"Haikyuu!!" set the bar as one of the most popular manga, turned anime, turned stage play. But who is
the mysterious author behind the series? And what does that foot mean on all the boys' uniforms?
The big goal for the Karasuno volleyball team in "Haikyuu!!" is to win a tournament known as
the "Inter-high." When the team plays in the Spring Inter-High in Tokyo for the first time,
they are amazed by the scale of the event — the huge arenas, the number of courts,
the number of teams, and the TV filming crews are all beyond expectations. This is a real
tournament in Japan, and they are just as big of a deal in real life as they are in "Haikyuu!!"
"It's so much cooler to see it in person, man!"
When the Inter-highs were canceled in 2020,
the team behind "Haikyuu!!" put together a project in support of the students that
wouldn't get to play that year. The staff collected 165 uniforms of real teams that
had been hoping to play in the tournament and arranged them in a special commemorative photo.
For third-year students who would graduate in 2020, the cancellation meant that they lost
their final opportunity to play in a high school tournament, which can be quite disheartening.
The photo included a message to the players which can be translated into something like:
The official "Haikyuu!!" website also publishes free posters using anime
and manga art which school volleyball clubs can use to attract and recruit new members.
School sports clubs, or "Bukatsu," are a big deal in Japan, and the majority of
students take part in a club from the age of 12 until they graduate high school at 18. In
"Haikyuu!!," Karasuno team members are seen turning up at the gym before school begins,
and staying after school past sundown. They attend practice matches and tournaments on weekends,
and club practice is still held around three times a week during the summer holidays.
Because of all this, it can be easy to think that the protagonist and his team
are going above and beyond the usual, but in actuality, all of these activities are
standard practice in the world of Bukatsu. It's an extreme commitment for the kids,
their parents, and even the teachers, who often need to look after the clubs during
the summer and outside of work hours, but may not even get any extra pay for it.
"That would be ridiculously ridiculous."
Unsurprisingly, club activities can also take up time students would otherwise spend studying,
which can lead to some conflicts of interest. Just
like the exam troubles Hinata has at the start of Season 2,
real students can also miss out on important club outings if their grades are not up to scratch.
Collaboration cafes are a standard superfan activity in Japan, and many popular franchises
such as "Final Fantasy 14" or "Kirby" have permanent cafes in big cities. For anime,
however, it's more common to see limited-time "pop-up" cafes,
often when new content for the franchise is released. For instance, when "Haikyuu!!
To The Top" was airing, a limited-time "Animate X Haikyuu!!" cafe opened in Tokyo.
The cafe provided a place for fans to sit and eat themed food while surrounded by
artwork of their favorite characters, and even be served by waiters in character cosplay. The
drinks were themed after different Karasuno team members, such as Hinata's Orange Drink,
or Kageyama's Concentration Cocoa, and each menu item came with a special coaster
with original character art. Most themed cafes also serve as special pop-up shops,
which sell limited-edition merchandise, often with special art drawn especially for the cafe.
Multiple franchises can sometimes join forces to present special cafes too,
and in 2022, "Haikyuu!!" collaborated with the popular video game "Monster Hunter:
Rise" for a special Capcom cafe. These cafes can be especially popular, as fans get to see
their favorite characters in outfits and contexts that would never exist in their own universes.
As odd as it may seem, stage plays are pretty common in the
world of anime and manga. Once a manga has an anime adaptation,
the next step is often a live-action drama or a theater production. Many popular franchises,
such as "Naruto" and "Tokyo Ghoul," have produced stage plays, and "Haikyuu!!" is no exception.
The "Hyper Projection Play: Haikyuu!!" stage performance ran in 2015 and 2016 and used a
mixture of manga art, video animation, and live performance to tell the story
of the formation of the Karasuno team. The play involves a lot of dancing and singing,
unlike the original material, but still has plenty of "Haikyuu"-style goofy comedy. Merchandise for
the show was also made, which can still be found on certain sites even in the West.
Although the play is in Japanese, performances held in Tokyo offered "subtitle glasses," which
displayed English subtitles for the show when worn. A DVD of the performance was
also released in 2015, which included bonus features such as interviews with the cast.
The play is a completely standalone project and does not involve any of the voice actors
from the anime, but the world of anime theater has its own stars. For example,
the actor playing Kageyama also starred in the "Prince of Tennis" musical,
and both the Hinata and Kageyama actors starred in a "Naruto" stage play as well.
Despite penning an award-winning manga with a successful anime adaptation and
a loyal fan following, the author known as Haruichi Furudate is a mystery. The popularity of
"Haikyuu!!" has continued for over a decade now, and yet Haruichi's face has never been revealed.
Since "Haikyuu!!" is a "shonen" manga, meaning it is aimed at young boys,
it is often assumed that Haruichi is male, and this is reflected in Viz Media's decision to
use male pronouns in their official translation of the manga. However,
Haruichi's gender has never been officially confirmed.
Pronouns don't need to be used at all in the Japanese language,
so Haruichi is simply referred to by name with no gender-specific language. Other kinds
of information on the author are also scarce, so it's not really possible to infer gender that way,
either. Though Haruichi is a male name, it could easily be a pen name. And while we know that they
played volleyball in junior high school, girls' volleyball clubs are just as common as boys'.
When Haruichi's comments or interviews are published on the "Shonen JUMP" website,
the icon used is a strange bird character wearing some sort of suit. Additionally,
some fans in Japan believe that "Haikyuu!!" is written from a very female perspective, despite
being published in a magazine for young boys — and they suspect that the author could be female.
"Does it uh, even really matter?"
In Japan, the "Haikyuu!!" manga was serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine,
alongside other big names such as "One Piece," "Naruto," "Hunter X Hunter," and many more. The
magazine began in 1968 and is an iconic part of modern Japanese manga culture,
which naturally means that Shonen Jump merchandise stores exist.
Across Japan, there are 12 of these JUMP Shops in cities such as Tokyo,
Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka. "Haikyuu!!" remains one of the most
popular series that Jump owns — despite it being finished — which means that the
JUMP Shops devote a good portion of their display space to the "Haikyuu!!" franchise.
Common merchandise types include stationery, acrylic keyrings, acrylic stands, lip balms
and accessories, phone cases, card cases, and more. Merchandise for a show with many characters
like "Haikyuu!!" is often categorized and displayed by teams and characters,
so fans can find their favorite quickly and easily. The JUMP shops also sell special
birthday badges of "Haikyuu!!" characters each year when their birthday comes around.
The Karasuno team members Yu Nishinoya and Asahi Azumane serve as foils,
intended by Furudate to compare and contrast against one another. This is
shown through mirroring elements of their characters, such as their birthdays -– 10/10
and 01/01. Additionally, Asahi is the tallest member of the Karasuno team at 6' 1",
and Nishinoya is the shortest at 5' 3" — a full inch shorter than Hinata.
"And Nishinoya is only about 150cm."
"I'm 160!"
Other notable contrasts between the two characters include their personalities. Nishinoya is
boisterous and full of confidence, constantly taking part in silly behavior with Tanaka.
"Ahh!"
"Nice one. Ok, you can stop now."
In contrast, Asahi is quiet and slightly shy, which leads to some confidence issues. Judging
by these personalities alone, you might think that Nishinoya was the front-and-center ace
of the team and Asahi the behind-the-scenes libero, but in actuality, it's the opposite.
Kageyama and Oikawa are also seen as foils due to the way Oikawa contrasts Kageyama's
play style and interpersonal skills. Kageyama is a brilliant setter because he has the physical
ability to handle the ball with precision, but he's bad at communicating. Oikawa, meanwhile,
doesn't have particularly precise skills, but he scores points by communicating with his teammates.
Due to the fast-paced nature of the anime industry, clearing trademarks for use isn't
considered a top priority, and most shows cut out this part of the process entirely. Instead,
names like McDonald's, Apple, Starbucks, and Google undergo slight spelling or thematic
changes that result in the birth of gems like Wacdnalds, Pear, Starducks, and Zoogle.
"Haikyuu!!" is no different in this regard, and you may have spotted convenience stores
named 8/11 and electronics by Somy hiding in the show. However, have you noticed the fake
brand name on the Karasuno uniform before? If you look closely you'll notice the team's
uniforms all bear a logo consisting of a foot and the letters "i-c-s." When read
with the Japanese word for foot, this logo spells "Asics" and is a parody of the famous
sports brand Asics which is especially well-known for its volleyball products.
This was an unconfirmed reference for a while, but when Asics asked Furudate about it,
they confirmed the parody, explaining that they wore Asics shoes while playing volleyball
in school. Since then, the sports brand has carried out campaigns with "Haikyu!!"
featuring the art of characters with the real Asics logo emblazoned on their chests.
Japan is a country full of language-based easter eggs, puns, and hidden meanings. One
of the biggest ones in "Haikyuu!!" is that its title is an old term for volleyball in Japanese.
The word is spelled with the Chinese character for "throw" or "expel" and the character for
"ball." Believe it or not, this can work as a "Did you know?" fact even for native speakers,
as the word is now obscure enough that many young Japanese people don't know it. Nowadays, the sport
is referred to as "Barebōru" instead, which is simply volleyball written in Japanese characters.
Much of the language related to the sport is actually derived from English. Spikes
and serves are still known by the same name in Japanese, and you'll also find
the characters shouting English phrases during matches. These include "Donmai," which simply
means "don't mind," and is used to show support when someone drops the ball or makes a mistake.
Don't mind, Kageyama! Don't, don't mind! Kageyama –"
Next, "Haikyuu!!" fans have probably heard characters shout "Naisukī," which means
"nice kill." Teammates say this to each other when they hit a good spike and score a point.
"Nice kill!"
Another phrase commonly heard is "Naissā," which means "nice serve." This is often
shouted by a teammate when a player is about to serve to cheer on other players,
as serving is known to be tough on players' nerves.
"Nice serve!"
One funny thing to think about is that due to their poor grades in subjects like English, Hinata
and Kageyama probably don't know that they're speaking English-based phrases in matches at all.