My review of Haikyuu!! Movie: The Dumpster Battle

TLDR: I loved it.

Context: (Skippable)

It's only been a few years since anime movies started releasing in my country, Nepal. Even when they released, I didn’t take much notice of them, as I only started going to the cinema recently. So, I’ve missed watching a couple of movies, although I’m pretty sure none of them would have dragged me to the cinemas like Haikyuu!! (Including Mugen train)
Another thing is that I love Haikyuu. I’m an anime only fan, and I’m absolutely head over heels for everything the show has presented to me so far, with my favourite arc being the Shiratorizawa arc, followed by To the Top Part 2. So, I was hyped for this movie.

However, I had to wait because I had two different midterms on Monday and Wednesday, aka today (for reference, the movie was released here last Friday). And the wait was long and anxious, especially given the fact that I did not know how long this would be in the cinemas. So I was really relieved and excited when I got tickets yesterday to watch it. And it couldn’t have delivered more.

Review begins:
Everything about the movie was awesome. It was gripping from the beginning to the end. There were so many little things in the movie that made me happy. From the opening scene with the cat and the crow to the flashback to their first meeting to the changing of the way the title looks to include the cats and crows and the dumpster all the way to the climax, everything was fantastic.

The runtime was exactly what it needed to be. It wasn’t too long or too short. I was initially worried when I saw only 85 minutes of run time. This was due to the fact that the earlier match (the one against Inarizaki) was quite a bit longer. But the key difference here is the fact that we’re already well-versed with all the Nekoma players , clearly more than the Inarizaki ones. They didn’t need a lot of time to build these new characters because they have been molded over the course of the 4 seasons,, along with Karasuno. So, this movie could just focus on giving us an amazing match. Which it did. Very well.

To be fair, I felt that the matches against Shiratorizawa and Inarizaki were better matches but this clearly was a superior experience. They didn’t focus all that much on the point-by-point battles like those earlier matches. It wasn’t focused on the battle for each point but the war for the entire match. That’s why it was able to be that short and yet not make us feel like they cut out the important stuff.

The dialogues in the movie were insane. From “Sometimes the most exhaustive way is the easiest.” to the video game analogy of game over vs. completing a game, to “You’re the one who plucked his feathers, but why do you have that look on your face?” to the simple “I’m so happy.” by Kenma, they were thoroughly engaging.

I feel that apart from maybe Hinata for a short while (because he’s the MC) and Kenma (because this is his arc to shine), the movie did not focus much on individual players’ stories but rather on the stories of the teams. It wasn’t Tanaka’s story or Tsuki’s story; it was the story of Karasuno facing their rivals, Nekoma, in an all-out battle. Both teams playing to their strengths, Karasuno persistently attacking (in the air like a crow) and Nekoma persistently defending (on the ground like a cat), was poetic. The cat watching with the crow fly away in the end was truly a magnificent ending.

Also, I must commend the comedic timing of the small jokes. They made everyone laugh in the hall while not taking anything away from the serious moments. The flashbacks were placed perfectly as well, and they were exactly as long as they needed to be. There wasn’t one unnecessary scene in the entire movie.

And the music was fantastic as well. The background scores were great, and Spyair never fail to deliver, giving us yet another banger in Orange.

My favourite part:
The entire movie was great but there are two scenes in particular that stood out to me. One was right in the middle of the movie, when Hinata was blocked by the 3 blockers. The guy watching on the laptop, stopping mid-sentence, the sudden silence in the air as people realized what had just happened, and the visuals of Kenma imprisoning Hinata were truly terrifying. This later pays off really well with the shot of the crow breaking his cage.

But the best moment of the movie was the climax. The idea to do it from Kenma’s POV is a stroke of genius. I don’t have words to describe that scene, but I got goosebumps, and that is rare. All the thoughts racing through his head, and his body desperately trying to keep up with the play only for the ball to slip off his hands due to sweat. That was amazing. This also calls back to an earlier moment when Hinata also had a slip earlier in the match owing to sweat, causing Karasuno to lose that point. This also shows that there wasn’t much separating the teams, and here, the factor of luck came into play. As it does often in life. And there’s nothing you can do about it except get up and move on. I was really moved, and I felt butterflies when Kenma said, “This is so much fun.” Twice. Him thanking Kuroo and the closeup of Kuroo’s eye turning teary was really heartwarming. The post credit scene setting up the battle of the two little giants is hype.

Conclusion:
I could probably go on about this for another 1000 words or more, but I think this should do. In case you missed it, I thought this movie was amazing and now joins “The Night is Short, Walk on Girl” and “Violet Evergarden Movie” in the list of absolute bangers and the best that anime movies have to offer.

Karasuno, FLY!!!