Haikyu!! marked its annual August 19 fan day with nine announcements, led by a new concept visual for HAIKYU!! The Movie: VS The Little Giant and the first action trailer for the special anime HAIKYU!! Where Monsters Go. Both are dated 2027, and neither has a confirmed release date.
The announcements came out of Haikyu!! RECEPTION #3, the program the franchise ran for Haikyu!! Day on August 19 — so named because 8/19 reads as ha-i-kyu in Japanese. Manga editor Ritsuki Azuma hosted, with Ayumu Murase (Hinata) and Kaito Ishikawa (Kageyama) appearing. Anime Corner published a full recap the same day.
The two anime projects, and what is genuinely new
Both projects were unveiled at Jump Festa in December 2025, where their titles and 2027 window were confirmed, so their existence is not the news. What landed on August 19 is the first real look at each:
HAIKYU!! The Movie: VS The Little Giant got a new concept visual pairing Shoyo Hinata with Korai Hoshiumi. The film adapts Karasuno’s national quarterfinal against Kamomedai High.
HAIKYU!! Where Monsters Go got a teaser visual and its first action trailer. The visual puts Fukurodani’s Kotaro Bokuto and Mujinazaka’s Wakatsu Kiryu in front of their team banners, with separate individual team visuals alongside it. Anime Corner has the full breakdown of the special.
Both are slated for 2027. Neither has a month, a day, or a confirmed international release — and that is worth stating clearly, because a fair number of round-ups have floated specific 2027 months that nobody has actually confirmed.
Why the movie is called VS The Little Giant
The title is not marketing. It is the match’s actual thesis, lifted straight from the source material.
Hinata took up volleyball after watching a short Karasuno ace nicknamed the Little Giant — Tenma Udai — on television. Hoshiumi is the short ace the volleyball press already calls a Little Giant in his own right. When the two meet in the quarterfinal, the manga frames it explicitly as the game to crown a new Little Giant.
So the new concept visual is doing more work than it looks like. Putting Hinata and Hoshiumi at the same eye level in a single frame is the whole premise in one image: two undersized spikers competing for a nickname that only one of them can inherit. That is the match, and it is why this film — rather than the Nekoma one — is the series’ final theatrical release.
The special has no Karasuno players in it at all
Here is the structural detail that makes this pair of projects unusual, and that the wire round-ups list without interpreting.
Where Monsters Go covers Fukurodani Academy vs Mujinazaka High — a quarterfinal running at the same national tournament, on the same day, as Karasuno’s. Karasuno is not in it. Hinata is not in it. It is a full production built around Bokuto and Kiryu, two players from schools the protagonists are not playing.
That is a genuinely uncommon thing for a sports shonen adaptation to do. The standard move at the end of a long-running series is to compress everything into the hero’s final match and let the rest of the bracket happen offscreen. Haikyu!! is instead adapting the bracket — treating the tournament, rather than Karasuno’s path through it, as the thing worth finishing. Fans of Fukurodani have waited a long time for that, and it signals a franchise confident that its supporting cast can carry a release on their own.
Everything announced at Haikyu!! Day 2026
| Announcement | What it is | Date |
|---|---|---|
| HAIKYU!! The Movie: VS The Little Giant | New concept visual; Karasuno vs Kamomedai | 2027, no date |
| HAIKYU!! Where Monsters Go | Teaser visual + action trailer; Fukurodani vs Mujinazaka | 2027, no date |
| Character Remix: Bonds – Hinata and Kageyama | Two-volume manga collection drawn from all 402 chapters | September 4, 2026 |
| Volleyball Card Game!! BREAK booster 4 | “Talent and Sense,” with an Oikawa card drawn by Black Clover’s Yuki Tabata | October 24, 2026 |
| Furudate exhibition “Challengers” | Third key visual revealed; Mori Arts Center Gallery, Tokyo | Oct 30, 2026 – Jan 11, 2027 |
| Stage play “Winners and Losers” | Third Gekidan production; Interhigh prelims, introduces Date Tech | Main visual + cast revealed |
| Haikyu!! × SV.League | New Furudate art of Bokuto, Hoshiumi and Sakusa for the pro league | Upcoming season |
| TOUCH AND CONNECT | Puzzle game | Already launched |
| JUMP MV | Furudate art set to BURNOUT SYNDROMES’ “PHOENIX” | Released |
What the slate says about where Haikyu!! is right now
Look at the dates column and something jumps out: every item with a firm date is merchandise or an event. The two anime projects — the only things most fans actually tuned in for — are the only entries without one.
That is not a complaint so much as a description of what Haikyu!! has become. There is no Haikyu!! series on television, there has not been one for years, and there will not be one in 2026. Yet the franchise is running a manga release, a card game booster, a two-and-a-half-month gallery exhibition in central Tokyo, a stage play, a game, a music video and a tie-in with Japan’s actual professional volleyball league. It has decoupled its commercial calendar from its broadcast schedule almost entirely.
It can afford to. Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle took ¥11.64 billion (about $76.9 million) in Japan and finished as the second highest-grossing Japanese film of 2024, behind only Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram at ¥15.8 billion. A sequel with that kind of result behind it does not need to hurry, and the 2027 date with no month attached reads like a franchise that knows it.
The SV.League collaboration is the quiet one worth noticing. Furudate drawing promotional art for a real professional volleyball league is the manga paying back the sport it came from — an unusual position for a sports series to reach, and one only a handful ever do. If you like that kind of crossover, our guide to Blue Lock’s season 3 and live-action plans covers the other big sports manga doing the same thing, and we tracked its live-action box office opening earlier this year.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does HAIKYU!! The Movie: VS The Little Giant come out?
In 2027. No month or day has been confirmed, and there is no announced international release. Any specific 2027 date you see quoted is not official.
What is HAIKYU!! Where Monsters Go about?
It is a special anime covering the national quarterfinal between Fukurodani Academy and Mujinazaka High, centred on aces Kotaro Bokuto and Wakatsu Kiryu. Karasuno does not appear — the match runs at the same tournament as theirs. It is also set for 2027.
Why is August 19 Haikyu!! Day?
Because 8/19 can be read as ha-i-kyu in Japanese, matching the series title. The franchise uses the date each year for its RECEPTION livestream, which is where the 2026 announcements were made.
Who is the Little Giant in Haikyu!!?
Tenma Udai, the short former Karasuno ace whose televised play inspired Hinata to take up volleyball. Hoshiumi of Kamomedai is the undersized ace often given the same nickname, which is what the quarterfinal — and the film’s title — is built around.
Is there a new Haikyu!! TV anime coming?
No. Nothing at RECEPTION #3 announced a new television series. The franchise’s remaining anime plans are the film and the special, both in 2027.
We will update this piece when release dates are confirmed. In the meantime, our ranking of the best manga of all time has more on where Haikyu!! sits among the greats.
