Haikyū!! Land vs Sky OVA Two-Parter Anime Review: Episode 1 “Land vs Sky” + Episode 2 “The Path of the Ball”
Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.
On September 30, 2020, I started and finished Haikyū!!’s OVA Two-Parter Special. Released on January 2020, this OVA covered the volleyball matches played with Nekoma and their path toward Nationals. Ideally, you would want to watch this OVA after you finished season 3 because these matches came directly after the events of the season, so it’s chronological order.
Watching these episodes made me see how this must’ve hyped the fans up for the upcoming season 4. The animation was stunning, the dialogue was excellent, and getting us to invest in Nekoma was easily doable. The only negative aspect was shortening the volleyball matches—cutting scenes that were in the manga—to fit the 50 minutes they were given. The sets felt disjointed and awkwardly paced—on the verge of a breakneck pace. The scoreboard going from 0-2 to 22-24 in a short amount of time threw me off.
However, I did appreciate the lessons about teamwork, friendship, and natural height versus talent shown through Lev’s character. Lev is a super tall first-year Nekoma player, so he believed his height would compensate for not knowing the game as well as the experienced players. Once he and another player started working together effectively to score some points, their high-five felt incredibly earned.
The friendship between Kuro, Yaku, and Nobuyuki from Nekoma was the main highlight of the OVA for me. I loved how the OVA showed a flashback to how they first met compared to the friends they were now in the final scene. Watching this OVA and investing in Nekoma—the main protagonists of this two-parter—makes it more heartbreaking to know they will eventually face off against Karasuno High School at some point during Nationals.
Overall, the character moments were amazing but the action sequences could’ve been slightly better in terms of the pacing. I’m glad the anime series decided to not just skip this segment of the manga though because this helped the audience connect more with Nekoma and understanding their drive to win is no different from Karasuno’s. Now that I finished the OVAs, Haikyū!! To the Top—Season 4—is next!
I’m currently watching Season 4 Part 2 weekly. Believe it!