HAIKYUU!!
STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
45
RELEASE
July 20, 2020
CHAPTERS
404
DESCRIPTION
A chance event triggered Shouyou Hinata's love for volleyball. His club had no members, but somehow persevered and finally made it into its very first and final regular match of middle school, where it was steamrolled by Tobio Kageyama, a superstar player known as "King of the Court." Vowing revenge, Hinata applied to the Karasuno High School volleyball club...only to come face-to-face with his hated rival, Kageyama! A tale of hot-blooded youth and volleyball from the pen of Haruichi Furudate!!
(Source: Shonen Jump)
Notes:
- Winner of the 61st Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shounen Category in 2017.
- Chapter count includes 2 extra chapters.
CAST
Shouyou Hinata
Tobio Kageyama
Yuu Nishinoya
Kenma Kozume
Tooru Oikawa
Kei Tsukishima
Koutarou Bokuto
Tetsurou Kuroo
Koushi Sugawara
Ryuunosuke Tanaka
Keiji Akaashi
Atsumu Miya
Satori Tendou
Tadashi Yamaguchi
Kiyoko Shimizu
Asahi Azumane
Daichi Sawamura
Keishin Ukai
Wakatoshi Ushijima
Hitoka Yachi
Hajime Iwaizumi
Shinsuke Kita
Osamu Miya
Rintarou Suna
Kiyoomi Sakusa
CHAPTERS
RELATED TO HAIKYUU!!
MANGA ComedyLet's! Haikyuu!?
ANIME ComedyHaikyuu!! 2nd Season
ANIME ComedyHaikyuu!! TO THE TOP
MANGA ComedyHaikyuu-bu!!
OVA ComedyHaikyuu!! Riku VS Kuu
ANIME ComedyHaikyuu!! TO THE TOP 2
ONE SHOT ComedyNisekyuu!!
MANGA ComedyShokugeki no Souma
REVIEWS
infinitely
Haikyuu!! is a must-read volleyball manga with memorable characters (and a satisfying conclusion)Continue on AniListHaikyuu!!
Series experience: read the prototype oneshot right before starting the series, but that’s it
Short review: Haikyuu!! is an engaging story about the fallen-champions men’s volleyball team of Karasuno high school. Despite not being big on sports manga or not knowing anything about volleyball, giving this a try is absolutely worth it. Without realizing it, you’ll be immediately hooked and rooting for the boys all the way. The story and the characters’ development is told brilliantly through the volleyball matches, and no play is useless in the entirety of the story - everything is connected.
Full review:
Warning: review contains spoilers
I’ve been meaning to start this for a while now, but I only decided to start reading Haikyuu!! because when the manga finished it was all I saw on my feed. A bit sad that I got on the hype train a bit late, but it was also nice to get into it with zero knowledge. We begin with Hinata, of course, being beaten by Kageyama in middle school really badly then ending up teammates with him. This does sound like the beginning of a whole bunch of Shounen Jump titles, but Hinata is such a support-worthy MC that you just keep on going.
Plot-wise, I’m not sure how it compares to other sports manga, because I haven’t read any others. However, to me, the simple plot of [the year that changed the team’s lives] going on to [a glimpse of how everyone is doing in the future] is great. I think some people feel like Hinata/Kageyama’s second year and third year stories should be told, but I think we already saw everything that we needed to see with Karasuno’s lineup that made them fly again. We find out anyway that they did make names for themselves, and the MSBY/Adlers game really feels more fulfilling because we see all the powerhouses still playing. After that short arc, we get even more timeskips and see our heroes succeeding - playing in the same team AND as rivals, which is exactly what we’d expect them to keep pursuing.
For the characters… where do I even begin? I am an absolute sucker for ensemble casts where you just fall in love with everyone. First of all, Hinata Shouyou is just a ray of sunshine that I immediately wanted to root for. He’s just got spirit and is such a sweetheart, he really affected so many people around him. Watching him grow out of the shadow of the Little Giant and coming into his own as Ninja Shouyou and an olympic player really made me proud. Kageyama as the darker rival archetype is the usual except that he’s only a volleyball genius and a dumbass in everything else and that makes him so endearing!! The other Karasuno members are so lovable as well, with how supportive they all are of each other and how they become catalysts for each team member to grow. I was especially happy with seeing the growth of the other first years - Tsukki during the Shiratorizawa match, Yachi no longer just a side character, and Yamaguchi becoming a great pinch server. The stable senpais are also so great - how they bring up the first years is just so heartwarming to see - especially Sugawara who doesn’t play in the starting lineup still teaching Kageyama. Coach and Sensei of course are also such great pillars for the team, without them, none of this would have happened.
The other teams are great as well - I ended up rooting for so many characters lol. Some stand out characters are Oikawa - not a genius, but ended up competing against the Japan team? Damn. Bokuto - how could you not like this guy, really. Ushiwaka - when we see him more outside of just being a strong player its amazing. Of course we have the Miyas, too… Nekomata’s members (all of them :((() and I could go on and on, but basically the cast of characters is really memorable and easily, you will find a favorite… or seven.
Lastly, we have the art. Again, I can’t compare this to other sports manga, but I can say that the art is nice and clean. The art style had subtle changes too from the beginning to the end, but that’s how it usually works with series that go on for over five years. Still, as someone who doesn’t play volleyball, I was still able to grasp what was happening on the court. The constant reminders of the current rotation, the explanations of the plays, and the the drawings of the ball’s trajectory really helped me follow what was going on. It wasn’t overwhelming at any point.
Overall, I’d recommend this to… anyone. Even though I might have initially been disinterested in following a story about some high school boys playing volleyball, by the end of it I was so attached to the characters and so proud of the tremendous growth they made. It’s definitely not difficult to get into, and the message of the whole thing - how everything is connected - and how Furudate showed this from the beginning to the end really felt like a beautiful set into a wonderful play. I hope more people would give Haikyuu!! a shot.
Plot 9/10
Art 9/10
Characters 10/10Overall personal enjoyment 10/10
Top 3 fave characters
Sugawara - I mentioned him earlier I love how he’s such a supportive senpai, even though he isn't part of the starting lineup :< his bright personality really helped the team out in dire times and it’s so fun to watch him being goofy in the sidelines
Hinata - I love this sunshine boy!! how could you not support him. He grows a lot too throughout the series but i love how consistent he is as a good friend to everyone else. his dynamic with Kageyama is adorable too!!
Oikawa - we stan the grand king !! it’s so entertaining seeing him be so petty with Tobio-chan, but so serious with volleyball. he took a different route compared to everyone else but I’m so glad it paid off. the little scenes with seijou also hit different :(( ken watanabe for lifeOthers: Tsukki, Akaashi, Osamu, Kuroo
Thank you for reading!
lllllllllll
Furudate masterpieceContinue on AniList*"I may be small, but I can jump!" - Shoyo Hinata* This review will consist of a basic recap of the manga, my thoughts about the plot, characters, art and overall review about Haikyu. (will contain spoilers)
Plot 10/10
Haikyu is a shounen jump manga gifted to us by the legendary Haruichi Furudate, Haikyu begins with the main protagonist Hinata Shoyo falling in love with volleyball by watching his idol and inspiration little giant play in nationals. The story then progresses to Hinata first match and only match in middle school which is against his good friend and fellow rival Tobio Kageyama. Even though Hinata suffers a major defeat by the hands of Kageyama, Hinata is determined to train hard and defeat Kageyama in the near future.
The story then progresses to High school with both Kageyama and Hinata playing for Karasuno, even though at first Both Hinata and Kageyama hated each other they were able to put their differences aside and focus on one goal, winning the inter-high and nationals. Karasuno once known as a powerhouse team for its great offensive power is now known as the flightless crows nonetheless they aspire to become the best team in the Miyagi prefecture. Karasuno journey to reaching the inter-high and nationals was not easy in fact they didn't even reach the inter-high at all as they were defeated by Kageyama's mentor and senior Oikawa (Aoba Johsai). Proceeding the defeat against Aoba Johsai we see the Tokyo Expedition Arc, unlike most sports manga we saw a lot of new faces and old faces during this training arc notably Bokuto from Fokurodani and Nekoma (Karasunos rivals) the training arc consisted the growth of Hinata as a middle blocker as well as Kageyama as a setter, furthermore we also saw some development with supporting cast members such as Tsukishima which was mentored and trained by Kuroo.
We then enter the spring high preliminary arc, in this arc, we saw great matches and rivalries flourish notably Oikawa vs Kageyama (Aoba Johsai vs Karasuno) this match possibly had the best set in the whole series imo, the famous Oikawa long set
After defeating Aoba Johsai, Karasuno only had one game left in fulfilling their dream to reach nationals. Defeating the raining Miyagi prefecture representative, Shiratorizawa!. Even though Shiratorizawa houses one of the top 3 aces in the whole country Ushijima Wakatoshi this game was fairly close, this game we saw enormous character development especially Tsukishima, rarely seen we saw for the first time Tsukishima show his true emotions, after blocking only one shot from one of the top 3 aces we finally saw a drive for Tsukishima to play volleyball a drive that never left him. The game was long, close and very emotional but in the end, Karasuno prevailed.
After the defeat of Shiratorizawa, we then saw another training arc, this arc had Kageyama become an All japan youth candidate (the same as Ushijima Wakatoshi) and Tsukishima was invited to attend the Shiratorizawa first years camp, unfortunately, Hinata was not chosen for either of them depressed and annoyed Hinata overheard Tsukishima making a joke with Yamaguchi about sneaking into the Shiratorizawa first-year camp, we can all pretty much understand what happened next knowing Hinata. even though Hinata was not able to play at all and was tasked to be a ball boy he still continued to attend the training program even though he was a ball boy he felt observing from the sidelines was a great opportunity to learn.
Nationals
This undoubtedly had one of the best games in the whole series (excluding the Jackels vs Adlers game) long story short Karasuno faced highly ranked teams throughout the country starting from Inarizaki to Nekoma to Kamomedai. The games were amazing with every little character seeing some development, In my opinion, Karasuno vs Nekoma was the best game we saw in this arc and the whole series(excluding Jackels vs Adlers) we also saw Hinatas biggest development as a character and the trigger for him to become one of the best volleyball players ever, the day in which he fell ill playing against Kamomedai, without this we would have not seen Hinata determination to get better at volleyball we would have not seen Ninja Shoyo or Kageyama vs Hinata but most importantly if Hinata gave up then we might have not seen Haikyu as a whole.
Beach volleyball
After a 2-year time skip, we see Hinata and Kagyema in there last year of high school, they both agree to face each other in the near future. Kageyama goes off to become one of japans youngest Olympic volleyball players ever and Hinata moves to brazil in order to obtain the arts of beach volleyball, we see familiar faces in brazil such as Oikawa who now plays in Argentina’s pro league, they teamed up for the first time and played some beach volleyball together
Black Jackels vs Adlers
Finally, we come to the end of Haikyu and its final game, MSBY Black Jackals vs Schweiden Adlers, Hinata vs Kageyama this game did not disappoint, both teams have familiar faces and so much great character development we finally saw Hinata beach volleyball come to work as he was now a more refined player than before. We, at last, saw Kageyamas back story to why he plays volleyball and who influenced him to play we were also given the best quote that was said the Kageyama and the exact reason to why he plays "Y'know Tobio... If you get really, reeeally good, you'll get to play lots more games. The best players get to play lots and lots of volleyball. If you get really good... I promise you... somebody who's even better will come along and find you." (To Tobio Kageyama, Volume 44 Chapter 387). Near the end of the game Furadate uses banners to give nostalgic feelings of players who we saw in high school especially the final point in which we saw Hinata going for a spike and Kageyama going for the block with the Karasuno banner behind them, this could mean loads of things but for me, this meant one thing as Kageyama and Hinata became pros they lived up to the Karasuno banner and both represent the sole message “Fly.”
Overview of plot
This plot is a masterpiece unlike other sports anime the whole story of Haikyu focuses on us the reader actually enjoying volleyball and wanting to play volleyball, throughout the whole series we did not see victory after victory but we saw victory, loss, victory and then loss, the fact that Karasuno did not win nationals or even make it to inter-high shows the focus of Furadate and sole purpose of Haikyu. Haikyuu reminds me a lot about run with the win even though they didn’t come first they still enjoyed the journey they took to get where they are right now and where they are as a human being. Not every player from Karasuno continued to play volleyball and not everyone enjoyed playing volleyball. And Furadate made sure to show us this in order to show us realism. Without the plot the character development for some characters would not have been great we would have not come to love Hinata if he didn’t experience shortcoming or shock, we would not have seen Washijou perception of volleyball change and come to the liking of Hinata if he was not defeated by Karasuno, as a whole Haikyu story did not disappoint and was worth wait and time spent reading.
Characters 10/10
In this, I am only going to go through a few characters in Haikyuu as every character experience some development.
Shoyo Hinata
Hinata character development is excellent from being a character with barely any recognition any technique but insanely athletic to gaining technique and skills from numerous training and shortcomings as well as gaining respect from volleyball players around the world this shows the amount of effort and thought Furadate put into Hinata. having a rocky friendship with Kageyama to now being his duo In the Olympics shows the connection built throughout the whole manga which could also give a short overview of the connections build in Haikyu as a whole. From being unlikeable at the start to becoming every one top 5 characters after the manga finished shows the excellent development seen by the greatest decoy Ninja Shoyo.
Tobio Kageyama
Undoubtedly one of the coolest characters in Haikyu, a co-main whose back story was only shown in the last game shows the methodical placing and character development done by Furudate, Kageyama as a character began as a cocky angry setter but since joining Karasuno and being influenced by such great characters around him we began to see him evolve and become more of a team player a good example of Kageyamas character development was when Atsumu referred to him as a “goody-two-shoes” even though at first you may think goody two shoes refers to his skills but it mainly means his communication skills Kageyama as a character always seemed for perfection and to become a perfected volleyball player one must master the art of communication and therefore this shows his development as a character from being a character with zero communication and anger issues to becoming a character who communicates with his teammates and gives the perfect set needed for his spikers.
Art 10/10
Haruichi Furudate is an artist normally I would not see myself reading sports manga’s as the hype or art is mainly shown through animation however after seeing some panels of its one-shot I was fully intrigued and gave it a shot and honestly it was worth it, here are some panels which I found amazing.
Full overview
Haruichi Furudate masterpiece is worth the effort and time, reading this gave me a passion to play volleyball but also the drive to create a sports manga of my own. From its very first one shot back in January 2011 to its first chapter I have stuck by it day in day out. I never had a regret nor did it get boring, the connections and relationships gained and developed throughout Haikyu were worth it. I am truly grateful that I was able to read along every week and see my favourite characters grow.
So for that, I thank you Haruichi Furudate
I hope you enjoyed my first review if you wanna talk about Haikyu or any anime or manga feel free to add my discord.
Discord: Chungu5#1753*“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” -Shoyo Hinata* 
Hazzi711
One of those sports series that can stir your blood up at any moment and is filled with amazing characters.Continue on AniListSo the time is finally here, the Haikyuu manga has ended. Personally I am a big fan of the manga since I have been reading it for 8 years now and seeing it end is saddening but at least things ended on a good note. I really enjoyed it throughout the years, things were consistent and the hype was always there. It was actually surprising to see Furadate shift from the horror genre to the sports genre and he managed to make it into this big of a series.
Story 8/10
The story isn't something unique when you look at it from the surface, it's basically like any other sports manga/anime in a high school setting. So what makes the story so great? The story is actually really well-thought out, all the major matches are exciting, it never gets boring and each match helps the characters evolve. The story is a bit slow-paced so people have dropped the manga. But the payoff which we get at the end of each match/arc is pretty much worth it. Furudate was able to show the people, some who know the sport and some who don't know anything, the essence of volleyball. The drama element of the story was okay, comedy was decent and Furudate only tried to do what he could do best focus on the sport. The story lacks SoL elements (which I am a big fan of especially in sports oriented series)unlike many other big shot sports series in the industry but that eventually became its strength because the character interaction on the top of the intense matches did the thing for Haikyuu.Like other sports series Haikyuu also used a ton of tropes but the way they were used is the best part, like Your greatest enemy being your rival trope was handled really well. The relationship between Hinata and Kageyama had friendship, rivalry and drama, even the way they ended the story this duo was one of the best parts in the story. One of my favorite part was that Hinata remained the decoy from start to end and it was done greatly (never felt forced). The ending, I was expecting more to be honest, but what we got was pretty decent. If we get a sequel Olympic Edition, I would be pretty satisfied. I won't put it on the same tier as Slam Dunk, Ping-pong or AnJ but it's not that far-off and it showed how great sports series can still be written realistically without giving them some SSJ powers.
Art 9/10
When you start reading the manga you may not enjoy the art that much but it grows on you as you continue reading. Furudate's art has seriously evolved from how it was at the start and how it is now. It is somehow really fitting for volleyball. The art is unique in its own way and you can distinguish it from the other arts. It is able to capture the intensity at the intense moments, fun at the comedic moments and the goofiness when it's goofy. The metaphorical depictions also looks great. The background art is amazing. The buildings, the details and architecture on the stadiums is great. The signature double page-spreads from Furudate are pretty good. The character designs are pretty simplistic, the characters can be differentiated based on their build, tropes and hair.The best part for me about the art is the paneling and the composition. The intensity of a rally, serves and spikes is uniquely captured by the paneling. The character composition is realistic and doesn't break the flow/intensity and it only got better as the story progressed.
Characters 9/10
My favorite part from Haikyuu are the characters. The characters are that indispensable part of the manga that make the matches and the story interesting. The two protagonists are really well developed, especially after seeing how things turned out in the last arc (holy shit, our boy Hinata developed both physically and mentally). Both of them are rivals yet strong friends. The supporting cast is amazingly well developed as well. Take anyone of them, look at what compels them to play the sport and how much they have progressed individually. The characters from the rival teams are also great. Since everyone loves this guy let’s take Oikawa, the man is well written, has skills to back up his talks and has his own ambitions even towards the end of the story he was doing what he always wanted to do.The character interactions are great and always interesting. Characters are what pull the weight for the lack of SoL element in the story. Some do complain about how there is an over-saturation of characters which sometimes leads to some weaker character which is somewhat true but that’s expected from a sports series especially with sports like volleyball, basketball and football. Towards the end of the story a “foil” to the main protagonist Hinata was introduced i.e. Hoshiumi Korai, this trope is often used in sports series but in a pathetic way where the MC miraculously overcomes the foil which is superior to him in one episode and the foil is useless for the rest of the story. But in Haikyuu the foil is used in an exceptional way, can’t explain how because that’s a big spoiler. Not many character I disliked and I guess that’s about enough rambling about the characters.
Enjoyment 10/10
What’s left for me to say, I personally loved the series. It was a memorable experience. Also would love to re-read the series in the future, pretty sure it would make me appreciate it more. The consistency made me read it through the years, even though it was slow paced. The characters and the intense matches with the art were the most enjoyable parts for me.Overall the manga is 8.5-9/10 for me. Now for the question that should the anime only fans read the manga? Well if you ask I would say yes, the manga is a must read even if you don’t want to read beyond the story of the anime, try it from the start and then catch up the latest animated chapter and decide for yourself. But I got many people into reading the Haikyuu manga and their impression was that they were missing out on it big time. Definitely a sad yet happy occasion for me.
SIMILAR MANGAS YOU MAY LIKE
MANGA ComedyEyeshield 21
MANGA DramaAhiru no Sora
MANGA ComedyKuroko no Basket
MANGA ActionHajime no Ippo
MANGA ActionHinomaru-Zumou
MANGA DramaBallroom e Youkoso
MANGA ComedyCross Manage
MANGA RomanceBaby Steps
SCORE
- (4.4/5)
TRAILER
MORE INFO
Ended inJuly 20, 2020
Trending Level 1
Favorited by 11,142 Users