Haikyuu Anime to Conclude with Two Films

Fans of the globally popular Haikyuu franchise have been waiting ages to find out when the next season of the anime would be releasing. Many speculated that the news would be one of the ten projects announced for the series’ tenth anniversary. Well, earlier today, during the special V. League exhibition match in Tokyo (which ties into the special one-shot that published in April), we sort of got our answer. And it’s not really what anyone was expecting.

Spoiler Warning: This post will contain spoilers for the entirety of the manga. Anime-only fans read at your own risk.

Today’s announcement revealed that, instead of a fifth season, the Haikyuu anime will conclude with two films only, with a movie kickoff event in August 2023. The translations following the announcement were a little vague and confusing, with some people saying that this meant a new season plus two films. But the official tweet is fairly clear, and it has been confirmed by Japanese fans who watched the event, that it will just be the two films.

「ハイキュー!! FINAL」

アニメ続編 劇場版二部作 制作決定！

2023年8月には劇場版キックオフイベント開催！

続報をお待ち下さい！

解禁ビジュアルhttps://t.co/0P8UkSsjUr

解禁映像https://t.co/EmwbOGf13m#hq_anime #ハイキュー pic.twitter.com/uU9h9Gm4jk

— 劇場版「ハイキュー!! FINAL」 (@animehaikyu_com) August 13, 2022

Now fans don’t know what to think and seem to be split on the information. Some fans are thrilled that we’re getting more anime content at all. Others, like myself, are disappointed because there is no way that two films will be able to adequately cover the number of manga chapters remaining to be adapted. There are 110 chapters left to be animated! Condensing that into approximately four hours sounds insane.

After all, there are two Karasuno matches – including the highly-anticipated “Battle at the Garbage Dump” – left in the Nationals arc (not to mention the Fukurodani chapters which will likely be skipped). I mean, the Karasuno and Nekoma match alone could probably be four hours of content. Then there’s everything that needs to be adapted after the time skip – the pro volleyball match and Hinata’s time in Brazil. There’s just no way that two films is enough time to cover everything satisfactorily. Too much will be left out.

It really feels like now that the manga has finished (the final chapter published in July 2020), they just want to get the anime finished as soon as possible. It’s been nearly two years since season 4 finished airing, and we were really hoping to get a fifth season announcement. (Maybe they were tired of us demanding a new season and this is just to shut us up.)

This decision just doesn’t seem to make any sense. At the very least, the conclusion of the Nationals arc should have been a standard season, and the post time-skip arc could have been done as a film. I mean, the Nekoma match will make for an awesome theatrical experience, but too much will have to be cut to make it truly worth it.

Not to mention that the promotional video they released for the films contain major spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read the manga!

The other issue with films instead of a new season is that international fans will have to wait to see them. It’s unlikely that they will be released in theaters anywhere other Japan, at least right away, and while they might eventually show up on Crunchyroll, it will take months for that to happen.

I’m legitimately upset about this news. Haikyuu is my favorite anime and was one of my first anime obsessions, and I was so excited for the next season. To learn that we won’t get it the way it should be adapted is disappointing. I’ll still watch the movies, of course, but this is just convincing me even further that it’s time for a manga re-read.

For anyone curious, it seems that the tenth and final project for the tenth anniversary will be a new stage play.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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