Haikyuu!! Movie: Gomisuteba no Kessen

First time I can say, that they didnt elevate the source material. Lots of skipped content. The emotional dynamics was done well. Overall instead of feeling like I was watching a volleyball anime. I felt like I was watching an anime sprinkled with volleyball. No tension, no urgency in the match. Still giving this a 7/10 bcuz I love haikyuu but very sad I waited so long for this. Understand a lot of people like the anime for purely the character dynamcis, I agree i also loved it for that. But the volleyball aspect made me grow to love a sport I knew nothing about.2 full rallies in a 3 set match was not it.

As a manga reader, after getting tired of no continuation from the previous season and having re-read the manga about 8 times in total, I would say they did a decent job at the animation. There are definitely a lot of stuff cut out from the manga with most the attention being given to Hianta and Kenma, which to be fair makes sense with the movie running time of only 80 mins. The highlight for me was the voice acting with Kaiji Yuuki-sensei and Murase Ayumu-sensei doing absolutely so perfect at voicing the hyped emotions behind each line. The OSTs and cinematography was chef'skiss and the pacing was decent for all the cutting up they did. I was at the edge of my seat this whole time and shaking even though I already knew what would happen. In conclusion, I would say it is recommended, but if you are a fan of some specific characters from the manga, then I would also understand why you would have mixed feelings.

When you watch this in a cinema it really hits, good atmosphere, very solid animation, however... I think it felt way too short, all over the place and rushed, I felt like I was just dropped in the middle of the game where I barely know what happens, I really love Haikyuu and binged all 3 seasons, So many emotions throughout the series, but this time was different, it was supposed to be a very important match where you really feel the pressure, but it wasn't as I expected. Don't get me wrong, overall it was still pretty good, it's not a total letdown or whatever, butpersonally I expected more, I expected that the movie would transmit more emotions to the public, I expected that I would feel the excitement of both teams, like I did in season 3 vs Inarizaki. What the movie lacked the most was IMPACT, because it felt way too much like a regular match and not like a decisive battle, I still felt goosebumps to some moments and it was awesome, but in the end it still didn't rose to my expectations. I'm pretty sure most of us remember the iconic block of Tsukki vs Ushijima, that scene had TONS of impact, it was heavy, it was so hype that makes you jump from your seat, well this movie lacks such moments and it's a shame. Overall I give it a 7/10 As I said, I still enjoyed it, but not to the extent I hoped, or maybe I'm just lying to myself because I paid money to watch it, I don't know. It could've been way better if we had a 2h movie at least.

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