Iwaizumi is canonically a Japanese uni grad
I just spent like an hour or two trying to figure out if Iwaizumi is a college sophomore in Japan or America and basically I hate to be the bearer of this news (because I love uci!Iwa) but I’m now 99% sure that Iwaizumi is still studying in Japan during 395 and I had to share this information because surely SOMEONE else has wondered this and I just spent the better part of my evening researching it (read: doing very basic maths with great difficulty) so I’m going to put my results here which i spent even longer writing i hate myself why do i do this
Let’s start with the basics:
- Iwaizumi’s birthday is 10th June 1994
- Ushijima’s birthday is 13th August 1994
- They both graduated March 2013 at 18yrs old
- Ushijima then went on to debut in the Japan team
- Iwaizumi then went to university
- The 395 flashback is set during the 2014 World League
- In 395 Ushijima is 19, Iwaizumi is 19 (3 months earlier)
NOW
Firstly, the 2014 world league took place from 23rd May ~ 20th July
IRL, Japan lost by an absolute fucking landslide in the first round, so they only played until 29th June
RIGHT
SO
Tendo saw the article on Ushijima’s game assumedly very soon after it happened (ie almost certainly during the 2014 games season, also because Ushijima was still 19)
When Ushijima says he went to visit his dad, it was 3 months earlier. If the world league was from May ~ July, then that means he went to Irvine at some point from Feb ~ April, but most likely Feb ~ March. Either way though, he definitely went AFTER January and BEFORE May 2014. This allows for Ushijima to have played in the World leagues and been 19 AND for him to have met Iwaizumi at 19 three months earlier when he was in America to watch his dad’s team play.
Now the university. In Japan, schools and universities start in April and end in March. In America they start in September and end in June.
Let’s say Iwa went to Uni in America after graduating in Japan, his timeline would have looked like this:
March 2013 (18) Graduate Seijoh
September 2013 (19) Start Freshman year
Feb~April 2014 (19) STILL A FRESHMAN
Therefore, Iwaizumi MUST have gone to a Japanese uni, which would make his timeline look like this:
March 2013 (18) Graduate Seijoh
April 2013 (18) Start Freshman year
Feb/March 2014 (19) End Freshman year > now considered a Sophomore(?)
Feb~April 2014 (19) a 19yr old Sophomore using his end of year holidays to go visit Utsui in America
Those of you with faster brains than mine probably got there five years ago, but it took me working out both options laboriously by hand to figure this out because I’m dumb
That said, I do still have some doubts
I realise that the timings are iffy (and tbh, I’m actually not super sure if in Japan they would start calling someone a second year before the second year has officially started??) but they still fit better than they could POSSIBLY fit if Iwa went to an American uni
Also, Iwaizumi literally says he’s always wanted to talk with him and if it was “today” he had time. That doesn’t exactly sound like something someone would say if they had to come from the other side of the world…
Maybe he did a year abroad in his second year or something, I don’t even know. All I know is that I’m pretty sure he’s not a UCI sophomore, and this brings me great sadness.
Anyway, that’s my long and unnecessarily long post which I’m also writing for my own reference and not proofing or anything because I’ve had enough for one night. If anyone wants to fact check me, please do (genuinely)
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