Haikyuu!! To the Top Part 2

Once called a fallen powerhouse and known as "Flightless Crows," Karasuno High School has finally taken flight at nationals. With a comprehensive performance against Tsubakihara Academy in their first match, the team is now facing its toughest opponent yet: the runners-up of the last Spring Tournament, Inarizaki High School. Furthermore, dealing with the formidable twin Miya brothers only makes things more difficult for Karasuno.

As soon as the match begins, Karasuno is overwhelmed by all the noise and jeers from the supporters of Inarizaki High but rekindles its strength thanks to its own loyal fans. Karasuno also gains some momentum by utilizing an attack centered on Shouyou Hinata, but the eccentric play of Atsumu and Osamu Miya delivers an unexpected blow that leaves their opponent astounded.

Things are bound to get intense as the match progresses between these two teams. Will Karasuno be able to defeat Inarizaki High and overcome the hurdles that threaten its pursuit to the top?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hinata, Shouyou Main

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Kageyama, Tobio Main

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Oikawa, Tooru Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Nishinoya, Yuu Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Kozume, Kenma Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Tsukishima, Kei Supporting

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Bokuto, Koutarou Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Kuroo, Tetsurou Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Sugawara, Koushi Supporting

Irino, Miyu Japanese

Akaashi, Keiji Supporting

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Morihiro, Fumi Producer

Taguchi, Shouichirou Producer

Matsushita, Keiko Producer

Reviews

Dec 18, 2020

Ethan_07

Recommended

“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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 18, 2020

bulkyhog

Mixed Feelings

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 18, 2020

LordSozin

Not Recommended

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

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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