It’s always a good time to get into Haikyuu!! But now is an especially good time, since Haikyuu!! THE MOVIE: Decisive Battle At The Garbage Dump coming out May 31, 2024.
The film covers a canonical arc towards the back-end of the manga series, so you’ll definitely enjoy yourself more if you have a sense of the characters and the Story So Far.
What’s more, Haikyuu!! is absolutely worth your time. It’s heartbreakingly sincere, which makes it incredibly special. These boys are simply just trying their best at volleyball and life. Even with a disillusioned character like Tsukishima, there’s no cynicism for miles. Any showboating or machismo feels put there as a representation of what some athletes are just like. You want to root for all of them, even though they’re on opposing teams, which means someone is getting their dreams crushed.
This honest exploration of loss is a key part of what makes Haikyuu!! feel so genuine and emotionally honest. Like I said, it’s special. Which helps explain why, in Japan, it’s everywhere. Decisive Battle At The Garbage Dump was the fourth-biggest opening weekend in Japanese box office history.
Now that I’ve hopefully convinced you to watch (or, honestly, read) Haikyuu!!, you probably want to know where to start. For the manga, simply subscribe to the Shounen Jump app, and you’re on your way. If you’re an anime sub person, simply log into Crunchyroll or Netflix, and you, too, are on your way.
But if you want English dubs, I unfortunately have some bad news for you.
The case of the missing Haikyuu!! dubs
First of all, know that an English dub of Haikyuu!! does indeed exist. Sentai Filmworks made one ages ago. The issue is that, as of May 2024, there’s nowhere you can watch it. For years, it was on HIDIVE, but Haikyuu!! vanished completely from that service.
You can currently stream Haikyuu!! on Crunchyroll and Netflix (and Amazon Prime, but only the fourth season, and it’s via Crunchyroll anyway). But Netflix only has the original Japanese audio. Crunchyroll offers a Spanish and Portuguese dub for the show’s first two seasons, but only has the Japanese original for the third and fourth. In any case, the English dub is nowhere to be found.
Fans have been asking Crunchyroll for the English dub—it’s currently the top comment on Haikyuu!!‘s Crunchyroll page. Haikyuu!! THE MOVIE: Decisive Battle At The Garbage Dump will have a dubbed version upon its US release.
So no, you cannot watch the Haikyuu!! dubs on Crunchyroll right now. But they have to be somewhere, right?
