Haikyu!! is now in the works on its second and anime feature film preparing to bring the anime franchise to an end, and there’s no way that the movie is going to be able to tackle everything that’s supposed to happen. There just isn’t enough time to get it all. Haikyu originally ended its TV anime run after Season 4 of the series aired some time ago. It was then announced that the franchise would be continuing not with a fifth season as many had expected (and hoped) but a two feature film finale planned for theaters. And as expected, there just isn’t enough time.
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Hailkyu!!: The Dumpster Battle hit theaters around the world last year as the first of these two final films planned for the anime’s grand finale, and it adapted the Nationals match between Karasuno and Nekoma High Schools. This picked up right from the events of Season 4, and even ended with a post-credits scene that teased the game that would immediately coming next. But there’s still an entire final arc of the series that could be left on the anime’s cutting room floor.
What’s Next for Haikyu’s Anime?
Haikyu will be officially celebrating the 10th anniversary of its anime with a special event coming later this March, and this will likely be the first time we will get details on how the anime is planning to end its run. This will be the second of these two final projects initially announced as “Haikyu!! FINAL” but it’s unclear as to what this new anime will tackle. Light spoilers for Haikyu: The Dumpster Battle and beyond, but Karasuno moves forward in the Nationals tournament and the post-credits scene for the movie directly teases the next match against Kamomedai High.
To get into the real spoilers for what’s coming, there’s an entire arc that happens after Nationals comes to an end. After the end of Nationals, there’s a huge time skip that goes years into the future after Shoyo Hinata and the others leave high school. The final arc of the series then follows the older Hinata as he’s in Brazil learning how to play beach volleyball before using those skills as a pro. Then fans are treated to one final game featuring Hinata facing off against older versions of many of the characters fans had seen in the prior arcs.
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Will Haikyu’s Anime Get to the Timeskip?
There has been a worry as to whether or not the Haikyu anime will showcase the time skip at all, but there have been teases that fans will get to see the older versions of the characters in action. During a special panel featuringย Production I.G., WIT Studio, and Signal MD for Anime Expo 2024 last year, it was teased that “everything will be animated” when it comes to the finale. It’s yet to be revealed what exactly this tease means, of course, but that is a great sign for what’s to come. But that’s also a problem.
Haikyu!!: The Dumpster Battle wraps up its adaptation with Chapter 325 of Haruichi Furudate’s original manga (with some extra bit for the future tease), but there are 402 chapters of the series overall. This means that the anime has to somehow cover over 70 chapters with its final movie. If there’s a chance that this is the “everything” that was teased, there is clearly going to be something that is skipped over in favor of highlighting other moments. And for a series like Haikyu, that’s a shame.
One of the best elements of Haikyu!! is seeing Hinata and the others grow through their experiences, and often the best part of the series is seeing in between all of the games. That way when the game itself hits, it hits hard as it capitalizes on all of the character growth seen up to that point. The final 70 plus chapters of the series showcase the most growth possible with its time skip, so the anime’s going to miss out on spending the necessary time to get there. It’s something that fans will be missing out on with the anime choosing to come to an end in this way.
Haikyu!! is such a notable franchise from Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine that it deserves the massive anime ending that series like My Hero Academia are getting. Fans deserve to see it build to that finale over the course of many years, and deserve to see weekly episodes building to it. The way it’s being done now, fans who have only seen the anime will be missing out on a massive chunk of the finale. While there is a potential to end it in a way where fans won’t feel like they are truly missing anything, it just won’t be the truth. Haikyu’s anime is going to end with so much left on the table.
