HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle (2024)

After an astonishing run of success in the Harutaka High School Volleyball championships, "Karasuno" school must now face their rivals from "Nekoma" and the film depicts, in almost real-time, the ebbs and flows of that game whilst providing us with a narrative of the characters in each team and of their relationships with each other in "peace time" - past and present. The animation of the game is lively and at times quite visceral. Each player has their set task within their own team - they must continually evolve their tactics on the court as each pushes the other to new standards, to move quicker or jump higher. One team is much more aggressive and forceful with the ball, the other much more adept at controlling the pace and hopefully frustrating errors from their opponents - and the exhausting dedication required to play as well as the emotional trials faced is well captured as the story reaches it's denouement. It's based on a series I haven't seen, but unlike many of it's contemporaries, this film provides for enough of the backstory via flashback and narration to give us enough information to be able to treat this more as a stand alone story within the confines of the match itself. The style of artwork is very two-dimensional with precious little effort gone into activating the crowd beyond the audio, but the close up nature of the facial and athletic imagery as well as the soundtrack give the thing quite an intensity and show just how team sports can be character-building and to an extent, even life affirming. Tough old game volleyball, too!