No matter who loses or wins, no one is going to die. No one will come back to life either. Evil won’t flourish across the land. The world won’t be destroyed. C’mon, world. Let’s play sports together.
This was the very first time I got to experience an anime movie (subbed even) in cinema, so I'm still somewhat riding on a little high here.
There WILL be spoilers here, obviously, but hey, if you've made it here you probably already have either watched the movie or read the manga yourself and already know the conclusion anyway.
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While I kinda needed a little to get used to watching with german subs (lol, I got asked by the cashier at the start if I was aware that it's the subbed version, and I was like "yeah, I wouldn't be here otherwise, duh." xD)(apparently, though, opening night yesterday in german dub did better here...), experiencing an anime movie, and especially one as intense a series as Haikyuu is, is absolutely insane.
Given that I live in a pretty rural area here (honestly was surprised they even showed the movie in sub), we were only 8 people in total in the whole screening room, but you could just feel every single one of us strangers be anime fans through and through, and it was such a fun time to be there for these 1 1/2 hours.
As for the actual anime,
this entire arc is basically a love-letter to both Kenma's character and the rivalries going on between the members of Karasuno and Nekoma (and seriously, literally every single character has a rival on the opposite side) and the game was already one of my absolute favorites back when I read the manga - btw I started reading from start to end the day it released its final chapter - and so, having it all told in the perspective of Kenma himself is a choice that I have always been incredibly fond of, and the same applies here, too.
This movie feels like 50% intense game and 50% lovely backstory of our precious cinnamon roll of a cat, and it makes it work in great balance with each other, not little because of some awesome transitions between past and present that surprisingly don't interrupt the flow of the game in any way.
There is quite a little bit of your usual exposition talking about how they play the game and change their strategy and stuff, like usual, but most of the time the movie lets the game speak for itself and show its intensity, making you feel it as if you were down on the court yourself, ESPECIALLY IN THAT THIRD SET.
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABSOLUTE FIRE AMAZINGNESS!?
It feels like EVERYTHING, from art and animation to intensity to the stakes to emotional impact to character writing down to even the voice acting and background music massively stepped up their game in this game-deciding set that I actually went out of it bathed in my own sweat, even though it was actually pretty cold in the theatre itself (and thank god for that, it's like 30°C outside, I almost DIED[<--exxageration] leaving the cinema to go to my car again).
That was one of the most intense things I've experienced this year in the medium, capping off beautifully in a complete first-person-perspective shot for the final rally as if we ourselves had become Kenma.
But before I get to how it concluded, I want to highlight and talk about a few other things first:
- the art and animation, while having some noticeable hick-ups here and there like some background shots or one time the camera panning over REALLY fucking up the frame-rate (that was probably our cinemas fault, though), is honestly really amazing, especially in some of the key moments and at the end of the final rally (the directing for that was insane)
- I talked about the rivalries between the team members earlier, and that was really fun - especially Shoyo and Kenma or Kuroo and Tsukki - but this also served as a long-time coming resolution to the rivalry between the coaches of each team, Nekomata and Ukai(old), and what a beautiful conclusion it was (I teared up.)
- Yuuki Hayashi and Asami Tachibana absolutely DELIVERED on the music, made this even more intense than it already was. Same with the sound design at one point cutting off ALL the sounds except for muffled voices and Kenma's panting because that was all he could hear and feel in the moment.
- It was GREAT hearing SpyAir again, I'm so glad they brought them back for another song!
- There is some AMAZING imagery in this movie using the symbolism of this battle at the garbage dump and the cats trapping the crows to its full advantage, like
Spoiler, click to view
sorry for the bad quality, I ripped this out of one of the other reviews on this site here xDBeing unfortunately contained into movie format like this, like I said there had to be made some cuts, and while you do notice it in the movie's overall pacing a little bit - at least compared to the previous seasons - I personally don't think it was a detriment to the story.
This honestly felt JUST RIGHT.
I will re-check this arc in the manga again after this to see what exactly was all cut out and stuff, but this was surprisingly well-paced considering I had very big concerns about them rushing the arc when it got announced.
Admittedly the second set, with the exception of a small particular moment (more to that later), flew by (he he) pretty fast, but the third set more than made up for that again.
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and now, on to my personal highlights of the movie:
there are 3, and for my own safety I'll put them under a spoiler tag here:
Number 1:
Spoiler, click to view
He flew. That one particular moment in the second set I mentioned earlier, definitely the best Shoyo-scene of the movie, was Kageyama's sky-high set so that Shoyo could fly and spike the ball higher over the defense than anyone else, leaving everyone in the stadium - and the cinema for that matter - speechless. I could practically HEAR "Tobe flyyy, hiigghhh" in my head even though it wasn't playing in the background. And my god, did it make me cry. Granted, I honestly have a feeling I was probably the only one in the cinema who actually teared up or cried seeing the reactions from the 7 strangers with me, but it was one of the biggest moments this show, and the National Tournament Arc, has been building up to. It honestly gave me a feeling similar to the "He swung the bat" scene in FLCL, and I cannot explain why, but that just resonated with me so much, I couldn't help but get emotional.Number 2:
Spoiler, click to view
Speaking of things this show has been building up to, the moment Kenma was lying on the ground, exhausted, Kuroo asking him if he's still alive and them making their death in volleyball jokes, and Kenma just going "this is so much fun", I am not ashamed to admit that I CHEERED JUST AS HARD AND LOUD AS SHOYO! (at least I did in my head, can't quite embarass myself like that in front of all these strangers....) Seeing Kenma finally having fun, seeing EVERYONE on the court regardless of the outcome of the game just HAVE FUN. I had fun. An insane amount of fun.which leads me into my next and final highlight at number 3, and with it, the conclusion to the entire movie/arc:
Spoiler, click to view
The final point rally. The final point rally was, from Kageyama's serve at the beginning to that at the end, shot in an impressive display of a first-person-shot from Kenma's perspective. Blending out all sound, blending out ANYTHING that doesn't matter, only focusing on the game in front of you, in front of a sweating, broken, exhausted you, images getting blurrier and blurrier as it went on, not properly noticing what is happening around you more and more until - suddenly - the intense back-and-forth between these two rival teams comes to an abrupt end as the ball - full of the sweat, tears and PASSION of both teams - slips out of your hand ending the game in a win for our beloved crows we have now been following for more than 4 seasons already. And much like the characters on the playing field, it is only when Kageyama says it that you truely realize it's over. We won. This, quite honestly, might've been my favorite scene of the entire franchise (in anime form, the manga has a few one upcoming that could be contenders) so far with how they presented it.This was not a game about who wins or who loses.
This was a game about the connections the characters on both teams formed with each other, and it reflected in each and every one of their reactions after the game was over.
No pain, no tears, no hard feelings, just a group of kids having fun.
You all know the expression
Treat practice like it's the real game, and treat the real game like it's practice
and I think this movie and arc perfectly showcases this.
No matter who loses or wins, no one is going to die. No one will come back to life either. Evil won’t flourish across the land. The world won’t be destroyed. C’mon, world. Let’s play sports together.
Is it a perfect, flawless adaptation of the manga counterpart?
No, but it serves just right in what it wants to include and what it doesn't, and makes for an intense, emotional, and first and foremost FUN experience that I can only wholeheartedly recommend to any fan of the show.
There were a few hints about an upcoming development after this match and it honestly just made me think
Spoiler, click to view
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO MY POOR HEART!?Those who know will know.