‘HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle’ review: The boys are back in town

After four years without anything new, the latest addition to the HAIKYU!! anime adaptation is officially here! HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle focuses on the next match between Karasuno High and Yasufumi Nekomata (Nobuaki Fukuda), their rivals that fans met way back during the training camp arc. Kenma fans who have been waiting since season two will be happy to know that our video game boy is back and better than ever. 

A gamer’s life

In preparation for the movie, I stopped myself from rereading this arc in the manga. I wanted to go in with fresh eyes. I didn’t want to complain if they didn’t include certain things — I was just happy that we got something after so long. Overall, I thought it was an amazing adaption that does the arc justice. 

The concentration on Kenma (Yûki Kaji) and his point of view throughout his life was worth the wait. Sorry Hinata (Ayumu Murase), Kenma is the main character of the arc whether you want to admit it or not. It’s a fact that Kenma doesn’t particularly care if their team wins or loses. He hates sweating and prefers to stay inside to play video games all day. By using his POV, the story takes on a different lens than HAIKYU!! normally uses. It’s heartwarming to see just how far Kenma has come on his own, with the team itself, and with the people he considers friends. 

Having this mixed in with the match they’re playing in the present makes it feel all the more emotional. Since Kenma has been around from early in the beginning of the HAIKYU!! series, audiences can connect with him on a different level than a new character. Additionally, this makes his character stand out from other opponents that Hinata and Karasuno have faced in the Nationals so far. 

Sharp edges

I have to point out my favorite part of the entire movie: the blink-and-you-’ll-miss-it knife scene. For people who read the manga, you’ll know that knife imagery is common between Hinata and Kenma. The movie animates a panel in particular that I absolutely love. It’s Hinata and Kenma holding knives to each other’s throats. Hear me out before you judge the scene: knives are the physical manifestation of their rivalry and while that might seem a bit intense for some high school kids, don’t forget that both Hinata and Kenma are extremely intense people when it comes to things that matter to them. Being able to finally see that panel come to life was very special. 

It was nice to see that TOHO Animation kept with the updated stylization that Haruichi Furudate started using as the manga continued. The flashbacks from the series are a bit jarring against the current style but it wasn’t anything I wasn’t ready for. It’s simply a natural occurrence for anyone who read or watched HAIKYU!! would be familiar with. Granted, the flashbacks did take me out for the briefest of moments but not enough that it was detrimental to the movie overall. 

Squeezing to fit the runtime

One thing that bothered me was the pacing. The runtime for HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle clocks in at an hour and 24 minutes which is a lot shorter than the previous arcs had when you remember they had full seasons. Because of this, the pacing of the scenes was a lot quicker and didn’t allow the moments to really sink in. Several key moments should have been given a bit more time to breathe for the emotional impact to stand out. That’s not to say that the movie doesn’t concentrate on these scenes, but they definitely don’t hit as hard as they might have if they were given the time and space to do so. 

Unfortunately, this is something I expected. It did take me out of the experience a bit since there were touching moments I wished we had more time with. For example, the scene where Kenma overhears Kuroo talking to his dad would have hit harder and have a larger impact if the audience had been given the time to sit with it. It’s a small thing that manga readers might be disappointed with, but definitely not something that tanks the whole movie for me. 

Great, in spite of the shortness

HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle is exactly what I wanted as a HAIKYU!! fan. It was the perfect movie adaptation even as I sat there mumbling about how it would have been better as another season — which, for the record, it would have been but that’s neither here nor there. The animators put their all in adapting a fan-favorite arc and it shines through in every second of the movie. I, for one, am beyond happy that TOHO Animation brought this arc and its amazing characters to life in the form of an extremely well-made movie. 

HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle is in theaters May 31st.

Featured images via Crunchyroll