The End of an Era, The End of Haikyu!! | Manga Mondays

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!

Yesterday was pretty emotional for me. (My necklace broke) My favorite manga, the manga that got me back into manga, arguably one of the best manga of the decade, ended serialization. Haikyu!! is over at 402 chapters. Furudate hung up his volleyball hat. 

Haikyu!! Chapter 402 double colored spread (7.19.20)

Let's talk stats. Haikyu!! (Japanese for volleyball) is a sports manga series published in Shonen Jump Weekly, by author/artist Haruichi Furudate. At 402 chapters, it is the longest sports manga to date (the previous champion, Prince of Tennis, ended at 379 chapters). The first chapter was published way back in 2012, making a (very successful) eight year run. 

Being a sports manga, Haikyu!! takes place in our own modern day world, and very nearly corresponds to the years serialized. Our main protagonist, Shoyo Hinata (English name order, first then last) wants nothing more than to join the Karasuno high school volleyball team, and make it to nationals, where he first watched the legendary "Tiny Giant" play on the orange court in Tokyo. 

Shoyo Hinata panel redraw - my own work

Since Haikyu!! is a multicast series, it would take ages for me to talk about all the teams and characters that are in this series. As you can see in the first photo, there are dozens of players, and nearly all of them have their own backstory, motivations, and goals. That's the biggest thing I love about Haikyu!! You end up caring about every single one of these boys. Your first go around with the manga (and/or the anime) you root for Karasuno, but you end up finding characters from other teams that you care about, and soon you don't know what to feel. 

Personally, my favorite character of the series is Tooru Oikawa, the captain of the Aoba Johsai High School volleyball team, and our deuteragonist's (Tobio Kageyama) first senpai.

Look at him. He's perfect. He's an ass, but he's perfect. 

As far as adaptations go, Haikyu!! has an anime with four seasons out so far, with part two of season four airing in October 2020. There are currently 74 episodes, with four OVA's (original video animations: essentially they're extra episodes that aren't tied into the anime's overarching plot). There are also four movies, a video game, and a stage play. 

Yes, you read that right. A stage play. And it's amazing.

Did I mention it's a musical? It's a musical. Every volleyball game is an intense dance sequence. 

This is one of the decades most popular manga. As of May 2020, Haikyu!! has over 38 million copies in print, with 43 volumes currently published. In 2016, it won best shonen of the 61st Shogukukan Manga Awards. The anime was one of the top 10 most streamed anime in over five countries, according to Crunchyroll, the official anime streaming site. Basically, it's worth the hype. 

As I said before, Haikyu!! was the manga that got me back into manga. The anime that got me back into anime. I started watching the anime back in 2018, and instantly became obsessed. My pinterest board (yes, I have a board specifically for Haikyu!!) has over 1,750 pins. I've done detailed chapter analyses on my tumblr (which I will not be linking, it's full on weeb trash and I don't feel like totally exposing myself today) and just overall gushed into oblivion. This is my favorite manga of all time. It holds a very special place in my heart. Full transparency, I've been crying at the past ten chapters or so, because I haven't wanted it to end. 

If you're looking to get into manga and anime, I highly suggest Haikyu!! as your introductory series. It's not too complicated, there's no lore or worldbuilding you need to learn, but it's emotional. It'll tug on your heartstrings. You'll never know how much a group of high school volleyball players can wriggle their way into your hearts until you're twenty hours into the anime and crying with every episode. 

I don't recommend the dub of the anime, though. As someone who started with the original Japanese, the dub sounds so bad. Then again, that's just me. 

You can find Haikyu!! on Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll. The volumes can be found wherever manga is sold, and you can also read it chapter by chapter on VIZ's official Shonen Jump Weekly site. 

Goodbye, Haikyu!! Thanks for teaching me how to fly. 

Until next time.