Review by jjirl

I'm a relatively new Haikyu fan (the kind that watched BECAUSE it was about volleyball), but I was hooked from the first episode. The anime already did character development, comedy and tonal shifts very well and always put on a darn good show of volleyball. Part of me was worried that somehow with a movie, the pacing or storytelling would feel off -- let me tell you all doubt dissipated as soon as the movie started. The soundtrack drove the mood the entire time, building anticipation for the game, pulling at your heartstrings, reviving sentiment for the characters. Everything we loved about the anime was present here and taken to another level. There were so many callbacks to season 1, rewarding loyal fans and using those moments and some new flashback scenes to fill in the gaps of the push-and-pull between the main characters of Nekoma vs. Karasuno over the course of the Dumpster Battle.

I had always wondered how they could show us volleyball differently or still give characters new things to work on, but the creator manages to do so readily. Now I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for more Haikyu content!