

For the 1st half of the 2nd season of the 4th season, you were overwhelmed with boring expositions about some characters’ motivations and personalities that ... felt daunting. This season was building up these characters as if they were the key components to the overall narrative. But they weren’t. Almost none of the flashbacks had any purpose to the plot, and their mini-arcs were mostly resolved in one episode. Thus, making it feel like a bunch of unnecessary fillers. The only backstory that mattered was the Miya twins: Atsumu and Osamu Miya. However, the season fixed itself by modifying its focus, which was the match between Karasuno and Inarizaki Highschool. Once the attention was on the match, only then the story began to pick up its pace. It was like the series itself recognized it has been dragging its feet and got itself back on track. Throughout the second half, the season had episodes dedicated to characters’ mini-arcs that were set up at the beginning of this 4th season, like Tsukishima and Ruunosuke. Suffice to say, their moments were more entertaining and memorable than those in the first half of this second season. Perhaps because I was more attached to them since they’ve been established since season 1.

Similar to the story pacing early on in this season, the animation wasn’t at its best. Few shots of character movements felt stale and poorly animated, actions felt wonky, and character designs were sometimes disjointed. It felt like an unfinished product. But then again, much of these are fixed later on.

Haikyuu’s 4th season didn’t live up to the previous three seasons’ qualities. With its pacing issues, lack of focus on the plot, and mediocre animation, this season is easily the worst in the series. If the problems were to continue from the first half to the second half, this season certainly would’ve deserved a score of 4 or below. It’s a season that’s barely watchable and has a few good moments later on. It’s nothing revolutionary. It’s just below average.

Score: 4/10

First of all I have to say this is a review of the first four episodes and free of spoilers. Second of all Haikyuu it's my favorite anime. And third I'm not very good at expressing myself so I'm going to be simple.
After watching the episodes I was disapointed because I didn't feel like this was the Haikyuu I remember or expected. I think the first four episodes from this season deserve a 5/10 or 6/10 score.
The match between Karasuno and Inarizaki felt like watching a match between two unknow teams. The characters seem to have lost their charisma and his desire to play ... volleyball. They don't show the emotion and feeling they showed in the previous seasons. The music it's very good but they used it at the wrong times which can cause you to not fully get into the story and the fact that this it's a match between the protagonist team and the runner up team from the last nationals (obviously the music is not the only factor that influences you to not fully get in to the story). You don't get to feel the importance of Atsumu Miya (Japan's best high school setter). You don't get to feel the importance of this match. Also I think the funny moments felt a bit forced. Something I noticed and didn't like at all was the overuse of "green screen" moments. They always used that resource and it was well made but this season felt excesive (also the animation and colors of the "green screen" moments wasn't that good like it was before). The second episode was horrible and appalling because of the animation and the way they adapted the manga. And probably the fact that this chapters are not the best from the manga doesn't help (they are great but not the best in my opinion). The rest of episodes wasn't that bad talking about animation but you can notice that draws and movements got worse. The animation in the first three season was 10/10. The animation in the first part of four season wasn't a 10/10 but probably a 8-9/10 but in this second part was mediocre and basic most of the time.
The Kenma character development was nice but watching Taketora's past right after watched Tanaka's past was kinda repetitive. Fukunaga is the funniest character until now from this season.
Maybe I'm overreacting and this episodes wasn't that bad but I just don't feel the essence and perfection that Haikyuu had in the first three seasons or the manga. The COVID-19 was a factor that greatly influenced the quality decline or I hope that was the reason at least. All I have to say it's that I still have hope and Haikyuu despite these last big mistakes it's still my favorite anime. I always try to be impartial when scoring an anime and I hope I was able to express myself well in this review although I don't think so.

Edited after watched episodes 5 and 6: animation it's still bad and cheap. And I still don't feel the essence of Haikyuu in this season. When players make a serve it looks like the video it's at 15 fps (frame per second). I think it's quite obvious that the budget for this season was very low as well as the time that they dedicated to it.

Editer adter watched episode 7: animation got better but they still use a lot the "green screen" to save budget. Shinsuke Kita was very interesting. 2 of 3 sets and I feel like there was no story or character development.

Edited after watched episode 10: the animation it's cheap and they use few frames per second. But the good news is that you start to feel the essence of Haikyuu from the third set.

Episode 11 was good.

“Al—right!”

One word. Just one, single word. Yet, Haikyuu!! manages to encapsulate thousands of indescribable feelings, emotions into it. There’s no need to fabricate it, choosing right inspirational terms, at all. When each and every player inside Karasuno hear that shout amidst the chaos, and look up to the ceiling that is almost blinding, eyeing the floating ball—they know, they don’t need a miracle.

Haikyuu!! has always been the embodiment of unyielding friendship, unbreakable team-work, positive rivalry and adrenaline gushing down the veins of the players, and the non-players. But, ‘To the Top ‘arc changed that. Maybe it’s considered boring, monotone at first, but it has captivatingly ... achieved a turning point for the main characters, where they learned and discovered something more than themselves that changed their perspective forever.

In regards to that, there are tons of changes and new insights, new characters to root for, but the one that amazed me is—which I’m going to strongly highlight here—Ryuunosuke Tanaka, the baldy. Depicted as the average, energetic member, he’s done more than his best; breaking out of the frame of not only his diffident but also his determination that proves he’s not just a great player, but a team player. Adding this with Hinata’s overwhelming abilities that he discovered as a water boy, and Kageyama’s willingness to wear his cape and pour his real feelings out, it’s almost a crime not to get excited over their match.

The heart-thumping music that elevates the ambience of tension inside the match, the art—which to be frank here, outsourcing to save budge is understandable but is a downright terrible choice given the company that was chosen—is decent, the animation is great and fluid. You can dart your eyes around the screen and still catch a glimpse of where the ball is, where the motion starts and ends, and even feel the weight of each ball as it hits the ground. The climax itself, that last ball, that last serve, that last spike, and that last block are all on point. Enough for one to shed a bit tears at the journey they’ve come far to.

Overall, ‘Haikyuu!!: To the Top’ arc ends here not with a perfect conclusion, but more to a satisfying one; it depends on which side you’re one, nevertheless. But after all is said, I dare to say that this part of the season highlights some characters and development that might seem insignificant, but it’s going to impact everything in the long run. And, it does, carve a wide smile on my face.

So, cheers to Haikyuu!!. May it continues to reach to the top, and beyond; the anime, that is.

Overall: 6/10
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the most mediocre and disappointing season in a stunning anime's history; let's take a look at what happened to our beloved Haikyuu.

Much of Haikyuu's success this season is riding on the glory of its past 3 seasons. While Haikyuu did have it's peak moments this year, they often didn't stand out enough to compensate for inconsistencies riddling the entire season.

From pacing and animation to storyboarding, Haikyuu took a really hard hit compared to the last 3 seasons: even S4 Part 1, in retrospect, was wayyyyyy better than this one.

Ultimately, you'll take this season in one of ... 2 ways:
1. You'll love it for it's 'hype'
2. You won't love it because it didn't live up to its potential as being one of the best seasons to date.

Trigger warning below if you can't handle another's opinion; who would've guessed a REVIEW is an opinion and people can have different opinions? Shocking isn't it?

Story: 6/10
Storyboarding and pacing were major issues for Haikyuu this season. In the past, you could get heavily invested in each episode. I remember watching the first 3 seasons, even Part 1 of the 4th season, and not once did I ever think "Gee, nothing's really happening in this episode" or "Can we get to the good stuff already". Every moment in every episode was enjoyable and felt truly meaningful.

This season? A lot of the time spent was hella residentsleeper. Sure, there were bright spots like Tanaka getting development, Hinata's receive and taking it easy, etc. But there were plenty of sleeper moments created due to weird pacing/storyboarding, as well as wonky animation (more on that later).

Outside of the first 2 episodes (which were consistently bad imo), it felt like a fucking roller coaster honestly. Every other episode we'd get teased with greatness and blue balled the next episode with shit.

But I think my biggest pet peeve was not having other hype moments delivered. The Miya twins copying the freak quick for the first time (at least their last one was done pretty well), Kageyama's godly 2 serves in a row, Nishinoya getting targeted by Miya, they felt rushed at times and it would seem like you weren't fully able to absorb what had happened: they didn't feel like game-defining, standout moments and more like an impressive but somewhat expected/ordinary play.

Art: 4/10
Speaking of hype moments not getting delivered properly, let's talk art.

Maybe I'm reminiscing over the old art style, but man those roughly sketched lines for power serves and spikes were something I could blow my load over. And that was what I expected for key moments this season.

What do we get instead? Cookie-cutter figures with a bunch of random piss and shit palette oriented colors streaking by in the background as Asahi/Kageyama/Atsumu and others wind up for serves and spikes. Seriously. It doesn't deliver on the hype at all.

Then there are times, especially in early episodes, where the entire Inarizaki team just looks so weird behind the net. Then there was that horrible outsourced episode. God forbid we talk about that. Also, did anyone else find the last rally/point, with the Inarizaki libero and hitter running to the ball look SO WEIRD? Guys looked like fucking titans running from AOT man.

I know, I know, they're mid animation and whatnot, but that shit stood out way too much to be excusable, especially since there were other times where the animation was totally fine and quite acceptable.

Ultimately, the animation was just as inconsistent as the pacing and storyboarding. However, when the animation was bad, it was really fucking bad.
On the bright side, I hope most of this can be chalked up to the whole COVID situation and whatnot. Because if this shit continues in the future, Haikyuu is gonna suck a lot.

Sound: 7/10
OP and ED were whatever, not really my type, but music, voice acting, and everything else was pretty good throughout the season. Not much to speak on here.

Character: 8/10
I think universally everyone can agree that character development was very good this season (although that's mostly just from copying Furudate sensei's good work in the manga). From Tanaka and Nishinoya to Hinata and Kenma, we got to see real development for some of the fan favorites. Could this stuff have been fleshed out a bit better? Probably, but when you remove the poor storyboarding and animation, character development did its work carrying the enjoyment level of the season.

Enjoyment: 6/10
Haikyuu's still an anime I can enjoy watching, but I definitely don't feel the same hype or appeal I had for past seasons. Especially with the super inconsistent animation. If you want a viewer to be able to watch something without getting distracted by flaws, you gotta be consistent. Shame I wasn't able to enjoy the work of art that is Haikyuu compared to past seasons but it is what it is; not the worst thing I've ever watched but it definitely didn't meet my expectations.

Was my disappointment immeasurable? Maybe. But was my day ruined? I'd say no. <- Haikyuu Season 4, Part 2 in a nutshell.

Ah Haiykuu, the return of one of the greats. Hinata and the Karasuno crew are heading to Nationals to face off against the best of the best to see if Hinata can live up to The Little Giants name. I have already made a review on the first part of To The Top which I recommend looking at to see the changes in opinions and stances I’ve made thus far. Like I said before, Haikyuu had to dig out of a 10 foot hole before it was even considered a watchable show. A mixture of it being apart of the sports genre and being boys ... volleyball made most people 180 the second they heard the synopsis. It had to actually build up it’s reputation before people even glanced at it. I’ll admit in saying I was one of those people at first and I also admit it was one of my greatest sins. If you are on the fence because you aren’t into boys volleyball I would seriously consider giving it a watch. It’s ability to capture emotion in the matches is something that struck home to me and I hope it does the same for ya’ll.

Story: 7.5

Haikyuu, while having a solid foundation and characters, still has a pretty basic sports plot. I think the main reason why people stray away from sports anime is the repetitive feel of the matches after you’ve seen a couple. I’ll fully admit that I felt the same way. During the S3 match against Shiratorizawa, I was able to correctly predict who would score a point and when it was going to get turned over. Haikyuu followed the back and forth chemistry where Karasuno would get dumbfounded at the beginning, have flashbacks about their training, tie it up towards the middle, both teams go back and forth until the last few points and then Karasuno takes it at the end. They followed that same strategy for almost every match and it got really eye rolling eventually. However, the stakes are now raised and this is Nationals we are talking about. The intensity is through the roof and I cannot wait to see how they do. If I had to predict, I would say they are going to end this season at the quarter/semi finals and then have a final season about those matches and the championship. I like how this season is all about the matches and not training and I am constantly on the edge of my seat waiting to see what Karasuno does next.

Art: 6

I can’t be the only one who noticed the drop in animation the last 4 episodes compared to previous seasons. I hope it’s just a one time thing but I swear they change the art style every season.

Sound: 7

Sound is fine, openings are alright and the OST is dope.

Characters: 7

The characters are…. ok. They are cliched to say the least and aren’t really anything I have never seen before. If I am being fully transparent, I prefer the characters of the opposing teams rather than Karasuno itself. I think they make the supporting characters of the teams they play very 3 dimensional and fascinating. They all have something special and each have their own characteristics that make them intimidating and its really well done. The Karasuno team however is full of usual cliches like the loud meathead, the typical dumb go lucky mc, the leader etc. I still really enjoy them do not get me wrong, but I definitely think the author puts more time into the supporting cast then the main crew.

Enjoyment: 8

This is where I love Haikyuu. When it gets in the zone, it gets in the god damn zone. The final points in the matches where its neck and neck is where Haikyuu shines and really does its work. Of course the predictability keeps it from being anything more than an 8 but I still think its a solid 8 nonetheless. When Haikyuu wants the scene to be emotional, it will be emotional to the max. I cannot wait to see the final matches leading to the championship and how Karasuno will face the best.

Overall: 8

I really think the series is starting to climb the mountain towards the climax and the finale of Haikyuu but I am fully along for the ride. Hope the finale is as awesome as this anime has been thus far :)

So i just watched ep 11 and after all the screaming, tension filled moments... and tears of joy. i thought about this review i read about it a while back. The guy said he didn't recognize the characters anymore... and something else along those lines.
Me? ...and this is mostly subjective( with a basis of objective review based on character, story beats and so forth)... i f*cking LOVED the season so far.
Bro... bro... let me tell you something, this season has been a perfectly crafted masterpiece. The opponents were billed as a great enemy and by the volleyball gods, they were treated as such. The episodes ... leading up to this one were not only entertaining to watch, but they were necessary to set up a narrative that would be dramatic, emotional... and entertaining as f*ck to watch.

This season has showed us, imo, the natural growth of the karasuno team. We were shown how Hinata has grown from this volleyball obsessed kid who could only spike to a volleyball obsessed kid who is a great spiker and has learned other skills that can help his team... but he's also grown into someone who can look out for his team when they are the ones who get too caught up.

Kageyama has also grown so so much, and so has the others. I'm not gonna get into everyone but if you haven't? watch this season. You won't regret it.

Till episode 5 review
This season of Haikyuu is by far the most underwhelming season of this franchise by far. the story's progression is very bad, there are a lot of tangents in the story and it lacks the intensity as we had in the shiratorizawa vs karasuno match. Also, a lot of times, the animation goes in the opposite direction of what it should go and overall there isn't a consistency in the same. I seriously hope that it would get better in the coming episodes because if not, then it can be or rather it WILL be The Most Underwhelming Season of this franchise

Okay, let's get the elephant out of the room first...
🤜🐘 fuck off elephant....
In all honesty, people are complaining about the animation being bad, but from what i felt, only one episode was complete terrible (episode 2- which was outsourced). Yes, the art is not the best, but stop bitching about it because animators are working hard to provide us with this masterpiece during these unprecedented times. To me, the art is fine.
As someone who doesn't read manga, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. This maybe due to it being a nationals competition, which definitely has immense hype to it. But it also brings nostalgia to ... me when I went to there (to watch my brother - sports wtf is that?). The mixed emotions filled in the arena is definitely overwhelming, yet also excitable.
On the last note, the OSTs in this shit are fiiiire, other sounds are pre standard (to haikyuu level) and are still good.
Issa Solid 9 Fo Sho.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm no longer watching Haikyuu.

I've never been a snob about animation or art style, but season 4 has taught me (if nothing else) the importance of consistent artwork, both in quality and in tone. The artistic choices in the first three seasons were amazing at building moments of excitement and really getting the adrenaline pumping. Even if we put aside the actual artwork, the choice of cuts, stills, and pacing in the first three seasons were just phenomenally directed, and all that is missing in season 4.

Season 4 has not only put forth a less consistent art style ... (I hesitate to say worse because the best scenes in season 4 *have* managed to look pretty good, but season 4 has been a roller coaster of art quality, with far more valleys than peaks), but the scene direction and pacing of individual episodes have made my eyes gloss over while my mind wanders and occasionally struggles not to drift off to sleep.

After a cour and a half of this subpar season, I'm throwing in the towel. I'd love to find out what happens to the Haikyuu crew, but not with the current animators and director at the helm.

Hey Hey Hey, What the hell happened to Haikyuu?
I'm writing this review just to express how I'm disappointed in this season, And yeah this is my first review.

Art 1/10
Yeah, First thing I want to talk about is art, What in the world happened to the art of this season? No I'm not talking about the different style; I'm talking about huge animation downgrade, Especially episode 15 and 17, The art was so disturbing that I couldn't focus on the whole anime. Because yeah art is essential element for anime and especially for a sport anime like haikyuu.
And not only the art is bad but also ... the characters movement is bad too! Players float instead of jumping, Lot of scenes are rushed, Definitely not giving you the least of Haikyuu previous seasons feeling.

Story 8/10
For now I like the flow of events, They are showing more aspects of characters like Tanaka. He was one of the underrated characters and spotting him under the light is a good thing.

Sound 7/10
I don't have complain about sound, Except Ukai coach .. Not sure if he had sore throat or something this season but his voice seemed little harsh this season .. I even thought they changed the voice actor.

Characters 9/10
Like always, Haikyuu used and still be giving different and special characters.

Enjoyment 6/10
Overall, I can't say I didn't enjoy the anime, despite the bad art .. But in conclusion I hope they bring Haikyuu like it used to be .. Overall I'm giving this anime 1/10 to balance the overrated score that is given by Haikyuu fans

"Give me the next one too!"

TL;DR: If you felt like not watching the season because of some bad reviews or the art style or whatever, you are wrong and WATCH IT. It does not disappoint IMO.

I couldn't wait for this season since the last one was more than half filled with the training arc. However, If you look at the 4th season as a 25 episode season, You'll see why I gave it a 8 overall.

(idk if I'll have spoilers in this, probably not tho, but beware)

P.S.: This is my first review on my newly created MAL account, but I have been using MAL ... for a while.

I always give Haikyuu the "Haikyuu bias" as I call it. Where essentially anything that can be rated in the show is usually bumped a point or two higher simply because it is just such a great show that I LOVE!

This season revolved around the Inarizaki vs Karasuno match, with a little segment for Nekoma.

Coming into the season, with the couple outsourced episodes, and the clearly different art style, people felt a little off. For good reason too. But, Haikyuu delivers what Haikyuu does, and that is emotional character development with hype matches.

To name a few parts that stick with the main Haikyuu philosophy, we have:

Tanaka's cross shot arc
Tsukishima's arc against Suna Rintaro
Nishinoya and Kinoshita's arc
Hinata's recieving arc (THE BEST IMO)
Kageyama's messed up one-handed set thing (idk what to call it) arc

This season does not deviate much from the feeling that Haikyuu usually delivers, and I don't see a way you can say otherwise. The art style may have changed (definitely for the worse 100%), but if Haikyuu started with this art and continued on, I still believe it would have been a brilliant show. Much like it is right now.

I'm gonna keep the sound, character, etc. rating short.

Story: 9/10: Great match, showed both sides as well, Nekoma even got in. Happy days.

Art: 6/10: Haikyuu bias, probably should be 4-5 compared to previous seasons, but I DONT CARE.

Sound: 9/10: The haikyuu soundtrack is great, although some people didn't like the sped up version at the end of the match, I think it was great that they didn't fully repeat the song exactly, and it also matched the message of "speed can be bad" or whatever.

Character: 10/10: Just great development all around, as I mentioned with the arc stuff earlier.

Enjoyment: 9/10: MAN ITS HAIKYUU, JUST SO GOOD

Overall: 8/10: Compared to previous seasons, maybe just a little worse, I'd say mainly cuz of the art, outsourcing, and a little bit cuz of the random Nekoma insertion (still enjoyed the Nekoma episodes tho)

Short and sweet. Overall being a Haikyuu Stan, I give this an 8/10, mainly since the second half carried this season.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that each season needs its fair share of exposition, however, the first half of this season left me feeling uneasy with the little inconsistency of the pacing.
The animation and music towards the finale was nothing short of breathtaking; the contrasting themes of Karasuno and Inarizaki, the final team-play that won them the game and so on.
One more thing I wanted to touch on was the Perspective: As usual, us viewers are not only drawn towards Karasuno, but also the ... other teams that exist. We see Inarizaki dealing with their own share of expectations forced on by others, especially by their own fanbase, which fortunately learns to understand that the "process matters more than the result".

Ultimately, all this is what left me EXTREMELY satisfied concluding this season
:-)

Haikyuu!! To the Top 2nd Season

If anyone has seen my other reviews, they know I like Haikyuu. This anime had everything for me to be entertaining and engaging. But this all started to crumble after the third season came out and now it's over. Watching this season was honestly a disappointment and a painful one at that.

The relatively fast pacing died, the scenes just didn't have any dynamics anymore, except for the last 5 minutes. And to make it worse, the animations went down the tubes. More than half of the faces this season looked like they were drawn by an amateur who had ... just been thrown into the studio. Episode 9 in particular... uhh ohh.

The actual game itself wasn't any better, it was boring and very sluggish. Even though the 2 twins as opponents weren't that bad. I thought they were very authentic siblings with very real relationships. But this was the only highlight of this season.

The flow of this game was protagonists get depressed, Hinata cheers them up, they get depressed, and Hinata cheers them up. And so on and so forth. And precisely because this happened so often, Hinata's last and final motivation became meaningless in the end. Had the other moments been removed or changed, Hinata's final ball acceptance would have had a real impact. Unfortunately, this was ruined by the overdose of this approach.

[Conclusion.]

Haikyu is nonetheless a very interesting anime, for people who just want to watch something "likable", without any great plot or rivalry. However, I hope that the upcoming seasons will improve.

[Enjoyment 4]

Haikyuu!! To The Top 2nd season did not disappoint. It was real Haikyuu. And Haikyuu is absolutely incredible.

The 2nd part of To The Top was basically the payoff of all the training done in the 1st part. Let me go through the players 1 by 1.
Hinata made the most impressive strides. The ball boy arc was amazing, I really don't understand why so many people thought that Haikyuu got worse because there were not as many matches. Hinata learned so much about volleyball. It was so exciting and emotional witnessing Hinata receive that ball in the last match, it showed so well how much ... Hinata has progressed. Just compare the current Hinata to Hinata in season 1. He is so different now, the only thing that didn't change is his burning passion for volleyball.
Kageyama was always amazing as a volleyball player, his skills were fantastic. However now he became a way better setter - he learned to track his teammates conditions, motivate them by forcing them to do their best (basically how he did in the very start of the show) and also was motivated not only by his rivals (Atsumu) but also by his teammates (Hinata). And let's not forget the last block, made by Hinata and Kageyama. This block really showed their growth throughout the whole show, a great callback to how they were at the end of season 1, when they lost this way.
Tanaka was always one of my favourite characters because he always works so much, during matches or not. His effort finally really got recognised, I absolutely love his character, the cross and straight shots he did were so cool!
Nishinoya also had great moment of overcoming his fears, let's of course not forget Kinoshita who helped him. The synergy between players in Haikyuu is wonderful.
Tsukki was a great blocker as always, but he really was more motivated at this match than ever before, tried his best even when he was extremely tired. What is more, he actually recognised Hinata's new skills.

Inarizaki had amazing players as well, but I just want to mention 1 moment. It is when Inarizaki's captain, Kita, had his speech about "geniuses", that the Miya twins aren't just good from the start, it's because they work and train and think about volleyball all the time. This is a really great message that applies not only to them, but to most players in Haikyuu and actually to most people irl as well. Also, Kita's speech after the match was great, made both the players and the viewers emotional. I love how every time a team loses in Haikyuu, the players are so wholesome and supportive, it really makes you feel for the team.

The directing in this season was good, but definitely seemed lacking when compared the previous 3 seasons. And although this made some moments seem not as important as they really were and the pacing was off occasionally, this is really the only major drawback in this season.

The animation was iffy at times, especially the outsourced parts, and the change of the art style isn't really to my liking, but overall the animation is still great. There are still moments when the animation immerses you in match and makes you FEEL the power of the jumps, spikes, serves and blocks.

Let's not forget the OST - one of the best parts of Haikyuu imo. Yuki Hayashi is an absolute legend and does an incredible job each season. His tracks just elevate Haikyuu to another level, both in hype and emotional moments. The OP and ED were great. The OP was hype, but it's not one of my favourites. The ED on the other hand is amazing and I love how it shows little Hinata at the end, watching the match on the TV.

Haikyuu is the only anime that manages to keep me smiling throughout the whole episode and makes me feel this hype. This adaptation could have been better, but it still was a masterpiece in my mind, since it's extremely difficult for Haikyuu not to be great.

My fav anime of all time. I'm so glad that I am alive to watch this anime I mean it's jst a masterpiece 🥺 and I'm so proud of hinata. My baby have improved so much and I can't wait to see the next season (karasuno vs nekoma). Also I hope they animate msby black jackals match too.
When it comes to art I know many people have complains about it but I don't I mean art is similar to manga and that's totally fine coz old art used to be smooth and soft (kinda?) But recent art is more focused on their movements and ... they look more mature now( their smirks are scary and intimidating). Also thanks to some studio who ruined 2 episodes (pfftt kageyama looked totally different) but then it came back to its old art style. I was more focused on the game to notice the art and I am so glad they didn't missed any important movements and pacing is normal it's not rushed at all which is a good thing.
The reason why I love this anime is coz it inspires me to dedicate my life to something just like hinata. I want to obsess over something. I hope I find something like that too....
Overall this is the masterpiece don't miss out

Haikyuu, one of the best sports anime ever, and a personal favorite of mine, being an athlete myself. Im a swimmer, so youd think I would be able to relate to Free! more than Haikyuu. Nope. Haikyuu is every bit as relateable and motivational for me as a swimmer than free couldve been. Which is why i favor haikyuu over free. Now without further ado, lets get into my review.


story: 8/10
As someone who finished the manga completely i can say, ive been enjoying the anime just as much as i did with the manga, and of course the manga had great storytelling, theyve adapted ... it quite well from what ive seen, with some minor things i wouldve liked to see done better. The match was really exciting and had me on the edge of my seat all the time, even though i knew what would happen next. For every episode starting from e9, there was one moment where i felt so emotional i would cry.

art: 6/10
Of course, they changed the art style earlier this year for s4 to make it look more like the manga. I like this style, and its growing on me. But it was quite hard to get used to it after watching 3 seasons with the old style. Not to mention the absolute dumpster fire that was the outsourced episode. And i usually dont use "dumpster fire"and haikyuu in the same sentence. I think it couldve been better for sure.

Sound: 10/10
The OST for this show is amazing. It really brings a pumped up feel to the games, and even i listen to it before competitions to motivate myself. Not to mention the OP and ED being absolute bangers. And the ending credits of the final episode, the first season op? i was bawling.

Characters: 10/10
The amount of character development this past season was amazing. I found myself relating to and loving the characters even more. With every little bit of development, the characters become more and more endearing to me. i was so proud of hinata when he made that receive in the final set. I cried. I remembered when i had my own moment in my own sport, and that brought the waterworks for sure!

enjoyment: 10/10
I enjoyed this season very much, i enjoyed tuning in every week, and i enjoyed discussing the topics of each episode with others. This season, i cried more than i have during any other show or season of haikyuu. The first half of the this season however, was a little underwhelming. But things picked up in the later episodes and that was where i remembered why i love the show so much. The animation being subpar is the only thing that made this season even a little less enjoyable then the others (if youre watching the revised DVD edition, you might not see the errors). I can say now, if you love haikyuu, and youre thinking of dropping it after the first half of part 2, DONT, it gets so much better in later episodes and im sure you will enjoy it.

Overall: 9/10
This season could be better, im sure of it. Its not the best season of course, the animation was very off for a few episodes, and the art has been changed drastically. But i still think its every bit as motivational, inspirational, lovable, and comedic than any other season of Haikyuu, the only thing keeping me from giving this a 10 are the animation and pacing issues.
Cant wait for season 5 and the Battle of the Trash Dump!

This won't be a super long review as to avoid any spoilers :)

Overall 9/10
I personally, am a big fan of the Haikyuu series (both anime and manga), so I went into this with high hopes, and I wasn't disappointed. Overall, the story was good and the manga was adapted pretty well, the animation was a bit off in a few episodes but that can be overlooked due to the circumstances. This season kept me on the edge of my seat even though I knew what happened. I loved seeing the different characters change due to how the match progressed, as well as seeing the way ... different characters who had honed their skills be able to use them in a match!

Story 10/10
I am a major Haikyuu!! fan, so I obviously enjoy the story, I think its an amazing story with plenty of interesting things to keep you interested as well as how 'hyped' each episode makes you, I also think this season was another good adaptation of the manga

Art 8/10
In some episodes there were some art mishaps if you will, but that is understandable with the circumstances of course. Aside from the one episode and the few random times were the art looked odd, the art was good and personally I really enjoy the new art style so I think the characters looked especially cool :)

Sound 8/10
I think the sound was pretty good, nothing much to say here

characters 10/10
I thoroughly enjoy all the characters in the Haikyuu!! series, they all have interesting personalities and undergo different development. In this season especially, we are able to see that all the hard work different characters put in to hone their skills, such as Hinata, Nishinoya, Tanaka, Kageyama, Tsukki and a bunch more, and how that hard work paid off in the match, which I think is really rewarding!!
It's also fun to watch all the characters interact with each other, such as Hinata and Tsukishima and Kageyama, or the Miya twins. So overall the characters are very enjoyable

Enjoyment 10/10
I really enjoyed this season as I enjoy the whole Haikyuu series, both anime and manga, so I already knew i'd enjoy the season since I knew what would happen. This anime made me very happy, to see all my favourite haikyuu characters animated again, and watch how they interact, especially little things like Bokuto and Akaashi in the last episode at the end and so much more, making it very enjoyable to watch!

To The Top season 1 was already pretty bad, but I held out knowing that season 2 would have more volleyball. Then To the Top season 2 came out... utterly gormless. It pains me to say, as someone who really enjoyed the whole series up until To the Top, but what little enjoyment I got was from laughing at it and laughing at how bad it was. Personally, the two main issues were the story/characters and the art.

1. Story & characters:
I haven't read the manga, so I don't know how much it differs. The overarching story was pretty lackluster but nothing too offensive. It ... felt like a generic sports shounen which made me feel less invested in this season as a whole, but it did have more action/volleyball than To the top season 1. The pacing left a lot to be desired, but it was better than To the top season 1 just by virtue, again, of there being actual volleyball. Still, there was a lot of filler in every single episode.

One of Haikyuu's strong suits was always having good characters, not just the Karasuno boys but opponents that were interesting. However, Karasuno just felt... flat and lacked the depth that they used to have. One case in particular––I remember Tsukki's character development vs Shiratorizawa and feeling as if I had gotten whiplash with how much he regressed in To the top season 1, and To the top season 2 didn't really do much to work with it. Their opponents (Inarizaki) were even worse: I didn’t care for the Miya twins, I didn’t care for anyone on the whole damn team except for Kita. To be honest, Kita was a very good character and I enjoyed his backstory, but it was a tall order for a newly introduced character to shoulder the burden of bad writing. The little bit of Kenma’s backstory was nice, but it felt out of place with the rest of the season (despite having a legitimate reason). A similar thing with Hinata––another bit of nice character development that couldn’t hold up the rest of the season.

A little sidenote––I often play a guessing game of what happens in an episode b/c the frequency of anime tropes, and man everything was too predictable.

2. Art (mild spoilers here):
I would be cleaning, running errands, etc. and then spontaneously burst out laughing because I’d remember that one screenshot of Daichi (I think… lol). I know coronavirus has not been kind to anyone, least of all anime studios, but the outsourced episodes were so awful. The Miya twins often looked like animorphs. Actually, most of the Inarizaki team would look like animorphs. All the characters were consistently drawn off-model in a way that was not flattering nor “creative”. It is definitely possible for off-model characters to still look good, but not when characters look like Brontosauri. I admit that there were a lot of little things that I really liked: the bit with Kita's eyes watching the ball, Hinata’s reception, and quite a few moments in the second-to-last episode, but similar to my critiques of the characters, there was too much bad that these little, good moments couldn’t outweigh. I dunno... it felt like they didn't put any effort (like the announcers who just held the same pose, unmoving with politely pleasant expressions on their faces as they talked).

The only reason why I finished this season (To the top as a whole) was because of how much I enjoyed all the previous ones. It felt like a huge weight off my shoulders when it finally ended and I realized I didn't have to watch anymore. I think the stark contrast between all the old episodes and everything that came out this year was too much, which ended up being why it is so lowly rated for me. I probably won't watch Haikyuu anymore after this and am probably going to just read the manga from here on out. You should probably do the same.

Story : outstanding!! the storyline is just AMAZING, it's very inspirational, funny, cheerfull, and emotional. boring and overused? NAH original? ABSOLUTELY YES
Art : i LOVE it, i love the camera angles and the smooth animations <3
Characters : good character development? YES totally attached to the characters? YES simp?? OFC can't hate a single character? YES gets really attached to the characters? YES
Enjoyment : absolutely hooked!! i have never been so emotional and inspired by an anime, it didn't have sad backstory or sad ending so why am i crying?? i'm just touched by their struggle and hardwork, i love their character developments, how they improve ... and learn from their mistakes, their strong friendship, how they never give up, and how they can finally achive their dreams.

i love everything about haikyuu!! i dont understand why people doesn't like this anime?? haikyuu!! can be funny, cheerful, emotional, and you got this special feeling when you watch haikyuu you will be hooked, and get really attached to the characters. haikyuu is my top favorite anime, i can guarantee you will love this anime. even after rewatching it dozen times i never gets bored, it is pretty sad that the manga has reached the end... i just hope the anime and the manga got the recognition they deserve :,)

I mean, I knew what was gonna happen, but it was funny and awesome anyway.

I don't know how to review an anime when I've read the manga because Haikyuu!! is a first for me in that regard. I guess I can start by saying that the animation was mostly phenomenal, though there are some frames that come off as really weird. The score for Haikyuu!! is always gorgeous. Beyond that, I'm mostly just going to talk about this in comparison with the manga.

I did this with the first half of To the Top as well, but looking at what they decided to pull from the ... manga is always interesting. There was a section in this season where they kind of pulled away from Karasuno to set up for what comes next, and though it happened in the manga, I believe they restructured it in the anime. I don't know that it was necessarily the best choice since it stopped the momentum dead for a couple of episodes, but at the same time, it's good that they chose to use that story point before the next plotline. As far as flashbacks and all that goes--because there's usually a flashback for at least a few characters from the new team in the manga--I think this season did a pretty decent job using them. Though, there were entire episodes dedicated to flashbacks a couple of times, and I don't think this season needed it. However, as I know what comes next, they probably had to fill the time with something so they didn't move through the plot too quickly, thus upsetting the flow of the season. The pacing--besides that short bit where the story cuts away from Karasuno--was pretty good. The events happening in the game can blend together really easily, but this season did a great job with making every episode stand out against the next so something special was happening every time.

That's it. If you want to know more about what I think about Haikyuu!! in general, at this point, it's probably better to go read my manga review. I can't review the anime that well anymore because I know the story, but to sum up, this anime is bomb. Watch it.