#hq meta

[reineyday]

ive said it before but i'll say it again: i love how haikyuu presents these very scary antagonists to us only to very thoroughly defang them, so that by the time their lil team arc wraps up, we remember that at the end of the day theyre all just teenagers playing a sport that they love.

oh, grand king oikawa? gets dunked on by his teammates incredibly regularly, and whines about it. iron wall aone? very earnestly wants to be friends with hinata. stz cannon ushiwaka? volleyball idiot. daishou suguru the snake? extremely grateful his gf wants to give him a second chance. scary miya twins, bendy middle blocker suna, and top 5 ace aran? need their captain on court to calm down again lol.

it's so refreshing to pick up a shounen manga about teenagers and have the reminder that they are also just teenagers. instead of getting overinflated with stakes like so much shounen manga, sports or otherwise, haikyuu is such a real take on real life stakes. it feels bigger than life, and it is bigger than life--for some of those kids, volleyball becomes their life. but there's always more to them than just the game, and there's no true bad guy, and it always reminds us in the end that it's about the love of the sport, and the role sports can play in learning about how to take care of yourself, and building community. it's nice. :')

[shoyowo]

it could be just my piss poor interpretation skills but often the quote oikawa says at the end of seijoh2 is translated to - "talent is something you can bloom. instinct is something you polish." and while that's fine, in this specific translation they add a "but".

this put together with the commentary by ukai - which is also missing in the anime - adds a whole lot more to the conversation.

i always understood this as oikawa saying "talent is something you bloom AND instinct is something you polish"

but in conjunction with his previous words, what he means more so is that while he needs to wait for his talent to bloom, which might happen today, tomorrow, or even when he's 30. his INSTINCTS? he can hone it today, right at this very moment and that is exactly how he's able to accomplish a set of that high calibre.

[shoyowo]

oikawa tooru is not a genuis

aka a meta analysis of Oikawa Tooru's hard-work & how it ties into his play-style as a setter

What comes to fruition in this episode/equivalent manga chapter has been built up and slowly put into place over the course of the last few chapters/eps, which is this - Oikawa Tooru is built up of pure effort & hard-work and not inherent talent.

Moreso than trying to put down the concept of people with natural talent, I feel this statement and this concept is more to hammer in Oikawa's character and the effort Oikawa as a person puts into the sport.

Inklings of this has always been present but the first definitive scene where we see this theme being furthered is when Oikawa gets the "Dateko vs Karasuno" match recording and watches it through the night. This is paralleled with Ukai doing the same - the extra mile is, obviously and normally, taken by Karasuno's Coach and not by any specific player in Karasuno. (Interestingly enough the anime ep title is "Coaches")

Curiously enough in Seijoh it is Oikawa that assumes the coach role. It isn't explained and the team isn't surprised, making it seem casual and normal. Oikawa calls for a time-out to his coach and his coach follows suit. He gathers his team around, explaining his findings on the team (through the homework that he had done) and devises a strategy to beat them - all things typically done by the coach.

To further drive this in, something as minute as the team's warm ups is used to show the amount of tiny details that Oikawa knows about each of his spikers - small encouragement for Makki, apologising to Kindaichi despite being his senior , and taunting Iwaizumi as per their usual dynamic.

Not only does he show it in his actions, he verbalises it before every match as a reminder. As a setter, he is someone who elevates his team - using the deep bond he has created with them as a vessel.

"Rule the court" is Seijoh's banner and while that isn't explicitly commented on, we do have multiple people commenting on how Seijoh as a team and by extension Oikawa as their setter/conductor play by taking control of each rally - by essentially ruling the court.

All of these puzzle pieces of Oikawa's grit and determination and pure, simple, effort, and him using sheer work to reach to his team & form that intimate bond with them by noticing tiny details about his own team (and his opponents), we finally reach the climax of this mini arc: at this moment, pit against the "natural prodigy" -

[suckishima]

look at this small funny comedic moment from chapter 4 (!!!!) where hinata works himself so hard that he makes himself sick. definitely still humorous and fun on a second read through and totally doesnt evoke any strong emotions in me about self care or knowing your limits, nope this is fine. i'm fine.

(i cut out some of the panels in between to make this moment more obvious for the purposes of showcasing my point for this post, but in those panels kageyama's inner monologue about hinata's greatest weapon being his drive to keep going no matter how tired he is is so wildly good, especially contrasted with how that exact weapon is immediately what makes hinata sick here)

[softeninglooks]

i finally watched "haikyuu!: the dumpster battle" today, and it really felt like falling in love with the series all over again 🥹🥹

in the beginning i was a little worried that the cuts would make it somewhat less meaningful, but everything ended up being extremely well balanced. the fast-paced volleyball scenes were absolutely exhilarating, it felt like watching a real volleyball game and reminded me of how captivating the sports is!! and the emotional scenes and flashbacks were at all the right places, they tug at the heartstrings in this wonderful way hq always does.

whenever i rewatch or read hq i'm so deeply moved by how much love was put into this series, how the relationships between the characters are so strong and significant, how furudate and all the people who've participated in the making of hq gave it their all and created such a beautiful, inspiring, and heartwarming story, and i left the cinema with the same feeling. i got really overwhelmed towards the end, when the fun of volleyball and the strength of friendships and the sheer love and passion that permeates hq shine to the fullest as the game is about to come to an end. this movie captured the lessons that hq teaches us so well, and the funny bits were so heartwarming too! <3

my friends who had never watched hq before (though i have talked their ears off many times) really enjoyed it as well and loved both the characters' backstories and the cat/crow symbolism. the music was also extraordinary, it enhanced the whole experience, and made the game all the more thrilling and poignant.

"orange" playing as the credits rolled really had the tears flowing. even though hq ended, the fact that we have this movie, and another one coming, and new one shots and illustrations, resonates with the song itself. "hoping that it will last one more second, just one more second" - i know that in my heart, haikyuu! will last forever. 🧡

[brazil-hinata]

washijo sensei's 'the more hinata climbs higher the treacherous his path will be',,,, washijo sensei could have sent hinata home but instead choose to say he can be a ball boy.. washijo sensei knowing that if hinata wanna compete in the pros he would have to do better than that.. where do i begin with the ball boy ARC

[brazil-hinata]

oikawa and his impostor syndrome

as much as i love shiratorizawa and inarizaki's match, nothing can ever top seijoh 2 match point for me. the music, the camera angles, the tension, oikawa's bloom, with a hint of funniness, are all so unparalleled.

not to mention, oikawa's impostor syndrome. i find it soooo funny that the two people who oikawa is so insecure about, which is ushiwaka and tobio, actually respects oikawa a great lot because they know that oikawa IS great (and a monster). toruu's ability to read his players AND opponents, then use their strengths and weakness, is nothing sort of amazing; these are the things ushiwaka and tobio initially did not have.

besides, i feel like toruu overestimate tobio a bit much ?? Like during middle school, tobio was playing volleyball out of love, while toruu was doing it out of pressure, so of course tobio came off bette during middle school.

regarding the seijoh ii game, it was just like oikawa said, karasuno, as a WHOLE, was just a bit better than them and that's why they lost.

regarding shiratorizawa vs seijoh, my main argument for seijoh's loss here is that they've been fighting each other since middle school, and mayhaps they've been so used with each other, hence the fact that they always lost. and i will have to say that before kyotani, seijoh did lack the offensive power and unpredictability karasuno has.

and if seijoh did end up in nationals, i strongly believe they can win the 1st and 2nd rounds (as long as they ain't facing sakusa)

in conclusion, i strongly believe that oikawa was just as great as tobio and ushiwaka, oikawa just had his own insecurities and couldn't appreciate himself fully. mayhaps we do the same thing with ourselves, being insecure and focused about others that we fail to see our own greatness.

[secretive3amramenmaker]

rewatching haikyuu until international battle of the garbage heap international date is released - s1ep1

(I'm not sure if I'll say something super deep while rewatching, but I'm mostly just chronicling my rewatch. I'll probably continue this after the international date is released, I just want to see how long it'll take lol.)

Seeing the first match between Kageyama and Hinata, I really appreciate how Furudate writes both deuteragonists to be loveable, compared to other manga where the two main characters start off as totally antagonistic but mellow out as the season progresses. You can see how even if they are rivals (and still are rivals despite being teammates in Karasuno), they share the same passion for volleyball and respect the players that challenge them.

One moment that really stays with me is when Kunimi (I think that's his name? The middle part guy?) doesn't put his full effort into chasing a ball that Hinata managed to get past their blockers since Kitagawa Daichi is clearly ahead and he thinks they don't need to put in their full effort. If the other team wins, it'll be a miracle. In response to that, Kageyama says: "[t]hat last point was no miracle. He scored a genuine point."

You can really tell that he (and Hinata as his foil) doesn't want to lose, that every point is important to them. Kageyama, despite getting the nickname "King of the Court" is still showing a genuine, roundabout kind of sportsmanship.

Some nice foreshadowing that I noticed on rewatch is that when Izumi messes up a set but Hinata uses his innate athleticism to reach the ball, Kageyama says "[h]ow is he there?" Thought it was a nice nod that when put together, Hinata can connect to the quicks that most players find difficult and that he'll be the first one to remind Kageyama after his team gives up on him that Karasuno and Hinata won't give up on him so easily.

Also thought that Hinata was such a good senpai to the three little first years! I thought that it was sweet that Izumi and Koji show up in season three to support Shoyo in the Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa match, but I wonder what it must be like for you to join a volleyball club in middle school as a first year, and then the next year hear that your former captain went to Nationals and is now a volleyball beast. If that doesn't motivate you, I don't know what.