Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle Movie Review

Date: 2024 May 23 19:44

Posted by Joe

Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle is due to hit cinemas in the UK and Ireland from Friday 31st May 2024 thanks to the good folks at Crunchyroll. The hugely popular volleyball franchise has mant fans and will this sports movie live up to the hype? Read our review of the new movie to find out.

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Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle is the latest cinematic outing for the hugely popular volleyball franchise.



Like many anime titles "Haikyu!!" began life as a manga, with over 60 million copies in circulation. With this level of manga success, the anime version was also popular with fans! Even 10 years after the anime started the franchise is still going strong.



In this film we have the main character Shoyo and his team from Karasuno High. The movie focuses on the match known as the "The Dumpster Battle" as the Karasuno High team battle against their rivals Nekoma High



The film starts of slowly, with a lazy slice of life pace, introducing the audience to both Shoyo and Kenma and their mutual love of volleyball. It then eases us into the volleyball match. Then it kicks off and we're treated to a world of fast paced play.



The key narrative resolves around the Karasuno High being known as the Crows. This is partly because of their name being close to Japanese for crow, but also because their play style favours more airborne (almost flying) type antic. Whereas Nekoma, known as the cats, are more grounded.



Although Shoyo is the main character for the series, this movie is mainly told through the eyes of Nekoma 's Kenma. Will his analytical abilities be able to clip the crows wings? Or will our plucky energetic hero Shoyo be able to win this match in the tournament? You'll have to watch to find out the result!

The movie is well animated. There is CGI, but it's not immediately obvious. When the action kicks in and the pace jumps up in the final act, you'll notice a few changes of animation to match. There are a few great high budget scenes too.
"Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle" captures the spirit of childhood friends, that obsession with discovering something you want to be a part of and it's really aimed at fans of the franchise.

If you're new to volley ball this movie does a good job of explaining what the roles are and the different technique each role does along with the different strategies employed and how to counter them.

However as it's an established franchise, it might not be a good place to start if you're new to the world of Haikyu 's High School Volleyball. There are lots of characters, who are not really introduced and the full depth and significance of who they isn't really isn't really given screen time. This is a movie squarely aimed at fans of the franchise, which is fine!

Despite the limited introduction to the characters, you can still enjoy this film if you are new to the world of Haikyu, but you may want to watch some of the anime or read some of the manga before watching this film on the big screen. Overall it's a very enjoyable movie.

You'll also want to stick around until after the end of the credits as there's another whole scene with some great comic relief too.

Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle is due to hit cinemas in the UK and Ireland from Friday 31st May 2024. If you're new to the series you can always catch a few Haikyu!! episodes on Crunchyroll.