What Is Haikyu!!? The Volleyball Manga Still Expanding Years After Its Ending, Explained by Marine

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Even years after its manga ended, Haikyu!! remains one of the most actively expanding sports franchises in anime, still releasing new material in 2026.

Small Player, Big Impact

Haruichi Furudate began serializing Haikyu!! in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2012. The story follows Shoyo Hinata, a short high schooler determined to become a top volleyball player, as he joins Karasuno High School's team and grows alongside rival-turned-teammate Tobio Kageyama. The manga concluded in 2020, but its detailed, technically grounded depiction of volleyball strategy made it one of the most influential modern sports manga.

The Story Keeps Growing

Rather than ending with the manga, Haikyu!! has continued through theatrical films, with a sequel, "Haikyu!! vs. The Little Giant," planned for 2027. In 2026 alone, the franchise added a new comedy-focused spinoff manga, "Sudate Hinagarasu" (started February 2026), and two new "Character Remix" volumes releasing September 4, 2026 — six years after the original story concluded.

What To Know

Haikyu!!'s deliberate choice to make its smallest, least physically gifted-looking protagonist a genuinely elite player through relentless effort and teamwork rather than a sudden power-up is a big part of why it's so often cited as reinvigorating sports manga as a genre for a generation that had drifted toward pure battle/fantasy manga instead.

Haikyu!!'s detailed, technically accurate depiction of actual volleyball strategy and rules (rotations, formations, real position names) reflects a broader convention in Japanese sports manga of treating the sport itself with documentary-level accuracy, which is part of why it's widely credited with boosting real youth volleyball interest in Japan.

What Fans Are Saying

• "Haikyu!! made me care about actual volleyball rules more than any real match ever did."
• "Six years after the ending and they're still finding ways to expand the world."
• "Really looking forward to the Little Giant sequel film."

Original Japanese

• 「ハイキュー!!を見てから本物のバレーのルールに詳しくなりました」
• 「完結から6年経っても新しい展開が続いているのはすごいです」
• 「リトルジャイアントの続編映画、楽しみにしています」

Easy Japanese

「ハイキュー!!」は、古舘春一さんが描くバレーボールのマンガです。2012年に始まり、世界的に人気のスポーツマンガです。