[konya]

I CAN'T BE THE ONLY ONE WHO READS THIS.

HQ is the best thing to happen to sports manga. It has great art, great characters, and more emotion than you can wave a stick at. I like it more than Kuroko no Basuke which if you know me at all that is a pretty big deal.

It's about boys.
And sometimes girls.
Who play volleyball.

[WILLOW]

volleyball is pretty much the best sport ever

though i can't say hq has ever interested me
idk, the first few chapters couldn't really hold my interest

i assume it gets better though?
i should probably give it a second shot huh

[konya]

it's not so much a 'sport' manga imo than it is a manga about people who also play volleyball.

i was drawn in from the start with the sheer quality of writing as compared to other sports manga but you know.

ymmv.

[SUCRÉ]

omg i love hq!! so much ahhhhhhhhh
i love it even more than kurobas and prince of tennis which does say something
and ahhhhh
i cant with it
the art is wonderful, i love the characters, and the story is great and ahhhhh
i dont really even like volleyball but wow i love hq!!

[konya]

i can't the art
and my babies
all of them
it's so hard reading it because you don't want ANYONE to lose but you know they HAVE to
i might be a bit happy about chapter 68 because of my obvious bias but
asdjkashdhasdkj someone who understands me <33

[SUCRÉ]

OMG I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND

i just love all of the teams equally and i dont want any of them to lose but one has to and i know i'll end up crying no matter who wins

to think i started watching/reading sports anime and manga because i thought they would be happier than everything else....

and i haven't read the newest chapters yet cause my computer refuses to load the pages but i did stumble across spoilers for who won and i was happy and yet sad

[konya]

Jul 14, 2013 19:20:50 GMT -8 SUCRÉ said:

to think i started watching/reading sports anime and manga because i thought they would be happier than everything else....

MY

LIFE

i swear to god i was sick of my favourites dying all the time so it's like "what's the worst that can happen in a sports manga?" NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO WRONG

the last few chapters were so intense

SPOILER: Click to show

especially as oikawa knows he's going to be beaten by kageyama eventually - the kid's just too damn good. but i think it was a good thing for karasuno to lose, because it's more like rl in that it's not fair, the underdogs don't always win, and it gives them SO MUCH more room to grow as both people and a team. Kageyama now has all this experience, from watching Oikawa again and being under Suga-mama's wing, and they held their own against an ace team like seijo and just FEELS OK babies will get through this as better and stronger people and we can always hope that another qualified team all suddenly gets food poisoning and karasuno get bumped up and then they can play against nekoma again and more feels sob.

[SUCRÉ]

ITS EVEN WORSE THAN CHARACTER DEATH SOMETIMES LIKE WOW
and i feel ya with the tired of favorite character's always dying thing

SPOILER: Click to show

yes, yes, yes. it'll lead to character development and i love nothing more than i love well-executed character development. especially for kageyama. i'm excited to see how he'll be once he learns all he needs to from suga-mama and just ahhhhhhhhhhhhh this manga slays me. and, omg, another team getting sudden food poisoning would be interesting but anything to let me see more of my precious third-years ahhhh speaking of that, are they going to retire? or is there another tournament or something i hope they dont retire because babies

[konya]

IKR HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE I THOUGHT NOTHING WAS WORSE THAN CHARACTER DEATH

SPOILER: Click to show

1. It keeps us guessing.


I don’t need to say how if this were a stereotypical sports manga, Karasuno the underdogs would have beaten Aobajosai. If they had won here, it would’ve taken any tension out of later games, because as the ‘main team’ and the ‘underdog team’, scrapped together and playing before they all really know each other very well, if they can beat a team like Seijo then of course they’re just going to beat everyone else. This loss provides us with the wonderful feeling of doubt. There’s no doubt that Karasuno will end up on top, but the delicious doubt is as to when. Are they good enough yet? Are they fully melded as a team? Are they all there, psychologically? Does Kageyama still have lots of lessons to learn? Questions that will come up in every game hereafter - and the best thing about development is that it can happen really quickly, or really slowly, and we have no idea which one it’s going to be!

2. Kageyama still has lots of lessons to learn.


We’ve seen how important a setter is to his team. We’ve seen how talented Kageyama is, but it’s still quite clear he is nowhere near what he could be. If they had won against Aobajosai, and someone like Oikawa, what kind of message would that send to the first year ‘genius’? He knows he has to work hard to improve, but that drive would be dampened by the sweet taste of victory. Here, he’s not only seen how Suga can handle a team in a pinch, but he’s had the chance to look at Oikawa again. I feel as though Kageyama, due to his genius status, has never really had to ‘learn’ how to be a setter, as such - that his arrogance as the King of the Upper Court came from a mistaken idea to imitate Oikawa, without understanding the other’s experience, intent, and relationship he had built with his team.

Except now he can. Now he has Suga (who he also tries to imitate adorably). Now he knows he has come so close, but something kept them from snatching that victory. New Kageyama isn’t going to get angry at his team for failing to keep up with him, New Kageyama is going to see that as a point to build on, and with Suga and the rest of Karasuno to help him, he will be able to achieve this.

3. We don’t have to see Oikawa and Iwaizumi cry again for ages.


Because do you know how heartbreaking that is.


4. So much growth. Growth everywhere. Growth out the eyeballs.


Karasuno losing is a good thing because it’s not just Kageyama who will improve, it’s everyone. They’ve gone up against teams fully in synch three times now (Seijo twice, Nekoma once) and only won on a fluke - they know where they need to go forward. If they had won, we would have another story based on ‘luck’ where the main team can’t be touched in a pinch. Loss gives so much more opportunity for growth and advancement, both emotional and physical, and it not only makes for a far better story but a more realistic one. Haikyuu!!’s strength, when compared to other sports manga, is how grounded it is - sure, there are some crazy things like Hinata and Kageyama’s quick-strike, but is that really crazy when compared to other sports mangas? I beg to differ.

This loss keeps Karasuno grounded. They want to fly, but the haven’t earned that yet, and they have to work for it. Because that’s what makes this manga great.