Looks Like We’re Waiting Another Year for More Haikyuu

The manga may have finished, but there’s still more Haikyu!! to adapt. Fans have been eagerly feasting on the crumbs left in the wake of the anime’s cancellation as we’re drip-fed the rest of the story via films and specials.

First off, let me apologize for taking this long to post this news. I’m not as active on social media as I used to be, so I tend to miss things a lot more now, and with the holiday I just sort of curled up on my couch with a blanket and was like, “Oh that’s a thing for tomorrow Jamie to do.” And then it was just never tomorrow.

Anyway, not important in the slightest, and I’m sure none of you care about my end-of-year doldrums or the fact that I’ve been coughing up a lung since Monday. What is important is that last weekend, there was a livestream event for Haikyu!!, and we got some new information about the highly-anticipated second sequel film.

Gekijōban Haikyū!! VS Chiisana Kyojin (Haikyu!! Vs. The Little Giant), will open in theaters in Japan in 2027. That’s a far cry off from my original theorized release date when this film was confirmed earlier this year. Can you believe I actually thought we would get this movie this year? I should have known better. And so we limp along, parched.

This film picks up from where the previous film, HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle (Gekijōban Haikyu!! Gomi Suteba no Kessen), left off. Now that Karasuno has beaten Nekoma in the long-awaited Dumpster Battle, they must face their next opponent – the fearsome Kamomedai, who has their own Little Giant in Hoshiumi. If you remember, we met Hoshiumi back in season 4, when Kageyama met him at the youth training camp. He and Hinata also met briefly once Nationals started.

The teaser also confirms that the previously-announced short, “Haikyū!! Bakemono-tachi no Iku Tokoro” (Where Monsters Go), which follows a Fukurodani Nationals match, will also air in 2027. It was assumed by many people (myself included), that this would be a TV special. However, that may not actually be the case, given the joint trailer. Most fans still think that this will be an OVA, but whether it airs on TV or gets packaged with the film, we can still only speculate.

What we do know is that we have another long drought coming with no new Haikyu!! content. I’d rather they take their time with it instead of rushing out a subpar project, but I’d also rather we were getting more of the anime instead of condensing the remaining chapters into a few films. At this point we could have at least gotten another season that would have covered the chapters the two films would cover.

I understand that films make more than a regular anime, and Haikyu!! has such a large fanbase that they’re certain to perform well. But a big part of the draw of this series is its investment in its side characters, not just the ones on Karasuno but from their opponents as well. And putting out films means cutting a lot of material that fans are looking forward to seeing. Entire character arcs were removed from the Nekoma match in the first film, and a lot of people were disappointed with the results.

At any rate, this is what we’re getting, and I’ll take what I can get as long as it means I get to see more Haikyu!!. I’m also hoping that the enduring loyalty of the fans means that we’ll get more content than what’s already been announced. We’re all dying to see the post-time skip arc, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in a potentially original film where they go to the Olympics.

Well, we still have to wait until 2027. Maybe I’ll re-read the manga while I wait.

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.

Twitter

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary