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.
