Yes, I feel safe with that title line even with no official announcement.  There’s no way in hell Haikyuu doesn’t get a complete adaptation.  And not just an adaptation, but a proper treatment – with all the budgetary and scheduling implications that go along with that.  Haikyuu! has always been a priority at Production I.G. (still true even with the staff changes this season), because the production committee makes that possible.  That’s what happens when you’re one of the most popular franchises in manga and anime for almost a decade.

One thing worth noting is just how huge a luxury it is for Haikyuu!! to have that sort of stature.  It can afford to take an entire episode to reflect on the season past and set up the next one, where most adaptations are forced to cut material in order to fit into the schedule.  In a perfect world every show could do this, rather than literally finish the series at the climax of the plot – but most can’t.  There were some wonky production moments this season to be sure, but I hope Haikyuu!!! fans know how lucky they are.

An episode like this one isn’t always going to be the most exciting in an action-driven series, but I’d still rather end with a reflection than a crescendo.  There’s the matter of Inarizaki getting their due, and they get the requisite tearful moment in the tunnel.  In truth I never really cared that much about this bunch but they were fine, and they did dominate a good chunk of the season.  The most interesting Inarizaki moment of the finale was Atsumu telling Shouyou that he’d be setting to him in the future (on the national team, presumably) – which amounts to quite an acknowledgement of the Little Giant’s talent (and progress).

Exhaustion reigns in the Karasuno locker room, though for once Shouyou hasn’t passed out in the aftermath of the match.  Tsuki notes that Shouyou has just had his “moment” – his volleyball epiphany.  And one suspects that Tsuki has not yet had that himself, for all his irreplaceable contributions to the Crows’ success.  Back at the hotel the gang watches themselves on TV with a general sense of embarrassment, apart from Shouyou, who’s just happy to be the center of attention.

The usual suspects take care of business.  Fukuroudani and Bokuto (for my money the most entertaining character in Haikyuu!!!!) steamroll through to the round of 16, and so does Nekoma.  They, of course, are the next opponents for Karasuno – and I think in Haikyuu!!!!! terms that has to constitute some sort of main event.  Both the clubs and their chibi totems have been set up as eternal rivals for each other, so even if this is only the 16s, this represents a fated moment for the series.

So where do we stand?  At this point by my count the anime has reached around Chapter 290 of the manga, and it’s taken roughly 87 episodes to do it if you count the canon OVAs – a rate of a bit over 3 chapters per episode.  There are something like 110 chapters left to adapt, which should net us about 30-35 episodes at the going rate.   Two cours plus OVAs?  Three?  Hard to say, and I suppose it will depend on how the production committee believes the lifespan of the franchise can best be extended.  I wouldn’t imagine the Nekoma match would take up more than one cour (that would be positively OoFuri-like) but it is a big one, so who knows.

In any event, it seems silly to think we won’t see Haikyuu!!!!!! back on our screens in 2021 sometime – there’s no obvious reason to wait, assuming the studio itself is able to handle the project.  If the rest of the series follows the mold of the end of this season it should be a banger – Haikyuu!!!!!!! has never been my top sports series at any given time, but it consistently delivers at a very high level (especially factoring in the production quality).  To the Top’s best moments were at either end – the beginning exploring Shouyou’s character far more deeply than ever before, and the end showcasing the action at its heart-stopping best.  Haikyuu!!!!!!!! sometimes drifts a bit, but it always has that rock-solid core to fall back on and it inevitably does – and that’s why it’s one of the best sports series of its generation.