An Anime Review of 'Haikyuu!! To The Top'

The first half of season four has our crows training, and improving in any way that they can, in any way that they are able to so that they would be able to reach the next level, so that they would be able to make it deep into the nationals and attempt to win it all. I cannot help but feel as if the title for season four is a spoiler as, when they announce To The Top, you would expect them to go all the way. Granted they might end up falling short of the very top and might only reach the finals, however that would go against the shonen trope in many ways. We have them falter in the first attempt, then come back stronger and defy the odds to reach the finals. They would then fight the harder of the teams and make it to the finals. Kuroko no Basket did it, Ace of Diamonds did it (are doing it rather, it has been a while,so they might have done it), and it is a formula that works, which is why it is so prominent in sports anime.

After three seasons we are still in the trope of people underestimating Hinata, which so far makes sense as a result of him having only arrived truly in the highschool scene, and furthermore in a regional level. The initial excitement that I would have when a new team is going up against Karasuno and the reactions on their faces when Hinata and Kageyama unleash their quick attack was palpable, however after so long, the excitement has diminished quite a bit. This is not a bad thing in itself as this allows us to get excited for other aspects of the match, strategies practiced in the court for days, weeks, and months, coming together in the match. The focus given to the rest of the cast, not only of the students of Karasuno, in particular the third years, and those of the rival schools that had been introduced over the course of the series so far. This creates a level of anticipation where not only are you rooting for Karasuno, but also for the rival schools that had made friends with the members of Karasuno.

I have always been a fan of tournament arcs in an anime, going all the way back to the chunin exams in Naruto, and seeing a tournament arc with so many different focal points to it, with so many well developed characters to look out for, different rivalries to pay attention to, and the stakes that are involved makes this one of my most anticipated tournament arcs in quite a while. In addition this first part did what anime does so well, and ends the show on a cliffhanger, and a fantastic one at that. I am thoroughly looking forward to the second half of the season to come along in a matter of months (hopefully, unless the issues that the world is facing at the time of this writing does not dissipate).

While each episode is well structured with a lot happening within, there are times when there were instances that felt as if what you are seeing on screen was filler. Even then, the filler is so interesting that you are riveted by what is happening as they are pertaining to the overall narrative, and involves characters that you care about. One of these instances involved Kyoko, and made me all in love with her all the more.

This has been a fantastic continuation of the Haikyuu!! story, with all the training, rivalries, and matches that you could hope for, with fantastic instances not only of character progression, but of character development as well, not from just the main characters, from the side characters as well. If you were a fan, I’m sure you have already seen it all, if you have not, I recommend starting the series. It is available on Crunchyroll, and the first two seasons are available on Netflix.