Officially in the “We’ll Review Every Song With Extraordinary Expectations” pile…

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[7.09]

Iain Mew: Late night konbini coffee stops, fog which isn’t specified as cold winter mist but surely ought to be: there’s a chill and loneliness running right through “Sayonara wa Emotion”. It helps to make its exquisitely sparing details so affecting, from the neon synth ripple in the first verse to the peals of guitar hanging between rhythm and melody later. And that attention to detail means that when Sakanaction eventually turn it right up (“Aoi”-style choral vocals and all), it hits with a mighty force, but the emotional picture has been set up too strongly to be overwhelmed by it.
[9]

Anthony Easton: This is so effervescent that I had to listen to it four or five times to get anything from it. The sixth time did not reveal much new. 
[7]

David Sheffieck: The elevator-music production of the first half is more immediately interesting than the relentlessly splashy latter, but it unarguably provides a hell of a setup — and when the choral backing comes in, Sakanaction’s won me back over.
[7]

Will Adams: Sakanaction songs tend to be one extended crescendo, but the excitement comes from the various stages a song takes to get to the grand finale. Right when the song’s established the new normal — be it plinky keyboards over electronic whispers; muted guitars washed over brushed drums; the entrance of a choir and roaring electrics — a new section takes the listener to a higher plateau, and it is never not thrilling.
[8]

Patrick St. Michel: Sakanaction manage to be both stupidly obvious and masters of the little details. One doesn’t need to know any Japanese to put together what the title of this song is trying to convey, and that’s intentional; these guys can and almost have headlined every major Japan-centric music festival around, and a big part of their appeal lies in how blunt the emotional focus of their songs are. Yet the route to get there is never as direct — here, late night trips to the convenience store to buy canned coffee triggers the eventual revelation of how beige one has become inside. It all plays out over skittery music constructed so that it all boils over into total release. They’ve done this before, and it’s why they’ll keep topping bills for the near future — they hit listeners right in the heart while getting them to bop around in a field. 
[9]

Jessica Doyle: The guitars don’t come in until come until the end of the second verse, and the shift is more of a gliding than an explosion; this is why Sakanaction gets praised for patience. I’m glad for the drive of the second half, but the first half — somehow having translated the sound of a single car passing on a deserted street at night into music — is what really gets me, and I’m sorry to see it go.
[7]

Alfred Soto: An odd miscellany: the guitar and electric piano explore In Rainbows-era Radiohead territory, building a mystery until the mystery is an ungainly chorus.
[5]

Scott Mildenhall: Euphoria with a capital E, as supposition rather than evidence. Compared to the labyrinthine journey towards rapture of “Music” it is impossibly flat. Perhaps much is, but as there, much of the overwroughtness is wrought by Ichirō Yamaguchi’s vocals, and even they’re only at standard levels of indie agitation. For what “Sayonara wa Emotion” is aiming for it has an unfortunate air of “run-through”.
[5]

Sabina Tang: Spitz’s powers diminish; soon they will go to the Heavens, and pass beyond the ken of gently emotive J-rock fandom. The age of Sakanaction is upon us.
[7]

Brad Shoup: Ami Kusakari’s bassline is a small wonder: tactile and fluid, littered with stops but not showy at all. All around it is a Dismemberment Plan track, twinkles giving way to surges, all sung without any wryness.  
[7]

Sonia Yang: Sakanaction is a versatile band with a talent for big hooky stadium-fillers and a keen sense on how to start small and slowly build up to a glorious climax. On top of it, they’re no slouch when it comes to the understated approach either. “Sayonara wa Emotion” perfectly captures the feeling of disconnect when you’re distraught inside but calm and collected outside (alsothe conflict between honne and tatemae). The arrangement is the most low-key I’ve heard from them in a while, and I would have given this song a much higher score if they hadn’t already done it better.
[7]