Haikyu!! anime adaptation is nearing its end and a new trailer teases what the first of the two final films will have in store for viewers.
Posted on the TOHO Animation YouTube channel, the promotional video further confirms that Haikyu!! The final part, titled Gomi Suteba no Kessen (Decisive Battle at the Dumpster), will see the high school boys’ volleyball teams from Karasuno High and Nekoma High finally face off in a match official. The trailer opens with the first meeting between protagonist Shoyo Hinata and Kenma Kozume (Nekoma’s arranger) before moving on to scenes from the upcoming film. Funnily enough, the accompanying poster shows Hinata and Kenma charging at each other with combat knives.
Haruichi Furudate’s iconic sports manga appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 2012 to July 2020. The plot follows Hinata – a short, orange-haired high school student who dreams of becoming an athlete. Excellent volleyball player despite his size. The series has become one of the cornerstones of the sports genre alongside classics such as Takeshi Konomi’s The Prince of Tennis and Rumiko Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2. Haikyu!! considered one of the best-selling manga of all time, with over 60 million copies in circulation globally. Additionally, the series also won the shōnen category at the 61st Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2016.
The first anime adaptation of Production IG’s work Furudate (Kuroko’s Basketball) originally aired for three seasons from April 2014 to December 2016, and the plot focuses on the journey of Hinata and her teammates. his to qualify for the National Volleyball Tournament. Sequel, Haikyu!! To The Top debuted in January 2020, depicting some of the events of the National Tournament.
Haikyu!! The final project aims to complete the anime’s story; however, by the end of To The Top, more than 100 chapters (about five parts) of Furudate’s work had not been adapted. As such, many fans are concerned about the feasibility of presenting the rest of Haikyu!!’s expanded story. in just two movies. Some have even suggested that the pair of films won’t actually attempt to fully adapt the manga; instead, they will finish the National Tournament to end Haikyu!! animated series. However, the project’s announcement trailer contained manga arcs from the post-time skip.
Furudata’s manga is distributed in North America by VIZ Media, and the anime is available to stream on Crunchyroll. First Haikyuu!! The film will finally premiere in Japan in February 2024.
Source: YouTube, Crunchyroll