History Manga / Haikyuu

* FriendlyRivalry: No matter how fierce the official or practice matches can be, teams often good alliances with one another especially if in the same region. In particular is the Fukurodani Academy Group's training camp (Fukurodani, Nekoma, Shinzen, Ubugawa, and later Karasuno); outside of official and practice matches, they enjoy training with each other and don't hesitate to mingle or give advice.

* ArtShiftedSequel: Season 4 of the anime adaptation marks the debut of the new art style. While Seasons 1-3 of the anime matches the initial manga design, it does not reflect the gradual art-shift the manga underwent; and so by Season 3 the anime had some stylistic differences compared to the manga chapters it was adapting (such as the slightly different hair and eyes and the toned down muscles). The Season 4 designs follows the later manga art more closely.

** The cover of the 45th and final volume of the manga is [[https://twitter.com/Haikyu_EN/status/1323643378853154816 the same as the cover of the first volume]], only with Hinata and Kageyama being older.

* CastFullOfPrettyBoys: Although only Oikawa is explicitly stated to be attractive, the character designs of most guys are generally easy on the eyes and strongly outnumber the female cast (justified as this series focuses on boys' volleyball).

** Date Tech High School's team chant, which is lampshaded to be rather catchy:

** One of the teams at nationals, Inarizaki, even uses this to their advantage. They know that they're a popular team with a wildly large crowd following and school cheer squad, so their cheer squad has specific cheers designed to destabilize the other team while they're serving or trying to make snap judgements. The stadium gets noticeably quieter and more positive when Inarizaki is serving, and the crowd goes as far as to boo players on the other team who made a good save or scored a point. It's a stunningly effective demoralizer.

** The Little Giant, Tanaka’s older sister Saeko and Tsukishima’s older brother Akiteru all attended Karasuno at the same time, with Akiteru being a year older. However, only Akiteru and the Small Giant were acquainted with each other at the time thanks to being club members. Saeko had personally encountered the Small Giant just once during one of his practices; and she only knew Akiteru by his surname which she remembers when finding out (Kei) Tsukishima is on the current Karasuno team, and she doesn't seem to recognise him when she catches him at the Shiratorizawa match.

* TenMinuteRetirement: Karasuno's suffered from brief absences of players, with Ennoshita, Narita and Kinoshita temporarily dropping out the previous year due to Coach Ukai Sr's harsh training and Asahi and Nishinoya missing from club activities at the beginning of the story thanks to a tough encounter with Date Tech straining their relationship and mental fortitude (Nishinoya's one-week suspension also not helping his case).

* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Oikawa, who's known for his many nicknames for people (sometimes genuinely affectionate and other times TermsOfEndangerment), stopped calling [[spoiler:Hinata ''chibi-chan'' (shrimp/shorty-pie)]] in a flashback and called him [[spoiler:Shouyou]]. This signified that [[spoiler:he gained proper respect for him and acknowledged him as a good friend, having bonded with him when playing beach volleyball together in Brazil.]]

* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Oikawa, who's known for his many nicknames for people (sometimes genuinely affectionate and other times TermsOfEndangerment), stopped calling [[spoiler:Hinata ''chibi-chan'' (shrimp/shorty-pie)]] in a flashback and called them [[spoiler:Shouyou]]. This signified that [[spoiler:he gained proper respect for him and acknowledged him as a good friend, having bonded with him when playing beach volleyball together in Brazil.]]

--->'''Date Tech crowd:''' GO GO LET'S GO LET'S GO DATEKOU\\
'''Aoba Johsai crowd:''' GO GO GO GO GO GO SEIJOH / PUSH IT PUSH IT PUSH IT SEIJOH

* ForWantOfANail: The main plot of the series (Hinata and Kageyama teaming up together and bringing Karasuno back to their glory days) would have never happened if Kageyama actually passed the Shiratorizawa entrance exams; Shiratorizawa was his first choice for high schools, but he failed to get in and so chose to go to Karasuno. If he had successfully gotten into Shiratorizawa, 1) he would have never underwent the development that was triggered by Hinata, 2) Hinata wouldn't be able to utilize his natural talent (as Kageyama's the only one who can maximize Hinata's athleticism with his difficult tosses), and without the Freak Duo together Karasuno wouldn't be strong enough to reclaim their powerhouse title (they lose not just the crucial freak quick but also Asahi and Nishinoya).
** Ushiwaka recognizes Oikawa's skill enough to tell Oikawa that he should have gone to Shiratorizawa, which would have made Shiratorizawa a much stronger team, given Oikawa's propensity for bringing out the best in his team members (in contrast to Shiratorizawa's style of depending on individual powerhouses to get points). Oikawa actively made a choice ''not'' to go to Shiratorizawa solely because he knew it was Kageyama's first choice for high school and he wouldn't have a chance to play against Kageyama if they ended up at the same school on the same volleyball team.

* MeaningfulName: Characters' names often have some significant and relevance, whether it be ThemeNaming or to highlight certain characters being {{Foil}}s to one another.
** Carries into the school names as well (see AnimalMotifs) - the schools with animal based names/kanji reflect the team's overall style of play/growth. Nekoma (cats) players have fast reflexes which allow them to react quickly to their opponents' strategy, Shiratorizawa (swan, but represented visually as an eagle) relies on the individual strength and grace of their players but not so much the cooperative collective of their team, and Karasuno (crows) will pick up and use any and all strategies and playstyles to win.

** The rest of the Karasuno team react this way when they notice Tsukishima doubling over in pain after a particular block from Ushijima that was strong enough in force to make him bleed and dislocate his pinky.
** Tendou mutters "Dammit!" in horror during the final set of the Shiratorizawa vs Karasuno match when Karasuno are about to do their synchronized attack on their match point and he realizes no one will be able to stop them.

** Kuroo and Yaku argue over their preferences, and somehow even end up which member of Music/{{Perfume}} they prefer.

* ThrowingTheFight: Discussed. Tsukishima offers this to Kageyama and Hinata upon meeting them for the first time, mainly to show his indifference towards the match. He isn’t taken seriously, of course.

** Tendou mutters "Dammit!" in horror during the final set of the Shiratorizawa vs Karasuno match when Karasuno are about to do their synchronised attack on their match point and he realizes no one will be able to stop them.

** Ushiwaka recognizes Oikawa's skill enough to tell Oikawa that he should have gone to Shiratorizawa, which would have made Shiratorizawa a much stronger team, given Oikawa's propensity for bringing out the best in his team members (in contrast to Shiratorizawa's style of depending on individual powerhouses to get points). Oikawa actively made a choice ''not'' to go to Shiratorizawa solely because he knew it was Kageyama's first choice for high school and he wouldn't have a chance to play against Kageyama if they ended up at the same school on the same vollyball team.

* ForWantOfANail: The main plot of the series (Hinata and Kageyama teaming up together and bringing Karasuno back to their glory days) would have never happened if Kageyama actually passed the Shiratorizawa entrance exams; Shiratorizawa was his first choice for high schools, but he failed to get in and so chose to go to Karasuno. If he had successfully gotten into Shiratorizawa, 1) he would have never underwent the development that was triggered by Hinata, 2) Hinata wouldn't be able to utilise his natural talent (as Kageyama's the only one who can maximise Hinata's athleticism with his difficult tosses), and without the Freak Duo together Karasuno wouldn't be strong enough to reclaim their powerhouse title (they lose not just the crucial freak quick but also Asahi and Nishinoya).

* AdaptationDistillation: The stage plays take out some of the minor matches to push the major ones in the spotlight, such as the matches against Ohgi Minami, Kakugawa, and Tsubakihara.

** The stage plays naturally are this as they fit up to two matches in a single play. For example, ''The Strongest Team'' has the Aoba Jousai rematch and Shiratorizawa match in the same play, thus leading to much of the initial sets being skipped over in favor of the final sets.

* {{Crossdresser}}: Due to the restrictions of the stage plays, a bunch of the guys engage in this liberally to portray female spectators, even after they got female cast members. Some examples include a trio of school girls in 2015's ''A View From The Top'' and ''Karasuno Revival'' being played by Ukai's, Yamaguchi's, and Nishinoya's first actors, and a duo of female spectators in ''Winners and Losers'' being portrayed by Kenma's and Kuroo's actors.

* ForWantOfANail: Being a sports anime, there's plenty of this as the players all have to react in an instant to their opponents and usually have to decide a play beforehand - there's often one specific instance in which a player makes a decision that decides a set or even a whole game. Notable instances that tend to make or break a match:
** During the Preliminary to Nationals Tournament: Karasuno vs. Aoba Johsei - the last move of the final play. Hinata sees a weakness in the blockers in front of him where he can aim the ball. As Hinata hits the ball, Oikawa is shown moving towards the opening to receive. The ball hits the edge of the middle blocker's fingers, changing the trajectory of the ball ever so slightly, and despite Oikawa's ideal position to receive, the change in trajectory is enough to throw off where the ball goes, earning Karasuno the last point that wins them the match. Afterwards, Hinata acknowledges that he saw where Oikawa was positioned, and that the middle blocker changing the ball's direction is what threw off Oikawa's position in the end, rather than just Hinata's spike being the deciding factor.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Since accurately recreating every single Haikyuu volleyball play is impossible in real life, the stage play adaptation reinterprets the volleyball matches as choreographed acrobatic/dance-like sequences. The screen provides visuals like the "volleyball" and the scores, and an actual ball on a stick held by a props person is also used for some scenes when the ball is specifically needed. This is effective, as basic volleyball movements like spiking and blocking are still kept while the choreography and music helps show the teams' different styles and how well they're playing.

* AdaptedOut: Multiple characters are not present in ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!'' plays due to budget and time constraints. Often their parts are given to other characters in the play, for example Shimizu's lines getting delegated to the third-years and Ennoshita in the first play. Some characters get added in later installments, for example Shimizu and Kinoshita.

* ScreenToStageAdaptation: Has a stage play adaptation called ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!'', which uses a mixture of choreographed acrobatics and dance movements to interpret the volleyball matches.

* GratituousEnglish: Romero has some English exchanges with his teammates [[spoiler:Kageyama, Ushijima and Hoshiumi]] during his match (which is in Japan), when [[spoiler:he notices that Hinata is the famous Ninja Shouyou who excelled in beach volleyball back in Brazil]]. The teammates can barely make sense of what he's telling them, but [[spoiler:Kageyama]] manages to reply back in kind. Foreigner Tomas is shown doing the same with his Japanese teammate [[spoiler:Hinata]]. The English isn't grammatically correct, although it's not clear if it's intentional (most of the characters in question are not native speakers so mistakes wouldn't be out of place) or simply the author's error.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: [[spoiler:The final chapter, where the remaining characters who qualified for the Olympics are shown facing each other in the event itself, coincided with the week of the original start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but due to the COVID-19 epidemic the last chapter moved the dates up to 2021.]]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: [[spoiler:The final chapter, where the remaining characters who qualified for the Olympics coincided with the week of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics originally, but due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the last chapter moved the dates up to 2021.]]

''Haikyuu!!'' (meaning [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Volleyball"]]) is a manga written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate, which was serialized in ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shōnen Jump]]'' from February 2012 to July 2020. An anime adaptation aired during the Spring2014Anime season for two cours produced by Creator/ProductionIG, and has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in America. The second season aired as part of the Fall2015Anime season, and the third season (subtitled "Karasuno High VS Shiratorizawa Academy") aired as part of the Fall 2016 season. The fourth season, subtitled "To the Top", begain airing January 2020 as split-cours, and the {{OVA}} "Land vs. Sky" was released in the same month; unlike the previous [=OVAs=] (which are anime original), this one contains manga content and adapts the Tokyo Preliminaries arc which star Nekoma and Fukurodani, taking place prior to Season 4. The series has also been adapted into a series stage plays in Japan since October 2015, called ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!''.

* BookEnds: One of the first things Hinata does with Kageyama when applying for the volleyball club is attempting to receive his serves at the gym. [[spoiler:A flashback of their third year, on the day of their graduation (and so at the end of their high school journey), shows him and Kageyama doing the same thing--only this time, Hinata is able to receive it perfectly.]]

** [[spoiler:The final arc takes place five years after Karasuno's loss at Nationals, with Hinata now in Brazil for beach volleyball training. The events of his remaining high school years, as well as the whereabouts of the first years, are briefly summarised by Yachi's narration.]]

** During Kyoutani's first play against Karasuno in the anime, the art style shifts into a highly frenetic, heavily-inked style more reminiscent of Street Fighter than the rest of the series.
*** Powerful attacks are drawn this way as well, such as Asahi's spike against Date Tech, Oikawa's serves (particularly the ones that emphasize force), and Ushijima's spikes.

* {{Backstory}}: You can bet that every character who says at least a few lines has got some sort of backstory, whether it be the main characters or players from a team that has only appeared for three chapters.

* BlankWhiteEyes: A comedic staple, often used to express extreme emotion such as anger or shock.

* ContinuityNod: At one point when we first meet Lev, he apologizes to Kenma for being so forward and demanding when he calls for the ball, and Kenma tells him that he doesn't need to be so formal about it. Later on, in one of the national qualifier matches, Lev yells for Kenma to "Give it here – please and thank you!" and Kenma thinks to himself that he keeps ''telling'' him not to be so polite.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Due to the large casts, many characters other than the main duo Kageyama and Hinata get some attention and development at some point, especially the other members of Karasuno and the star players of their rival teams. Every team they play against generally gets to have perspective shots and flashbacks to when they were practising and stating their own goals, which usually are very similar to Karasuno's own. In particular, the main focus often shifts to Nekoma and Fukurodani later on whenever the story takes a break from Karasuno's side:
** The first OVA, ''The Arrival of Haiba Lev'', mainly shows the Nekoma team back in Tokyo and the difficulty in training Lev.
** After the conclusion of the Spring High Preliminaries in Miyagi, Chapters 190 to 206 (adapted as an OVA which acts as a prequel to Season 4) shifts the attention to the Tokyo preliminaries which is where Nekoma and Fukurodani are competing. The arc focuses on two matches -- Nekoma vs. Fukurodani, and Nekoma vs. Nohebi. Character development and backstories of a few Nekoma members are shown at this point.
** Throughout Nationals, [[spoiler:the series breaks away from Karasuno's matches to dedicate a couple of chapters to Nekoma's Round 2 match and Fukurodani's Round 1 and quarterfinal matches (which includes backstories for Bokuto and Akaashi)]].

* FreezeFrameBonus:
** In Season 1 Episode 5, a closeup of the idol poster in the locker room is shown. If paused, [[https://ameshika.tumblr.com/post/108839456872/the-poster-in-episode-5 one can read the little labels assigned to each girl]] -- these labels reveal the, erm, ''preferences'' of the the second and third years (barring Asahi and Nishinoya who have not appeared yet).
** Season 4's first opening has a few blink-and-miss-it details:
*** During the shot of Nishinoya receiving a ball at Nationals, the scoreline of Karasuno vs Tsubakihara can be seen in the background.
*** During the quick pan-shot of all the Nationals teams lined up with their signs, the captains of the Tokyo representatives (Kuroo, Bokuto and Itachiyama's captain) can be seen if paused at the right time.
* FriendlyRivalry: No matter how fierce the official or practice matches can be, teams often good alliances with one another especially if in the same region. In particular is the Fukurodani Academy Group's training camp (Fukurodani, Nekoma, Shinzen, Ubugawa, and later Karasuno); outside of official and practice matches, they enjoy training with each other and don't hesitate to mingle or give advice.

** In Season 1 Episode 5, a closeup of the idol poster in the locker room is shown. If paused, [[https://ameshika.tumblr.com/post/108839456872/the-poster-in-episode-5 one can read the little labels assigned to each girl]] -- these labels reveal the, erm, ''preferences'' of the the second and third year members (barring Asahi and Nishinoya who have been absent from club activities at this point).
** Season 4's first opening has a few bonuses:
*** During the shot of Nishinoya receiving a ball at Nationals, [[spoiler:the scoreline of Karasuno vs Tsubakihara can be seen in the background]].

* GottaPassTheClass: If a member of the volleyball team fails their exams, they can't attend the summer training camp in Tokyo as they have to do supplementary classes, so the more BookDumb members of the team scramble to get tutored in time. In the end, despite Tsukishima's and Yachi's efforts, Hinata and Kageyama flunk their finals and hitch a ride with Tanaka's sister, eventually arriving at the camp late.

''Haikyuu!!'' (meaning [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Volleyball"]]) is written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate, which was serialized in ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shōnen Jump]]'' from February 2012 to July 2020. An anime adaptation aired during the Spring2014Anime season for two cours produced by Creator/ProductionIG, and has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in America. The second season aired as part of the Fall2015Anime season, and the third season (subtitled "Karasuno High VS Shiratorizawa Academy") aired as part of the Fall 2016 season. The fourth season, subtitled "To the Top", begain airing January 2020 as split-cours, and the {{OVA}} "Land vs. Sky" was released in the same month; unlike the previous [=OVAs=] (which are anime original), this one contains manga content and adapts the Tokyo Preliminaries arc which star Nekoma and Fukurodani, taking place prior to Season 4. The series has also been adapted into a series stage plays in Japan since October 2015, called ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!''.

''Haikyuu!!'' (meaning [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Volleyball"]]) is written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate, and began serialization in ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shōnen Jump]]'' in February 2012 and concluded in July 2020. An anime adaptation aired during the Spring2014Anime season for two cours produced by Creator/ProductionIG, and has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in America. The second season aired as part of the Fall2015Anime season, and the third season (subtitled "Karasuno High VS Shiratorizawa Academy") aired as part of the Fall 2016 season. The fourth season, subtitled "To the Top", begain airing January 2020 as split-cours, and the {{OVA}} "Land vs. Sky" was released in the same month; unlike the previous [=OVAs=] (which are anime original), this one contains manga content and adapts the Tokyo Preliminaries arc which star Nekoma and Fukurodani, taking place prior to Season 4. The series has also been adapted into a series stage plays in Japan since October 2015, called ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!''.

''Haikyuu!!'' (meaning [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Volleyball"]]) is written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate, and began serialization in ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shōnen Jump]]'' in February 2012. An anime adaptation aired during the Spring2014Anime season for two cours produced by Creator/ProductionIG, and has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in America. The second season aired as part of the Fall2015Anime season, and the third season (subtitled "Karasuno High VS Shiratorizawa Academy") aired as part of the Fall 2016 season. The fourth season, subtitled "To the Top", begain airing January 2020 as split-cours, and the {{OVA}} "Land vs. Sky" was released in the same month; unlike the previous [=OVAs=] (which are anime original), this one contains manga content and adapts the Tokyo Preliminaries arc which star Nekoma and Fukurodani, taking place prior to Season 4. The series has also been adapted into a series stage plays in Japan since October 2015, called ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!''.

[[quoteright:221:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8798798_7394.jpg]]

-->-- '''Shouyou Hinata'''


In junior high, Shouyou Hinata gained a sudden interest in volleyball due to seeing a match on television, which featured a star player nicknamed "The Little Giant", and yearned to follow in his footsteps to become a volleyball ace despite his short stature. Hinata starts his own volleyball club, which no one joins, and practices rigorously by himself. Eventually he convinces enough people to make up a rag-tag team consisting of a couple of members who haven't even played volleyball before just so he could compete in a tournament. His team is quickly annihilated by Tobio Kageyama - "King of the Court" - and his champion team. After suffering a miserable defeat, Hinata vows to defeat Kageyama and surpass him as a volleyball player.

''Haikyuu!!'' (meaning [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Volleyball"]]) is written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate, and began serialization in ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shounen Jump]]'' in February 2012. An anime adaptation aired during the Spring2014Anime season for two cours produced by Creator/ProductionIG, and has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in America. The second season aired as part of the Fall2015Anime season, and the third season (subtitled "Karasuno High VS Shiratorizawa Academy") aired as part of the Fall 2016 season. The fourth season, subtitled "To The Top", begain airing January 2020 as split-cours, and the OVA "Land vs. Sky" was released in the same month; unlike the previous [=OVAs=] (which are anime original), this one contains manga content and adapts the Tokyo Preliminaries arc which star Nekoma and Fukurodani, taking place prior to Season 4. The series has also been adapted into a series stage plays in Japan since October 2015, called ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!''.

* UnderdogsNeverLose: This is [[PlayingWith played around with]]. In the scope of sports manga, and shounen manga more broadly, Haikyuu stands out for being relatively realistic in the match-ups and the outcomes, with teams that are considered in-story as underdogs to lose most of the time:

** Throughout Nationals, [[spoiler:the series breaks away from Karasuno's matches to dedicate a couple of chapters to Nekoma's Round 2 match and Fukurodani's quarterfinal match (which includes backstories for Bokuto and Akaashi)]].

** Season 4 adopts a new eyecatch and has a chibi Hinata-crow flying up or down, varying each episode. The "Land vs Sky" OVA episodes follow the same theme but also include the chibified animal forms of Kenma/Kuroo and Bokuto/Akaashi as cats and owls, respectively.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The two trailers for the "Land vs Sky" [=OVAs=] give away a few things if one has a keen eye:
** Footage of Nohebi's matchplay spoils that Nekoma plays them after their Fukurodani showdown and not Itachiyama. It fortunately doesn't spoil that these two teams play each other in the losers match (the hosting representative match) and not the final itself, thus not giving away that Fukurodani beats Nekoma.
** Clips of the back-up libero Shibayama in the Nohebi match hints that Yaku becomes unavailable to play for some reason, since there's other clips of the third year playing perfectly fine in the Fukurodani match beforehand.

* VomitDiscretionShot: Hinata often pukes from stress or motion sickness, but fortunately for the audience this is done off-screen (typically screams of despair from everyone present will follow). One brief shot does show the aftermath of Hinata throwing up on Tanaka's pants on the bus (albeit coloured in white).

''Haikyuu!!'' (meaning [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Volleyball"]]) is written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate, and is currently being published in ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shounen Jump]]''. An anime adaptation aired during the Spring2014Anime season for two cours produced by Creator/ProductionIG, and has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in America. The second season aired as part of the Fall2015Anime season, and the third season (subtitled "Karasuno High VS Shiratorizawa Academy") aired as part of the Fall 2016 season. The fourth season, subtitled "To The Top", begain airing January 2020 as split-cours, and the OVA "Land vs. Sky" was released in the same month; unlike the previous [=OVAs=] (which are anime original), this one contains manga content and adapts the Tokyo Preliminaries arc which star Nekoma and Fukurodani, taking place prior to Season 4. The series has also been adapted into a series stage plays in Japan since October 2015, called ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!''.