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Mark Ishii to Play Haikyu!!'s Lev Haiba in Jump Festa Anime Special

The official Twitter account for the Haikyu!! anime announced on Sunday that Mark Ishii will star as Lev Haiba in an upcoming Haikyu!! anime special. The special will premiere at the Jump Special Anime Festa on November 9 in Tokyo. The original story will involve the relationship between two Nekoma volleyball players, Kenma Kozume and Lev Haiba.

Mark Ishii and Haikyu!! voice actors Ayumu Murase (Shōyō Hinata), Kaito Ishikawa (Tobio Kageyama) and Yūki Kaji (Kenma Kozume) will also appear at the event.

This year's 34th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine announced in July that the tour will screen original anime of Gintama, Assassination Classroom, and Haikyu!! The lineup will also include Naruto Shippūden, World Trigger, and the previously announced Blood Blockade Battlefront anime. The magazine did not specify if the Naruto Shippūden and World Trigger screenings are for new original works, or previously seen material. (The Naruto Shippūden television anime is now airing, while the World Trigger television anime will premiere in October.)

Production I.G's anime adaptation of Haruichi Furudate's volleyball manga premiered in April. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series for North American digital and home video release and Crunchyroll is streaming the series as it airs. The series' final episode will air on September 21 with the show's 25th episode.

The story follows Shōyō Hinata (voiced by Ayumu Murase), who began playing volleyball after seeing the "small giants" who played the sport when he was in elementary school. He suffers a crushing defeat in his first and last tournament in middle school at the hands of his rival Tobio Kageyama (Kaito Ishikawa). So, Hinata joins Karasuno High School's volleyball team, vowing revenge against Kageyama.

However, Kageyama is also on Karasuno's team. The former rivals form a legendary combo with Hinata's mobility and Kageyama's precision ball-handling. Together, they take on the local tournaments and vow to meet Kurasuno's fated rival school in the nationals.

A Nintendo 3DS game adaptation is slated to ship on September 25 in Japan.

[Via Nijimen]