On October 2, three voice actors gathered together in a pre-premiere live broadcast to talk about what to look forward to in the new season of Haikyuu!!, win some trivia games and play host to both SUPER BEAVER and SPYAIR. CD and DVD release dates, collaboration announcements, as well as information on future shows were also included.
Kaito Ishikawa (Tobio Kageyama) and Ayumu Murase (Hinata Shoyo) kick off the show by thanking fans for over 10 million followers on the anime's official Japanese Twitter. Ishikawa tries to say “thank you” in different languages but accidentally ends up saying “hello” in Chinese -- Murase shows off his language skills by correcting him, and adding another thank you in German into the mix. They show off the official visual created for this broadcast, talking about how cool the art style looks and how much they’d love to own it as merchandise. This could be foreshadowing for a future design on a Haikyuu!! clear file folder!
Haikyuu!! Pre-Premiere Highlights
【古舘春一先生描き下ろしビジュアル公開!!】
— アニメ「ハイキュー!!」 (@animehaikyu_com) September 25, 2020
『ハイキュー!! TO THE TOP』第2クール放送直前ビジュアルを公開！！なんと原作者・古舘春一先生による描き下ろしビジュアルとなります！！
いよいよ来週10月2日（金）より始まる「バケモンたちの宴」是非ご覧ください！！#ハイキュー #hq_anime pic.twitter.com/cWH9WuKY7T
After the intro, Ishikawa and Murase welcome Hideaki Kabumoto (Osamu Miya) onto the show. The voice actors take turns talking about what they're looking forward to. Ishikawa is excited about Tanaka, how cool he is and how much he’s matured this season. Kabumoto, on the other hand, can’t help but do some self-promotion. He can hardly contain his pride when telling viewers to look forward to Inarizaki High School’s presence, especially the teamwork between Atsumu and Osamu and the uniqueness of the Kansai dialect. He tells viewers that even though Osamu seems like the easy-going type, he can pack the heat too.
Murase takes a different approach, explaining that the upcoming season makes him want to reread the entire manga from the beginning. He finds great enjoyment in seeing how the manga got adapted into the anime. Ishikawa agrees -- he comments about how amazing it is to see how the anime interprets the manga, and how the buildup of excitement is different between the different mediums.
Before the interview segments, the three voice actors undertake various trivia challenges, like guessing the meaning of Kansai dialect vocabulary (a reference to Inarizaki High), obscure etiquette (to be a goody-two-shoes like Kageyama) and telling different orange juices apart (as an homage to Karasuno's orange jerseys). Ishikawa comes through as the winner, and takes home a bag of strength training goodies.
SUPER BEAVER Interview
The SUPER BEAVER segment opens with introductions to Kenta Uesugi (bass), Hiroaki Fujiwara (drums), Ryūta Shibuya (vocals) and Ryōta Yanagisawa (guitar, composer). When Ishikawa asks how they felt when they were asked to do the opening, Shibuya answers that he felt very honored. He also mentions many people around him were very excited about Haikyuu!!, and was glad to make those people happy as well. When asked about any special effort to portray the sport of volleyball in the music, Shibuya also talks about how they were given a lot of direction using imagery, like overcoming walls, smashing barriers and digging holes. He comments that Haikyuu!! also had a lot to do with emotions and relationships between people, so they wanted to convey that through their sound.
Murase asks whether there were any characters that the band members felt like they were representing or embodying when they performed the song. Yanagisawa says that while he likes all the characters, he simply loved Tanaka, who he really looks up to as a man. Finally, the group announced that their CD single, complete with the anime art on the jacket, will be dropping on Oct. 21st.
SPYAIR Interview
In the SPYAIR segment, Ike (vocals) and Momiken (bass, leader) talk about their composing and history with Haikyuu!!. Ishikawa asks the two if there were any particularly emotionally charged components, or special parts in their new single, “ONE DAY.” Momiken explains that for SPYAIR, Nakai Yuji normally composes the music, but this time he tried his hand at composing for the first time. The hosts are very impressed. When he asks if they felt that it sounded like a proper SPYAIR song, all three voice actors agree enthusiastically -- especially Kabumoto, who is a fan.
Ishikawa then asks if the new season inspired any new favorite scenes or favorite characters. Ike admits to a change of heart, explaining that when he came onto the show previously, he loved Kageyama, but he's now fallen in love with Azumane's voice and caring personality. On the other hand, Momiken's completely head over heels for Atsumu Miya: he can't get enough of the, “You can’t miss your chance to attack… Am I right?” line from the trailer.
DVD and Collab Announcements
The broadcast came to a close with a barrage of rapid-fire announcements, the first of which was the date of the Vol. 4 Blu-ray & DVD release: Wednesday, Dec. 16th. A cute comedy duo bit voiced by the Miya twins explains that it’ll come with an Inarizaki High School Sticker and a special booklet. Mystery seiyuu events involving Inarizaki High School “Super Team Meeting” are also happening next year January, with clear card giveaways; and there’s sportswear crossover merchandise with Japanese brand WEGO. There’s also a collab event with Tobu Zoo… though these are all Japan-only. It’s enough to make any international fan jealous!
There’s also a deodorant collab between Haikyuu!! and Sea Breeze, a body care company under the personal care product giant Shiseido. Several main characters are assigned to different colors and scents of deodorant, and there’s even a commercial segment advertising its stink-erasing powers voiced by the official seiyuus. All three voice actors on set suddenly bring out a tube of deodorant, with Ishikawa exclaiming, “It’s the scent of youth!” His cheerful energy is infectious, as the other two give their thanks and encourage viewers to enjoy the new season of Haikyuu!!.
