Haikyuu!! Drops New Nekoma Key Visuals, Theme Song PV

Redbeancake might have dropped to their knees when they saw baby Kuroo and Kenma.

Haikyuu!! unveiled four new key visuals of the Nekoma volleyball team for the Haikyuu!! the Movie: Decisive Battle at the Garbage Dump. Three of the images featured the team in the middle of playing the fateful Battle at the Garbage Dump, but one image offers fans a glimpse of what Kuroo and Kenma looked like when they were children. The series also released a PV of SPYAIR performing the opening theme song “Orange.”

A special magazine called Haikyuu!! Magazine will release on the day of the film. The magazine will include an original cover by the mangaka, featuring an older Kageyama and Hinata as professional volleyball players, special movie features, an update on the characters in the “present” timeline, and interviews with various characters including Oikawa.

There will also be a new volume, Haikyuu!! Vol. 33.5 which will contain a 16-page one-shot with 32 different illustrations of the characters in their daily lives with only 2 million booklets of this volume available to moviegoers in Japan. In addition, the volleyball manga will release a novel version of the “Battle of the Garbage Dump” which releases on Feb. 16.

Haikyuu!! will also release a magazine on Feb. 2 that includes Nekoma and Karasuno’s journey leading up to their fated battle. The manga will also release a tabloid-esque newspaper called Haikyuu!! Newspaper on Feb. 16 that will include roundtable discussions with Ayumu Murase and Yuki Kaji, the voice actors for Hinata and Kageyama, and SPYAIR who sang the opening theme song for Seasons 1 and 2. The newspaper will also interview players from the national volleyball team including Yuki Ishikawa, Ran Takahashi, and Suga Kenta.

Decisive Battle at the Garbage Dump will be directed by Susumu Mitsunaka, notably the director who helmed the first three seasons of the anime franchise. Mitsunaka will also write the script. Production I.G will animate and produce the film. Other staff members include Takahiro Kishida as the character designer. Takahiro Chiba will return as the chief animation director with Mariko Ishikawa as the assistant director. Mayumi Sato will oversee the colour design while Ichiro Tatsuta will be the art director.

Haruichi Furudate’s manga inspired an anime adaptation with Season 1 premiering in April 2014 with 25 episodes and featured Karasuno coming together as a team and competing in the Interhigh. Season 2 aired in October 2015 with 25 episodes and featured Karasuno’s training camp and competing in the Spring High Preliminary. Season 3 aired in October 2016 with 10 episodes and focused on the match between Karasuno and powerhouse school Shiratorizawa. Season 4, titled Haikyuu!! To the Top aired for 25 episodes from January 2020 to December 2020, and focused on Karasuno’s first time at the Nationals. Mitsunaka directed Seasons 1 to 3 while Masako Satō directed the fourth season.

Haikyuu!! began serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump on Feb. 20, 2012 and ran until July 20, 2020. The series contains 45 tankōbon volumes with 402 chapters. The manga has garnered positive acclaim for its humour, character development and storytelling. Haikyuu!! announced the rest of the manga would be wrapped up in a two-part final film series. Details around the second part have not yet been unveiled.

Haikyuu!! the Movie: Decisive Battle at the Garbage Dump premieres in Japan on Feb. 16, 2024.

Source: X, formerly known as Twitter