July 2nd, 2024 
Charles Solomon 
As athletes prepare for the Paris Olympics, the Japanese men’s volleyball team is enjoying an unprecedented popularity, thanks in part to an animated feature. One of the big hits of 2024, Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle (produced by Production I.G. and airing on Crunchyroll) has helped fuel a surge in interest in volleyball in Japan. Volleyball has long been popular in Japan, but people there are watching and playing in increasing numbers, from high school kids to housewives. Numerous articles about the trend have appeared in the Japanese press.
Haikyu!!, Haruichi Furudate’s manga about high school volleyball players, ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from February 2012 to July 2020. Collections of the manga have sold more than 60 million books worldwide. The broadcast series began in 2014 and ran for four seasons. It’s also been adapted to video games, OVA’s, stage plays, a radio play and several compilation features. Dumpster Battle opened at number one in Japan earlier this year, earning over ¥10 billion (about $65 million dollars US). Worldwide, the film has grossed over $88 million.
Fans and players praise Haikyu!! for its lively characters and accurate depiction of the game Masahiro Yanagida, captain of the national team from 2018 to 2021, told the Japan Times, he was “’immensely grateful’ that the exploits of the fictional team had helped trigger a boom in numbers hitting the courts. ‘I have all volumes of the manga myself,’ he said, and recalled being ‘completely hooked’ by its ‘pretty realistic’ depictions of the sport.”
Across the Pacific, UCLA Hall of Famer Denny Cline, who captained the UCLA volleyball team, agrees: “Most sports movies are about a character who overcomes this or that and his team wins the championship. The sport may be part of it, but it’s kind of irrelevant. It’s clear the creators of Haikyu!! have played volleyball. There’s a tension when someone is having, say, a hard time passing: They don’t have control of the ball. They practice more because they have to be able to pass. That’s real. They’re not overcoming problems outside of volleyball, they’re overcoming volleyball.”
Haikyu!! is one of Shonen Jump’s most popular series with female readers (along with Prince of Tennis and Gintama). Female superfans constitute a rapidly growing base of support for the the sport, especailly theJapanese national team, which heads to Paris ranked fourth globally. Reporter Mai Yoshikawa reported in the Japan Times, “Male spectators in volleyball arenas, however, are in a notable minority. More than 80% of the fans at men’s domestic competitions are women in their 20s, 30s and 40s…” She credited Haikyu!! with helping to spur interest in the sport in Japan.
Haikyu!! focuses on Shoyo Hinata, who is determined to become a volleyball superstar although he’s only 5’4”. To compensate for his small stature he’s developed impressive speed and incredible leaps. Like the short, red-haired athletes in many anime sports series, he radiates energy and enthusiasm. When he signs up for his high school club, he meets the arrogant, formidably talented Tobio Kageyama, who defeated him in junior high. Kageyama was known as “The King of the Court,” but it wasn’t a compliment. He used not only his rivals but members of his own team ruthlessly to further his ambitions. No one could stand Kageyama; his teammates finally stopped listening to him.
Kageyama and Hinata take an immediate dislike each other. Team captain Daichi Sawamura patiently explains that the person who was once their greatest enemy is now their strongest ally: They’re on the same team. Kageyama drills Hinata mercilessly, honing his skills and developing his potential; Hinata helps to thaw the icy Kageyama—no one can resist Hinata’s ingenuous enthusiasm. Eventually the pair develops a sort of psychic bond. As setter, Kageyama aims the ball so precisely Hinata and can leap and spike it with his eyes closed.
Dumpster Battle is the first entry in the two-film series Haikyu!! Final that will cover the closing arc of the manga, instead of a fifth season of the TV series. The odd title of the film derives from word plays in Japanese. Hinata and Kageyama attend Karasuno High: The name includes the word karasu, crow; their arch-rival Nekoma High contains neko, cat. The big rematch between these schools that were once volleyball powerhouses and are now trying to rebuild their programs is seen as a contest between alley cats and crows, two dumpster diving animals.
After the closing credits, Hinata meets a player from another school who’s as short as he is. The new character challenges him to see who’s better, setting up the story of the second film.
- REVIEW: “Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle” - July 2, 2024
- Charles Solomon’s Animation Year End Review 2023 - December 28, 2023
- INTERVIEW: Makoto Shinkai on “Suzume” - November 27, 2023
Posted in 
