Best Watch Order For Haikyu! | TheReviewGeek Recommends

Haikyu Watch Order

Haikyu’s manga may have ended four years ago, but the anime’s still going strong. Many love Haikyu for its adrenaline-pumping volleyball matches, likable characters, and wonderful handling of core Shonen themes like friendship. 

In Haikyu, we follow Hinata. He’s a boy who dreams of becoming a phenomenal volleyball player like his idol, Little Giant. Although Hinata and his middle school volleyball team don’t achieve success, Hinata is optimistic he’ll achieve better results in high school. 

When Hinata joins Karasuno High School’s volleyball team, he learns that Kageyama, a student who competed against him in middle school, also joined. The two must set aside their differences to help this high school’s volleyball team claim victory. 

Whether you’re a first-timer or someone who wants to revisit this fun volleyball-focused anime, fear not. This watch order guide will help you get caught up! 

What’s the chronological release date order of Haikyu?

Production I.G. Studios is the only Japanese Animation Studio that worked on Haikyu’s anime adaptation (so far). However, they did not work on the Haikyuu!! Ningyou Anime OVA stop-motion project. Unfortunately, no details have been shared on what studio worked on that.

That aside, Haikyu’s anime consists of 4 seasons [5 if you count Haikyu!! To The Top Part 2 as a separate one], 6 movies, 5 OVAs, and 1 special. The sixth movie is allegedly titled Haikyu!! Final. This has not been released yet. This will be a part of a dual-parter film plan Toho Animation Studios, the anime’s producer, had planned to do for the series.

The title for the sixth film is a provisional one. No date has been announced for this sixth film either. For more information, click here. With that taken into account, these were all released between 2014 to present (as of this writing).

We’ll update this page over time if other Haikyu-oriented anime projects get released. 

The current chronological release order for Haikyu is as follows:

What’s the best way to watch Haikyu?

Considering how long this anime’s been going on, it could be a hassle to choose what to watch first. Nonetheless, below you’ll find the recommended watch order for this anime. We’ll explain why you can skip most of the content above shortly. 

Recommended Order:

1. Haikyu!! (2014) – Season 1 of the Haikyu Series
2. Haikyu!!: Lev Appears! (2014) – OVA
3. Haikyu!!: 2nd Season (2015) – Season 2 of the Haikyu Series
4. Haikyu!!: VS Failing Marks (2015) – Special
5. Haikyu!!: 3rd Season (2016) – Season 3 of the Haikyu Series
6. Haikyu!! Land Vs. Air/ The Path of the Ball (2020) – OVA
7. Haikyu!! To The Top – Season 4 of the Haikyu Series 
8. Haikyu!! To The Top Part 2 (2020) – Season 4 of the Haikyu Series 
9. Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle (2024) – Movie
10. Haikyu!! Final (N/A) – Movie

Is there any content that can be skipped?

There is. You can skip some specials, OVAs, and films without issue. Most specials don’t contain anything significant for fans to watch. Additionally, most of the films serve as long recap projects. While the non-mentioned films contain additional scenes, they aren’t necessary viewings.

The same can be said about the omitted OVAs. As for the listed OVAs and movies, they feature significant material fans shouldn’t ignore. For instance, the first OVA gives fans intel about Lev’s character before his debut in Season 2. 

Also, the Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle movie is a sequel to Haikyu!! To The Top Part 2. The Haikyu!! Final movie will follow in Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle’s footsteps down the pipeline. Therefore for the best Haikyu viewing experience, it’s best to follow the path we’ve provided above. 

We’ve covered the Haikyu series to a degree on TheReviewGeek via anime and manga lists. However, if you want to check out all our content where we mentioned Haikyu by name, click here. 

Where can I watch Haikyu?

Haikyu is available on Crunchyroll outside of Asian territories. The required OVAs are available on the platform, too. Unfortunately, Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle was a cinema release and isn’t available to stream on Crunchyroll (as of this writing). We expect it will be available on Crunchyroll and other platforms in the future though. 

While most outlets like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix offer some of the required material for Haikyu, folks are better off watching Haikyu via Crunchyroll. We’ll be sure to update this page when information is shared regarding Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle’s stream release. 

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Have you watched all of Haikyu? Do you have a better watch order than us? Let us know in the comments below!