The Haikyu!! movie delivers on 4 years of built-up fan hype
It’s been four years since the last season of Haikyu!! — a certified drought for fans of the sports anime and manga series, which follows an underdog high school volleyball team. Admittedly, long swaths of time between seasons is nothing new for Haikyu!!! fans; there was a similar four-year gap between season 3 and season 4. But the wait time just stokes the fervor. The new movie Haikyu!!! The Dumpster Battle— opening in theaters ahead of a Crunchyroll streaming release —basically picks up right at the end of season 4, and returns Haikyu!! to what it does best. Director Susumu Mitsunaka, who worked on the first seasons of the show, returns for this movie, which is essentially just a direct sequel to season 4 — and the beginning of the manga’s final arc.
That makes it a fan-only proposition: If you already have an investment in the franchise’s volleyball teams and characters, this movie hits. And boy does it capture the epic highs of the show. It’s likely to fully reignite the fandom once again.
When we last left the Karasuno boys’ volleyball team, they were about to face off against their longtime rival, Nekoma High. But even though the two schools have historic beef, it all stems from a friendly place. Episodes in the first season showcased practice matches between the two teams, with a shared training-camp arc following in season 2. The show has fleshed out the Nekoma athletes and their relationships, both with one another and with members of the Karasuno team. At this point, the Nekoma team members are pretty much Haikyu!!’s secondary characters, since we know so much about them. That makes the movie’s pivot to their side of the net make total sense.
Most of the movie centers around the Nekoma team, specifically their setter, Kenma Kozume. The film still spends time with the Karasuno team as they discuss strategy, with each of the main characters getting a chance to shine. But the story is mostly rooted in Kenma’s point of view, diving into his relationship with
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