Shueisha has announced a new slate of Jump Festa 2023 Super Stage EXs for various series on December 17, 2022, that will not receive a mainline Super Stage. Despite being touted as “extra” Super Stages, these panels will likely prove to be just as informative as their genuine counterparts.
The current Jump Festa 2023 Super Stage EX lineup consists of three important smash-hit series - Bleach, Haikyu!!, and Kuroko no Basketball. All three franchises have announced or released massive projects this year, with their presences at Jump Festa 2023 likely set to elaborate on additional information for these projects.
Jump Festa 2023 Super Stage EX lineup likely to consist of major announcements for series’ projects
Schedule
All three of the Jump Festa 2023 Super Stage EX panels are set to take place on the convention's first day, i.e., Saturday, December 17. While the overall first day of the Super Stages begins at 9 am JST and continues till 9 pm JST, the Super Stage EX lineup won’t begin its events until late evening. The schedule for the Super Stage EX panels is as follows:
Bleach
The Bleach Jump Festa 2023 Super Stage EX will likely focus on the Bleach: TYBW anime’s second cour, which (as of this article’s writing) has yet to announce any release information. Given that it’s been one of, if not the biggest hit overall of the Fall 2022 season, the panel will capitalize on this excitement by sharing release information for the second cour. Additionally, a trailer can also be expected.
One of the most anticipated segments of Bleach’s Super Stage EX is the manga’s Hell arc, which has been rumored to be in development for quite some time. These rumors started swirling around the time of the series’ 20th anniversary when Tite Kubo released a special canonical one-shot entitled No Breaths From Hell.
However, it seems unlikely that any significant news on the upcoming manga arc will be released prior to the TYBW anime’s full completion. As a result, the upcoming Super Stage will primarily focus on the anime’s second cour. Moreover, the time will be filled with a Q&A session with the various voice actors from the present series.
Kuroko no Basketball
As of this article’s writing, there has been no news on what fans can expect from the Kuroko no Basketball Jump Festa 2023 Super Stage EX. With just three voice actors from the series (Junichi Suwabe, Fumiko Orikasa, and Kensho Ono) attending the panel alongside MC Hiroshi “Kirin” Tamura, the panel will mainly consist of a Q&A style discussion.
With the manga and anime series having been fully completed for several years, any news coming from the panel would likely be in the form of a movie. While a spinoff manga or anime is possible, producing a 90-120 minute anime film is a more challenging task than creating either.
That being said, with no information on what the panel will have in store, any single option is just as likely as any other. Given that the panel would not be occurring if there weren’t any news to announce, fans can at least expect one of the above options to be discussed, announced, or teased.
Haikyu!!
The Haikyu!! Jump Festa 2023 Super Stage EX will most be centered around the anime series’ upcoming two-part finale film, titled Haikyu!! Final. The last information fans received on the film came in August 2022, when the film was initially announced for production. A key visual featuring central protagonist Shoyo Hinata was also released alongside the announcement.
Unfortunately, the fandom's reaction to the announcement of a two-part film to conclude the anime series was not as positive as Production I.G and the rest of the adaptation team had hoped. Many fans even expressed concern that the pacing would be too quick, not giving proper time for Hinata’s development throughout the series’ final stages.
However, despite the outcry from the fanbase, the film will likely be announced in its production phase as planned. Beyond this, fans can expect the series to announce a celebratory one-shot from franchise's creator, Haruichi Furudate. The mangaka is constantly pushing out one-shot epilogues for the series and might have yet another to announce at the Super Stage.