Are we about to have another sequel with disastrous pacing issues?
Summary:
- According to a leak, the first of the two Haikyuu!! movies will run for 84 minutes.
- For a movie that covers a match that’s around 40 chapters long, the pacing is very fast, which disappoints fans.
- It may not be as bad as people claim, but concerns about the adaptation of the rest of the manga remain.
When the manga for Haikyuu!! was announced to have a full adaptation, fans were happy. However, the happiness quickly turned into concern for the adaptation once it was announced to adapt the remaining chapters in two movies.
Some fans were still hopeful that the movies would be long enough to cover the remaining chapters with proper pacing. The hopes were shattered: according to a yet unconfirmed leak, the first movie is listed at only 84 minutes.
There are way too many chapters left for such a short movie
Haikyuu!! Movie: Battle of the Garbage Dump (Haikyuu!! Movie: Gomisuteba no Kessen) is going to adapt the Karasuno vs Nekoma match. It seems that’s all the movie is going to cover, and the match is around 40 chapters long. Naturally, fans feel like one movie that is quite short isn’t enough to do the manga justice.
Even more concerns are raised about the remainder of the manga. There will still be roughly 70-80 chapters after the movie ends. If the second movie is going to cover all of them, then a lot of content will be skipped — something the viewers really don’t want.
Fans are unhappy
For comparison, the third season of the anime adapted 42 chapters into 10 episodes. That’s more than twice the length of the Battle of the Garbage Dump movie. The remaining chapters of the manga are paced about the same as the ones that have already been adapted, so the choice to compress the remaining material is baffling at least.
Many fans have already abandoned any hopes for a decent adaptation. Some have even gone as far as to describe the Haikyuu!! situation as “another Neverland S2.” The second season of The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Neverland) is infamous for skipping many manga arcs and immensely disappointing both the source fans and the anime-only watchers.
The result might not be a complete disaster
Some fans, however, argue that the pacing isn’t going to be as bad. A faster-paced match might be a refreshing experience — especially with movie-quality visuals — and it’s hard to actually skip content in a sports anime like Haikyuu!!. While there could be better ways to adapt the next arc, it’s too early to completely disregard the movie.
The more concerning part is the rest of the series — not even a 2-hour movie could realistically cover the remaining arcs. Some fans, however, remain hopeful that the second movie will only cover the final of the tournament, without it touching the post-timeskip arc (which would require another season).