Part 2 of season 4 – or season 5, or “To the Top 2”, or “2 the Top” or whatever you want to call it – has certainly started out in a completely contrary direction to part 1. That one came out of the gate with some of the most character-driven material of Haikyuu’s entire run, but this one has hit the ground running with full-on tournament action. One can prefer either one (Haikyuu does them both well). For me I don’t think it was so much that I prefer the character stuff but that it’s been much less frequent in Haikyuu over the years, so I enjoyed the change of pace.
The upside to all this is that we’re currently seeing the payoff for all that hard-won Shouyou personal growth in his performance on the court. We sometimes forget how young teenagers (and Hinata was 15 when this series began) can learn and grow at astonishing rates, and Shouyou was as raw a lump of clay as you could ask for – a little orange ball of raw athleticism and undirected personal drive. The first part of this season was the grunt work of molding that clay – harnessing that scattershot power and channeling it towards actually understanding who he is and the sport he plays. The second part is all about putting that learning into action.
The dynamic of the match with Inarizaki is interesting. Each of these sides has a pair with a somewhat similar signature attack, which means each has seen a lot of something that looks a lot like what they’re facing in practice. In some respects these teams don’t look all that different apart from Inarizaki’s massive edge in experience (and serving). The Greek coaching chorus notes that Hinata may in fact be happy to see that there are other setters who can do what Tobio-kun does – that he won’t forever have to be dependent on Tobio to succeed. It also notes that Karasuno is staying in the first set – and perhaps even dictating it – by constantly throwing surprise attacks at Inarizaki. But what happens when they run out?
Those tactics include the pinch-servers – both Kinoshita and Tadashi get their chance here, with the latter having more success (right up to the cliffhanger). It also includes putting Hinata in man-to-man coverage on the younger twin, Osamu, to try and neutralize the Inarizaki exquisitely timed quicks. It’s nice to see Shouyou so gung-ho about playing defense, but again that’s all part of his arc this season. He’s like a kid playing with a cool new toy – which in a sense is exactly what he is.
To give credit where it’s due, Haikyuu is very good at mining drama out of contests with foregone conclusions. And that, no doubt, is a very important club in the bag for a long-running sports anime. It does so by making every (major) opponent distinct and relatable enough to stand out in the crowd, and by delivering action sequences that visually communicate the thrill of watching sports. There were some pretty obvious character modeling issues in this ep, which I’m guessing was an outsourced one. That serves a reminder of what a fine line Haikyuu walks when it comes to visuals – which are as crucial to the show’s success as any series we’ve seen in a while.
leongsh
October 11, 2020 at 6:03 amYes, this episode was outsourced. Not Production I.G. standard. The inconsistent character art was the big tell. The animation itself was limited than usual and less polished when it was animated. It stood out badly. Hopefully this is a one-off as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.
Guardian Enzo
October 11, 2020 at 9:05 amHopefully! I think Haikyuu is less able to withstand a significant drop in visuals than most series.
Toni
October 14, 2020 at 4:33 amParticularly because it used to be one of the few series that had better character design than the manga. It was painful to watch (sometimes you could only tell it was Kageyama because he’s the only one with black hair)
Ki
October 14, 2020 at 9:03 amAh, interesting info from Enzo and leongsh. I haven’t been following this season yet simply because I’m gonna need a whole lot of Haikyuu!! to bring me out of depression once the second season of Major 2nd ends (not a spoiler–I just get depressed when I finish anything I love). I’m just following LiA posts, but even so, I can tell the drop in quality from the screenshots. I really hope this is in no way indicative of what we’ll be seeing from here on out. I don’t want a COVID delay, but I really would much rather they took their time and have superb quality than get the episodes out on time with unsatisfying visuals.
Honestly, for me, the first season of To the Top (same with Riku vs. Kuu) never felt quite right because of the change in art. Of course, I still love Haikyuu!! and I’ll be buying this season, too, but TBH, I think it might have been why so many people kept saying there were different voice actors for lots of the characters (which I’m glad you shot down, Enzo; with so many people saying it everywhere, I was really second-guessing myself). I have to agree with Toni that the anime had better art than the manga, and I’m kind of happy I’m not the only one who felt that way.
Guardian Enzo
October 14, 2020 at 9:13 amPeople were saying there were different seiyuu – based on the art? I confess that’s news to me (and kind of makes no sense at all). The only seiyuu change in the coach – and that’s because the seiyuu passed away suddenly.
Ki
October 14, 2020 at 1:21 pmOh, no, I’m certainly not saying that as fact. I honestly don’t know the reason why so many people thought there were seiyuu changes besides Ukai’s. Basically, my comment was just me wondering if the change in art was a big enough change for people to make them think there were other changes. I thought it might be, though it could have been a number of reasons, such as the art change, the break between seasons, or the change in one seiyuu. None of those reasons truly make sense; it was just some food for thought.
Guardian Enzo
October 14, 2020 at 1:30 pmRoger, thanks for clarifying.
For the record, this was really the first episode where the dip in production values was bad enough to really bother me.