Has the countdown to the Haikyu!! Season 5 release date been stopped by the announcement of the two-part Haikyu!! FINAL movie series?
“The FINAL has been decided!” tweeted Tobio Kageyama voice actor Kaito Ishikawa on August 13, 2022. “I am emotionally disturbed by the joy of seeing the continuation and the beginning of a season that will never be repeated. I will face Kageyama and Karasuno in the recording!”
Haikyu!! FINAL will have a special kick-off event on August 2023.
The Haikyu!! FINAL anime will be discussed by the director, the Shueisha manga editors, and anime producers during the TOHO animation 10th Anniversary Event, which starts at 10:30 AM JST on September 25, 2022 (or 9:30 PM EST on September 24, 2022). The Haikyu!! 10th Anniversary Creators Talk takes place around 4:30 PM JST (3:30 AM EST). The event will feature multiple upcoming anime including Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, SPY x FAMILY Part 2, and the Trigun Stampede anime.
Calling the movie Haikyu!! FINAL makes sense since the Haikyu!! manga’s ending chapter has already been released. But there are still too many manga chapters left to adapt for even a two-part movie to finish with good story pacing. As such, when will Haikyu!! Season 5 of the popular volleyball anime series return to our TV screens?
Starting on August 8, 2022, a mysterious Haikyu!! countdown began on the official website. The countdown terminated at 5:00 AM EST (6 PM JST) on Saturday, August 13, 2022.
Even before that countdown ended the unofficial Haikyu!! English Twitter teased fans by proclaiming, “Haikyu!! Final Season,” and then quickly deleting it. But then the actual announcement turned out to be the two-part Haikyu!! movie announcement.
In addition, 22 hours before the countdown ended, anime news leaker Sun Wukong teased followers by stating that a movie plus a TV series is coming soon but did not specify the anime series. Unfortunately, after the Haikyu countdown ended he was asked if the tweet was a reference to the Haikyu!! anime series and he flatly stated, “No.” (It’s possible he’s referencing One Punch Man Season 3 or SPY x FAMILY movie rumors.)
After the Haikyu!! countdown ended, the official Twitter stated, “Stay tuned for more news!” Some anime fans still hope that a Haikyu!! Season 5 announcement will take place on Haikyu Day 2022 on August 19, 2022.
But if a fifth season is to be announced it’ll most likely happen during the end credits of Haikyu!! FINAL Part 2. Assuming that Haikyu!! S5 will not be confirmed on Haikyu!! Day 2022 it will still make sense to release additional info about Haikyu!! FINAL.
Many anime fans are taking the title of Haikyu!!: FINAL at face value and assuming that the producers are pulling a The Promised Neverland Season 2 and condensing over 100 manga chapters into only two movies. They also argue that the manga is finished and thus there’s no incentive for the anime production committee to properly adapt the remainder of the story with roughly 3 cours worth of animated runtime (or, two movies and 2 TV cours).
But that argument ignores how the Shingeki no Kyojin manga finished and yet here we are waiting on the actual final part of the final season of Attack on Titan: The Final Season. That negative outlook toward Haikyu!! Season 5 also ignores how the Haikyu!! manga continues to have strong sales despite being finished. The Haikyu!! manga was actually ranked 16 on the Oricon Top 20 manga sales chart for July 2022, which means Haikyu!! outsold the popular Chainsaw Man manga for that month.
Anime producers’ decisions are driven by hard financial data. In this case, the Haikyu!! Season 4 streaming revenue was good and the Haikyu!!: To The Top Blu-Ray/DVD sales in Japan also continued to be good. Volume 1 sold 4,794 copies in its first week, Volume 2 sold 4,610, Volume 3 sold 4,760, Volume 4 peaked with 6,908 copies, and Volume 5 sold 5,929.
By comparison, the My Hero Academia Season 5 Blu-Ray/DVD Volume 1 sold 1,912 copies during its debut in 2021. Attack on Titan: The Final Season Volume 1 sold 3,108 copies in total in its first week. (BD: 2652 / DVD: 456)
With numbers like that, what producer would risk cutting off at the knees an anime franchise’s success by risking angering the fans? As such, such pessimism doesn’t seem to be warranted, but admittedly it’s possible that Haikyu!! FINAL will skim through literally one-fourth of the entire manga series in a rush to reach the manga’s ending.
Otherwise, information about the Haikyu!! series (and the Demon Slayer Season 3: Swordsmith Village anime TV series) was released in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on February 20, 2022. Multiple Haikyu!! 10th Anniversary projects were announced to celebrate the series, including key visuals, an exhibition match, and a single page manga drawn by Haruichi Furudate.
On April 24, 2022, Shonen Jump’s official Twitter account posted the release of the free special Haikyu!! manga one-shot called “A Party Reignited”. It’s a short story about several of the characters as adults after graduating from high school. The account also posted a link to read the chapter on VIZ Media.
But there is still one project that hasn’t been announced yet and official pages keep teasing that it will be big. Unless the two remaining projects were a reference to the Haikyu!! FINAL Part 2, it’s very likely that the remaining announcements will be related to the Haikyu!! Season 5 anime.
Despite there being a full seasonal break between airing new episodes, Haikyu!! To The Top: Season 2/Part 2 was not considered to be Haikyu!! Season 5 since it’s a continuation of the fourth season.
That’s because Haikyu!! To The Top Episodes 14 through 25 were released as the second part of a split-cour anime. What’s a “cour,” you might ask?
For those unfamiliar with the lingo, a “cour” is a three-month block of TV broadcasting based on the physical seasons usually composed of 10 to 13 episodes. A “split-cour” is where a single anime season takes a multi-month break before resuming TV broadcasting.
However, there are exceptions to this rule, since Overlord Season 2 and 3 were officially labeled as separate seasons despite being released less than a year apart (speaking of the Overlord anime, the Overlord Season 4 release date is confirmed for 2022).
In addition, the Haikyu!! Season 4 Episode 14 release date was delayed by the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus pandemic. The anime production committee made the call out of concern for the safety of the production staff at anime studio Production I.G.
The Haikyu!! To The Top anime had 25 episodes in total. The finale for Part 1, Haikyu!! To The Top Episode 13 released in April 2020.
The official announcement of the Haikyu!! To The Top Part 2 release date came from a July 2020 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. The second cour (Part 2) was streaming October 2, 2020, the fall 2020 anime season. Haikyu!! To The Top Episode 25 released on December 18, 2020.
Thankfully, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic didn’t spike these plans to the ground by worsening in Japan. Due the virus’ first wave, many anime studios delayed episodes, and Black Clover, Pokemon Journeys: The Series, The Promised Neverland Season 2, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Season 3, The Quintessential Quintuplets Season 2, Re: ZERO Season 2, Sword Art Online: Alicization Final Season, and No Guns Life Part 2 were all pushed back to later dates.
The Haikyu!! To The Top anime is being produced by anime studio Production I.G., which is known for popular anime like Fate/Grand Order, Psycho-Pass: First Inspector, and Netflix’s Ultraman anime.
Production I.G. uses a title naming convention where seasons are named after the story arcs. For example, Haikyu!! Season 3 was billed as Haikyu!!: Karasuno Koukou vs. Shiratorizawa Gakuen Koukou, while Haikyu!! Season 4 was called Haikyu!! To The Top.
Similarly, it’s expected that Haikyu!! Season 5 will have a similar title.
The Haikyu!! To The Top opening (OP) theme song music was “Phoenix” as performed by Burnout Syndromes, while the Haikyu!! S4 ending (ED) theme song music was “Spirit of Decisive Battle (Kessen Spirit)” as performed by CHiCO with HoneyWorks.
The Haikyu!! Season 4 Part 2 opening was “Breach” by SUPER BEAVER, while the ending was “One Day” by SPYAIR.
The Haikyu!! Season 5 opening (OP) and ending (ED) have not yet been announced.
The number of episodes for the Haikyu!! Season 5 anime has not yet been announced. However, assuming that the fifth season finishes the Tokyo Nationals story arc, that would mean Haikyu!! Season 5 will be two cours again with 24 or 25 episodes.
- Updated September 24, 2022: Added Toho event info.
- Updated August 13, 2022: Haikyu!! Final movie announced. Updated the Haikyu!! Season 5 predictions and manga comparison.
Updated August 8, 2022: Haikyu!! countdown begins!
- Updated February 13, 2022: Weekly Shonen Jump confirms a planned Haikyu!! announcement for February 20, 2022.
- Updated August 17, 2020: Exact Haikyu!! Season 4 Part release date confirmed! Added OP/ED info.
- Updated July 9, 2020: Haikyu!! To The Top Part 2 release date time frame confirmed. Haikyu!! manga ending with Chapter 402.
- Updated July 6, 2020: Added Haikyu!! To The Top Part 2 visual and delay update. Manga enters the climax of final story arc.
- Updated May 22, 2020: Added the delay for Haikyu!! To The Top.
This article provides everything that is known about Haikyu!! Season 5 (Haikyu Season 5) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Haikyu!! Season 5 release date predictions: Is 2024 likely?
As of the last update, Production I.G., Weekly Shonen Jump, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Haikyu!! Season 5 release date. Nor has the production of an anime Haikyu!! sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed, this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Haikyu!! Season 5 premiere date will occur in the future.
Since the manga’s story is finished the biggest factor for the anime adaptation is the availability of the anime staff at studio Production I.G. The biggest unknown is how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the anime industry over the long term.
In fact, anime experts speculated that the production of the fourth season was waiting on certain key staff, including the director, to be finished with other projects.
Assuming that the Haikyu!! FINAL release date is in 2023, in the best-case scenario, Production I.G. could aim for releasing Haikyu!! Season 5 in 2024 or 2025.
Haikyu!! manga compared to the Haikyu!! FINAL movie
The story for the volleyball anime is based on the Haikyu!! manga series by writer and artist Haruichi Furudate. Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 2012, the Haikyu!! manga series (which is sometimes spelled as “Haikyu”) ended in 2020 with Haikyu!! Chapter 402.
The series was published in Japan in the tankobon hardcover format. The Haikyu!! final chapter was released in Volume 45 on November 4, 2020.
When the announcement of the Haikyu!! FINAL movie took place on August 13, 2022, the Haikyu!! manga series had reached over 55 million copies in circulation according to Oricon.
Licensed by North American publisher VIZ Media, the Haikyu!! manga’s English translation caught up with Volume 45 on August 3, 2021, so the entire series is completed in both Japanese and English.
Season 1 was a two-cour anime with 25 episodes, and it adapted up through Chapter 71 of the manga, which was the ending of Haikyu!! Volume 8. Season 2 was the same number of episodes and adapted slightly more chapters, ending with Chapter 149.
Haikyu!! Season 3 ended with only 10 episodes because the anime was catching up to the manga. The third season adapted the Karasuno High versus Shiratorizawa High story arc up until Chapter 190, the ending of Haikyu!! Volume 21.
However, the scene where Hinata and Kageyama competed in a jumping contest was pulled out of order from Chapter 207 of Volume 24.
The opening of Haikyu!! Season 4 (To The Top) skipped some manga chapters since Episode 1: Self-Introduction was named after Chapter 209 of Volume 28.
However, the gap in the story was bridged by two Haikyu!! OVA episodes called “Land vs. Air” and “The Path of the Ball,” which released on Crunchyroll for streaming in early 2020.
Considering that the chapter-to-episode ratio has been roughly 3-to-1 for most of the series, that meant the 25 episodes of Haikyu!! To The Top left a significant chunk of manga chapters unadapted.
The fourth season kept the same pacing since Haikyu!! S4 Episode 9 was named after Chapter 230 of Volume 26: Warfront.
As predicted, Haikyu!! To The Top Season 2 Episode 25 found a stopping point by ending in the middle of the long Tokyo Nationals story arc.
The best stopping point was Volume 33: Chapter 292 since that chapter sets the stage for the Haikyu!! FINAL movie to continue the story. Now, even a two-part Haikyu!! movie will be roughly the equivalent of 10 TV episodes at most. Assuming the 3-to-1 adaptation pacing still holds for the movie that means the film could adapt around 30 chapters.
The Haikyu!! movie will definitely adapt at least the Nekoma vs. Karasuno match, which is referred to as The Dumpster Battle in the manga. Therefore, it’s predicted that the ending of the Haikyu!! FINAL movie could correspond to manga Chapter 325: A Dumpster Promise.
That would mean the Haikyu!! Season 5 anime would pick up the story when the Nekoma third-years realize that their high school volleyball journey is over. The anime TV series will then turn its attention to the Fukurodani vs Mujinazaka match and the Karasuno vs Kamomedai match.
English-only manga readers who wish to read the movie plot ahead of time can jump to the English Volume 33: Monster’s Banquet. As for reading ahead while waiting for Haikyu!! Season 5, it’s predicted that you can start by reading Volume 37: Chapter 326.
Based on the way that the manga’s plot is arranged, it’s expected that Haikyu!! Season 5 will adapt the ending of the Tokyo Nationals story arc, which ended with Chapter 368.
However, if Haikyu!! Season 5 is only a single cour, the fifth season’s ending will likely tease Haikyu!! Season 6 by finishing with the beginning of the final story arc.
Will the Haikyu!! Season 6 anime adapt the final story arc and the Haikyu!! manga’s ending?
Fans of the Haikyu!! series were shocked when the final story arc of the manga series was announced by Weekly Shonen Jump in October 2019. Mangaka Haruichi Furudate not only introduced a time skip of five years, but he also moved the plot to the other side of the Earth!
Warning: The following paragraph contains major spoilers for the final story arc of the Haikyu!! manga series.
The story even shifts its focus from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball! That’s why the final story arc has Shoyo Hinata moving all the way from Japan to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ever since then, the plot began now moving toward a definite goal or end game.
If you want more spoilers, please check out this story, which details the beginning of the Haikyu!! manga’s ending.
The manga creator did not specify a certain number of volumes/chapters in advance, but in July 2020 a climax to the series was declared. Weekly Shonen Jump issues 32 and 33 included extra-length Haikyu!! chapters for the climax. The Haikyu!! manga’s ending was eventually confirmed to be contained in Chapter 402 in Issue 33.
With 402 manga chapters published, there is now more than enough source material for the Haikyu!! Season 6 anime to be at least one cour with 11 episodes. That means the anime series will not need a Haikyu!! Season 7 to cap off the series.
Of course, if Haikyu!! Season 5 is two cours then it should finish the entire story. Let’s just hope the wait for the Haikyu!! Season 5 release date isn’t too long. Stay tuned!