#(not discussing the onomastics and etymologies exactly but it does relate to the topic)

[hoozukis]

宮侑

草書宮 from 词典网、草書侑 from tekkai!

i’d say atsumu’s 宮 is fine, but his 侑 is severely missing a stroke in the 亻 part (it’s glaringly obvious that it’s missing but i wouldn’t be surprised if he never notices it himself). at least take the time to slash that 一竪 down bruh

overall not only lacking in pizzazz, but also lacking in effort and comes across as lazy and ever-unconcerned. like he’s being chased by a mandatory quota of writing 100 signatures a minute, which he’s never going to reach bc which 100 people a minute want to receive mediocre ass scribbles and the free giftbag of disappointment it comes with?

佐久早聖臣

草書佐 from 词典网、草書久 from 词典网、草書早 from 词典网！

sakusa’s signature looks like each kanji is trying to cross straits and become hangeul 💀 even these low-effort brush examples i plucked off the internet contain more flavour. there’s almost as little heart put into his autograph as atsumu, but at least his 聖 is guessable. his daily handwriting is probably just as horrible to look at. hooray for new headcanons!

草書聖 from 词典网、草書臣 from 词典网！

if mr. sakuyoomi-san is accepting suggestions, here’s a cool cursive 聖 alternative to consider, in case he’s ever looking to lazify his own signature in the future. and of course, the famed 臣 radical’s cursive form is essentially a hybrid of B and R! unconventional ways of saving time are so fun

木兎光太郎

草書木 from 词典网、草書兔/兎 from 词典网！

bokuto’s 木兎 is good. quite standard and he hits all the major strokes necessary. if a 兔/兎 looks like a swirly intricate R with a beret, you know it’s a good 兔/兎

草書光 from 漢文360、草書太 from 词典网、草書郎 from scwj！

the 光太郎 part noped the fuck outta there tho lmfao. there’s a faint 阝 down there, and i think he likes that it looks like a blown-up B. the rest is very blur, but oh well. i think we’re all inclined to let this slide bc his signature is already long enough by this point. if he went to the same registration office as i did, this signature wouldn’t be allowed due to having too many separate pieces and taking a whole minute to write out, but i’m glad he clearly didn’t go there

日向翔陽

hinata’s looks like it belongs to a 6yo. i can sympathise bc if my name were the 23-strokes-long 翔陽 and i had to simplify it into a professional-looking signature, i’d sweat for months and then end up using something else as my signature. i wonder what his theoretical kanji signature would look like tho

及川徹

草書及 from 词典网、草書川 from 词典网、草書徹 from 词典网！

oikawa’s is pretty standard celebrity/author stuff. i’m sure he has a kanji signature for matters in the east, bc i don’t think his family and peers and the rest of seijoh society would think any good of him if he didn’t have a solid kanji signature since young. the standards for him just feel different somehow compared to hinata. he tries to make a pretty flourish out of it but it’s probably not very consistent. if he spends enough time overseas, he might just start forgetting his kanji signature, like so many elders in my family did. not just simple brain fart; muscle memory can fade away too

牛島若利

草書牛 from 词典网、草書島 from 词典网、草書若 from 词典网、草書利 from 書法大師！

ushiwaka’s is definitely just an enlarged version of his daily handwriting, possibly bc he was given a small round marker to write with, so it felt more like he should be writing it rather than signing it? it’s good tho, very simple and to-the-point. at least, everyone who receives his autograph will never forget whose autograph it was in the first place, unlike. ahem ahem. the more at-risk msby folk. i just imagined myself imitating this writing with my left hand and it reminded me i haven’t practiced my left handwriting in like. a year. whoops

i do believe he’d know traditional brush calligraphy quite well tho if you hand him a brush or pen that supports more artistic expression, given what we’re shown of his family background as well as shiratorizawa’s academic prestige. it helps that he looks like he has the focus to learn this art branch and actually absorb the majority of those lessons

星海光来

草書星 from 词典网、草書海 from 词典网！

hoshiumi knows the optimal way to hold flat markers and calligraphy pens, and i respect that about him. as you can see, the kanji 星 isn’t usually aesthetically pleasing in most traditional brush calligraphy, but hoshiumi draws his sun (the 日 part) beautifully round and big as if it’s shining down upon the rest of him 🌞 very symbolic to something something rivalry with the main character but also his own brightness!!

草書光 from 词典网、草書来 from 词典网！

i very much agree with his 光 and i too write it that way HOWEVER i disagree with his 来 because i think each 波磔（撇 + 捺 to become that 八） should spread out wide and beautiful! like a flowing silk gown! not flat like how you’d write 王 生 里 nooo!!! don’t write like a dusty old crumpled historian from 17th century, hoshiumi!!! end your signature with the same liveliness you started with!!!

影山飛雄

草書影 from 词典网、草書山 from 词典网、草書飛 from 词典网、草書雄 from 词典网！

i still have no idea where the heart is supposed to be in kageyama’s 😭 i keep seeing a butterfly in there???

but i admire how complicated, elaborate, and hard-to-copy it looks! that unforgeability is the single most important thing about personal signatures, according to all dads out there. to make matters better, he’s more than likely the only person on earth bearing the name 影山飛雄. he’s one in a hundred billion! in-universely speaking, this signature is one of the most unique rarity you’ll ever see with your own two eyes. unlike oikawa, whose marketplace name is like, one in eleven. so, if oikawa ever wishes to have a unique signature, he’s gonna have to uhh put his whole ass into it, i guess? 本当に一生懸命頭脳を働かせなければならない

my ratings of the hq character signatures

i got all of these images from @/todokugou on twitter! the adlers & msby ones were merch for the hq exhibit & oikawa’s is from the 2022 calendar.

ratings are entirely arbitrary. enjoy.

miya atsumu

4/10

i know signatures aren't necessarily supposed to be legible but this isn't even illegible in a fun way... where's the pizzazz. he gets extra points because it is very atsumu though.

sakusa kiyoomi

7/10

yes, i put his right after atsumu's because i really liked the contrast between the two. i'm obsessed with how small his signature is. and it looks more legible to me than some of the others? which is pretty fittng tbh.

bokuto koutarou

8/10

FUN. i like how big it is. i like the little swirly flourish. is it legible? eh, not really but i still love it. makes me smile.

hinata shouyou

9/10

fun!! i adore the smiley face, and i love how bold the lines are.

oikawa tooru

10/10

my second favorite signature. i love how big/ long the arm on the T is. very flashy, extremely oikawa. i really like the smiley face in his, maybe even more than i like the smiley face in hinata's.

also hinata's and oikawa's are both interesting to me bc of the romanized versions of their given names that were used.

ushijima wakatoshi

9/10

is it flashy? no but it is the perfect signature for ushijima wakatoshi. by far it's the most legible and honestly, it kinda looks to me like he just wrote his name the way he normally does but Bigger. no notes. you're doing great, king.

hoshiumi kourai

10/10

i am like... not 100% sure what's going on here but i like it!! it's flashy!! i really like the signatures with bold lines like this. i think it really suits the characters.

kageyama tobio

100000000/10

blatant favoritism because it's canon that his signature is the one suga made for him in high school. which is important to me. but even if there wasn't that factor, i would still really like his because of the heart. also like... suga created this signature but it still seems very kageyama to me? which i like.