After eight years, Haruichi Furudate's beloved volleyball manga Haikyuu!! has finally ended. While the monumental work certainly made a splash in the sports manga scene, Haikyuu!! also had an influence on the world around it, particularly in the sport of volleyball. Although Haikyuu!! doesn't directly reference real athletes (like Yuri!!! on ICE), this passionate story of team bonds has forever changed the perception of volleyball, inside and out.
Sports Manga Impacts
Sports manga has long had a powerful impact on Japanese pop culture, exemplified most recently by the now-delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics’ original plans for a Sports X Manga exhibition. The 50-minute NHK documentary, "We Became Strong Through Manga," details the effect Haikyuu!! has had on high school and professional athletes. Previous broadcasts of the show also featured classic shows like Slam Dunk alongside more modern series such as Yowamushi Pedal and Ping Pong.
During the program, Japanese volleyball players speak out about their passion and inspiration from Haikyuu!!. The documentary even provides data showing a steep increase in high school men’s volleyball members in the years following Haikyuu!!’s release. Interviews with various high school men’s volleyball teams yielded passionate responses such as: “I love Hinata!” and “My team reads it together, and we look forward to it every week.” Several of the boys interviewed even said that they and other teams were inspired by the techniques in the manga, and try to use them in their matches.
Haikyuu!! isn't just inspiring, but also realistic, with Furudate reflecting the experiences of volleyball players. In the documentary, Masahiro Yanagida, the 2018 captain of the Japanese national volleyball team, explained how he became interested in Haikyuu!! and wanted to mimic what he saw in the manga, aspiring to be like both the optimistic Hinata and ace Bokuto. However, Yanagida also strongly identified with exhilarating moments in the series, such as slamming the perfect spike past the opposing team and building relationships with his teammates. Another player from the Japanese national volleyball team, Akihiro Yamauchi, talked about how the illustrated movements of blockers such Tsukishima really highlighted the exact feelings of what it’s like to successfully block a ball.
Overall, Haikyuu!! isn't just inspiring for the next generation, but also reflects the very real experiences of those who participate in the sport while simultaneously affecting how they view and understand their roles in it.
Memorable Characters and Story
The diverse cast of personalities represented in each team also provides fans a multitude of opportunities to connect to characters; Nishinoya’s tenacity, Ushijima’s strength and Asahi’s reliability are all things with which people identify. Furudate does not hold back on giving unique traits to even side characters, indirectly fleshing them out with unspoken thoughts and goals. For example, Nekoma High wing spiker Shohei Fukunaga rarely gets any lines in the manga or anime, a few exceptions being puns that he makes under his breath. Not to be forgotten, the final chapter reveals that he’s fulfilled his pun-based dreams to become a comedian.
Haikyuu!!’s relatable characters and easy-to-digest plot make it great for younger readers. While the manga is realistic and features a many real volleyball terms and techniques, Haikyuu!! is still accessible and easy to understand without being over simplistic. The compelling character development, complex rival relationships and realistic circumstances also make Haikyuu!! just as fulfilling for older fans.
In terms of the fandom in general, the simplicity of Haikyuu!!'s uniforms also makes characters extremely accessible for cosplay, allowing people to easily dress as their favorite characters for such events as anime conventions. Similarly, the highly recognizable colors, outfits, and hairstyles of the characters may have also contributed to the multitude of fanart inspired by the manga, causing it to gain even more popularity through social media exposure.
Past and Present
While Haikyuu!! is certainly popular now, any speculation about the manga's reputation in the future requires at least some comparison to older classics, and that's where things can get a bit complicated. Hajime no Ippo, or Fighting Spirit, is a classic sports manga that has run since 1989. It has over 96 million copies in print and is one of the best-selling manga in history. Even more impressive is Slam Dunk; its six-year manga run has over 121 million copies in print and inspired multiple other basketball manga, including Kuroko's Basketball and Ahiru no Sora. In 2010, Slam Dunk creator Takehiko Inoue even received a commendation from the Japanese Basketball Association.
Haikyuu!!, for its parts, already has 38 million copies in print and is quickly catching up to similarly popular series such as Kuroko's Basketball and Prince of Tennis. Haikyuu!!'s anime adaptation spans seventy-eight episodes and a whopping four movies, making it, without a shred of doubt, Furudate’s most well-known manga. While Haikyuu!!'s sales numbers are lower than Fighting Spirit and Slam Dunk right now, sports manga like Baby Steps have enjoyed popularity far beyond their original run.
Unlike its predecessors, the modern age of rapid localization has put Haikyuu!! at a distinct advantage. With the help of major anime and manga distributors in North America and elsewhere, the series explosive growth might continue to outstrip its predecessors faster than anyone may have expected, catapulted by a broad global audience. This may be Haikyuu!!'s most powerful advantage as a cultural icon: The series has crossed national borders and is popular globally.
That being said, both the Haikyuu!! manga and anime show a great deal of care with an endless number of angles and stylized action effects. Some of these effects are particularly novel and clever, like when a ball obscures a character's lines, showing it moved faster than their thoughts. As a uniquely balanced manga with strong points in character, story, and creative artistic techniques, Haikyuu!!'s innovations will certainly continue to serve as inspiration for future series, ensuring that at least in some way the manga will influence what follows it.