Haikyuu!! Movie 1: Owari to Hajimari - Reviews

I know this review is probably pointless to most people, but I had a hard time finding info about the movie in detail when I was trying to decide whether to watch it or not after watching the first season so hopefully this will be of use to someone! Also, for full disclosure, this was written from the perspective of someone who has only watched the anime and has not (yet!) read the manga.

This movie recaps roughly the first half of the first season of Haikyuu.

[spoilers if you haven't seen season one]  The movie covers two arcs: Hinata & Kageyama trying to get into the high school volleyball club and Karasuno's practice match with Nekoma. Most other arcs/sub-plots have been excluded or greatly cut down.   [end spoilers]

Would I recommend this if:

• you've never seen season one?   Definitely not. This glosses over so many things and you'd miss out on a lot, especially team dynamics and backstories for all the characters. Just watch the show instead of this, things will make so much more sense if you do.
• it's been a while since you've seen season one and you're wanting to get back into the show?   Sure. If you don't want to rewatch the entire first season, then this does a decent enough job of covering highlights from the biggest events; don't forget to watch the second movie too, which covers roughly the second half of the first season.
• you just finished season one and are about to start season two?   Ehhh, maybe? Honestly, you really don't need this recap since season one should be fresh in your mind, but if you're a completionist, then there are two new scenes that I noticed weren't in the original tv show. But they are very minor. So I guess it depends on whether you think the ~1.5 hours of your time is worth seeing

[minor spoilers ahead, trying to keep it vague]   a small scene between the Karasuno teammates halfway through the movie and a childhood flashback scene between some of the Nekoma teammates right before the credits.   [end spoilers]

I thought both scenes were cute, especially the last one, but I can definitely understand that not everyone will want to commit the time for such small additions. If that includes you, then maybe you can come back to this movie far into the future when you want to scratch the Haikyuu itch, but don't want to commit to completely rewatching an entire season or the entire show.