History Manga / Haikyuu

* SenpaiKohai: High school teams comprise at least first and second years (third years too if they've not retired yet), so upperclassman/underclassman interactions typically seen in Japan are in play. They're usually straightforward (with the juniors being polite to the seniors), but it plays some importance in some relationships:
** Nishinoya and Tanaka are ''delighted'' to have ''-senpai'' added to the end of their names by Hinata and Kageyama, to the point that it draws Nishinoya back to practices (even if he still wouldn't play in games). Tanaka especially takes pride as the first year's upperclassman, feeling obligated to beg his sister to drive Hinata and Kageyama to Tokyo so they wouldn't miss the training camp.
** Kenma appears to resent this kind of relationship, because his former upperclassmen from the volleyball club used to ignore him and see whatever he had to say as impertinence, just because he was an underclassman. He even promptly stops Hinata from getting worked up (he assumed Kenma was his age and wasn't using formal speech) just because he's an upperclassman.
** Oikawa was Kageyama’s senior in junior high and still considers him his junior, calling him Tobio (or Tobio-chan if being extra "affectionate"); coming from him and given that he used to flat out reject Kageyama's requests of teaching him to serve (which goes well against a proper upperclassman's behavior), it's almost certainly an example of TermsOfEndangerment. Kageyama doesn't enjoy getting chummy with him in the present but still highly respects his skills, and even swallows his pride to ask him for advice when a fight with Hinata leaves him confused.

* ExcitedShowTitle: ''Haikyuu'''!!'''''

* SempaiKohai: High school teams comprise at least first and second years (third years too if they've not retired yet), so upperclassman/underclassman interactions typically seen in Japan are in play. They're usually straightforward (with the juniors being polite to the seniors), but it plays some importance in some relationships:

''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, with 402 chapters in total being published. 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. In August 2022, a two-part anime film titled ''Haikyuu!! Final'' were announced. The series has also been adapted into a series of stage plays in Japan that ran in 2015-2021, called ''Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!!''.

* BustContrastDuo: Yachi and Saeko develop a two-girl rapport while they support Karasuno from the stands alongside Takinoue and Shimada. Yachi is the younger and flatter girl who's timid and sweet; Saeko is the older and bustier girl who's fierce and boisterous. Both are equally nice and strike up a good friendship in the short time they spend together (although Yachi briefly gapes at Saeko's {{Gainaxing}} chest in horrow while covering her own). Interestingly Yachi is more knowledgeable in volleyball than Saeko; the former is a manager and has thoroughly studied the sport, while the latter is supportive of her brother but otherwise never had anything to do with volleyball until now.

* {{Gainaxing}}: Being one of most endowed out of all the women in the series, Saeko's cleavage often defies physics when she moves, especially when she's cheering for the team in the anime (which at one point it gives Yachi ACupAngst). Notable, as this is a series that generally doesn't do fan service.

''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, with 402 chapters in total being published. 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!!'' also has two GagSeries spin-offs penned by other authors - ''Let's Haikyuu!!'', a chibified {{yonkoma}} which parodies the original manga storyline, and ''Haikyuu-bu!!'', which focuses on teams and characters other than the Karasuno boys' team.

** In a flashback when Osamu and Atsumu got into a physical fight, their teammates were mortified... except for Suna, who proceeded to record the fight on his phone.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: A few characters in the Japanese high school volleyball scene are at least darker skinned than the majority - Aran Oojiro, Reon Ohira and Nobuyuki Kai. Aran is explicitly black; Ohira and Kai don't have shaded skin in the manga but are some lighter shades of brown in the anime or official coloured art and share some features commonly associated with the black community (thicker lips and/or frizzy hair). It's never made clear if they have any foreign heritage or belong to any particular minority groups.

* BackForTheFinale: [[spoiler:Every character makes their series return in the final arc after the TimeSkip. Some characters, especially Hinata and Kageyama's main circle, are frequently shown watching their match, while eeryone else is given brief one-two panel appearances. The audience is updated on their ages as well as current status (whether it be studying, working in a common job and/or working as a pro volleyball player.]]
* {{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. It's common for fans to lament how often they find themselves wishing the other team would win.

* DarkHorseVictory: The unexpected result of the Spring High preliminaries in Miyagi. ''No one'' sees Karasuno coming since everyone's focused on powerhouses like Shiratorizawa and Aoba Johsai (who Karasuno previously lost to at Interhigh). When Karasuno defeats Aoba Johsai, the TV news focuses on Aoba Johsai's loss and laments how they wouldn't be participating in the finals. When Karasuno wins in the finals, the audience is completely stunned since Shiratorizawa were the expected victors. ''Of Nationals.''

* DubNameChange: Downplayed. Aoba Johsai's nickname "Seijoh" is changed to its literal English translation, Blue Castle, in the official English manga releas.

* 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 on the team 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).

** An omake sketch shows Kageyama and Hinata getting [[spoiler:the Miyas]] mixed up, with Kageyama struggling to look at the right twin when greeting [[spoiler:Atsumu]] (which he gets called out on)]] and Hinata mistakenly admiring [[spoiler:Osamu]] instead of [[spoiler:his famous National Youth Camp setter of a brother]]. The kicker is that [[spoiler:the Miyas]], while identical, have easy {{Identical Twin ID Tag}}s and everyone else can tell them apart fine -- Kageyama and Hinata are just ''that'' airheaded.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome:
** Although the series doesn't cover it, narration reveals that [[spoiler:Hinata's second year in the TimeSkip Date Tech finally makes it to the Nationals stage for the first time in 11 years at Summer Interhigh, and do it by beating Karasuno (fresh off their Spring High run) no less]].
** Similarly, narration reveals that [[spoiler:during the TimeSkip Karasuno successfully makes it to Spring High in Hinata's second and third years, too. While they don't win either of those times, it shows that their run in first year was not a fluke and they've truly regained their status as a powerhouse school; the opponents they ''do'' lose to are Inarizaki and Itachiyama who are strong opponents to begin with, and with the loss to Itachiyama they place third at Nationals overall which is impressive]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: This series is the gender-inverted version of the all-girls ''Anime/AttackerYou'' With Hinata strongly [[{{Expy}} echoing]] the characteristics of ''Attacker You's'' heroine, You Hazuki.

* 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 the aforementioned character [[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.]]

* SignificantBirthDate: Almost ''all'' of the the characters with listed birth dates [[http://icechain.tumblr.com/post/86946731768/haikyuu-birthday-meaning are significant in someway]]. Here are some that stand out:

** Taken UpToEleven during Karasuno's Spring High preliminary final against Shiratorizawa. The match goes to a full five sets, ''and'' Karasuno has to fight through deuces for every set they win. Even the final set, which only needs to be won in 15 points minimum, ends up being a final score of 21-19 in Karasuno's favour.

* TwinsAreSpecial: The Miya twins from Inarizaki High School are able to figure out and near perfect [[spoiler: Kageyama and Hinata's [[SpecialAttack freak quick]] ''in the same match they first encounter it''. Up until this point, no other team that Karasuno has faced has been able to pull it off, let alone in the middle of a match.]] This trope is explicitly discussed as being the reason why they managed to do so.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The author will name every player from every team that shows up with very rare exceptions, even if Karasuno only plays against them once (though sometimes they come back). They all have generally distinct faces and backstories which makes it easy to remember them.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: For unspecified reasons, the English dub pronounces Date Tech differently by saying the English word "date" instead of the Japanese ''date'' (伊達, meaning "elegant/showing off") which is pronounced as "dah-teh".

** Cats for ''Neko''ma. In their very introduction, Ukai compares them to cats due to their flexibility (in the context, [[StoneWall their power of defense]]). They also have other similar motifs inside their own team, with the "Inu" in Inuoka meaning "dog", fitting to his role as Hinata's 'chaser' during the practice match against Nekoma, and Lev meaning "lion" in Russian, owing to his large build and seeing himself as Nekoma's ace.

* {{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.

* BookDumb: Tanaka, Hinata, Kageyama, and Nishinoya are talented regulars of the Karasuno volleyball club, which contrast with their terrible school grades. They're forced to amp up their studying when they find out the supplementary exam period clashes with their first trip to the practice games in Tokyo – while Tanaka and Nishinoya scrape by, Kageyama and Hinata fail one exam each (although Hinata would have passed it if he hadn't accidentally missed a line on the answer sheet) and miss part of the trip in order to retake the exams.

* BoringButPractical: Although flashy moves are often in play for epic effect (especially by Karasuno which boasts the freak quick attack), many mundane techniques are also effectively used in matches. In particular, it's emphasised that no matter how good or ridiculous one's attacks are, receives should also take importance as they can render even the most crazy of attacks useless.

* CallBack: When Aoba Johsai plays Karasuno at the Spring High Preliminaries, Matsukawa is the first to neutralise their new quick attack by using pressure to narrow Hinata's spike direction. [[spoiler:When Hinata is desperately thinking of the most troublesome one-on-one block he's faced when trying to counter Inarizaki, he copies Matsukawa and pressures Osamu Miya to spike to Nishinoya, helping Karasuno gain momentum at a critical time in the first set. In typical ''Haikyuu!!'' fashion, this call-back ends with a SneezeCut to Matsukawa on the train somewhere back in Miyagi.]]
* CallingYourAttacks: Calling out one's attacks is occasionally parodied by players during comical moments, and it's also sometimes downplayed when players mentally yell out the name of their techniques during a match (as saying it out loud is naturally not practical).

* CombatCommentator: Match commentary is often provided to the audience by benched players, coaches, or veterans like Shimada, Takinoue and Akiteru.

** One of the teams at nationals, Inarizaki, even uses the cheer chants and music 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.

* DarkHorseVictory: The unexpected result of the Spring High preliminaries in Miyagi. ''No one'' sees Karasuno coming since everyone's focused on powerhouses like Shiratorizawa and Aoba Johsai (who Karasuno previously lost to at Interhigh). When Karasuno defeats Aoba Johsai, the TV news focuses on Aoba Johsai's loss and laments how they wouldn't be participating in the finals. When Karasuno wins in the finals, the audience is completely stunned since Shiratorizawa were the expected victors.
* 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.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Many chapters/episodes are often dedicated to a single match or tournament. For example, the Shiratorizawa match takes up about 40 chapters of the manga (nearly a year's worth of weekly serialisation); even as a CompressedAdaptation in the anime, it lasts all ten episodes of Season 3. As for the Nationals arc, [[spoiler:Karasuno is knocked out on Day 3 in their fourth match; the tournament is covered in almost 140 chapters, totalling nearly ''three years'' of serialisation]].

* 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 on the team 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).

* When Shinoa from ''Manga/SeraphOfTheEnd'' rides "her car" (or so she claims) and quickly realizes she's too short to see past the steering wheel, both Yu and Shiho, who were arguing nearby, burst into giggles and start teasing her about it. Then [[FightUnscene it cuts to both of them beaten up]] and promising not to mock her height again.

* ChildhoodFriends: There's often at least one close pair of players in each team who have been friends with each other since childhood. This can have a positive effect on how well they work together on the court; this is why spectators regularly mistake Hinata and Kageyama to be longtime friends when they've actually only known each other since their match in junior high, considering how fluidly they play together.

* DubNameChange: Downplayed. Aoba Johsai's nickname "Seijoh" is changed to its literal English translation, Blue Castle, in the official English manga release and English dub.

* TwinsAreSpecial: The Miya twins from Inarizaki High School are able to figure out and near perfect Kageyama and Hinata's [[SpecialAttack freak quick]] ''in the same match they first encounter it''. Up until this point, no other team that Karasuno has faced has been able to pull it off, let alone in the middle of a match. This trope is explicitly discussed as being the reason why they managed to do so.

** Chapter 14 of ''Haikyuu-bu!!'' has the Miya brothers complain about their individuality not being recognized by others. When they swap bodies with each other, they're willing to go along with Suna's plan to just flip their hairstyles because it's too troublesome to fix the situation and nothing's really changed anyway (prompting Aran to point out the hypocrisy).
* ICanStillFight: Defied most of the time. Injuries naturally come up and players will try to convince their teams they can play on; however often the injured players get taken out for at least part of the match since they're in no shape to continue and need to prioritize their health.

** Chapter 14 of ''Haikyuu-bu!!'' has the Miya brothers complain about their individuality not being recognised by others. When they swap bodies with each other, they're willing to go along with Suna's plan to just flip their hairstyles because it's too troublesome to fix the situation and nothing's really changed anyway (prompting Aran to point out the hypocrisy).
* ICanStillFight: Defied most of the time. Injuries naturally come up and players will try to convince their teams they can play on; however RealityEnsues, and the injured players get taken out for at least part of the match since they're in no shape to continue and need to prioritise their health.

* HateSink: Nohebi Academy. In a series where almost every opposing team is treated as [[WorthyOpponent sympathetic and honorable]], they stick out for having a SmugSnake as a captain and using dirty tactics like provoking their opponents with trash talk, deliberately obscuring the view of the flag referee, and sucking up to the net referee so that when they ''do'' make a foul it's overlooked. Considering that their match is a direct follow-up to the Nekoma vs. Fukurodani match, between two teams of [[FriendlyRival lovable rivals]], it makes quite a contrast.

** The cover of the 45th and final volume of the manga [[https://twitter.com/Haikyu_EN/status/1323643378853154816 recreates the cover of the first volume]], though with a few differences (like Hinata and Kageyama being visibly older).

---> Haikyu also known as volleyball. Two teams seperated by a net bounce a ball back and forth between each other. The ball is not allowed to touch the floor. It cannot be carried. Once it is in the air a team has no more than three touches to connect and take the ball from receive to attack.

! ''Haikyuu!!'' provides examples of: