Haikyuu!! To the Top ハイキュー!! TO THE TOP

2020 winter | Episodes: 13 | Score: 8.4 (616101)

Updated every Saturdays at 01:25 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Synopsis

After their triumphant victory over Shiratorizawa Academy, the Karasuno High School volleyball team has earned their long-awaited ticket to nationals. As preparations begin, genius setter Tobio Kageyama is invited to the All-Japan Youth Training Camp to play alongside fellow nationally recognized players. Meanwhile, Kei Tsukishima is invited to a special rookie training camp for first-years within the Miyagi Prefecture. Not receiving any invitations himself, the enthusiastic Shouyou Hinata feels left behind. However, Hinata does not back down. Transforming his frustration into self-motivation, he boldly decides to sneak himself into the same rookie training camp as Tsukishima. Even though Hinata only lands himself a job as the ball boy, he comes to see this as a golden opportunity. He begins to not only reflect on his skills as a volleyball player but also analyze the plethora of information available on the court and how he can apply it. As the much-anticipated national tournament approaches, the members of Karasuno's volleyball team attempt to overcome their weak points and refine their skills, all while aiming for the top! [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Voice Actors

Murase, Ayumu

Ishikawa, Kaito

News

Reviews

Aurorasaurus
07/18/2021, 01:11 PM
If you're really invested in following the storyline, and watching more training, then the fourth season is a watch, I suppose. However, I'm completely unable to sit through more than a handful of episodes, and I honestly think I got through 2 and had to stop. They changed the animation and the character design and I'm no longer invested in these "new looking" characters. Asahi, for example, I wish I could explain what exactly happened there. His hairline was, for some reason, redone in a way that makes him look completely separate from the character we saw in the first 3 seasons. This new onecould be an older brother or an uncle. It may align more with what is the original art in the manga but since I haven't read it, I'm not so sure. Perhaps I am biased as he is my favorite character but, the other characters seemed to lose part of their appearance as well. Most of the aesthetic appeal of the first 3 seasons is lost on this one which I found disappointing. Art style is so important for these sorts of shows and I'm upset that it was changed. Again, I'm not sure if the intent was to align more with the manga's artwork which I know some shows do as the seasons progress; but, Haikyuu!! was always an immersive visual experience and it no longer feels that way. The depth of the characters also feels wrong. They are all slowly losing their individuality and losing their spark as individuals on a team or who are training to improve. Overall, there does come a time where a story has to end and I do think that Haikyuu!! definitely has a few more seasons worth of storytelling and advancement to showcase. This new art style and new animation is going to unfortunately pull audiences away. I would have loved to see the original art style and animation continued throughout the end of the story so that I could see the resolution, even though I know how it all concludes, but, it's not the same characters honestly. The appearance is different. The personalities are different. If none of that is a bother, then please take a watch. But, if those sort of changes bug you, then steer clear and allow season 3 to be the "end" of Haikyuu!! for you.
LightScaryRobo
03/05/2021, 04:18 PM
This is essentially the beginning of what we have been waiting for since the very start. In the first half, we see training for nationals and in the second half, we get to see it begin and the result of the hard work of all of the teams there. I have mixed opinions on this new and very different art style. In some parts, it looks great and actually has significantly more detail and depth. But the faces seem to be a big struggle - the noses look strange and the eyes of the characters make a lot of them look very different and it justfeels off. Since the death of Kazunari Tanaka, the original voice of Coach Ukai, you can tell the difference significantly. Hisao Egawa is a great VA but he pales in comparison to the Ukai that we all came to love, which felt like it fit the character better. The op and ed also felt like it wasn't bad, but just wasn't as good as the previous seasons. Shouyou Hinata (Simpleton Idiot, Chibi-chan, Dumbass) Tobio Kageyama (King of the Court, Bakageyama, Bateyama-kun, Kalm-geyama, Yamayama-kun, Wearyama-kun, Simpleton Idiot)
StardewFellow
11/01/2020, 07:53 PM
I have never really written a review on here, but I really do enjoy this series as a whole. I really enjoyed Hinata's character development in this season. The art is good but nothing spectacular since its a tv series. I think the character designs are able to stand out and pretty good for how many characters there are. As a ex-athlete, I can relate to wanting to be better and achieving new heights. The OPs and EDs are always good. The story/plot of Haikyuu is pretty generic. I honestly find myself bored during the matches. I used to be super into them inthe beginning of the series, but I just feel like they are drawn out and nothing is new. I like Haikyuu, it isn't my favorite anime ever, but its pretty close.
MAND4
10/22/2020, 10:18 AM
Preface: the review will likely be long and have a lot of grammar mistakes. Proofreading is too boring, so forgive me for that. Anyway, onto the review. Haikyuu!! was always that 'volleyball sports anime' for me and literally nothing more. It was just like every other sports anime with the exception of it being about volleyball. It hit the same notes as the rest, it had the same story beats, it had the same character arcs, and it had the same over-the-top animation that the rest of them do. Even still, it was extremely high in quality and consistent in its execution which is why Ialways thought of it as one of the better example of sports anime. This season, however, was awful. Absolutely, unapologetically awful. Even if my overall score doesn't reflect that sentiment, I will die by it. In vacuum, without previous seasons, this is likely by far the worst season of sports anime ever produced. Not only did its high-quality animation drop considerably, every other aspect of sports anime was thrown into the gutters and kicked until it died. The show became the poster-boy for precisely what is wrong with the entire genre and it postered itself with pride. Story beats are recycled to the point I wanna kill myself. How many times do I have to watch half a season of training sessions? Training is boring. It's boring when I do it and it's certainly boring when others do it. I swallowed it during the second season since it was the first major one, but at this point we're too deep in to be giving literal 8-9 episodes of a 13-episode long 'half-season' to Hinata learning the literal basics of volleyball. Have a time skip -- spend 10 seconds to show that he trained and that he's now better. I promise you, nobody would call you out on it. Because of this, the pace of the story is garbage. I found myself skipping scene after scene after scene after scene in this desperate attempt to locate anything worthwhile. But there was nothing. Even the single match we got in this season was borderline unwatchable. Worse than the first practice match of the first season. Nothing hype about it, nothing exceptional, just... bleh. One aspect I've always hated about Haikyuu!! - and generally every sports anime for the most part -- is the dreadful onslaught of flashbacks for the irrelevant, minor characters. I don't care about their struggles -- if you wanted me to care, you would have made them the main characters. It seems to me that the writers of sports anime/manga want to be all-inclusive with their nonsense and repeatedly recycle teams that the main characters have floored in this horrid attempt to keep it 'realistic'. Here's a flash for you: we're not here for realism. If we were, everyone would have dropped this nonsense at 2-3rd episode. We're here for a colorful cast of one-note characters doing sportsy things that no actual high-schooler short of a freak like LeBron James could pull off. What's the point of Tobio being a genius and one-of-a-kind setter if you keep introducing morons that are better than him? What's the point of hitting every single sports cliche in existence rather than just keeping it fast and fresh? This season, too, drowns us in pointless flashbacks and pointless onslaught of side-side-side characters to the point that I just don't give a shit anymore. I genuinely couldn't care less even if I physically tried. To make matters worse, they suddenly invent some childhood friend for the baldy, and... what? I'm supposed to suddenly give a shit about his love life? Goddamn, that was awful. Absolutely awful. Then, as though we haven't had enough cliches as it is, it was time to introduce a new Hinata -- but this one has gray hair and is basically what Hinata wishes he was. I... I just wanna ask... why? What's even the point? You just literally told me it would have been a billion times more fun if that guy was the main character instead of Hinata. You just told me I've wasted however-many-hours on watching the subpar version of someone else. 'It helps with Hinata's growth' -- no, it helps because it's an easy story beat to execute. It helps because it requires literally 0 brain cells to write. You know what would have been more fun? If this guy didn't exist. Every single story beat in this season screams 'I don't care anymore I just wanna write cliche garbage so I can rake in all that sweet manga cash till my carpal tunnel goes whammy'. And, to be fair, I respect that. I really do. Doesn't mean I can't bitch and moan about it, though. Every sports anime seems to misunderstand what the point of the sports anime is which is why they all tend to stumble and fall over time. Major fucked up, Diamond no Ace fucked up, Kuruko fucked up, heck, even Eyeshield fucked up. They promise us one thing, but then they flip us a middle finger and say 'nope'. Again, we are not here for realism -- specifically because there is none of it in literally any sports anime out there. We are here for fancy nonsense that defies the law of physics -- which is exactly why the first season of Haikyuu!! was so appealing. What about it is appealing now? Nothing. Just like in every other sports anime -- well, except Kuruko. That thing kept amping shit up until the end and I respect 'em for it. Furthermore, one thing that always kept the boring and asenine story beats in check, the high-quality animation, is gone. The most impactful scene in the entire season was one random guy who got like 2 minutes of screen time yeeting the fucking ball into the sky as a serve. Even the ending scene, the one scene that should hype you up for the next season, with the main character elevating what supposedly made him special to begin with, is just... meh. Good. You can jump. Get at it. Characters, similarly to the story, recycle their beast and we're at it again. Hinata is doing great. Oh, no, he's really insecure now. Tobio is no longer insecure about being called a 'King'. Oh, no, wait, he actually is--nevermind, let's get going! The main problem with sports anime, from what I've gathered, is that they are hellbent on recycling the opponents. They've floored the 'blocking team' (because that's how teams are composited, of course) sometime in the first season, yet, here we are, in the fourth fucking season with that team still supposedly giving them a challenge. Come on dude, I don't care. This just makes it seem as though nobody from the main cast progressed at all, or minimally at best. It kills the pace of the story and we are left with... well... this. Furthermore, I have a feeling that literally the entire point of Tobio going to that All-Japan or whatever national camp is just so we can introduce another metric-ton of 'rivals' for the future. And, I gotta be honest, I don't give a shit for any one of them. They're just recycled versions of the people we've already seen, and I absolutely cannot wait for when they face these recycled rejects so we can get another 50 flashbacks about how much they care for volleyball and winning and whatever. The story is written in such a way that it is clear that the author doesn't want it to end. Which is precisely why it's so goddamn confusing to me why they're hellbent on keeping the pace so bizarrely slow. We're at, what, 50ish episodes now? My god, 50 episodes and not even a whole year had passed. Do people realize just how insanely slow that pace is? If you cut out all of the unnecessary flashbacks, all of the entirely boring and irrelevant 'training arcs', heart-to-heart, this show would be like 20 episodes tops -- and, you know what? It would have been a mile better off for it. And with 30 extra episodes, we could have had far more of what is actually fun -- matches. Matches against the increasingly better teams. Heck, our main cast could have even lost at the Nationals, and we could have had that emotional 'bye bye third-years' or whatever and could have injected some fresh blood into the show through organic means -- new first-years. But noooo, instead, let's have yet another training session in which Hinata realizes for 69th time that just jumping really high isn't really a volleyball skill. Anyway, I ranted too much. I'm out of words and out of desire to sit on this any longer. This is usually the point where I drop the sports anime -- once they start recycling story beats, bringing back the already defeated opponents in some vain attempt to appear as though they aren't writing fantasy, and when they dumb down all characters for the sake of hollow comedy. To add insult to injury, this show went even a step further and introduced a character that's basically a carbon copy of our main character... except that he's like a billion times better. Yikes. Talk about wasted investment. Anyway, I'm all of the potential defenders of the show to swarm me or whatever the expression is, and if you can enjoy the show despite its endless flaws -- all the power to you. I'm in no way trying to discourage other people from enjoying this, just venting my personal frustrations. Well... that's it. Review done. Bye bye.
rhiz0matix
09/20/2020, 12:59 PM
Haikyu returns for a a disappointing fourth season compared to its previous seasons. The changes that first caught my attention were changes in art style and Coach Ukai's voice actor. While the art is by no means bad, I do think it's a step down from the old animation. Some stylistic changes include adding character introductions before matches. It's a good attempt to build hype and acquaint the viewer with the enemy team, but it comes off as tacky sometimes—having flames in head to head portraits is a bit much. Now Ukai's original voice actor died, so they had to replace him. The replacement isn'tbad; I'm just too used to the old voice. Every time Ukai speaks feels off to me. What killed this season for me was the pacing. Everything until the official matches felt so slow. The training camp feels like a waste of time for Hinata, and the practice match feels too similar to previous ones. At one point, Hinata asks himself what's he doing wasting his time, and I found myself asking the exact same question then. While Hinata does improve after his "unconventional training", I question how realistic this improvement is. Conventional practice just seems so much better; the show didn't do a good job convincing me otherwise. On top of that, the payoff for the official matches feels short lived. The official matches are as thrilling as they've ever been, but they're over in a flash. In the end, I wasn't sure if they were worth the wait. The charm of Haikyu's characters is getting a little stale. While each character remains endearing, they've become predictable. You kinda already know how characters will react to team drama and challenges. Sometimes characters feel like flat caricatures that occasionally say snappy sports one-liners. Kageyama and Kiyoko are perhaps the exceptions this season with their new development. As a Haikyu fan, this has me worried about future seasons, since the hearts of this series is its characters. I didn't dislike this season, but it was a letdown compared to previous seasons. The season did many things right, like music and the official matches. However, this season has to stand in the shadow of ones, and it just failed to live up to expectations.
Hudsonwt
09/07/2020, 02:06 PM
I love how consistent this show is. Each season is just as good as the last and always presenting something new to engage the audience. I loved the approach this season took regarding Hinata, who finally started to try and master some of the more fundamental skills of volleyball as he saw his fellow first years start to advance past him. His concentration face during the times he was a ball boy was really well designed. Also, I noticed that there were some subtle differences in the character designs in this season compared to the other three. I'm not sure if was a different approachto shading, a difference in the line work, or tweaks to the design of the face, but there was definitely something different this season. And it wasn't necessarily bad, I just noticed something different. Also, the animation throughout this season is spectacular and it continued to show that the people behind this show really care. It contained a myriad of cuts that really impressed me. The animation was a real standout in the new characters that were introduced this season as well. I also want to mention how absolutely amazing the OST has been for this series. The composers always nail it with each new season and this is no exception. There's this certain guitar solo track that played a couple times as Hinata starts to understand certain moves that really stood out to me. Overall, another solid half-season. I can't wait for the second-half.
SinCrow11
07/24/2020, 01:06 AM
Clarification: Unfortunately we have come this far .... At the moment, because due to the global pandemic that affects everyone and the cheer houses were no exception. This adaptation of "To the Top" was intended to have 24/25 chapters actually, but as I mentioned the chapters were delayed too long, so they chose to divide this season into 2 parts and the second one would arrive in October if everything goes well. OK and the rate of infected in Japan allows it, otherwise we will continue to wait. But if there is something clear, it is that there is still Haikyuu for a while General: (7.7 /10) This new season of Haikyuu was very comforting and somewhat nostalgic, since 4 years have passed since that adaptation of the match against "Shiratorizawa" and despite the time it continues to maintain the same appeal with its daily condiments of good sport and comedy. Although something that if I notice at times was a certain drop in the animation and deformity of faces, but well let's hope they can solve it in the face of the continuation and the worst case scenario does not fall further. I do not want to return more extensive, finally I remain relatively satisfied, understanding the crisis we all live through but it is still an incomplete adaptation so I cannot give it any more average score at the moment ...
Cebrail_BR
07/13/2020, 11:25 AM
Haikyuu é um dos melhores animes de esporte que já vi, ele consegue desenvolver muito bem os personagens e seus respectivos estilos de jogo, essa temporada conseguiu trazer muito bem a emoção e tensão nos jogos junto com cada jogada impressionante. Elogio a direção por conseguir fazer utilizar muito bem a trilha sonora, e as tomadas das cenas como também elogio a animação espetacular. Gostaria de falar da história que eu realmente achei muito boa, mas nada que eu não esperasse, mas mesmo assim ela é muito, como melhor dupla dessa temporada pra mim seria os irmão miya. Gostaria de ressaltar o desenvolvimento do Bokutocomo personagem e como sua personalidade funciona ele é um personagem muito engraçado e carismático.
berdelight
07/07/2020, 08:44 AM
This outstanding stunning anime is deserved to be the best anime of the decade. No im not talking abt Sports anime but all anime. Its the BEST Anime tier list EVER. Weeb Lord R/anime and weeb Lord Sseibaa has persuaded me tro write this review. This anime has such amazing husbandos and is just spectacular. This anime made me lose 10kg of weight because i binge watched it for 4 days straight. I couldnt keep my eyes of the screen. Im at the hospital right now because of this but it was worth it. Cant wait for the next season to air. PogU
BlackkSakura
04/26/2020, 06:15 AM
I will keep it short. I enjoyed this season, while they lack some elements from first one they improved others. It may be not tense as 3rd but games are still fun to watch. Character development is in the first place and they did a solid job. New characters introduced, also new possible side story. I did not like forever lasting matches from season before and they really improved that part. Characters who were avoided before got some spotlight and they did not stall. Animation and music were still on point. This is great, fun to watch sport anime. I recommend.
tinel_
04/11/2020, 03:09 PM
Firstly, the fourth season starts right before the end of the third one, giving the spectator a great chance to compare the art style between both. Although, some may argue that the quality decreased, I say with confidence that it changes for the best. An uniform mix that includes both the author art style in junction with it's counterpart from the other seasons. But, again, if you are pleased with it or not, it is entirely subjective. The formula is simple, yet effective. Karasuno's style keeps changing and improving based on other teams. What characters thought about for a matter of seconds, takes minutes (just like JJBA).Strategies that make sense, no special powers, carismatic characters and nothing happens based on nothing or plot devices. Then why are you rating the anime that high? Well, the application is perfect. Not every anime has to be a innovative masterpiece, if you feel pleasure, tension and can understand the character's beliefs, you already have a masterpiece. Haikyuu is the anime that hooked me into volleyball, also being the anime that showed me that you do not need to be a genius in order to become a great player, you do not need to have 190cm to be a great spiker and you do not need to be perfect in order to win. Practice makes perfect, and enjoyability makes a great anime.
Sopseii
04/04/2020, 07:08 AM
Haikyuu is my favorite sports anime. [haven’t watched hajime no ippo yet] The show makes you the part of their teams [karasuno]. it makes you feels like we know the members like a friend or teammate. It is one of the consistent shows airing now Haikyuu s4 had some problems but overall it is still really good. There were some changes like in art. The art style is now more inclined to the manga. Most of the viewers doesn’t seem to like the new art style. I can agree with this, I also liked the old art style. But if this is more similar to the manga, then Ican’t complain more, usually every good show have art style similar to manga. So I was able to bear this. Animation was also weak compared to previous seasons. This season was more like a training arc before the tournament so I hope they will improve the animation quality more in the second part. [THE RATING SEEMS TO BE LOW FOM LAST SEASON, I THINK ITS MAINLY BECAUSE OF THE NEW ARTSTYLE, and animation was a little lesser in quality] • Story 9 awesome Story is very good. We feel the the pressure in the match even it’s a story. That makes it incredible. • Art and animation 8 Pretty good. [THE REASON FOR RATING DECREASE] Not a fan of the new art style, but is adapting to it slowly. I hope animation improves in second part. I MISS THE OLD MID INTERVAL SCENES. • Matches 9 awesome We had one training match, which was really good. We also got the first stage matches of the tournament. They end this season in kind of a cliffhanger which keeps you hype for July. • Sound 10 Outstanding The osts are really good like always. The opening was awesome. Some new osts were really good. • Character 9 awesome Characters are one of the good things in Haikyuu. The series takes time to let us know the characters in the team really well. This season we got some major Hinata focus and developments. We got more focus on Kiyoko, Tanaka, etc. more. We got introduced to some characters who can be major threats in the tournaments. • Enjoyment 9 AWESOME I enjoyed very season of Haikyuu. It is really consistent. The change in art style in a thing I have to adapt to, especially when it is more similar to manga. Animation was weaker but not bad compared to many shows which have bad animations. • Overall 9 A pretty solid season, ¾ was training arcs and the rest was the beginning part of tournament. The training arcs are as good like always. In short, apart from art style change and some animation laziness, this season of Haikyuu was also really good.
0207xander
04/04/2020, 01:05 AM
Yo. So far I’ve written reviews for every season of Haikyuu! and figured I’d keep it going. Most of the times I have been critical, but it’s been hard for me to figure out why I haven’t liked Haikyuu without saying “I just think it’s overrated”. I think this time I actually know why: It tries way too hard. The plot progresses in unnatural and extremely structured ways that doesn’t flow naturally, the new characters are introduced with such strong personalities that they don’t feel real, and the conversations between characters are either so unbelievably stereotypical that it makes me cringe or so inspirational thatit makes me cringe. The humor is also wayyyyy too slapstick. I feel like they should add 1960s Loony Tunes BOING and WAHOO sound effects to all the epic goofy moments that Hinata and the other silly boys go through. It’s just way too over the top and makes me enjoy the show less. So now to the latest season of Haikyuu!. Hinata sneaks into a freshman training camp and does his ball boy job so well that he starts to actually pay attention to what’s going on around him. I know they had to find some way to force his game to develop but I felt they could have done a way better job, this is just such a dumb plot point. People naturally learn to pay attention to their surroundings as they get better at their role in a sport. Once Hinata had played like 4 games he should have started this process. I was watching these episodes completely uninterested just wondering when we were gonna move on and Hinata finally stops being useless. Then the Kageyama portion of these initial episodes where he goes to the select training camp. I thought it would initially be cool to see a display of some of the other good players in Japan and that it would be a great opportunity to showcase stuff that ACTUALLY takes place in sports, like detailing routines, work ethic, raw talent, and passion of top players in the country, and instead they use it as an excuse to introduce more quirky and non-relatable, uninteresting characters that I do not care about. They had an opportunity to have a great animation showcase in the scrimmage they had but even that was wasted because there was no fluidity at all in the animation and the entire thing played out in the minds of Kageyama and the other setter. Then we get into the preparation for the tournament. These episodes were pretty good. You have to have some balance between character interaction, training, and intense games, so this middle transitionary period was completely fine for me. Just the usual issues of wacky humor that tries way too hard, too often and doesn’t land. Then they actually start traveling for nationals. Literally the dumbest episode of the entire series so far was when their team manager had to go get Hinata’s bag and they turned it into a character development opportunity with her doing hurdles in track. This episode was dumb. They tried so hard to get us invested in this character that is so uninteresting by dumping an entire life’s worth of backstory in 10 minutes, and Hinata losing his bag was such a contrived, unnatural plot turn that just came off as forced and served no purpose other than to develop this character. And her backstory wasn’t even interesting, it was kind of pointless and I still didn’t care about her after hearing everything. Onto the tournament itself. I know they are just gearing up for part 2 of this season so I can’t comment much on it because we have only seen one game so far. The depth perception thing was ridiculously stupid though, I’ve played volleyball tournaments in arenas with even higher ceilings and no stands, just 60 courts in a big cement rectangle. There is absolutely no difference in depth perception that 3 minutes of warming up won’t fix. You would be right to say “That’s such a minor issue, why are you even talking about it?” That’s because it was the subject of an ENTIRE EPISODE FOR NO REASON. If it had been mentioned in passing I wouldn’t even have to mention it. Ok now for the actual production and quality of the show itself. It is very underwhelming. The music and animation has not improved since season 1 (which was made 6 years ago). For a show that staggers it’s seasons every other year to maintain production quality, you expect some sort of improvement. There are 3 second sequences that are breathtaking, of course, but 99% of the show is a slideshow with moving mouths and recycled hitting, setting, and passing animations that appear every episode. I’m just not impressed with the sakuga animation because it’s short and predictable and they try so hard to make it “epic” that it ends up being predictable and not as shocking of a visual experience. Anyway, these are just my thoughts on this season, extending a little bit to the series as a whole. If you disagree, I’d encourage you to message me on my profile, I’d love to discuss it more. Thank you for reading!
anime_binge47676
04/03/2020, 07:59 PM
OKAY.... this season was amazingggg!!!! As a haikyuu fan that only watches the anime and not the manga, i was very excited to watch this season when it fully finished airing. Honestly, with the previous seasons i always thought that Hinata wasn't as good as I wanted him to be. He may have fast reflexes and at moments he may surprise you but his basic skills were not there. In this season, it mainly focuses on the character development of Hinata. There weren't many volleyball matches( there is a continuation of season 4 that will have nationals though c:), but I truly loved seeing himimprove and solving his problems by himself. Kageyama also improved, and all the other characters as well. We also get introduced to new characters that we haven't seen before, which was very exciting to see. One thing I often saw was people complaining about the art. And honestly, in the beginning, i was unsure too, seeing many differences in the art style that i loved. But, i quickly got used to it and it was not bad, also this new animation is cleaner in some ways and the personality of the characters still matched their expressions. Although the art was pretty good at some points it was poorly animated in my opinion, but it did not cause me to ever complain about it. in conclusion, this season was Really good as we get to see more character development and the haikyuu energy we needed :))))) I truly enjoyed this season and y'all should watch it too
PikAnnanas
04/03/2020, 06:18 PM
To start off this review, I'd like to say that I've seen quite a few people complaining about this season. The main complaints seem to be about the animation and the lack of action. I normally never write reviews, but, because of what I stated above, I'll try to express my opinion this time. While I don't think starting with the animation is that relevant, I'd like to address the complaints here. The animation is absolutely gorgeous, it's the art style (yes, it's not the same thing) that has people complaining. I believe people just don't like changes, and, when something is indeed changing, they immediately reactin a bad way without taking the time to think about it. To me, the animation is great. Furthermore, the art change was made to stay true to the manga, so I think that's a good thing. It does take a while (like 5 minutes) to adapt, but if you try to enjoy it, you'll see the animation and art style is pretty damn great. I personally like this art even more than the older season. It resembles the manga more, and seems more "modern". It is simpler, mostly because the animators weren't the same I believe. But it's still beautiful and satisfying to me. Adapting to a different art style and seeing animation evolving shouldn't be such an important topic of complaints when it's done greatly! It's anime, OF COURSE the animation or art style is gonna evolve. Secondly, the lack of action. I don't understand this statement either? Do people believe a good series is only matches with no character progression in between? This is what makes Haikyuu! so great : how we see the characters grow. Complaining about this is understandable if no big matches were played for some time, but this season follows the biggest match we've seen till now. Not to mention we still did get a quick match at this end, and we know the second cour is gonna be all about action. Furthermore, if there weren't these moments where we see characters evolving, the show would become repetitive and boring, so I personally enjoyed it. Of course there's gonna be some training arcs, but if well made, they're interesting! The focus on the first half is divided between Kageyama and Hinata, and it's incredibly interesting. I personally didn't see time passing when I watched each episode. I was engrossed in each of them! To conclude, apart from some small pacing problems and some things being resolved too fast, it was still very good. I don't think this season is worse than the others. The characters are still lovable, the story leading to nationals is interesting, and the evolution of everyone's play (particularly Hinata) is great. If you've loved the first 3 seasons of Haikuu and don't fixate on the art style just because it has changed, you're gonna love this season as well.
SpikyTurtle
04/03/2020, 02:49 PM
Haikyuu is still as amazing as ever. I was a bit skeptical about this season, mainly because of the change in artstyle, also because the director changed, but looking back I don't really know why. It's Haikyuu. Haikyuu can't be bad. This season retained the Haikyuu spirit. The OST is incredible and not only that, but it is always used at the perfect moment, making the viewer feel hyped or emotional. The character development is exceptional as well, the Karasuno team especially, but others as well are constantly growing and improving, both as players and as people. The sakuga moments are still there and in the 2nd cour ofthis season, the animation will probably be even better because the staff will be more accustomed to the new artstyle, which bothered me for an episode or two, but now I can't really say I prefer the old one, the new one is great as well. Also, I wanted to address one point - a lot of people liked this season less than the previous ones, mostly because this season focused on training, setup for the matches and character development, but most of these people are just "adrenaline junkies", who only appreciate Haikyuu for its matches. However, without the setup and development, the matches wouldn't matter as much and wouldn't have a big impact on the viewer. But in Haikyuu these setup episodes are very well executed and extremely enjoyable, that's why Haikyuu is the best. Haikyuu is the most enjoyable show I've ever seen because every aspect is carried out exceptionally. I love it. 10/10
BabyGirl06301
04/03/2020, 12:40 PM
Hot damn, it's back, baby! I gotta say, I found myself staying up-to-date with the manga, so I can't really talk much in this review about the story content because, well, I already knew what it would be; that being said, I'm still really excited to review this season of Haikyuu!! now that it's finally been animated. On that note, let's talk about the art. This is the first season of any anime I've watched in which I already knew the plot because of the manga (I know, I'm probably a bit weird in that regard). That meant that I was paying extra attention tothe new character designs and environments I knew we would see this season, along with the animation of the scenes I had already read. I gotta say, y'all, I wasn't disappointed at all. The art style is one thing-- something we all already know and love from previous seasons (though it does feel updated now)-- but the coloring laid down on some of these new characters and environments absolutely blew me away. The animation, as well, was gorgeous as always. Haikyuu!! is exceptional at animating the motion of the athletes, and the updated art of this season (since it has been a hot minute since the last season) only made it better. I haven't necessarily seen a whole lot of sports anime pull the animation off perfectly in a movement-heavy sport like I have in Haikyuu!!, though Diamond no Ace does phenomenal with it too. Haikyuu!! does have an amazing soundtrack as well, and the OSTs this season were still bringing the fire, though I didn't really pay as much attention to it as I did the art this season. After this, I'm not really sure how to review Haikyuu!!: To the Top. I could mention the character development or the story elements, but since I first appreciated them in the manga, I feel like I can't talk about them in the anime (though the anime did great with both of those things). Instead, I'm gonna talk for a minute about the structure of the season. Honestly, I didn't really know what they were going to do with the thirteen episodes this season given the manga material-- if they would stretch out the training camps, jump to nationals, etc. For the most part, I was satisfied with the outcome. I felt like the story that was touched upon this season was picked out perfectly, and the pacing done very well. Of course, given where the third season ended and where this one was set to pick up, this season felt a lot like the setup season it was rather than a progression of the story, which normally isn't something I'm crazy about, but Haikyuu!! always keeps the in-between bits interesting as well, so it didn't bother me as much as it has in other sports anime. There were a couple scenes in the manga I felt probably would've been better left out as it did upset the flow of the season a bit, but overall, I think the material they showcased from the manga was very well done. Well, that's it. At this point, a lot of what I have to say about Haikyuu!! is going to be said in my review of the manga once it ends, so my reviews on the anime will mostly be about structure, but I don't mind that. I'm enjoying watching a story I've fallen in love with on paper being put to sound and voice and motion and color. I'm not entirely sure how the seasons will be divvied up going forward since the end of the manga presents a few issues with the future episode or season counts, but I'm confident the wonderful people working on the project will do this story proud. I'm so overwhelmingly happy to have this in anime form, and I'm looking forward to everything that's yet to come.
abystoma2
04/03/2020, 10:13 AM
Four seasons in and I still have no idea what the appeal of this show is supposed to be. And it’s getting worse. You see, to make a sports appealing, one of two choices needs to be taken most of the time. Either let the human drama be the focus and use the sport as the way to channel the conflict, or go over the top with the sport to make it blood-boiling exciting. Haikyuu has neither of those. It just a bunch of high school guys playing volleyball. Neither the characters and their interaction nor the game itself is interesting. You might even saythat it’s too realistic for it’s own good, as it really feels just like sitting on a bench in high school watching some randos play a match because you have nothing better to do. And here comes this season’s special: training. Yep, most of the fourth season is training. Now I know some training is important as the most popular alternative to training is just straight out ass-pulls, but is most of the season really necessary? Watching the whole “Hinata accidentallies himself into the big boi training grounds” pretext is just painfully boring. I know the result will be “He got somewhat better at playing”, you know it, we all know it yet we’re all forced to watch a bunch of episodes to get the much predicted result. Nothing of interest happens during this part, though to be honest I couldn’t name you a single interesting scene in the whole season. I mean, stuff like “slice of life fans be like - bro the grocery store arc hit different” jokes become reality here as we get an episode that’s mostly about a dude forgetting his bag in a gym. This whole season could be condensed into 3 or 4 episodes and nothing of value would be lost. The cast is pretty much basic action shounen cast just taken from battle and put into sport genre. Most of their personalities are “being really passionate about the game” and “causing 'humorous' scenes that will make the background simplified and everyone make a 'funny' face”. Some of them also possess the unique trait of shouting really loud. I’ve noticed that since this season offers nothing of interest anyway, the character designs were tweaked a bit so now almost everyone looks like the same person, just with a different haircut. Interesting artistic choice, but fitting. The animation is still good, but not as good as the previous seasons. Considering the high quality animation was what made Haikyuu stand out and combined with the subpar plot of this season (even for Haikyuu standards) this easily makes it the worst season so far. One pet peeve I have about the animation through the whole franchise is the decision to make a hole in the volleyball net every time a character is standing behind it. Yeah, I get it, it’s so we can see the characters face, but really, would few lines of net hurt so much? Now it breaks any bit of immersion that could have been had every time it’s done. The list ditch effort and simultaneously almost a sure-kill way to make a scene exciting is to throw in an epic soundtrack. You can make eating potato chips epic with the right choice of sound accompaniment. Yet, there’s no choosing from out of nothing and cool soundtrack didn’t really get an opportunity to show its qualities this round. Better luck next time. Overall, this is just another dose of generic episodes of “fujoshi bait characters passionately slap sweaty balls, moaning about having to get better at it”.
lt_wassile
04/03/2020, 09:55 AM
Welcome to a new chapter of “I could never have imagined a volleyball anime could be this good” “Haikyuu!!: To the Top” picks up more or less at the spot where we were left when S3 ended, meaning that Karasuno has just defeated Shiratorizawa to qualify for nationals. Even if it was an unavoidable event for the story to keep progressing, that along with other circumstances such as the sidelining of Hinata for much part of the Shiratorizawa match might have made the third season the weakest -though it was kind of useful to demonstrate that Karasuno wasn’t a 2-man army-. Still, it set the stagefor a huge future narrative event in the nationals championships, and it seemed clear that Shoujo was going to play a more important role these following seasons. Up until now, Haikyuu!!’s formula had always been the same: Train hard, improve, play some friendly matches here and there and enter the competition of the Miyagi Prefecture, where Karasuno’s team would fight their way through the league chart against some already known rivals to reach the long-desired status of National qualifiers. However, this season marks a turning point in the franchise path; our beloved crows have a new goal in sight, win the nationals, and in consequence, new and harder challenges to deal with. The indicated set-up gives the creators the chance to make two phenomenons possible: Dig deeper into the development of this volleyball universe -showing us new players and teams to keep in sight as well as more aspects of the game- and displaying a different perspective of the series -more character-driven than the past 3 seasons- as it strongly focuses on the development and evolution of the main cast, preparing and hyping us for the enormous challenge that our friends from Karasuno High School are just about to face. And this brings us up to Hinata’s situation. His only power is ambition. Sooner or later, the ability range of Hinata had to expand and this season called for it. His character had always walked across the thin line separating greatness and powerlessness due to its short range of abilities, but he had managed to survive in spite of that. Therefore, and far from making it as your typical shounen evolution where characters improve their abilities out of nowhere or learn a skill after practicing once, Haikyuu to the Top shows us a main character who finds himself forced to envision volleyball from a different point of view to what he’s used to; this gives Hinata the chance to analyse and scrutinize other great volleyball players game, making it easier for him to realise what was dragging him down, and how could he put a stop to it. This results -for the delight of us, Haikyuu fans- in a considerable bust to his volleyball potential. So, as we all know, one of the elements that make this franchise stand out is its realism and characterization of the players. This has not changed a bit; every single character feels special in its on way, as we still see how both our main cast and their subsequent rivals evolve as players and as human beings throughout games and hardships, forced to change their approach to the game and to life due to the adversities they encounter along the way. However, due to the lack of games -or, at least, meaningful ones- during this season, the intensity and anxiety that matches provoked on the viewer and that had become the seal of identity of this anime this past 3 seasons, has somewhat been obscured, making this course a little more boring than the last ones. Maybe this framework is not the most enjoyable, but guess what? All good stories require a good foundation, and without this one, Haikyuu!! might not have been able to move forward. Leaving all this behind, this fourth season is the first to see significant changes in staff –we have both a new director and animation director. Nevertheless, animation quality has not dropped at all -or at least, not that much as people thought it would-; Satou has achieved to safeguard the spirit of the last 3 seasons, though slightly redesigning some of the characters in order to make them closer to the manga which, in fact, was one of the objectives they had at the beginning of the process. When it comes to Haikyuu!, the depictions of movement is probably unparalleled. This series has always been masterful at illustrating the human form in motion –muscle definition, facial expressions, joy, fatigue– making good use of vivid colors and fine structures, and it looks like none of that seems to have changed. Last but not least, sound. Besides counting again with a great sound director such as Hiromi Kikuta, which has been able to create absolute magic throughout the whole series -this season was no different from the previous ones-, and with the same voice cast we’ve been enjoying lately (rest in peace Tanaka-san),we also could enjoy ourselves with the absolute banger which BURNOUT SYNDROMES delivered. I.G production knows that a lot of responsibility is placed in their hands -you know, they produce one of the most acclaimed sports animation shows- and, as it was expected, “Haikyuu!!:To the Top” did not let us down. “With sweat, blood and tears - those shining wings will take you wherever you please”
SingleH
04/03/2020, 09:49 AM
Perhaps this is selfish, as I don’t interact with the community enough to know if this opinion is shared, but to me, the enduring appeal of seasons one through three of Haikyuu!!—putting aside, for now, its outstandingly high quality production—was in the fact it was the first and only shounen anime which did not feel like it was meant to go on forever. All shounen manga as serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump are literally, in-the-text, meant to go on forever. By design of the publication, volume sales and product sales are of secondary importance to by-vote audience reception, which would honestly be kind of coolfrom a creative market perspective if said piece of art wasn’t placed on such a ridiculously tight schedule as such which effectively forces all products produced under its purview to be trite, shallow, flavor-of-the-week time killers, and few works of its brand escape this fate. To me, Haikyuu!! was the only one of those exceptions which was worthwhile. Its characters have always been archetypical, its theming has always been modest, and its narrative has always been standard, but to regurgitate what I’ve been saying for years now, Haikyuu!! knows the good tropes and executes them flawlessly. Haikyuu!! doesn’t take one-note characters and make them deep, it just makes them the most consistently well-written and empathetic one-note characters you can find. It doesn’t take power of friendship, hard work vs talent storytelling and make it any more complex, it just delivers it with such hype and humanistic catharsis your heart can’t help but be affected. It doesn’t take the highschool sports inter-high plot structure and make it any more unique or interesting, it just executes the stock mold with such expert pacing and pointed purpose you still feel every step of the way is a culmination. And the cherry on top of it all is exactly where I started this gushing rant to being with, its ability to do what none other in its genre can do: not feel like a waste of my time. I’m not old, but if you asked your average anime fan, they’d think I’m old. Frankly, I find it extremely and progressively difficult to give a care about highschool anime. Unless you have a crazy high-concept and a million things going on at once like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or incomparably genius writing and direction like Hyouka, I’ll probably drop you within five minutes. Haikyuu!! has an immediate advantage with me being a Production IG show, because it gets to be drop dead gorgeous, but I still just couldn’t help being anchored down by how good it made me feel. However, this was not nearly enough in the long run, and I figured I would just power through the first season and then respectfully refrain from continuing, but with the betrayal of expectations the first season ended with, the point became clear and I became invested. From that point on, season two delivered the most psychologically relieving and emotionally elating ensemble character arcs in any sports anime ever made, and season three delivered ten straight episodes of bracing sakuga and physically electrifying payoff after payoff. And this is exactly why I thought it was the perfect time—to stop. I’m not about to sit here and spout pandering buzzwords and generalizations at you, like how long running series are destined to go downhill or any of that nonsense, because as I mentioned, I don’t interact with the community, I and don’t care about the trappings of their public consciousness. I just personally feel as if the concept is starting to exhaust itself. To no deep fault, mind you, but to exhaustion nonetheless. Season one felt aimless only in so far as it smartly played its cards close to the chest, but the moment it showed its hand, the series gained an alien sense of—not maturity, per se, but—reality, and seeing as I then instantly noticed the story hidden in the details which I had failed to appreciate, I was able to continue on in the correct mindset and consume it as the modest masterwork it was and always had been, plus the incredible animation and sharp design work it initially charmed me with. This season was the complete layered cake I described, only without that imperative cherry on top. Simply put, it stayed as solidly constructed and consistently written as it ever was, but lost the subtle spark and fulfilling momentum which it had always enchanted me with. The characters have to regress to develop because they were so perfectly completed, the new principle antagonists feel random because those who came before them spent fifty to sixty episodes being built up, and the plot has to meander to progress because it was so perfectly concluded. Said regression fit said characters’ established mental hang-ups, and said meandering fit said plot’s logical stagnation following the tournament which season three ended with, but whether it makes sense or not and whether it’s competently made or not, the fact of the matter is it’s not nearly as gratifying as it has been historically, and that is a problem, no matter how picky. After all, just as a bad show can only change for the better, a good show can only change for the worse, especially if that good show is of the same nature Haikyuu!! is, that of an anime based on a manga pumped out weekly and with no time to improvise once the proverbial conceptual well ran dry. And yet, what’s really the biggest hit to my own personal enjoyment is the downgraded directing and animation. The production values are just as kinetic and ambitious for the genre, but nowhere near as polished, consistent, and technically perfect as the prior seasons. You know it’s a dark day when Production IG themselves have to split-cour a production, whether it’s being done better by their B-Team than any other fullcore studio could ever do with their best or not. Haikyuu!! To the Top is by no means the “top” of what this series has to offer nor what this series has offered in the past, but it is still miles, miles, miles above the bottom, and any fan of the series will find themselves greatly pleased by its return. However, if you’re a crotchety old bitch like me or a sakuga nerd chasing that prepossessingly glorious shooting star of crafted brilliance, Production IG, you may find yourself somewhat disheartened, no matter how delightfully your favorite characters on screen can turn that frown upside down. Thank you for reading.

Haikyuu!! To the Top ハイキュー!! TO THE TOP

2020 winter | Episodes: 13 | Score: 8.4 (616101)

Updated every Saturdays at 01:25 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Synopsis

Voice Actors

Murase, Ayumu

Ishikawa, Kaito

News

Reviews

Aurorasaurus
07/18/2021, 01:11 PM
If you're really invested in following the storyline, and watching more training, then the fourth season is a watch, I suppose. However, I'm completely unable to sit through more than a handful of episodes, and I honestly think I got through 2 and had to stop. They changed the animation and the character design and I'm no longer invested in these "new looking" characters. Asahi, for example, I wish I could explain what exactly happened there. His hairline was, for some reason, redone in a way that makes him look completely separate from the character we saw in the first 3 seasons. This new onecould be an older brother or an uncle. It may align more with what is the original art in the manga but since I haven't read it, I'm not so sure. Perhaps I am biased as he is my favorite character but, the other characters seemed to lose part of their appearance as well. Most of the aesthetic appeal of the first 3 seasons is lost on this one which I found disappointing. Art style is so important for these sorts of shows and I'm upset that it was changed. Again, I'm not sure if the intent was to align more with the manga's artwork which I know some shows do as the seasons progress; but, Haikyuu!! was always an immersive visual experience and it no longer feels that way. The depth of the characters also feels wrong. They are all slowly losing their individuality and losing their spark as individuals on a team or who are training to improve. Overall, there does come a time where a story has to end and I do think that Haikyuu!! definitely has a few more seasons worth of storytelling and advancement to showcase. This new art style and new animation is going to unfortunately pull audiences away. I would have loved to see the original art style and animation continued throughout the end of the story so that I could see the resolution, even though I know how it all concludes, but, it's not the same characters honestly. The appearance is different. The personalities are different. If none of that is a bother, then please take a watch. But, if those sort of changes bug you, then steer clear and allow season 3 to be the "end" of Haikyuu!! for you.
LightScaryRobo
03/05/2021, 04:18 PM
This is essentially the beginning of what we have been waiting for since the very start. In the first half, we see training for nationals and in the second half, we get to see it begin and the result of the hard work of all of the teams there. I have mixed opinions on this new and very different art style. In some parts, it looks great and actually has significantly more detail and depth. But the faces seem to be a big struggle - the noses look strange and the eyes of the characters make a lot of them look very different and it justfeels off. Since the death of Kazunari Tanaka, the original voice of Coach Ukai, you can tell the difference significantly. Hisao Egawa is a great VA but he pales in comparison to the Ukai that we all came to love, which felt like it fit the character better. The op and ed also felt like it wasn't bad, but just wasn't as good as the previous seasons. Shouyou Hinata (Simpleton Idiot, Chibi-chan, Dumbass) Tobio Kageyama (King of the Court, Bakageyama, Bateyama-kun, Kalm-geyama, Yamayama-kun, Wearyama-kun, Simpleton Idiot)
StardewFellow
11/01/2020, 07:53 PM
I have never really written a review on here, but I really do enjoy this series as a whole. I really enjoyed Hinata's character development in this season. The art is good but nothing spectacular since its a tv series. I think the character designs are able to stand out and pretty good for how many characters there are. As a ex-athlete, I can relate to wanting to be better and achieving new heights. The OPs and EDs are always good. The story/plot of Haikyuu is pretty generic. I honestly find myself bored during the matches. I used to be super into them inthe beginning of the series, but I just feel like they are drawn out and nothing is new. I like Haikyuu, it isn't my favorite anime ever, but its pretty close.
MAND4
10/22/2020, 10:18 AM
Preface: the review will likely be long and have a lot of grammar mistakes. Proofreading is too boring, so forgive me for that. Anyway, onto the review. Haikyuu!! was always that 'volleyball sports anime' for me and literally nothing more. It was just like every other sports anime with the exception of it being about volleyball. It hit the same notes as the rest, it had the same story beats, it had the same character arcs, and it had the same over-the-top animation that the rest of them do. Even still, it was extremely high in quality and consistent in its execution which is why Ialways thought of it as one of the better example of sports anime. This season, however, was awful. Absolutely, unapologetically awful. Even if my overall score doesn't reflect that sentiment, I will die by it. In vacuum, without previous seasons, this is likely by far the worst season of sports anime ever produced. Not only did its high-quality animation drop considerably, every other aspect of sports anime was thrown into the gutters and kicked until it died. The show became the poster-boy for precisely what is wrong with the entire genre and it postered itself with pride. Story beats are recycled to the point I wanna kill myself. How many times do I have to watch half a season of training sessions? Training is boring. It's boring when I do it and it's certainly boring when others do it. I swallowed it during the second season since it was the first major one, but at this point we're too deep in to be giving literal 8-9 episodes of a 13-episode long 'half-season' to Hinata learning the literal basics of volleyball. Have a time skip -- spend 10 seconds to show that he trained and that he's now better. I promise you, nobody would call you out on it. Because of this, the pace of the story is garbage. I found myself skipping scene after scene after scene after scene in this desperate attempt to locate anything worthwhile. But there was nothing. Even the single match we got in this season was borderline unwatchable. Worse than the first practice match of the first season. Nothing hype about it, nothing exceptional, just... bleh. One aspect I've always hated about Haikyuu!! - and generally every sports anime for the most part -- is the dreadful onslaught of flashbacks for the irrelevant, minor characters. I don't care about their struggles -- if you wanted me to care, you would have made them the main characters. It seems to me that the writers of sports anime/manga want to be all-inclusive with their nonsense and repeatedly recycle teams that the main characters have floored in this horrid attempt to keep it 'realistic'. Here's a flash for you: we're not here for realism. If we were, everyone would have dropped this nonsense at 2-3rd episode. We're here for a colorful cast of one-note characters doing sportsy things that no actual high-schooler short of a freak like LeBron James could pull off. What's the point of Tobio being a genius and one-of-a-kind setter if you keep introducing morons that are better than him? What's the point of hitting every single sports cliche in existence rather than just keeping it fast and fresh? This season, too, drowns us in pointless flashbacks and pointless onslaught of side-side-side characters to the point that I just don't give a shit anymore. I genuinely couldn't care less even if I physically tried. To make matters worse, they suddenly invent some childhood friend for the baldy, and... what? I'm supposed to suddenly give a shit about his love life? Goddamn, that was awful. Absolutely awful. Then, as though we haven't had enough cliches as it is, it was time to introduce a new Hinata -- but this one has gray hair and is basically what Hinata wishes he was. I... I just wanna ask... why? What's even the point? You just literally told me it would have been a billion times more fun if that guy was the main character instead of Hinata. You just told me I've wasted however-many-hours on watching the subpar version of someone else. 'It helps with Hinata's growth' -- no, it helps because it's an easy story beat to execute. It helps because it requires literally 0 brain cells to write. You know what would have been more fun? If this guy didn't exist. Every single story beat in this season screams 'I don't care anymore I just wanna write cliche garbage so I can rake in all that sweet manga cash till my carpal tunnel goes whammy'. And, to be fair, I respect that. I really do. Doesn't mean I can't bitch and moan about it, though. Every sports anime seems to misunderstand what the point of the sports anime is which is why they all tend to stumble and fall over time. Major fucked up, Diamond no Ace fucked up, Kuruko fucked up, heck, even Eyeshield fucked up. They promise us one thing, but then they flip us a middle finger and say 'nope'. Again, we are not here for realism -- specifically because there is none of it in literally any sports anime out there. We are here for fancy nonsense that defies the law of physics -- which is exactly why the first season of Haikyuu!! was so appealing. What about it is appealing now? Nothing. Just like in every other sports anime -- well, except Kuruko. That thing kept amping shit up until the end and I respect 'em for it. Furthermore, one thing that always kept the boring and asenine story beats in check, the high-quality animation, is gone. The most impactful scene in the entire season was one random guy who got like 2 minutes of screen time yeeting the fucking ball into the sky as a serve. Even the ending scene, the one scene that should hype you up for the next season, with the main character elevating what supposedly made him special to begin with, is just... meh. Good. You can jump. Get at it. Characters, similarly to the story, recycle their beast and we're at it again. Hinata is doing great. Oh, no, he's really insecure now. Tobio is no longer insecure about being called a 'King'. Oh, no, wait, he actually is--nevermind, let's get going! The main problem with sports anime, from what I've gathered, is that they are hellbent on recycling the opponents. They've floored the 'blocking team' (because that's how teams are composited, of course) sometime in the first season, yet, here we are, in the fourth fucking season with that team still supposedly giving them a challenge. Come on dude, I don't care. This just makes it seem as though nobody from the main cast progressed at all, or minimally at best. It kills the pace of the story and we are left with... well... this. Furthermore, I have a feeling that literally the entire point of Tobio going to that All-Japan or whatever national camp is just so we can introduce another metric-ton of 'rivals' for the future. And, I gotta be honest, I don't give a shit for any one of them. They're just recycled versions of the people we've already seen, and I absolutely cannot wait for when they face these recycled rejects so we can get another 50 flashbacks about how much they care for volleyball and winning and whatever. The story is written in such a way that it is clear that the author doesn't want it to end. Which is precisely why it's so goddamn confusing to me why they're hellbent on keeping the pace so bizarrely slow. We're at, what, 50ish episodes now? My god, 50 episodes and not even a whole year had passed. Do people realize just how insanely slow that pace is? If you cut out all of the unnecessary flashbacks, all of the entirely boring and irrelevant 'training arcs', heart-to-heart, this show would be like 20 episodes tops -- and, you know what? It would have been a mile better off for it. And with 30 extra episodes, we could have had far more of what is actually fun -- matches. Matches against the increasingly better teams. Heck, our main cast could have even lost at the Nationals, and we could have had that emotional 'bye bye third-years' or whatever and could have injected some fresh blood into the show through organic means -- new first-years. But noooo, instead, let's have yet another training session in which Hinata realizes for 69th time that just jumping really high isn't really a volleyball skill. Anyway, I ranted too much. I'm out of words and out of desire to sit on this any longer. This is usually the point where I drop the sports anime -- once they start recycling story beats, bringing back the already defeated opponents in some vain attempt to appear as though they aren't writing fantasy, and when they dumb down all characters for the sake of hollow comedy. To add insult to injury, this show went even a step further and introduced a character that's basically a carbon copy of our main character... except that he's like a billion times better. Yikes. Talk about wasted investment. Anyway, I'm all of the potential defenders of the show to swarm me or whatever the expression is, and if you can enjoy the show despite its endless flaws -- all the power to you. I'm in no way trying to discourage other people from enjoying this, just venting my personal frustrations. Well... that's it. Review done. Bye bye.
rhiz0matix
09/20/2020, 12:59 PM
Haikyu returns for a a disappointing fourth season compared to its previous seasons. The changes that first caught my attention were changes in art style and Coach Ukai's voice actor. While the art is by no means bad, I do think it's a step down from the old animation. Some stylistic changes include adding character introductions before matches. It's a good attempt to build hype and acquaint the viewer with the enemy team, but it comes off as tacky sometimes—having flames in head to head portraits is a bit much. Now Ukai's original voice actor died, so they had to replace him. The replacement isn'tbad; I'm just too used to the old voice. Every time Ukai speaks feels off to me. What killed this season for me was the pacing. Everything until the official matches felt so slow. The training camp feels like a waste of time for Hinata, and the practice match feels too similar to previous ones. At one point, Hinata asks himself what's he doing wasting his time, and I found myself asking the exact same question then. While Hinata does improve after his "unconventional training", I question how realistic this improvement is. Conventional practice just seems so much better; the show didn't do a good job convincing me otherwise. On top of that, the payoff for the official matches feels short lived. The official matches are as thrilling as they've ever been, but they're over in a flash. In the end, I wasn't sure if they were worth the wait. The charm of Haikyu's characters is getting a little stale. While each character remains endearing, they've become predictable. You kinda already know how characters will react to team drama and challenges. Sometimes characters feel like flat caricatures that occasionally say snappy sports one-liners. Kageyama and Kiyoko are perhaps the exceptions this season with their new development. As a Haikyu fan, this has me worried about future seasons, since the hearts of this series is its characters. I didn't dislike this season, but it was a letdown compared to previous seasons. The season did many things right, like music and the official matches. However, this season has to stand in the shadow of ones, and it just failed to live up to expectations.
Hudsonwt
09/07/2020, 02:06 PM
I love how consistent this show is. Each season is just as good as the last and always presenting something new to engage the audience. I loved the approach this season took regarding Hinata, who finally started to try and master some of the more fundamental skills of volleyball as he saw his fellow first years start to advance past him. His concentration face during the times he was a ball boy was really well designed. Also, I noticed that there were some subtle differences in the character designs in this season compared to the other three. I'm not sure if was a different approachto shading, a difference in the line work, or tweaks to the design of the face, but there was definitely something different this season. And it wasn't necessarily bad, I just noticed something different. Also, the animation throughout this season is spectacular and it continued to show that the people behind this show really care. It contained a myriad of cuts that really impressed me. The animation was a real standout in the new characters that were introduced this season as well. I also want to mention how absolutely amazing the OST has been for this series. The composers always nail it with each new season and this is no exception. There's this certain guitar solo track that played a couple times as Hinata starts to understand certain moves that really stood out to me. Overall, another solid half-season. I can't wait for the second-half.
SinCrow11
07/24/2020, 01:06 AM
Clarification: Unfortunately we have come this far .... At the moment, because due to the global pandemic that affects everyone and the cheer houses were no exception. This adaptation of "To the Top" was intended to have 24/25 chapters actually, but as I mentioned the chapters were delayed too long, so they chose to divide this season into 2 parts and the second one would arrive in October if everything goes well. OK and the rate of infected in Japan allows it, otherwise we will continue to wait. But if there is something clear, it is that there is still Haikyuu for a while General: (7.7 /10) This new season of Haikyuu was very comforting and somewhat nostalgic, since 4 years have passed since that adaptation of the match against "Shiratorizawa" and despite the time it continues to maintain the same appeal with its daily condiments of good sport and comedy. Although something that if I notice at times was a certain drop in the animation and deformity of faces, but well let's hope they can solve it in the face of the continuation and the worst case scenario does not fall further. I do not want to return more extensive, finally I remain relatively satisfied, understanding the crisis we all live through but it is still an incomplete adaptation so I cannot give it any more average score at the moment ...
Cebrail_BR
07/13/2020, 11:25 AM
Haikyuu é um dos melhores animes de esporte que já vi, ele consegue desenvolver muito bem os personagens e seus respectivos estilos de jogo, essa temporada conseguiu trazer muito bem a emoção e tensão nos jogos junto com cada jogada impressionante. Elogio a direção por conseguir fazer utilizar muito bem a trilha sonora, e as tomadas das cenas como também elogio a animação espetacular. Gostaria de falar da história que eu realmente achei muito boa, mas nada que eu não esperasse, mas mesmo assim ela é muito, como melhor dupla dessa temporada pra mim seria os irmão miya. Gostaria de ressaltar o desenvolvimento do Bokutocomo personagem e como sua personalidade funciona ele é um personagem muito engraçado e carismático.
berdelight
07/07/2020, 08:44 AM
This outstanding stunning anime is deserved to be the best anime of the decade. No im not talking abt Sports anime but all anime. Its the BEST Anime tier list EVER. Weeb Lord R/anime and weeb Lord Sseibaa has persuaded me tro write this review. This anime has such amazing husbandos and is just spectacular. This anime made me lose 10kg of weight because i binge watched it for 4 days straight. I couldnt keep my eyes of the screen. Im at the hospital right now because of this but it was worth it. Cant wait for the next season to air. PogU
BlackkSakura
04/26/2020, 06:15 AM
I will keep it short. I enjoyed this season, while they lack some elements from first one they improved others. It may be not tense as 3rd but games are still fun to watch. Character development is in the first place and they did a solid job. New characters introduced, also new possible side story. I did not like forever lasting matches from season before and they really improved that part. Characters who were avoided before got some spotlight and they did not stall. Animation and music were still on point. This is great, fun to watch sport anime. I recommend.
tinel_
04/11/2020, 03:09 PM
Firstly, the fourth season starts right before the end of the third one, giving the spectator a great chance to compare the art style between both. Although, some may argue that the quality decreased, I say with confidence that it changes for the best. An uniform mix that includes both the author art style in junction with it's counterpart from the other seasons. But, again, if you are pleased with it or not, it is entirely subjective. The formula is simple, yet effective. Karasuno's style keeps changing and improving based on other teams. What characters thought about for a matter of seconds, takes minutes (just like JJBA).Strategies that make sense, no special powers, carismatic characters and nothing happens based on nothing or plot devices. Then why are you rating the anime that high? Well, the application is perfect. Not every anime has to be a innovative masterpiece, if you feel pleasure, tension and can understand the character's beliefs, you already have a masterpiece. Haikyuu is the anime that hooked me into volleyball, also being the anime that showed me that you do not need to be a genius in order to become a great player, you do not need to have 190cm to be a great spiker and you do not need to be perfect in order to win. Practice makes perfect, and enjoyability makes a great anime.
Sopseii
04/04/2020, 07:08 AM
Haikyuu is my favorite sports anime. [haven’t watched hajime no ippo yet] The show makes you the part of their teams [karasuno]. it makes you feels like we know the members like a friend or teammate. It is one of the consistent shows airing now Haikyuu s4 had some problems but overall it is still really good. There were some changes like in art. The art style is now more inclined to the manga. Most of the viewers doesn’t seem to like the new art style. I can agree with this, I also liked the old art style. But if this is more similar to the manga, then Ican’t complain more, usually every good show have art style similar to manga. So I was able to bear this. Animation was also weak compared to previous seasons. This season was more like a training arc before the tournament so I hope they will improve the animation quality more in the second part. [THE RATING SEEMS TO BE LOW FOM LAST SEASON, I THINK ITS MAINLY BECAUSE OF THE NEW ARTSTYLE, and animation was a little lesser in quality] • Story 9 awesome Story is very good. We feel the the pressure in the match even it’s a story. That makes it incredible. • Art and animation 8 Pretty good. [THE REASON FOR RATING DECREASE] Not a fan of the new art style, but is adapting to it slowly. I hope animation improves in second part. I MISS THE OLD MID INTERVAL SCENES. • Matches 9 awesome We had one training match, which was really good. We also got the first stage matches of the tournament. They end this season in kind of a cliffhanger which keeps you hype for July. • Sound 10 Outstanding The osts are really good like always. The opening was awesome. Some new osts were really good. • Character 9 awesome Characters are one of the good things in Haikyuu. The series takes time to let us know the characters in the team really well. This season we got some major Hinata focus and developments. We got more focus on Kiyoko, Tanaka, etc. more. We got introduced to some characters who can be major threats in the tournaments. • Enjoyment 9 AWESOME I enjoyed very season of Haikyuu. It is really consistent. The change in art style in a thing I have to adapt to, especially when it is more similar to manga. Animation was weaker but not bad compared to many shows which have bad animations. • Overall 9 A pretty solid season, ¾ was training arcs and the rest was the beginning part of tournament. The training arcs are as good like always. In short, apart from art style change and some animation laziness, this season of Haikyuu was also really good.
0207xander
04/04/2020, 01:05 AM
Yo. So far I’ve written reviews for every season of Haikyuu! and figured I’d keep it going. Most of the times I have been critical, but it’s been hard for me to figure out why I haven’t liked Haikyuu without saying “I just think it’s overrated”. I think this time I actually know why: It tries way too hard. The plot progresses in unnatural and extremely structured ways that doesn’t flow naturally, the new characters are introduced with such strong personalities that they don’t feel real, and the conversations between characters are either so unbelievably stereotypical that it makes me cringe or so inspirational thatit makes me cringe. The humor is also wayyyyy too slapstick. I feel like they should add 1960s Loony Tunes BOING and WAHOO sound effects to all the epic goofy moments that Hinata and the other silly boys go through. It’s just way too over the top and makes me enjoy the show less. So now to the latest season of Haikyuu!. Hinata sneaks into a freshman training camp and does his ball boy job so well that he starts to actually pay attention to what’s going on around him. I know they had to find some way to force his game to develop but I felt they could have done a way better job, this is just such a dumb plot point. People naturally learn to pay attention to their surroundings as they get better at their role in a sport. Once Hinata had played like 4 games he should have started this process. I was watching these episodes completely uninterested just wondering when we were gonna move on and Hinata finally stops being useless. Then the Kageyama portion of these initial episodes where he goes to the select training camp. I thought it would initially be cool to see a display of some of the other good players in Japan and that it would be a great opportunity to showcase stuff that ACTUALLY takes place in sports, like detailing routines, work ethic, raw talent, and passion of top players in the country, and instead they use it as an excuse to introduce more quirky and non-relatable, uninteresting characters that I do not care about. They had an opportunity to have a great animation showcase in the scrimmage they had but even that was wasted because there was no fluidity at all in the animation and the entire thing played out in the minds of Kageyama and the other setter. Then we get into the preparation for the tournament. These episodes were pretty good. You have to have some balance between character interaction, training, and intense games, so this middle transitionary period was completely fine for me. Just the usual issues of wacky humor that tries way too hard, too often and doesn’t land. Then they actually start traveling for nationals. Literally the dumbest episode of the entire series so far was when their team manager had to go get Hinata’s bag and they turned it into a character development opportunity with her doing hurdles in track. This episode was dumb. They tried so hard to get us invested in this character that is so uninteresting by dumping an entire life’s worth of backstory in 10 minutes, and Hinata losing his bag was such a contrived, unnatural plot turn that just came off as forced and served no purpose other than to develop this character. And her backstory wasn’t even interesting, it was kind of pointless and I still didn’t care about her after hearing everything. Onto the tournament itself. I know they are just gearing up for part 2 of this season so I can’t comment much on it because we have only seen one game so far. The depth perception thing was ridiculously stupid though, I’ve played volleyball tournaments in arenas with even higher ceilings and no stands, just 60 courts in a big cement rectangle. There is absolutely no difference in depth perception that 3 minutes of warming up won’t fix. You would be right to say “That’s such a minor issue, why are you even talking about it?” That’s because it was the subject of an ENTIRE EPISODE FOR NO REASON. If it had been mentioned in passing I wouldn’t even have to mention it. Ok now for the actual production and quality of the show itself. It is very underwhelming. The music and animation has not improved since season 1 (which was made 6 years ago). For a show that staggers it’s seasons every other year to maintain production quality, you expect some sort of improvement. There are 3 second sequences that are breathtaking, of course, but 99% of the show is a slideshow with moving mouths and recycled hitting, setting, and passing animations that appear every episode. I’m just not impressed with the sakuga animation because it’s short and predictable and they try so hard to make it “epic” that it ends up being predictable and not as shocking of a visual experience. Anyway, these are just my thoughts on this season, extending a little bit to the series as a whole. If you disagree, I’d encourage you to message me on my profile, I’d love to discuss it more. Thank you for reading!
anime_binge47676
04/03/2020, 07:59 PM
OKAY.... this season was amazingggg!!!! As a haikyuu fan that only watches the anime and not the manga, i was very excited to watch this season when it fully finished airing. Honestly, with the previous seasons i always thought that Hinata wasn't as good as I wanted him to be. He may have fast reflexes and at moments he may surprise you but his basic skills were not there. In this season, it mainly focuses on the character development of Hinata. There weren't many volleyball matches( there is a continuation of season 4 that will have nationals though c:), but I truly loved seeing himimprove and solving his problems by himself. Kageyama also improved, and all the other characters as well. We also get introduced to new characters that we haven't seen before, which was very exciting to see. One thing I often saw was people complaining about the art. And honestly, in the beginning, i was unsure too, seeing many differences in the art style that i loved. But, i quickly got used to it and it was not bad, also this new animation is cleaner in some ways and the personality of the characters still matched their expressions. Although the art was pretty good at some points it was poorly animated in my opinion, but it did not cause me to ever complain about it. in conclusion, this season was Really good as we get to see more character development and the haikyuu energy we needed :))))) I truly enjoyed this season and y'all should watch it too
PikAnnanas
04/03/2020, 06:18 PM
To start off this review, I'd like to say that I've seen quite a few people complaining about this season. The main complaints seem to be about the animation and the lack of action. I normally never write reviews, but, because of what I stated above, I'll try to express my opinion this time. While I don't think starting with the animation is that relevant, I'd like to address the complaints here. The animation is absolutely gorgeous, it's the art style (yes, it's not the same thing) that has people complaining. I believe people just don't like changes, and, when something is indeed changing, they immediately reactin a bad way without taking the time to think about it. To me, the animation is great. Furthermore, the art change was made to stay true to the manga, so I think that's a good thing. It does take a while (like 5 minutes) to adapt, but if you try to enjoy it, you'll see the animation and art style is pretty damn great. I personally like this art even more than the older season. It resembles the manga more, and seems more "modern". It is simpler, mostly because the animators weren't the same I believe. But it's still beautiful and satisfying to me. Adapting to a different art style and seeing animation evolving shouldn't be such an important topic of complaints when it's done greatly! It's anime, OF COURSE the animation or art style is gonna evolve. Secondly, the lack of action. I don't understand this statement either? Do people believe a good series is only matches with no character progression in between? This is what makes Haikyuu! so great : how we see the characters grow. Complaining about this is understandable if no big matches were played for some time, but this season follows the biggest match we've seen till now. Not to mention we still did get a quick match at this end, and we know the second cour is gonna be all about action. Furthermore, if there weren't these moments where we see characters evolving, the show would become repetitive and boring, so I personally enjoyed it. Of course there's gonna be some training arcs, but if well made, they're interesting! The focus on the first half is divided between Kageyama and Hinata, and it's incredibly interesting. I personally didn't see time passing when I watched each episode. I was engrossed in each of them! To conclude, apart from some small pacing problems and some things being resolved too fast, it was still very good. I don't think this season is worse than the others. The characters are still lovable, the story leading to nationals is interesting, and the evolution of everyone's play (particularly Hinata) is great. If you've loved the first 3 seasons of Haikuu and don't fixate on the art style just because it has changed, you're gonna love this season as well.
SpikyTurtle
04/03/2020, 02:49 PM
Haikyuu is still as amazing as ever. I was a bit skeptical about this season, mainly because of the change in artstyle, also because the director changed, but looking back I don't really know why. It's Haikyuu. Haikyuu can't be bad. This season retained the Haikyuu spirit. The OST is incredible and not only that, but it is always used at the perfect moment, making the viewer feel hyped or emotional. The character development is exceptional as well, the Karasuno team especially, but others as well are constantly growing and improving, both as players and as people. The sakuga moments are still there and in the 2nd cour ofthis season, the animation will probably be even better because the staff will be more accustomed to the new artstyle, which bothered me for an episode or two, but now I can't really say I prefer the old one, the new one is great as well. Also, I wanted to address one point - a lot of people liked this season less than the previous ones, mostly because this season focused on training, setup for the matches and character development, but most of these people are just "adrenaline junkies", who only appreciate Haikyuu for its matches. However, without the setup and development, the matches wouldn't matter as much and wouldn't have a big impact on the viewer. But in Haikyuu these setup episodes are very well executed and extremely enjoyable, that's why Haikyuu is the best. Haikyuu is the most enjoyable show I've ever seen because every aspect is carried out exceptionally. I love it. 10/10
BabyGirl06301
04/03/2020, 12:40 PM
Hot damn, it's back, baby! I gotta say, I found myself staying up-to-date with the manga, so I can't really talk much in this review about the story content because, well, I already knew what it would be; that being said, I'm still really excited to review this season of Haikyuu!! now that it's finally been animated. On that note, let's talk about the art. This is the first season of any anime I've watched in which I already knew the plot because of the manga (I know, I'm probably a bit weird in that regard). That meant that I was paying extra attention tothe new character designs and environments I knew we would see this season, along with the animation of the scenes I had already read. I gotta say, y'all, I wasn't disappointed at all. The art style is one thing-- something we all already know and love from previous seasons (though it does feel updated now)-- but the coloring laid down on some of these new characters and environments absolutely blew me away. The animation, as well, was gorgeous as always. Haikyuu!! is exceptional at animating the motion of the athletes, and the updated art of this season (since it has been a hot minute since the last season) only made it better. I haven't necessarily seen a whole lot of sports anime pull the animation off perfectly in a movement-heavy sport like I have in Haikyuu!!, though Diamond no Ace does phenomenal with it too. Haikyuu!! does have an amazing soundtrack as well, and the OSTs this season were still bringing the fire, though I didn't really pay as much attention to it as I did the art this season. After this, I'm not really sure how to review Haikyuu!!: To the Top. I could mention the character development or the story elements, but since I first appreciated them in the manga, I feel like I can't talk about them in the anime (though the anime did great with both of those things). Instead, I'm gonna talk for a minute about the structure of the season. Honestly, I didn't really know what they were going to do with the thirteen episodes this season given the manga material-- if they would stretch out the training camps, jump to nationals, etc. For the most part, I was satisfied with the outcome. I felt like the story that was touched upon this season was picked out perfectly, and the pacing done very well. Of course, given where the third season ended and where this one was set to pick up, this season felt a lot like the setup season it was rather than a progression of the story, which normally isn't something I'm crazy about, but Haikyuu!! always keeps the in-between bits interesting as well, so it didn't bother me as much as it has in other sports anime. There were a couple scenes in the manga I felt probably would've been better left out as it did upset the flow of the season a bit, but overall, I think the material they showcased from the manga was very well done. Well, that's it. At this point, a lot of what I have to say about Haikyuu!! is going to be said in my review of the manga once it ends, so my reviews on the anime will mostly be about structure, but I don't mind that. I'm enjoying watching a story I've fallen in love with on paper being put to sound and voice and motion and color. I'm not entirely sure how the seasons will be divvied up going forward since the end of the manga presents a few issues with the future episode or season counts, but I'm confident the wonderful people working on the project will do this story proud. I'm so overwhelmingly happy to have this in anime form, and I'm looking forward to everything that's yet to come.
abystoma2
04/03/2020, 10:13 AM
Four seasons in and I still have no idea what the appeal of this show is supposed to be. And it’s getting worse. You see, to make a sports appealing, one of two choices needs to be taken most of the time. Either let the human drama be the focus and use the sport as the way to channel the conflict, or go over the top with the sport to make it blood-boiling exciting. Haikyuu has neither of those. It just a bunch of high school guys playing volleyball. Neither the characters and their interaction nor the game itself is interesting. You might even saythat it’s too realistic for it’s own good, as it really feels just like sitting on a bench in high school watching some randos play a match because you have nothing better to do. And here comes this season’s special: training. Yep, most of the fourth season is training. Now I know some training is important as the most popular alternative to training is just straight out ass-pulls, but is most of the season really necessary? Watching the whole “Hinata accidentallies himself into the big boi training grounds” pretext is just painfully boring. I know the result will be “He got somewhat better at playing”, you know it, we all know it yet we’re all forced to watch a bunch of episodes to get the much predicted result. Nothing of interest happens during this part, though to be honest I couldn’t name you a single interesting scene in the whole season. I mean, stuff like “slice of life fans be like - bro the grocery store arc hit different” jokes become reality here as we get an episode that’s mostly about a dude forgetting his bag in a gym. This whole season could be condensed into 3 or 4 episodes and nothing of value would be lost. The cast is pretty much basic action shounen cast just taken from battle and put into sport genre. Most of their personalities are “being really passionate about the game” and “causing 'humorous' scenes that will make the background simplified and everyone make a 'funny' face”. Some of them also possess the unique trait of shouting really loud. I’ve noticed that since this season offers nothing of interest anyway, the character designs were tweaked a bit so now almost everyone looks like the same person, just with a different haircut. Interesting artistic choice, but fitting. The animation is still good, but not as good as the previous seasons. Considering the high quality animation was what made Haikyuu stand out and combined with the subpar plot of this season (even for Haikyuu standards) this easily makes it the worst season so far. One pet peeve I have about the animation through the whole franchise is the decision to make a hole in the volleyball net every time a character is standing behind it. Yeah, I get it, it’s so we can see the characters face, but really, would few lines of net hurt so much? Now it breaks any bit of immersion that could have been had every time it’s done. The list ditch effort and simultaneously almost a sure-kill way to make a scene exciting is to throw in an epic soundtrack. You can make eating potato chips epic with the right choice of sound accompaniment. Yet, there’s no choosing from out of nothing and cool soundtrack didn’t really get an opportunity to show its qualities this round. Better luck next time. Overall, this is just another dose of generic episodes of “fujoshi bait characters passionately slap sweaty balls, moaning about having to get better at it”.
lt_wassile
04/03/2020, 09:55 AM
Welcome to a new chapter of “I could never have imagined a volleyball anime could be this good” “Haikyuu!!: To the Top” picks up more or less at the spot where we were left when S3 ended, meaning that Karasuno has just defeated Shiratorizawa to qualify for nationals. Even if it was an unavoidable event for the story to keep progressing, that along with other circumstances such as the sidelining of Hinata for much part of the Shiratorizawa match might have made the third season the weakest -though it was kind of useful to demonstrate that Karasuno wasn’t a 2-man army-. Still, it set the stagefor a huge future narrative event in the nationals championships, and it seemed clear that Shoujo was going to play a more important role these following seasons. Up until now, Haikyuu!!’s formula had always been the same: Train hard, improve, play some friendly matches here and there and enter the competition of the Miyagi Prefecture, where Karasuno’s team would fight their way through the league chart against some already known rivals to reach the long-desired status of National qualifiers. However, this season marks a turning point in the franchise path; our beloved crows have a new goal in sight, win the nationals, and in consequence, new and harder challenges to deal with. The indicated set-up gives the creators the chance to make two phenomenons possible: Dig deeper into the development of this volleyball universe -showing us new players and teams to keep in sight as well as more aspects of the game- and displaying a different perspective of the series -more character-driven than the past 3 seasons- as it strongly focuses on the development and evolution of the main cast, preparing and hyping us for the enormous challenge that our friends from Karasuno High School are just about to face. And this brings us up to Hinata’s situation. His only power is ambition. Sooner or later, the ability range of Hinata had to expand and this season called for it. His character had always walked across the thin line separating greatness and powerlessness due to its short range of abilities, but he had managed to survive in spite of that. Therefore, and far from making it as your typical shounen evolution where characters improve their abilities out of nowhere or learn a skill after practicing once, Haikyuu to the Top shows us a main character who finds himself forced to envision volleyball from a different point of view to what he’s used to; this gives Hinata the chance to analyse and scrutinize other great volleyball players game, making it easier for him to realise what was dragging him down, and how could he put a stop to it. This results -for the delight of us, Haikyuu fans- in a considerable bust to his volleyball potential. So, as we all know, one of the elements that make this franchise stand out is its realism and characterization of the players. This has not changed a bit; every single character feels special in its on way, as we still see how both our main cast and their subsequent rivals evolve as players and as human beings throughout games and hardships, forced to change their approach to the game and to life due to the adversities they encounter along the way. However, due to the lack of games -or, at least, meaningful ones- during this season, the intensity and anxiety that matches provoked on the viewer and that had become the seal of identity of this anime this past 3 seasons, has somewhat been obscured, making this course a little more boring than the last ones. Maybe this framework is not the most enjoyable, but guess what? All good stories require a good foundation, and without this one, Haikyuu!! might not have been able to move forward. Leaving all this behind, this fourth season is the first to see significant changes in staff –we have both a new director and animation director. Nevertheless, animation quality has not dropped at all -or at least, not that much as people thought it would-; Satou has achieved to safeguard the spirit of the last 3 seasons, though slightly redesigning some of the characters in order to make them closer to the manga which, in fact, was one of the objectives they had at the beginning of the process. When it comes to Haikyuu!, the depictions of movement is probably unparalleled. This series has always been masterful at illustrating the human form in motion –muscle definition, facial expressions, joy, fatigue– making good use of vivid colors and fine structures, and it looks like none of that seems to have changed. Last but not least, sound. Besides counting again with a great sound director such as Hiromi Kikuta, which has been able to create absolute magic throughout the whole series -this season was no different from the previous ones-, and with the same voice cast we’ve been enjoying lately (rest in peace Tanaka-san),we also could enjoy ourselves with the absolute banger which BURNOUT SYNDROMES delivered. I.G production knows that a lot of responsibility is placed in their hands -you know, they produce one of the most acclaimed sports animation shows- and, as it was expected, “Haikyuu!!:To the Top” did not let us down. “With sweat, blood and tears - those shining wings will take you wherever you please”
SingleH
04/03/2020, 09:49 AM
Perhaps this is selfish, as I don’t interact with the community enough to know if this opinion is shared, but to me, the enduring appeal of seasons one through three of Haikyuu!!—putting aside, for now, its outstandingly high quality production—was in the fact it was the first and only shounen anime which did not feel like it was meant to go on forever. All shounen manga as serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump are literally, in-the-text, meant to go on forever. By design of the publication, volume sales and product sales are of secondary importance to by-vote audience reception, which would honestly be kind of coolfrom a creative market perspective if said piece of art wasn’t placed on such a ridiculously tight schedule as such which effectively forces all products produced under its purview to be trite, shallow, flavor-of-the-week time killers, and few works of its brand escape this fate. To me, Haikyuu!! was the only one of those exceptions which was worthwhile. Its characters have always been archetypical, its theming has always been modest, and its narrative has always been standard, but to regurgitate what I’ve been saying for years now, Haikyuu!! knows the good tropes and executes them flawlessly. Haikyuu!! doesn’t take one-note characters and make them deep, it just makes them the most consistently well-written and empathetic one-note characters you can find. It doesn’t take power of friendship, hard work vs talent storytelling and make it any more complex, it just delivers it with such hype and humanistic catharsis your heart can’t help but be affected. It doesn’t take the highschool sports inter-high plot structure and make it any more unique or interesting, it just executes the stock mold with such expert pacing and pointed purpose you still feel every step of the way is a culmination. And the cherry on top of it all is exactly where I started this gushing rant to being with, its ability to do what none other in its genre can do: not feel like a waste of my time. I’m not old, but if you asked your average anime fan, they’d think I’m old. Frankly, I find it extremely and progressively difficult to give a care about highschool anime. Unless you have a crazy high-concept and a million things going on at once like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or incomparably genius writing and direction like Hyouka, I’ll probably drop you within five minutes. Haikyuu!! has an immediate advantage with me being a Production IG show, because it gets to be drop dead gorgeous, but I still just couldn’t help being anchored down by how good it made me feel. However, this was not nearly enough in the long run, and I figured I would just power through the first season and then respectfully refrain from continuing, but with the betrayal of expectations the first season ended with, the point became clear and I became invested. From that point on, season two delivered the most psychologically relieving and emotionally elating ensemble character arcs in any sports anime ever made, and season three delivered ten straight episodes of bracing sakuga and physically electrifying payoff after payoff. And this is exactly why I thought it was the perfect time—to stop. I’m not about to sit here and spout pandering buzzwords and generalizations at you, like how long running series are destined to go downhill or any of that nonsense, because as I mentioned, I don’t interact with the community, I and don’t care about the trappings of their public consciousness. I just personally feel as if the concept is starting to exhaust itself. To no deep fault, mind you, but to exhaustion nonetheless. Season one felt aimless only in so far as it smartly played its cards close to the chest, but the moment it showed its hand, the series gained an alien sense of—not maturity, per se, but—reality, and seeing as I then instantly noticed the story hidden in the details which I had failed to appreciate, I was able to continue on in the correct mindset and consume it as the modest masterwork it was and always had been, plus the incredible animation and sharp design work it initially charmed me with. This season was the complete layered cake I described, only without that imperative cherry on top. Simply put, it stayed as solidly constructed and consistently written as it ever was, but lost the subtle spark and fulfilling momentum which it had always enchanted me with. The characters have to regress to develop because they were so perfectly completed, the new principle antagonists feel random because those who came before them spent fifty to sixty episodes being built up, and the plot has to meander to progress because it was so perfectly concluded. Said regression fit said characters’ established mental hang-ups, and said meandering fit said plot’s logical stagnation following the tournament which season three ended with, but whether it makes sense or not and whether it’s competently made or not, the fact of the matter is it’s not nearly as gratifying as it has been historically, and that is a problem, no matter how picky. After all, just as a bad show can only change for the better, a good show can only change for the worse, especially if that good show is of the same nature Haikyuu!! is, that of an anime based on a manga pumped out weekly and with no time to improvise once the proverbial conceptual well ran dry. And yet, what’s really the biggest hit to my own personal enjoyment is the downgraded directing and animation. The production values are just as kinetic and ambitious for the genre, but nowhere near as polished, consistent, and technically perfect as the prior seasons. You know it’s a dark day when Production IG themselves have to split-cour a production, whether it’s being done better by their B-Team than any other fullcore studio could ever do with their best or not. Haikyuu!! To the Top is by no means the “top” of what this series has to offer nor what this series has offered in the past, but it is still miles, miles, miles above the bottom, and any fan of the series will find themselves greatly pleased by its return. However, if you’re a crotchety old bitch like me or a sakuga nerd chasing that prepossessingly glorious shooting star of crafted brilliance, Production IG, you may find yourself somewhat disheartened, no matter how delightfully your favorite characters on screen can turn that frown upside down. Thank you for reading.

Haikyuu!! To the Top ハイキュー!! TO THE TOP

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Haikyuu!! To the Top ハイキュー!! TO THE TOP

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