"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?
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00:00Haikyuu set the bar as one of the most popular manga-turned-anime-turned-stageplay.
00:05But who is the mysterious author behind the series?
00:08And what does that foot mean on all the boys' uniforms?
00:12The big goal for the Karasuno volleyball team in Haikyuu is to win a tournament known as
00:16the Inter-High.
00:17When the team plays in the spring Inter-High in Tokyo for the first time, they are amazed
00:21by the scale of the event, the huge arenas, the number of courts, the number of teams,
00:25and the TV filming crews are all beyond expectations.
00:29This is a real tournament in Japan, and they are just as big of a deal in real life as
00:33they are in Haikyuu.
00:34It's so much cooler to see it happen in person, man!
00:37When the Inter-Highs were canceled in 2020, the team behind Haikyuu put together a project
00:41in support of the students that wouldn't get to play that year.
00:44The staff collected 165 uniforms of real teams that had been hoping to play in the tournament
00:50and arranged them in a special commemorative photo.
00:52For third-year students who would graduate in 2020, the cancellation meant that they'd
00:56lost their final opportunity to play in a high school tournament, which can be quite
01:00disheartening.
01:01The photo included a message to the players which can be translated into something like
01:05this,
01:06"'Your stories don't end here.
01:07From here on out, you can do anything you set your minds to.'"
01:10The official Haikyuu website also publishes free posters using anime and manga art, which
01:15school volleyball clubs can use to attract and recruit new members.
01:19School sports clubs, or bukatsu, are a big deal in Japan, and the majority of students
01:24take part in the club from the age of 12 until they graduate high school at 18.
01:28In Haikyuu, Karasuno team members are seen turning up at the gym before school begins,
01:33and staying after school past sundown.
01:35They attend practice matches and tournaments on weekends, and club practice is still held
01:39around three times a week during the summer holidays.
01:42Because of all this, it can be easy to think that the protagonist and his team are going
01:45above and beyond the usual, but in actuality, all of these activities are standard practice
01:50in the world of bukatsu.
01:51It's an extreme commitment for the kids, their parents, and even the teachers, who often
01:56need to look after the clubs during the summer and outside of work hours, but may not even
02:00get any extra pay for it.
02:02"'That would be ridiculously ridiculous.'"
02:04Unsurprisingly, club activities can also take up time students would otherwise spend studying,
02:09which can lead to some conflicts of interest.
02:11Just like the exam troubles Hanata has at the start of Season 2, real students can also
02:15miss out on important club outings if their grades are not up to scratch.
02:20Fan cafes are a standard superfan activity in Japan, and many popular franchises such
02:25as Final Fantasy XIV or Kirby have permanent cafes in big cities.
02:30For anime, however, it's more common to see limited-time pop-up cafes, often when new
02:34content for the franchise is released.
02:36For instance, when Haikyuu!
02:37To the Top was airing, a limited-time Animate x Haikyuu! cafe opened in Tokyo.
02:42The cafe provided a place for fans to sit and eat themed food, while surrounded by artwork
02:47of their favorite characters, and even be served by waiters in character cosplay.
02:51The drinks were themed after different Karasuno team members, such as Hanata's Orange Drink
02:56or Kageyama's Concentration Coco, and each menu item came with a special coaster with
03:01original character art.
03:02Most themed cafes also serve as special pop-up shops, which sell limited-edition merchandise,
03:08often with special art drawn especially for the cafe.
03:11Multiple franchises can sometimes join forces to present special cafes, too, and in 2022,
03:17Haikyuu! collaborated with the popular video game Monster Hunter Rise for a special Capcom
03:22cafe.
03:23These cafes can be especially popular, as fans get to see their favorite characters
03:27in outfits and contexts that would never exist in their own universes.
03:32As odd as it may seem, stage plays are pretty common in the world of anime and manga.
03:36Once a manga has an anime adaptation, the next step is often a live-action drama or
03:40a theater production.
03:42Many popular franchises, such as Naruto and Tokyo Ghoul, have produced stage plays, and
03:47Haikyuu! is no exception.
03:48The hyper-projection play Haikyuu!
03:50Stage Performance ran in 2015 and 2016, and used a mixture of manga art, video animation,
03:56and live performance to tell the story of the formation of the Karasuno team.
04:01The play involves a lot of dancing and singing, unlike the original material, but still has
04:05plenty of Haikyuu!-style goofy comedy.
04:08A voice for the show was also made, which can still be found on certain sites even in
04:12the West.
04:13Although the play is in Japanese, performances held in Tokyo offered subtitle glasses, which
04:18displayed English subtitles for the show when worn.
04:20A DVD of the performance was also released in 2015, which included bonus features such
04:25as interviews with the cast.
04:27The play is a completely standalone project, and does not involve any of the voice actors
04:31from the anime.
04:32But the world of anime theater has its own stars.
04:35For example, the actor playing Kageyama also starred in the Prince of Tennis musical, and
04:39both the Hanata and Kageyama actors starred in a Naruto stage play as well.
04:45Despite penning an award-winning manga with a successful anime adaptation and a loyal
04:49following, the author known as Haruichi Furudate is a mystery.
04:53The popularity of Haikyuu! has continued for over a decade now, and yet Haruichi's face
04:58has never been revealed.
05:00Since Haikyuu! is a shounen manga, meaning it is aimed at young boys, it is often assumed
05:04that Haruichi is male, and this is reflected in Viz Media's decision to use male pronouns
05:09in their official translation of the manga.
05:11However, Haruichi's gender has never been officially confirmed.
05:15Pronouns don't need to be used at all in the Japanese language, so Haruichi is simply referred
05:19to by name with no gender-specific language.
05:22Other kinds of information on the author are also scarce, so it's not really possible to
05:26infer gender that way either.
05:28Though Haruichi is a male name, it could easily be a pen name, and while we know that they
05:32played volleyball in junior high school, girls' volleyball clubs are just as common
05:36as boys'.
05:37When Haruichi's comments or interviews are published on the Shounen Jump website, the
05:41icon used is a strange bird character wearing some sort of suit.
05:45Additionally, some fans in Japan believe that Haikyuu! is written from a very female perspective,
05:50despite being published in a magazine for young boys, and they suspect that the author
05:54could be female.
05:55Does it, uh, really even matter?
05:58In Japan, the Haikyuu!
05:59manga was serialized in the weekly Shounen Jump magazine, alongside other big names such
06:03as One Piece, Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, and many more.
06:07The magazine began in 1968, and is an iconic part of modern Japanese manga culture, which
06:13naturally means that Shounen Jump merchandise stores exist.
06:16Across Japan, there are 12 of these Jump shops in the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima,
06:22and Fukuoka.
06:23Haikyuu! remains one of the most popular series that Jump owns, despite it being finished,
06:28which means that the Jump shops devote a good portion of their display space to the Haikyuu!
06:32franchise.
06:33Common merchandise types include stationery, acrylic keyrings, acrylic stands, lip balms
06:38and accessories, phone cases, card cases, and more.
06:43Merchandise for a show with many characters like Haikyuu! is often categorized and displayed
06:46by teams and characters, so fans can find their favorite character quickly and easily.
06:51The Jump shops also sell special birthday badges of Haikyuu! characters each year when
06:56their birthday comes around.
06:59The Karasuno team members Yu Nishinoya and Asahi Azumane serve as foils, intended by
07:05Furudate to compare and contrast against one another.
07:08This is shown through mirroring elements of their characters, such as their birthdays,
07:1210-10 and 1-1.
07:13Additionally, Asahi is the tallest member of the Karasuno team, at 6'1", and Nishinoya
07:19is the shortest at 5'3", a full inch shorter than Hinata.
07:22"...and Nishinoya is only about 150 centimeters."
07:25"...I'm 160!"
07:28Other notable contrasts between the two characters include their personalities.
07:32Nishinoya is boisterous and full of confidence, constantly taking part in silly behavior with
07:36Tanaka.
07:37"...Nice one."
07:38"...Okay, you can stop now."
07:42In contrast, Asahi is quiet and slightly shy, which leads to some confidence issues.
07:47Judging by these personalities alone, you might think that Nishinoya was the front and
07:51center ace of the team, and Asahi the behind-the-scenes libero, but in actuality, it's the opposite.
07:57Kageyama and Oikawa are also seen as foils due to the way Okigawa contrasts Kageyama's
08:02play style and interpersonal skills.
08:05Kageyama is a brilliant setter because he has the physical ability to handle the ball
08:08with precision, but he's bad at communicating.
08:11Oikawa, meanwhile, doesn't have particularly precise skills, but he scores points by communicating
08:17with his teammates.
08:19Due to the fast-paced nature of the anime industry, clearing trademarks for use isn't
08:23considered a top priority, and most shows cut out this part of the process entirely.
08:28Instead, names like McDonald's, Apple, Starbucks, and Google undergo slight spelling or thematic
08:34changes that result in the birth of gems like Wack-Donald, Hare, Starducks, and Zoogle.
08:40Haikyuu is no different in this regard, and you may have spotted convenience stores named
08:448-Eleven and Electronics by Somi hiding in the show.
08:47However, have you noticed the fake brand name on the Karasuno uniform before?
08:51If you look closely, you'll notice the team's uniforms all bear a logo consisting of a foot
08:55and the letters ICS.
08:57When read with the Japanese word for foot, this logo spells Ace-X, and it's a parody
09:01of the famous sports brand Ace-X, which is especially well-known for its volleyball products.
09:07This was an unconfirmed reference for a while, but when Ace-X asked Furudate about it, they
09:11confirmed the parody, explaining that they wore Ace-X shoes while playing volleyball
09:16in school.
09:17Since then, the sports brand has carried out campaigns with Haikyuu, featuring the art
09:21of characters with the real Ace-X logo emblazoned on their chests.
09:25Japan is a country full of language-based Easter eggs, puns, and hidden meanings.
09:29One of the biggest ones in Haikyuu is that its title is an old term for volleyball in
09:33Japanese.
09:34The word is spelled with the Chinese character for throw or expel, and the character for
09:38ball.
09:39Believe it or not, this can work as a did-you-know fact even for native speakers, as the word
09:43is now obscure enough that many young Japanese people don't know it.
09:47Nowadays, the sport is referred to as Barabora instead, which is simply volleyball written
09:51in Japanese characters.
09:53Much of the language related to the sport is actually derived from English.
09:56Spikes and serves are still known by the same name in Japanese, and you'll also find the
10:00characters shouting English phrases during matches.
10:03These include Danmai, which simply means, don't mind, and is used to show support when
10:07someone drops the ball or makes a mistake.
10:15Next, Haikyuu fans have probably heard characters shout Naisuki, which means, nice kill.
10:21Teammates say this to each other when they hit a good spike and score a point.
10:26Another phrase commonly heard is Naisa, which means, nice serve.
10:30This is often shouted by a teammate when a player is about to serve to cheer on other
10:33players, as serving is known to be tough on players' nerves.
10:38One funny thing to think about is that due to their poor grades in subjects like English,
10:42Hanata and Kageyama probably don't know that they're speaking English-based phrases in
10:46matches at all.