#also Furudate what the heck does he look like

[haikyuu-myonlypersonalitytrait]

Happy birthday to Iizuna Tsukasa!

[karlyboyyy]

So you mean to tell me that part of the reason the art style changed halfway through the series was because some knucklehead goons bullied poor Furudate-sensei about the original art style?? 😤

[crollalanzaa]

My Haikyuu Thoughts

(reposted from twitter)

I started the manga 23/6/14 largely because there was a void left by me falling out of HP which RL and PJO wasn’t filling. I saw Hinata art on viria’s tumblr and was, ‘oh, who he?’  I think I watched a bit of the anime but had not thought much of it ???

So there was this kid who was irritatingly enthusiastic and embarrassingly bad at volleyball and it was all the cringe making stuff I hate because I’m not into vicarious humiliation, but as I read on, and he hit that perfect shot and yelled ‘ALL RIIIIIGHT!’ I was almost hooked.

Then he appeared and you know who I mean. It wasn’t the appearance at the middle school match but turning up at the gym, realising his place was now under threat, but going out of his way to make sure the two idiots bonded on court.

I was intrigued and more than a little koo-koo  over Suga, but still not absolutely hooked. The point where I knew this was not only my thing but a story which was going to reel me in was the Neighbourhood match. The drama of the Asahi/Suga/Nishinoya dynamic was one thing. Asahi calling for the toss still sends shivers up and down my spine and yet ... what hooked me was the adults leaving the match, their conversation as they went back to their normal lives They laughed with fondness and nostalgia about the drama of HS volleyball and   as an adult reading that, it suddenly transcended the kids/teen lit I’d thought it would be (nothing wrong with that -I often prefer this genre because books written for my demographic I find samey and overly romance or abuse based) because we had normal people like me who’d left their HS dreams in the gym (or the drama studio for me) but were happy(ish) in their everyday lives and enthusiastic about volleyball as a hobby. When Shimada put himself out to help Yamaguchi. When Saeko put herself out to get the idiots to Tokyo, it felt like they were falling for these kids and this team like me.

Reel back a bit. Hq had been going for two years when I jumped in. I binge read everything in two days, finishing at 112 (I think). Back in the day, my friend, we were relying on fan translations. There was no official site, and the translators did it all for love,  which was wonderful but there was a lot of debate about reading for free and waiting for the translation could be tortuous. I wanted to support Furudate but couldn’t buy the physical copies. It was suggested at one point that Eng speaking fans shouldn’t be a part of the fandom  - not by anyone remotely official, you understand -  but that was the state of things in 2014. I bought official merch instead and watched the anime while I waited for 113 to drop.

So forward to 117. If you ever want to know why I still catch my breath and laugh a little at the Daichi Dead moment it’s because we all had to wait for what seemed like twenty years to find out what the high heck was wrong with him. I genuinely thought he’d wrecked his shoulder and was distraught because there was no way they’d win everything with the Captain out!

(Of course I had no real idea about Ennoshita stepping up to the plate, but that’s another story) The discovery it was a tooth had me SCREECHING! So relieved. I yelled to one of my first hq friends (who’s now deactivated) and then casually went to France with friends -hahaha.

I’ve done complete 180s on so many characters now that it’s safe to say I never trust the initial narrative Kags, Tsukki, Yams (come on, he was Tsukki’s mate giggling in corners over Hinata’s ineptitude. It was only when he saw what Hinata could do he stopped being a sock puppet).  

 The biggest turn around was on Oikawa who I hated to the point where I threw things at my laptop when he appeared. It wasn’t so much him as everyone going ka-ka over him which pissed off my withered adult heart. What changed was forcing myself to write him for an IwaOi week. I reread/rewatched his story and through Hajime’s eyes I began to appreciate him. I wrote Philos as an Achilles/Patroclus reincarnation type fic and that led on and on. And this is what Furudate does so well. Gives you a ‘villain’ then adds the backstory so they’re a hero.

Disliked Tendou, too but his Farewell My Paradise, his acceptance of defeat and the way he was such a good sport about it, made me gasp. And I love love love his new career.

It’s the appreciation of amazing play by the opposition which made me fall hard for Inarizaki and Atsumu. (Look at him here! Punt him out the f*cking window!) I’d learnt not to automatically hate anyone, so I reserved judgment. Moment I decided I liked him? Setting for Kags.

Moment I decided I loved him - getting laughed at by Osamu.

Before this turns into an Atsumu appreciation thread, let me tell you about the characters I was indifferent to but then warmed towards. The main one was because one of my earliest hq friends (yes, you Megan) likes him and through her eyes I started to appreciate the hngg that is Konoha Akinori 

When I first started reading hq, I did some searches on tumblr and came across quite explicit Kuroken fanart, so I was understandably nervous meeting those Nekoma boys.   Although I’m still ultra fond of the kurokens I wrote, hindsight is a dreadful thing when you see how off your assumptions and hcs were. But in retrospect I don’t think anyone envisaged quite how dorky and shy Kuroo had been as a boy. The error I laugh over the most is somehow transplanting Yaku’s personality into Kai and vice versa, but that’s what happens when you write before canon is done. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Could I have held off writing for six years - nyope. Not a chance. Watching the story unfold, week after week, year after year has honestly been the happiest part of my life. Is that sad? Is it melodramatic? 

Perhaps. But it has brought me so much apart from a fantastic story. Found friends. A shelter from when real life’s shit. And so many laughs. I still on occasion burst out laughing in the street when I think about Hinata forgetting to spike, or a daft hc shared on twitter. Still sigh a little over the ppl who said they’d leave when their team lost. Remember the time I was warned not to celebrate the Crows winning because it would upset the Seijou fans. I restricted myself to a brief yay then deleted. All nonsense, because most of the Seijou fans I was friendly with accepted the narrative with a bit of wistfulness and looked forward to the next chapter. And for those who wept that Oikawa ‘deserved to win’ they received their own message from Tooru that his ‘worthless pride’ meant something and he was still a winner! 

Oikawa Tooru’s journey perfectly illustrated the idea that your life doesn’t end at High School, that your path is never fixed, and you’re not only made of your achievements but perhaps more so by the doubts and failures. We saw that more recently with the strongest player    Ushijima Wakatoshi whose recent backstory with Iwaizumi has at last made me warm to him. (Iwa-chan has this effect!) 

 There are so many stories to relate to. So many moments. Yachi and Suga overthinking. Kiyoko finding something else she was passionate about. Asahi returning. 

You all know I write and some of you know I’m an amateur actor - both of these rely on a certain amount of internal motivation but also external validation. What if the story flops? What if I dry on stage? ‘What if’ can become a never-ending mantra. So when Hirugami’s story appeared, where despite being amazing at volleyball it was making him miserable, until Hoshiumi suggested he could quit and that freed him - it sang to me.  I’ve been through ups and downs with writing, and much as I love acting it can takeover especially the worry that you’ll fuck up. I know I won’t set the world alight and that used to ‘Concern’ me, but partly thanks to this story and also my hq tl, I’ve realised it’s  unimportant.

If I fuck up on stage, I might throw off other people, but no one will die. If no one reads my fic, I won’t die. If I never write another fic ... no one will die except for the fictional characters and my headcanons. And even then they’re still alive in my head.

And look, I have so many ppl to thank who’ve made this journey with me and supported me all the way, but I’m too scared of missing people out and in a way everyone has helped. But none more than the creator. So Thank you Furudate and Haikyuu for everything. 

Great Receive!

[lyrebirdswrites]

Haikyuu: Where To From Here?

Okay, so I’ve calmed down enough now to finally put together some coherent thoughts about chapter 369.

First of all: there’s no need to panic, or to jump to conclusions! At this point, we have very little information. Here are the only concrete, confirmed facts we know for certain are true about the twist at the end of the chapter:

- an unspecified number of years have passed (above is the official Shonen jump translation, fan translations state ‘several’ years have passed)

- the story will be focusing on Brazil for the foreseeable future

- the composition of the manga strip places emphasis on a young man riding a bike - he’s a character of importance.

That’s it. That’s the only information we have. We don’t know how long the story will spend in Brazil. We don’t know for sure if the guy on the bike is Hinata - the hair is different, he appears taller, and we definitely did not see his face - and furthermore we don’t know if any characters we’re already familiar with are in Brazil at all. Heck, we don’t even know if this bike riding guy plays volleyball!

(I think it’s safe to assume he does, considering the nature of this manga, but the point is, we are not operating on an abundance of information here. Nothing is confirmed.)

I understand why this might seem like the worst possible direction for the narrative to take, especially when it feels like it came out of nowhere. Haikyuu, at its heart, has always been a series about people. Watching them grow, watching them become stronger and more skilled, watching them learn to love and rely on each other. Seeing Karasuno face up to impossible odds and achieve victory is so gratifying only because they do it together, as a team. Seeing Karasuno confront defeat and mourn a loss is so fulfilling only because they refuse to let it hold them back, and because they support and inspire each other through the good times and the bad. For a series that relies so heavily on the bonds between characters, it is jarring to see the relationships which we’ve invested in jeapordised by such an abrupt change in location and time. It’s just like Kageyama said:

We all wanted to go further with Karasuno. But here’s the thing: at it’s heart, Haikyuu has always been a series about people. The people of Karasuno, in particular. And I highly doubt that Furudate is going to throw away all that character development that they carefully cultivated over years in order to follow the story of some strangers on the other side of the planet. It’s not consistent with the themes the narrative presented to us over almost 400 chapters, and it’s not consistent with the meticulous way in which Furudate has built up the trajectory of these characters.

So I would posit that it’s very unlikely we’ve seen the last of Karasuno. That’s why the third year’s graduation was rushed. That’s why we didn’t get a proper end to the spring tournament. That’s why it wasn’t necessary for Hinata to be present at the dinner and to hear the emotional speeches. And that’s why there are so many loose ends, like the extremely skilled players from Kageyama’s national camp that Karasuno never really interacted with, or the occasional mention of scouting for university and national teams. This was never intended to be a permanent goodbye, so there was no need to wrap everything up in a neat little bow and create the perfect nostalgic ending. Their story isn’t over yet!

Honestly, I don’t think this twist is a death scentence for the manga. In fact, I think it could be just what haikyuu needs to launch into something even greater than what we’ve seen so far. Think about it: the first chapter of Haikyuu was published in February 2012, and right now at the end of 2019, 7 years later, we’ve only just seen the end of hinata’s first ever spring tournament. At this rate, it would be decades before Hinata ever graduated high school. With a time skip, we don’t have to rehash the same tournaments and face off against the same teams over and over and over in real time. As much as I would love to see Hinata become a senpai and watch him develop into a formidable third year volleyball player, I think it would be really hard to keep the story from becoming stale or feeling derivative of itself if Furudate attempted to follow Hinata’s story in real time, tracking his development as he attends the same competitions and fights the same schools while each single match takes dozens upon dozens of chapters. Also, if we’re not following the day to day experiences of Hinata in high school, then there’s no need to push the third years who’ve just graduated out of the story. Not just for Karasuno, but for all the other teams we love. If the focus is no longer on high school volleyball, then the manga is much more free to continue including the third years or even to have them play on the same team as our favourite first years. Olympics, anyone? There are so many exciting directions the story could take from here, and I can’t wait to see it.

So if their story isn’t over, then... what the heck is happening now? Like I said, we really have no idea what could happen next because there are so few details to work off of. The next few chapters should give us a clearer idea, if we can be patient enough to wait for them. But looking back through the manga can give us a few clues too. There are already some posts pointing this out, but it’s clear that Furudate has been planning this a long time based on forshadowing within the manga itself:

There’s Brazil, right there! In reference to people who are going to meet and change the world. Or more specifically, members of a volleyball team who meet, and push each other to greater heights, and eventually challenge the national (international? world?) stage. While Karasuno have been getting stronger, the narrative is pretty explicitly hinting that another team in Brazil is doing the same thing. I think we’re about to meet them.

At first I was worried we’d never see Karasuno or the Japanese volleyball players again, or at least not for a long time. But right from the start, Furudate told us they were never planning to confine these characters to high school or even to Japan.

Here, Kageyama asks Hinata to keep up with him not just in high school, but in the long term. To play with him not just at the Spring Interhigh, but beyond the very best of the national level and on a worldwide stage. Their partnership and rivalry was the foundation of this story from chapter 1, and the manga won’t end until they either face off against one another and prove who is the better player in an official world tournament - or until they become world champions on the same team. That was the premise set out at the start of the manga, and that’s the promise which needs to be fulfilled for it to end. Taking into account all the character development Hinata and Kageyama have experienced in order to become an amazing duo instead of eternal rivals, I’d say the second option is the most likely. They’ve come a long way from those first few panels, and Kageyama admitting he wanted to go even further with Karasuno proves he’s long past the be-the-best do-it-alone mindset which triggered this scene.

(it’s possible that the bike riding guy is Hinata on the Brazil team, and that Kageyama will be his ultimate opponent. But I don’t see why the bike rider guy’s face would be hidden if that was the big twist. Showing Hinata in Brazil has more shock value than showing a stranger in Brazil, and imo 369 was definitely attempting to shock! I think Hinata and Kageyama are more of a team now than they’ve ever been, and it seems unlikely that the narrative will backtrack and make them rivals again without another round of long-term character development in that direction. It wouldn’t all be hidden in a timeskip and a flashback or two.)

If Kageyama, Hinata, and other beloved characters are playing on the world stage, they need teams to play against. Haikyuu has always been known for having highly developed rivals - you can’t help but empathise with and cheer on the other team, every time. So what we’re seeing here isn’t the end of Karasuno, but rather the introduction of Hinata and Kageyama’s new competition. We’re gonna be reading about international volleyball tournaments between countries, and no team is going to be one-dimensional, nor are they going to exist only within the competition arena. It looks like we’re going to be spending a lot of time with these rival teams, or at the very least with the Brazil team. More time than we spent with Nekoma or Fukurodani. We’re gonna watch them grow and learn to rely on each other the same way we did with Karasuno, the same way we fell in love with all the high school teams - and then, we’ll watch them go head to head in a competition more epic than anything we’ve seen in Haikyuu to date.

Of course, that’s just speculation. I could be totally wrong. But at the end of the day, I trust Furudate to write a good story. For seven years they’ve composed Haikyuu, a manga that has made me laugh, made me cry, and has taught me some pretty valuable lessons about facing adversity and dealing with defeat. It’s been with me throughout my own high school years and beyond, even as I’ve grown and changed as a person, and never once has the story genuinely let me down. I have absolute faith that whatever comes next will be just as good, so long as we approach it with an open heart.

[caandlelit]

Saw you reblogging a post so can I ask for Bokoaka hcs?

i want u to know that this is the second time im typing these out bc i lost them the first time and thats why this is late

anyways yes i love them thanku for requesting

so theyre the sappiest couple

the most in love

the most domestic

in college, bokuto and kuroo share a dorm

and the sheer amount of times hes walked in on them making out on bokutos bed only to slap his hand on his eyes and blindly shuffle around for the door with the other is countless

konoha, walking inside to ask bokuto something only to see kuro sitting on the floor while staring blankly at his empty doritoes packet while akaashi and bokuto are entangled with each other:

" hey kuro dude are you okay "

kuro, tearing up: i have a chemistry test tomorrow and they wont leavE

they have a standing date

every saturday morning they get coffee before their respective classes because its the only free morning they share

every week without fail you'll see them tucked into the corner of the same cafe, bokuto talking animatedly while akaashi smiles at him warmly over his coffee and bokuto trying and failing miserably to be subtle as he hooks their ankles together

but akaashi just smiles wider and bokuto beams back helplessly

they share the bill and bokuto walks him to his class like he used to every day in highschool and kisses him goodbye and everything

theyre the type to have promise rings that bokuto pulled out on his graduation while kneeling under a cherry tree

its terrible

bokuto prides himself on being fucking hilarious and its been his daily goal to make akaashi laugh at least once a day ever since he made him laugh by accident the first time

in akaashis first year, he was telling some story about something he did in class while cleaning up after practice,

although konoha complained that he was yelling and gesturing wildly with his broom more than he was cleaning

and bokuto sees akaashi bite back a smile at one of the funnier parts of the story and his breathing stops

he catches himself and keeps talking, more exaggerated and trying to make it funnier while keeping an eye on akaashi's minute reactions

and then akaashi laughs out loud and bokuto stares, awestruck

like that was the goal but he didnt think hes actually succeed holy shiT

konoha ruins it

"woW akaashi i didnt knOw you were capable of showing human emotion-"

sarukui slaps the back of his head and stagewhispers "duMBASS"

and konohas like oW whaT diCKheAd

and then he sees bokuto still staring at akaashi and then hes like ooooohhhh

akaashi schools his face and hes like "respectfully shut up konoha-san" and bokuto just stares and smiles pathetically while konoha cusses akaashi out while also sounding proud of him in the background and thats when he first realizes hes falling

akaashi is a better texter than he is a talker cause he has time to formulate his sentences better than he already does

which makes his replies a little slower but they always make bo smile or laugh or occasionally sigh lovingly while staring at the text

while bokuto is just,,,the physical embodiment of 'need for speed'

texts half in emojis and also he'll take any short form of any word just so he can send his text faster

so "before" is often reduced to "b4"

and there is an over use of exclamation marks

and the word "heck" because he has younger siblings and he barely curses

"if i text faster then akaashi will see it faster and then he'll reply faster" he reasons

kuro retches

bokuto has made akaashi swoon at least once lets be real

akaashi cusses more than bokuto does this is a fact

bokuto refers to him exclusively as "bae" when hes around other people

then kuro says it to embarrass them and then kenma is saying it and then everyones saying it and akaashi cant even be mad at those puppy dog eyes

but also bokuto melts every time akaashi calls him "koutarou" so its fair

bokuto takes gym selfies dont even fucking try to change my mind

also hes as tall and tanned and muscled and fantastic as hercules himself

please dont talk to me about the anime he looked like a skinny lil punk

have some goddamned respect for the huge biceps akaashi keiji jerks off to for the love of god

big thanks to the fukurodani nationals matvh for delivering on a the golden buff guy bokuto moments i didnt know i needed until they were gone fuck karasuno lives

bokuto and akaashi bring back guyliner challenge their eyes would look amazing

@ furudate ill pay you

akaashi in big pants and bigger bomber jackets and bokuto in tight jeans and letterman jackets and both of them with snapbacks please and thank you

bokuto takes awesome selfies, snapchat is his most used app and he takes out the time and makes the effort to find good lighting

and he has streaks with everyone he knows including the managers and older teammates and friends he had in his first and second years and even some random volleyball opponents that hes still in contact with and hinata of coursE

because please

this is bokuto koutarou we are talking about

he is a social butterfly

his longest and most treasured streak is with kuroo

duh

who he met in middle school during a match and they clicked so fast and so well that they exchanged snapchat usernames and started a streak that very day

when he adds akaashi, akaashi abruptly realizes

that he needs to up his fucking selfie game

and it takes a week before hes satisfied and thinks the picture is good enough to send

and its so pretty that bokuto lets out a strangled noise because hes almost as in love with the lighting bc of how it makes akaashis pale skin look all soft and pretty as he is with akaashi himself

again

bokuto and akaashi bring back guyliner challenge itd make their eyes look so good come oN

sign my petition

anyways i delivered now someone point me in the direction of fratboy bokuto bkak fics please and thankyou

[mllebabushkat]

a (complaint-free) ramble on ch 312

[tysm @kisukke for the amazing translation as usual idk what i’d do without it <3]

AIGHT LET’S GO!!

first up, 

thE HECK IS THIIS?? (colour centre? hell yeah!! also i swear kenma’s roots were darker,, eh who cares he looks amazing)

Kenma>?? you are my fav lazy smartass cat i love you very much but this this is bordering on psycho territory and i’m scared to see where it’s gonna go

YKNOW WHAT I MEAN??? YEESH COLOUR ME TERRIFIED

goshiki bby eagle we know you’re rooting for hinata it’s ok everyone does it

aaaaAAAAHAHDJIADJGHFAJGGHJHA YALL ARE FUCKING SCARY

1) thank you bokuto for your eloquent commentary i agree completely 2) yaku is petrifying. nekoma’s own monster (scratch that they’re all monsters i love them). look at those eyes. daymn, shits going down 3) nO SHIT IT’S PAINFUL i emit a continuous 50kHz scream when i read haikyuu these days 4) psst hey, hey kenma., you’re lookin a lil tired over there is this foreshadowing 5) also TSUKKI MY FAVE SALTY CRANE i can feel his brain turning i hope this is foreshadowing too i wanna see him kick neko butt anyway. this page., it’s significant. (also very well drawn). mark my words.

eyy he got it :D

can i just say i love how kuroo’s always got an eye out for kenma like awww what a dynamic duo <3 kuroken kuroken kuroken

hahahaha nope come on everyone and their grandma knows exactly what’s about to happen

hAHA HA H a  n o p e

O_O

-_-

kurotsukki kurotsukki kurotsukki

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (yk it’s gettin serious when they stick their tongue out huh)

O.O

*sirens blaring* OH SHIT OH SHIT oh shit oh shit 

it’d be really interesting if furudate makes nekoma win in two sets that would be completely unprecedented (also it would cause the entire fandom to riot no biggie), we’d have to start from rock bottom and build up again (then again pretty sure that will give another few years of runtime at least) but i really hope not, like despite the fact that karasuno and nekoma are my two favourite teams of all time there is a certain attachment you form with the protags after seeing all their struggles, it would break my heart if they lost (but i don’t think i could handle nekoma crying either hhhngggh)... for the near future tho def keeping an eye on yaku kenma (i feel like they’re both either gonna power up even more or come crashing down v soon) tsukki (come on kid you did it with ushiwaka do it with these cats too) kageyama hinata (let’s see if they’re gonna fly or die :)) I really can’t predict where it’s gonna go and I CAN’T WAIT to have my heart stuffed through a shredder

IN conclusion you scream i scream we all scream for furudate sensei to please write this well don’t butcher it thank you very much and as usual i’m blown away at well everything aahh (art plot pace povs perspectives angles expressions commentary everything)

[bentenharuki]

HAIKYUU CHAPTER 287 (the real translation at last!)

So… where do we start from…

I guess to have gotten the real translation instead of the proto version of it has improved a bit my mood, but still this chapter sees the complete trivialization of true 🏐 efforts and no matter if I did predict correctly what Furudate would have gone for in the end of this game, it still makes me 😠.

But at least I have the satisfaction to observe again and again how Mighty Lord Kageyama REALLY can’t stand his “partner”, and that makes me feel a bit better regarding this chapter.

So we are at a point where he whole of Karasuno (the part of it made of real players, so I am not including fictional “hero” Midget Redhead Curse here in my discourse, obviously) is completely drained by the monster efforts they have dispatched so far on court.

Atsumu serves, and he does it with skill, brain and strategy.

I 😍 Atsumu.

Such a great player he is…

Sadly already from the title I got an irksome feeling. Because TRUE, in games great players don’t have to rely on miracles, and what Daichi says later is fully correct, but then, what for Furudate?

You preach such good words and then you have Boku No Hero Karasuno become the pillar of defensive plays, when he has not trained at all for it, like… EVER in his life?

Go jump in a pool, Furudate (and I am being nice…): whoever has at least a while practiced volley knows that for mustering some of the receives you need to in a normal game (and imagine then in a National competition) you have to practice THOUSANDS of them (I did, and I was a setter…) before grasping the goodness of them and YOU, YOU… create Boku No Hero Karasuno as now a reliable receiver BECAUSE HE HAS THE INSTINCT OF IT?

You are a shame for volley, Furudate.

You have sold your sport soul for 💰, just admit it.

Anyway, Atsumu goes for his serves and Daichi (the always awesome Daichi) teaches us all once more what a great captain such like he is should, namely how to keep fighting forever and do your best despite any crushing pressure…

I 😍 Daichi… so, so much!

Atsumu is great… Daichi is great… these panels are great… (Ah!!! If it weren’t for that senseless midget, this game could have been so perfect, so perfect…)

I like the commentary of Nekoma’s crew. Of course they are resting while their incoming adversaries are bleeding on the court, but it’s clear how there is an abyss between them and the Miyagi ranks by now. The only way next game will be manageable by Tokyo cats stands in the reality that all Karasuno players are exhausted, while they are just enjoying the show and resting right there.

Otherwise, the game between Nekoma and Karasuno would never exist at the current time; Karasuno has developed way more and better compared to Nekoma by now.

As I wrote, what Daichi says is just THE REALITY OF VOLLEY… but all the right inputs Furudate has put in these panels is simply erased by the fact later on he will upgrade Hinata into something which simply he CANNOT BE.

Not as he stands right now.

Not considered he has never trained for any of those improving traits the mangaka is eager to upgrade him with.

FULL POINT (and full shame on Furudate).

I enjoy greatly any panel where Atsumu’s eyes are lit up with agonistic thirst and trance. Atsumu is HUNGRY of volley, he 😍 to play, he 😍 to crush opponents, he 😍 ALL a great and talented competitor such as he is shall 😍; but all the same, Daichi is there to stand in his place and never back down either. These are wonderful 🏐 panels. But it takes the eyes and 💛 of a sport loving person to fully appreciate this. And look, when I say “sport loving person” I don’t mean a person who watches sports: I mean a person who knows what it takes in PRACTICING it. Whatever kind of sport. Unless you know what it takes to perform similar tasks, unless you are not familiar with what it means to shed all your forces to reach a goal… you cannot appreciate fully ANY of this I am trying to make you 👀.

And that’s just how it is.

This is one of the core parts of the episode… and of course people can’t mostly understand a thing of it.

The REAL translation of Kenma’s words pinpoints how, despite the ball being in a position COMPLETELY disadvantaged and almost impossible for Karasuno now, and the fact it is about to cross again the net (like in last episode), midget RedHead is jumping like nothing of it matters, being RUTHLESS as he is NOT CONSIDERING AT ALL how much Kageyama must be tired (and in the last episode, he barely touched a similar ball with one finger).

Kenma has already said a few times how Hinata is the kind of person who just asks, asks and asks without considerations for anyone beside himself and his own parameters of energy (easy to do, when somebody like him plays a THIRD of the balls Kageyama does, right midget Redhead?), thus admitting it would be IMPOSSIBLE for him to ever play with Hinata.

So, the annoying 🍊 is right now jumping like this is the first action of the game and not the 12000th Kageyama has had to do.

He jumps like the ball ain’t almost on the other side of the net already.

He jumps, arrogantly and careless of anything else beside his own desire to spike (a person like this is depicted by his fans like a tender and cute person who is “so kind”… heck NOT, he is impossibly annoying end egotistical, actually!)

But guess what?

Lord Kags treats any task like an obstacle to overcome. And HINATA for Lord Kageyama is nothing more than another task and another obstacle to overcome, so HE DOES THIS:

I 😍 HOW KAGEYAMA DOESN’T EVEN BOTHER TO THINK OF HINATA AS IN A SURNAME way for him to be a thought in his head… for my beloved Lord, he is “this guy”. Just that. A guy like any other he could come across.

There is no bond at all between these two, just a pushy competition. I 😂 myself out anytime I 👀 how Lord Kageyama is supposed to be so into and so linked to Hinata.

He is completely indifferent to him, he considers him just as a player he plays with, and an annoying presence he has to shut down anytime that annoying presence bolsters with baseless arrogance on a court, daring to think he might talk to him as an equal (EWWW… what an impure volley thought).

Kageyama won’t ever lose to Hinata, that’s the only true thing which links them two: soon they won’t play on the same team anymore, and by then the only one as happy as Kageyama will be is gonna be myself.

Hinata simply doesn’t deserve ANYTHING of what the Lord gives him.

Not that Hinata is smart enough to even understand the effort which takes to Kageyama to perform the tosses he does so naturally.

He doesn’t feel any special connection to him. He just feels annoyed, bothered and PUSHED by him, just like Hinata was not even a teammate, but a source of new tasks to overcome, no more and no less as he is an adversary (the same goes for Hinata: Hinata exploits the Lord for his advantage… but in no way he has any connection to him beside wanting to obtain a toss for himself).

And overcoming tasks Kageyama, the perfect voleyball lord, will do.

This action is AWESOME.

The pushing willpower, the flawless form, the power of his muscles, the clarity of his tossing technique.

THIS. IS. 🏐.

The reactions at the amazing play of Kageyama give me life.

Everyone is shocked at the display of class and might volley power.

The fact that Suna, who is a great ace and blocker, is shocked, even though he plays with Atsumu so he must be used to greatness, it tells so much.

The face of Kenma, who is TERRIFIED at the fact Kageyama could DELIVER such a thing despite being completely tired.

And then Kindaichi… oh, dear… if only you didn’t have betrayed the Lord and his purity at Kitagawa… who knows how great of an ace you could have become by now, since a midget with no height or power such as Boku No Hero Karasuno receives to spike such incredible tosses…

Too bad, Kindaichi… too bad ;)

This is also very important, and the CORRECT translation makes it even more noteworthy.

Look how ONLY A SETTER as talented as Atsumu can truly understand the burden poor perfect Lord Kags is subjected to. Namely to have a spiker who won’t ever consider how tired you are, or how much more than him you have played, resulting in how much more exhausted than him you might be. Said spiker will DEMAND with no mercy for you to do improbable and impossible tosses (even more requested by the fact said spiker is a midget who weights 40 kg, and therefore he can’t be powerful , he can only be a jump spiker, a threat based on velocity and peak, which is the category setters get exhausted from the most), and since you are a competitor, and you are super class, you will comply to those requests, just because as a setter you have to.

Atsumu, like Kenma and also like Oikawa, sees how to play with Hinata is a dreading deed, an effort they are glad they are not forced to sustain, because honestly it takes just too much to stand to play alongside somebody as Hinata.

What makes it all even funnier, is that Atsumu feels for Kageyama and his burden to the Redhead curse, but in Osamu’s words that is quite strange, because Atsumu is supposed to be heartless and he normally wouldn’t feel bad for anyone (but you know Osamu, Tobio kun is dear to Atsmumu’s 💛… ;) face it ;9 ).

I 💛 that tiny part a lot. *.*

Then I 💛 to pieces THIS:

AWWWWW my beautiful, cold, condescending and smug Lord.

You really can’t stand Hinata, can you?

I 😍 you so much… I just 😍 you SO MUCH MORE for this face here… it makes this whole chapter and the mess that is about to come so much more tolerable…

You won’t ever let that ant think he has ever to feel like he can win against you, because of course.. he WON’T EVER BE ABLE TO REACH ANY OF THE PLAYER YOU ARE, and even less of the player that you will be.

I 😍 you, Lord K. :)

And now… the  final of the chapter, where Furudate does upgrade Hinata to a receiver, just because he wants to.

Call it “the Death of Volley” in this game…

I wrote in the images what I had to.

Honestly, Furudate… you are a shame for the entirety of the 🌍 who has played volley with passion and 💛, and who had to 🚇 months before becoming dignified receivers.

I hope the 💰 you have gotten out of this vilification of volley is making you happy…

[hweiro]

Iwaizumi for the character thingy? :)

Buckle up, guys, because I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS AND YOU GUYS ASKED TO SEE MY LOVE LETTER TO IWAIZUMI SO.

First impression“Hmmm, seems like an unassuming supporting character.”…I can’t lie; Iwa-chan isn’t an early attention-grabber. The first time Seijou appeared, the focus was given to Kindaichi and Kageyama’s old rift (thus giving Kindaichi most of the scenes) and then Oikawa’s entrance. Iwaizumi’s mostly shafted at the beginning.

Impression nowI WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS FOR THIS BOI.You know how I love Oikawa? I love Iwaizumi more. I’m doing the fist-heart-clutch right now just thinking about him, ugh how is he so good.Here’s the thing: Iwaizumi is shown to have high physical strength, and is a strong wing spiker and ace with above-average skills. But he’s not exceptional in his volleyball potential, especially in a sports series populated with characters like Bokuto, Oikawa, Ushijima and even Aone.Where Iwaizumi shines is his role as an unwavering support/anchor for Oikawa. I’d argue that this was pre-planned from the start: their names when combined [ “一徹” ittetsu (the combination of ‘Hajime’ and ‘Tooru’)]  means ‘obstinate; stubborn; inflexible’, implying even in the character planning stage, Furudate had created these two to be optimal when paired together. Names aside, look at their dynamics; even with shipping goggles off, their synergy is undeniable, and after Oikawa’s grand introduction, they often appear together in off-scenes. I’ll spare you guys the more popular scenes (i.e. Iwaizumi knowing Oikawa would go watch Karasuno vs. Shiratorizawa) in favor of highlighting less obvious panels:

Note that while Oikawa is the focus in both these frames (neither meant to highlight Iwaizumi in any form), Iwaizumi is also present. This is a constant recurrence in the manga; they’re often found physically standing together, or in close vicinity of each other.Then let’s talk about Iwaizumi as a stabilizing influence on Oikawa. This plays out in two aspects: the first is as a running gag that Iwaizumi is Oikawa’s keeper. Heck, even Irihata (the coach) tells Iwaizumi to fetch Oikawa in a fashion that implies that it’s something Iwaizumi’s done often enough. And of course, there are a flurry of gifs of Iwaizumi’s terrifying expression cowing Oikawa into easy submission (“Nobody hits me like that! - oh, Iwachan.” *follows docilely*)The second aspect is the more critical one, and likely the reason why they make such a great ship: Iwaizumi actively bolsters and maintains Oikawa’s sense of confidence in his skills. It’s not wrong to say that Iwaizumi actually actively enables Oikawa to play at the peak of his skills:

Look at what Iwaizumi says here, and how Oikawa responds: there’s a sense that this is an oft-repeated argument between these two, with Iwaizumi actively reminding Oikawa that he’s actually good in his role. I’ve said in Oikawa’s character analysis that despite his confidence, Oikawa has a core of insecurity that if left unchecked, could be destructive on his psyche and well-being. Following that, I don’t think I’m overreaching in saying that while he’s not the only factor in play, Iwaizumi is a crucial contributor to keeping Oikawa’s confidence at the healthy level it is. He also acts as Oikawa’s check, preventing him from doing regrettable things that range from trivial (‘Don’t stay up all night’) to significant (preventing Oikawa from injuring himself/ injuring Kageyama):

Oikawa’s trust in Iwaizumi is high enough that Iwaizumi’s words actually penetrate and stick - they work, and Oikawa calms down enough to play at his best again. Note that the above is while they’re in Kitagawa Daiichi - the Iwaoi relationship started early, and continued into the Seijou arc. If you need further proof of their implicit trust in each other, look no further than that iconic in-manga analysis that Oikawa will always toss to Iwaizumi in a pinch. In short, instinctually, Oikawa will always trust Iwaizumi above all his other teammates.

Ushijima may have said Oikawa would be better off in Shiratorizawa, but take a minute to think of the dynamics in Shiratorizawa. Yes, the volleyball skill level is higher, which would utilize Oikawa’s strengths more, but think of the team members’ various personalities, and consider Oikawa’s insecurities again. While I do like Shiratorizawa on its own merit, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to conclude that Oikawa is likely to burn himself out/injure himself in an attempt to ‘be better’ beyond his feasible limits without Iwaizumi around. Heck, think of Aobajousai minus Iwaizumi - how do you think Oikawa would fare?tl;dr: All hail Iwa-chan, the Oikawa-whisperer.

Okay, some quick non-related Oikawa-stuff: Iwaizumi is also extremely perceptive and authoritative; it’s implied he’s more reliable than Oikawa as a vice-captain in club affairs. This shows best with Kindaichi and most importantly, Kyoutani. Iwaizumi asserts his dominance with his physical strength, but it’s worth noting that he’s aware of it and does use it to direct Kyoutani. Also, Iwaizumi’s is always shown as steady - not once do you see him being jealous, or tired of dealing with Oikawa. He is patient, observant, and pro-active with a good sense of self-esteem - case in point, he tells Oikawa he looks forward to meeting him as an equal rival, placing himself toe-to-toe with Oikawa’s massive skills. Iwa-chan is perfect. 

Favorite momentEvery moment is a favorite Iwa-chan moment. But here, have casual-clothes!Iwaizumi, with casual-Oikawa!burn:

Idea for a storyThe Overwatch AU mentioned in Oikawa’s section, with Iwaizumi as Hanzo. Ideally, I’d like to write a longfic featuring Iwaizumi’s POV one day though, set in a contemporary slice-of-life setting. 

Unpopular opinionUh, again, I really don’t think I have unpopular opinions?…But I downplay Iwaizumi’s insulting of Oikawa - it’s usually strategic, and he times it well; he doesn’t toss them out without good purpose. It’s pretty much a boke-tsukkomi relationship.Also, I feel that it’s unlikely that Iwaizumi will go pro - as much as this manga hypes up their skills, it’s worth remembering they’re only at high-school level; even on this playing field, Iwaizumi is not particularly exceptional skill-wise, with most of his playing potential amplified by Oikawa. He’ll likely continue playing in university, maybe more actively if it’s with Oikawa (mostly at Oikawa’s insistence), but aside from upkeeping his general fitness (gym, maybe), he’s likely to downscale his volleyball playing over time in favor of focusing on his studies.

Favorite relationshipGosh, I wonder what it could be. 

Favorite headcanonIwaizumi actually does decently at every sport; in high school, whenever other teams need a filler, he’s a common go-to substitute. Iwaizumi eventually majors in Physiotherapy - not (solely) because of Oikawa, but because he’s genuinely interested in understanding how the body works and how injuries effect it. Iwaizumi is a late riser, and extremely hard to rouse in the morning if there are no classes. He eventually learns to drive, but prefers to ride shotgun. Iwaizumi is not a particularly romantic person, but never hesitates to say ‘I love you’ to his s/o (Oikawa). He’s surprisingly weak to physical affection; he’ll never say it out loud,but he loves being kissed along his neck, and sleeping in his s/o (Oikawa’s) lap.[character meme]

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 9/19/19

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 11 | By Kaoru Mori | Yen Press – Back to Bookshelf Briefs with this volume. Not that it’s not good; it’s very good. But I don’t have a lot of detailed analysis about it. This is possibly a slower-burning romance than even Amir and Karluk, as Mr. Smith is an English Gentleman and Talas is chasing after love after several husbands have all passed away. The “husband and wife” part goes quickly—in fact, Smith proposes almost immediately—but, as with a lot of couples in this series, actual romance is awkward and relatively innocent—the best part is a ride on a swing where we finally see Talas fully open up emotionally. In any case, we now get to go ALL THE WAY BACK, as Smith and Talas decide to reverse his journey. Which means we get to check up on everyone. Peaceful reading. – Sean Gaffney

Cells at Work! CODE BLACK, Vol. 1 | By Shigemitsu Harada and Issei Hatsuyoshiya | Kodansha Comics – Yikes. I knew this was going to be a bit more serious than the main series based on the premise, which is that we see a red and white blood cell in a crappy body that’s smoking, drinking, impotent… the works. But this ran in a seinen magazine, and is not afraid to pile on the gore… as well as the boobs. A lot of the cast die trying to save the body, the liver is portrayed as a host club with girls galore, etc. In among this is the aggrieved Red Blood Cell, male in this spinoff, and his stoic White Blood Cell friend, who is also busy dealing with the fact that White Blood Cells are vanishing. Heck, even the Killer T’s get brainwashed and then arrested (and presumably executed). For hardcore fans only. – Sean Gaffney

Cells At Work! CODE BLACK, Vol. 1 | By Shigemitsu Harada and Issei Hatsuyoshiya | Kodansha Comics – One of several spin-offs of Akane Shimizu’s Cells at Work, Code Black takes the same premise—personifications of human cells, viruses, bacteria, etc.—and moves the action to, well, a body that’s really not doing so well health-wise. The first thing I noticed about Code Black was its mature content warning. In part this is earned due to subject matter (for example, one chapter deals with erectile dysfunction), but also because the creators incorporate a fair bit of fanservice into their interpretations of physiological processes (the white blood cells’ breasts are barely contained by their uniforms and rest and recuperation in the liver includes some nudity.) Code Black also examines the effects of smoking, drinking, and sexually transmitted infections. (Someone is having a rough time of it.) While the original Cells at Work is so far the stronger series, Code Black, like its predecessor, can be both entertaining and educational. – Ash Brown

A Centaur’s Life, Vol. 17 | By Kei Murayama | Seven Seas – After the anime of this aired, and perhaps after hearing from fans, I’ve been noticing that the lesbian members of the class have been appearing more and more and getting more and more out. Though here we hear that it’s not lesbian but “yuri” as yuri is “pure and innocent,” which is meant to be pointed commentary, I believe. If so, it fits right in with the rest of A Centaur’s Life, which continues to have things like parasites trying to blend in while taking over human hosts, kaiju monsters helping to save battleships, and Manami straight up beating her grandfather into the hospital when he accuses her sword style of being soft. I honestly have no idea what’s coming next. Nor does the author, I suspect. – Sean Gaffney

Giant Killing, Vol. 16 | By Masaya Tsunamoto and Tsujitomo | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The flashback to Tatsumi’s playing days concludes with him being branded a traitor for accepting an offer with an English team, even though he only did it so his teammates would no longer be so dependent on him. Back in the present, he’s seeking the help of Kasano, the man who recruited him to ETU in the first place, to help bring in some promising new players. This whole scene—“I know his faith isn’t dead yet”—made me unexpectedly verklempt. And then it’s time for a midseason training camp, where Tatsumi attempts to foster team unity by subjecting his players to various weird tasks. I love how skillfully the creators depict that this strategy is actually working, and that some players are discovering abilities they didn’t know they had. I’m glad volumes of this have started coming out again! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 34 | By Haruichi Furudate | VIZ Media – A high five made me cry. Honestly, that probably tells you all you need to know about Haikyu!! and how Furudate-sensei creates characters so beloved that readers celebrate with them. Finally, Karasuno and Nekoma are facing each other on a national stage, and what really got me here is that Tsukishima and Yamaguchi prove that Kageyama and Hinata are not the only rookie duo to look out for. Yamaguchi’s floating serve paired with Tsukishima’s blocking proves a very effective strategy, only possible because various people have helped Tsukishima both with technique and with allowing himself to shed his reluctance to really try. Unfortunately, Karasuno still can’t manage to win a set off Nekoma, and the volume ends as the second set begins. I’m sure this’ll be a game that spans multiple volumes, but man, is it going to be a good one. – Michelle Smith

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 5 | By Waco Ioka and Midori Yuma | Viz Media – Sometimes all you need is one customer with pull to turn things around. So Aoi finds when she ends up serving a tanuki who enjoyed her boxed lunches and is also a writer… and when he enjoys her meals and also (natch) finds out about her grandfather, he gives the place a write-up. Of course, now that it’s doing better it’s also attracting attention, as Aoi is asked to cater to another couple where the husband is a yokai and the wife is human—what sort of food would serve them best? And yes, there’s more romance here and there, but for the most part this has become a food title. My one complaint is it’s too short—the lower page count means less plot happens. – Sean Gaffney

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Vol. 37 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | Viz Media – Let’s get the big complaint out of the way: a series that began with a fun cast of three ends with only two of them saving the day, despite a token attempt to have Morgiana do something. She needed to be in the final battle. Still, Aladdin also gets a bit shafted, as in the end this is Alibaba’s journey and his story, as it’s his choices that prove to carry the day time and time again, to the point where they save the world—admittedly a world that is a bit topsy turvy. And we do end with a wedding. Magi got a bit drawn out by the end, and a lot of its best fights were interrupted by lectures and platitudes, but I was happy to read it, and will miss it now that it’s over. More Shonen Sunday series, please! – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 3 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – My wish is granted in this third volume, which has no short stories at the end and is entirely about Shirayuki. She’s still trying to deal with the first prince, and also her own self-doubt. Things are not helped when Prince Raj, the jerk who started this whole mess, shows up on a visit between royals. Fortunately, he turns out to merely be an immature schmuck (tum-tum may be the funniest part of the book), and his presence actually makes her feel better about herself. Which is good, because we continue to get vague romance, and politics, and both of those have to be solved by Shirayuki being clever and plucky. A volume that shows why fans were clamoring for this license for so long. – Sean Gaffney

Wonderland, Vol. 3 | By Yugo Ishikawa | Seven Seas – I must admit, I was expecting the main cast to stay shrunk for the entirety of this title, so seeing our heroines (and the old guy) return to normal due to the power of hot baths was very startling—it was startling to them as well. Unfortunately, Yukko’s parents are still dead by cat, though they also appear to now be normal sized—but still dead. So Yukko is going back to school and attempting to process everything. Fortunately she has her friend Takuya. Unfortunately, she also has a government minder, and she seems intent on erasing Takuya’s memory of everything that happened. I suspect “cast vs. the evil government” may be the theme of this series, but will Yukko shrink again? And can she reunite with Alice? Still weird, still good. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 3/19/19

Behind the Scenes!!, Vol. 6 | By Bisco Hatori | Viz Media – This is coming to a close soon, and you can sort of tell—despite the plot complication showing us that Goda still really wants to direct, there’s just not a lot of special effects work here. Instead, we see the romantic pairings start to resolve, though resolve does not, in this case, mean “start a relationship.” I like this, as it shows how it can be difficult but not impossible to carry on working and being friends with someone after you’ve been rejected. Ruka, though, may have a tougher row to hoe here, and I have a suspicion that her arc is going to be the resolution of the series. Which is in the next volume, hopefully coming out a bit sooner than the year between books five and six. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 4 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – This is a Shonen Jump series, and I think that fans of Dr. STONE are simply going to have to accept that we are not dealing with science, but with SCIENCE!, shouted like the Thomas Dolby song. In other words, leave your disbelief at the door, it is not welcome here. Meanwhile, we do find out why the girl wears a watermelon on her head—she’s half-blind without glasses, which don’t exist here. Glass is important, as it will allow Senku to help save the girl, but before he can do that, there’s a tournament arc coming up, which everyone enters with lots of “we will fix the bouts” plans which all get torpedoed instantly. This series is pure dumb fun, almost JoJo-esque at times. – Sean Gaffney

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 9 | By Izumi Miyazono | VIZ Media – Despite the fact that Asuka suggested that she and Ryu break up at the end of the previous volume—having seen how he flourished in Washington, DC and not wanting to hold him back—there was really zero chance that the series would end without them tying the knot. Apparently, they had a three-year separation where they were still in love but focusing on work and didn’t talk at all. They meet again at their friends’ wedding and suddenly it’s proposal time! It’s pretty anticlimactic, but there were things about the final volume I did like, like Kamiya assuming Asuka was crying over the breakup only to find her clear-eyed and also that Asuka came to appreciate her challenging job and changed her mind about quitting to be a full-time homemaker. I’d probably read something else by this author. – Michelle Smith

Fate/Zero, Vol. 8 | By Gen Urobuchi, Type-Moon, and Shinjiro | Dark Horse – Given this is the eighth of fourteen total volumes, we are at last starting to cull some of the cast, and thank goodness it involves Caster and his master being taken down, though honestly I could have done without the “Jeanne forgives me for killing all those little kids!” bit. We also get to see how overpowered Gilgamesh really is, as if we didn’t know that already, and find that the Lancer/Sola-Ui team is also getting removed from the equation. We do finally get more Tokiomi, at last, but ugh, he’s a really horrible father, even if you aren’t a Sakura fan. Since I am, I regard him with revulsion, even as I know that Kariya is on the losing end here. Well-written apocalypse manga. – Sean Gaffney

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Complete Four-Panel Comics | By Hiromu Arakawa | VIZ Media – This slim volume collects not only the four-panel comics from the 27-volume Fullmetal Alchemist manga series—about which I’d forgotten everything save for a memory that Alphonse was drawn very cutely—but also those included in DVD releases for the first anime and Brotherhood and “rare strips from Japan.” The contents are organized by source. Some strips are more amusing than others, of course. Jokes about Edward’s height became tiresome, but I did like quite a few of them, particularly one in which a gorilla dude is disappointed that a lion dude doesn’t have toe beans and the one featuring some sheep terrorism. The volume is certainly cute and a must-have for completists, but not earth-shattering. It does make me want to reread the series, though! – Michelle Smith

Golden Kamuy, Vol. 8 | By Satoru Noda | Viz Media – Sometimes Golden Kamuy ditches its dark humor or its politics or its action adventure or even its food. Yes, sometimes it’s pure horror, and that’s what we get for a lot of the first half of this volume, which is stomach-churning. I imagine anyone who would have truly been upset by this long since dropped the title, but Edogai (who premieres at the start of the volume and is dead by the end of it) is a real piece of work, and leads to some of the grossest art in the series. Thankfully, it’s not all taxidermy gone wrong, and there is a bit of food, as well as an exciting and lethal mining adventure. But I must admit, I’m hoping the next volume steps back just a bit from seeing how horrifying it can get. – Sean Gaffney

Haikyu!!, Vol. 31 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – It’s not going to be easy for Karasuno, who lose the second set here, and need to find a way to regain the momentum. That said, the other team is really good. Here we see how everyone has evolved to use their bad habits for good—Kageyama’s drive to win and succeed no longer is at the expense of everyone else, and Tsukishima’s insults and sneering are almost weaponized, too. The art is also getting more assured, showing off some really nice angles and making you want to go see a volleyball game in real life. But I gotta admit, in the end this is a lot of pages about a volleyball game in progress, which means I enjoyed it but don’t have a heck of a lot to say. – Sean Gaffney

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 2 | By Negi Haruba | Kodansha Comics – This series runs on—in fact its main reason for being is—pulling a shell game to see which heroine will win. As such, we need to balance out the heroines. Since Miku got so much attention last time, we move to the others. Nino is upset that Futaro can read her like a book. Itsuki bonds with his younger sister at an arcade, and gets the “wow, we look like a family” picture. And Ichika, the short-haired twin, has to deal with an acting audition being at the same time as a festival, meaning she has to break a promise with her sisters. This isn’t all that original, but I like everyone—even Nino, who’s written to be unlikable here. A fun romantic comedy where I’m still not sure who wins. (My money’s on Itsuki.) – Sean Gaffney

Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, Vol. 3 | By Fumita Yanagida | Seven Seas – This may be rising up to become one of my favorite 4-koma manga of all time, as it moves from strength to strength. This despite the revelation that Carol’s mother had her when she was thirteen years old (which is commented on as creepy in the text). We find that, just as Tomo takes after her mother, so do Misuzu and Carol with their respective mothers. As for Tomo and Jun, well, she stays the night at his place, and later on bonds with him while dressed in a nice dress and wig (so he doesn’t know it’s her). They’re adorable and awkward. We also get to see what good friends our main trio are coming, and while I like Jun, and wish I could see more of Kosuke, I’m delighted with that. Excellent title. – Sean Gaffney

By: Sean Gaffney

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 11/20/18

Black Clover, Vol. 13 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – As long as you’re writing a series which uses every cliche in the book, you may as well go all in and write a tournament arc, and that’s what we’re getting here. Surprisingly, Asta is not paired with Noelle, but with Mimosa, who I’ll be honest I had totally forgotten about. Given that Noelle fills the ‘tsundere’ love interest bucket, it only makes sense that Mimosa is the Hinata of Black Clover, being shy and tripping over her words in front of him. As for the battles themselves, they’re all good ways to spotlight folks who we don’t really get much chance to see in the main storyline. On the downside, so far they’re all very predictable outcomes. I’d like to see some people win who shouldn’t normally win. – Sean Gaffney

The Bride & the Exorcist Knight, Vol. 2 | By Keiko Ishihara | Seven Seas – We get more of the same here—good character development and action sequences. Shame that they’re really pushing the “I am twelve years old and suave as heck” plotline, and Anne does seem to be falling for him, though thankfully we haven’t advanced quite that far. One thing that did impress me was the fate of Anne’s parents, who would normally get killed off to jumpstart the plot in tales like this, especially given Anne’s status as a magical bride MacGuffin. There’s nothing really extraordinary here, but it’s good solid fantasy romance, and it at least makes noises occasionally about Anne being creeped out about Haru’s age. For fans of shoujo starring cute, cool boys. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 6 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – Remember when this was a funny series about eating monsters? Last time I said the books were getting a bit darker. Here they take a running leap into grim as we continue to see how Laios and company are seen by everyone else around them—as reckless lunatics who endanger everyone around them. What’s more, Falin’s back, but that’s not good news—the slaughter that follows is a kick in the teeth. Honestly, after that sequence, seeing the “which is the original and which is the shapeshifter” plot was a welcome light relief, and the sequence with Laios helping Marcille with her nightmares was rather heartwarming. Still, Falin’s influence on everyone around her, death, and subsequent “came back wrong” are now THE reason to read this. – Sean Gaffney

Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection | By Junji Ito | Viz Media – The first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was originally published in 1818, so Viz Media’s release of Junji Ito’s rendition of the story is aptly timed for the two-hundred-year anniversary of the groundbreaking novel. Ito has made a few changes here and there—particularly towards the end—but for the most part the manga adaptation is very faithful to Shelley’s original and Ito’s artwork is well-suited to the more grotesque and disturbing elements of the tale. In addition to Frankenstein, the volume also collects a series of six short manga featuring Oshikiri, a young man who is very self-conscious about his short stature but whose real worries are of a more horrific and supernatural kind. (It doesn’t help that his home seems to be a portal to alternate dimensions.) Also included are two unrelated short horror manga as well as two short manga about the Ito family’s pet dog Non-non. – Ash Brown

Haikyu!, Vol. 29 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – It’s all volleyball game this volume, so there’s no real plot I can talk about. We do continue to see character growth from Hinata and Tsukishima, who gets one of the cooler moments that also made me laugh when he talks about blocking the quick set. The other team is no slouch, though, particularly the twins, and our heroes are behind the eight ball most of the time. The opponent’s band is not helping either, which is why for once it’s Saeko who gets to have the Big Damn Heroes moment, arriving with Taiko Drums to drown out the band’s odd rhythms. Other than that, this volleyball manga continues to put the emphasis on volleyball. I’m about ready for it to go to every three months, to be honest, and it will be soon. – Sean Gaffney

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 8 | By Fuka Mizutani | Yen Press – Aside from Love at Fourteen‘s main couple, who are meant to be the cute and sweet default, the series makes a lot of unusual choices for its romantic pairings. Nagai and Hinohara continue to put the “ergh” in non-consensual teacher-student romance. Shiki and the school nurse bond over being tortured lesbians in love with a straight girl who isn’t going to love them back. And we get a new one here, as Kato, the really short boy in the class, ends up getting entangled with what appears to be a cute older girl… except she’s actually eleven. He’s fourteen, so we’re not anywhere Hinohara’s level of wrong, but Love at Fourteen really enjoys giving the reader heartwarming discomfort. – Sean Gaffney

Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 1 | By ONE | Published by Dark Horse – As a fan of One-Punch Man, I went into Mob Psycho 100 expecting to be amused and I’m sorry to say that never really happened. Shigeo Kageyama is an eighth grader with superpowers who works as an underpaid assistant for a fraudulent spirit medium named Arataka Reigen. Shigeo is called “Mob” because he’s an expressionless kid who blends into a crowd, and his desire to be attractive (and win the girl of his dreams) ultimately leads him into strange situations, like being recruited for a creepy cult. My interest was piqued, however, by the meter running throughout the volume that depicts some sort of percentage and the payoff when it reached was 100% was totally worth it. Plus, Reigen’s pep talk to Mob afterwards was completely unexpected and kind of heartwarming. In the end, I think I’ve been convinced to try another volume. – Michelle Smith

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 9 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – Both Towa and Aya have now confessed to Mitsuki and she doesn’t know what to do about it. I appreciate that Anashin shows why each boy feels the way that they do, and also that Mitsuki is completely forthcoming with Towa about everything that’s happening with Aya, so that no plot line ever hinges on “completely avoidable misunderstanding.” Instead, there’s more complicated drama, like Towa feeling frustrated that Aya keeps being in a position to heroically save Mitsuki (this time pulling a ligament saving her from being hit by a car) and wondering if perhaps they aren’t destined to be together. Instead of wallowing, however, he seemingly becomes more determined. It’s nice to see Towa start to become less reserved and I look forward to what volume ten will bring. – Michelle Smith

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 3 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – About two-thirds of the way through this volume, Narumi and Koyanagi are relaxing at a hot sprint on a company trip. Koyanagi wonders if Narumi feels lonely because she’s barely seeing her boyfriend this trip, but she says that, given Hirotaka’s lack of social aptitude, she’s merely happy to see him getting along with other guy friends. Koyanagi points out that that’s a mature answer, but leaves her a little bored. I’m not bored with Wotakoi yet, but it does appear to me that it’s very dedicated to showing that our leads are all pretty happy, with most conflicts resolved over the course of a single chapter. Given the title, you’d expect a bit more, but while it’s still very sweet, love isn’t that hard for these otaku. – Sean Gaffney

Yotsuba&!, Vol. 14 | By Kiyohiko Azuma | Yen Press – Azuma does not believe in pumping out the chapters for this series—this is the second volume in five years. Still, it’s like we never went away, really. Last time we met Yotsuba’s grandmother, and this time it’s her aunt, who is meeting up with Koiwai in Tokyo so that he can get a car—which I assume will allow for greater scope of adventures in the future. This means that here we get Yotsuba & Tokyo, with much hilarity, including an alien invasion that needs to be stopped, and delicious food at an expensive hotel. Oh yes, and Fuuka and her friend Hiwatari do yoga with Yotsuba, which leads to much frustration as she’s as flexible as a young child and they are not. Yotsuba&! still has its magic; I just wish it was magical more often. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 11/12/18

Chihayafuru, Vol. 12 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The Mizusawa karuta team returns to the national tournament and this time (so far), they do not have to forfeit on account of Chihaya falling ill. It’s a battle to keep her focused, however, since she’s convinced Arata is present (she’s right), but they end up prevailing in their first two matches. The first is against a team of Japanese-born foreigners who love the game as honestly as anyone, despite their looks, and the second is against a team of quiz-bowl champs who are ostensibly using karuta as a memory aid but who secretly love it, too. It may not be the most exciting volume out there, but it’s solid and takes us a little bit closer to a reunion with Arata. I look forward to volume thirteen! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 29 | By Haruichi Furudate | VIZ Media – I realize that any sports manga is going to involve its protagonist getting better at their chosen sport, but with Haikyu!! that is somehow more rewarding than most. I think part of it is that, instead of acting on pure athletic instinct, Hinata is actually really thinking now and others are picking up on that, even critical people like Tsukishima and Kageyama. I loved that Hinata was able to mimic a particularly bothersome blocker he’d faced in the past as well as executive a passable emergency set and that he was really keen to have a chance to play defense, whereas before he was obsessed with scoring. I also nearly cried when Yamaguchi nailed a service ace. So, in short, I am a major sports manga fangirl and this volume was my jam. – Michelle Smith

Idol Dreams, Vol. 5 | By Arina Tanemura | Viz Media – Even if she’s not doing anything about the fact that she’s masquerading as a 15-year-old and having boys fall for her, Chikage still does quite a bit right in this volume. First of all, she helps Tokita to move on from her (even if she’s not aware he’s moving on) and reconcile with his girlfriend, whose own lack of self-worth in school has led to her making bad choices now that she’s blossomed into womanhood. I was impressed that the two worked it out, and really felt Chikage did a great job. On the idol front, she also wins by putting on the better “performance,” even if she’s not necessarily the better or more talented idol. Still expecting a train wreck, but at least it’s been put off a bit. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 5 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – There’s some great comedy here, involving things like telling fortunes, gutting a fish in class (in which Fujiwara shows she simply cannot avoid trying to help Shirogane, even as it goes as badly as she expects), and such. But for once, the best parts of Kaguya-sama are about the drama, as it’s summer vacation, and Kaguya’s strict father is not letting her go see the fireworks with her friends. The solution to this, and the emotional roller coaster that follows, is fantastic, even if Shirogane looks back on it later and is hideously embarrassed. More to the point, you realize that once these two idiots finally get together (which isn’t going to happen for a long time), they’ll be a terrific couple. – Sean Gaffney

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 4 | By Afro | Yen Press – At long last, the entire group is camping together, including the club, Rin and Saitou, and their new teacher/advisor, who is the drunken camper we saw last time—and she takes the opportunity to get drunk again. There’s lots of interesting camping talk, including discussing Saitou’s expensive sleeping bag and the different kinds of grills that you can use. For the most part, though, this volume is about showing Rin that it can be just as fun to camp with friends as it can be to camp alone, and drag her out of her shell. It’s mind, to be fair, mostly as Rin is not solitary because of any trauma—she just likes being by herself. But honestly, if you’re going to hang with Nadeshiko, you’re going to have to get used to people. Cute as heck. – Sean Gaffney

Little Witch Academia, Vol. 2 | By Trigger, Yoh Yoshinari and Keisuke Sato | JY – This is an adaptation of a very cartoon-ish anime, and it’s appropriate that the art style is very cartoonish and exaggerated—my favorite example of which is when Akko charging ahead literally breaks Andrew’s word balloon warning her not to. Andrew is introduced here, speaking of which, and he’s your classic British boyfriend type, though given what I’ve heard about Akko and Diana, he may be out of luck here. For the most part we continue to watch Akko Potter trying to succeed at magic school, and she’s having a lot less luck than Harry did—her grades are so bad she can’t even attend the banquets. Will she turn things around? This is marketed to kids, but all ages should love it. – Sean Gaffney

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 10 | By Koyuki and Mamare Touno | Yen Press – Last time I wondered if this was the spinoff’s final arc, and it’s pretty clear that it is. It’s one big fight scene this time around, and things are going very badly for our heroes, though they’re trying their hardest. We continue to filter things through Soujirou—both why he loves gaming and doing what he does, and also why he has so many girls fall in love with him. The eventual solution they come up with, to seemingly drive the monster crazy by information overload, is a clever one, though it’s not clear whether or not it worked. This series started out as a somewhat lighthearted (sometimes TOO light hearted) comedy, but it’s gotten more action oriented at the climax. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 2 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – The end of this volume features what seems to have been the pilot for the series, and I’m glad it was included, as it shows off how much it was improved to make it the sweet and amusing series it is today. Takagi’s eyes being “evil” makes her teasing seem more mean-spirited, especially given Nishikata is more of a schmuck here. Nishikata works best when he’s sort of that Charlie Brown “this time I’ll kick the football” sort of guy. Likewise, Takagi’s teasing works best because you absolutely get the love that she has for him, and that she does see him as a great guy—who’s simply really fun to tease and to watch reaction faces of. This series makes me feel warm and fuzzy. – Sean Gaffney

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 2 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – Despite the subtitle of the series, I rather easily fell in love with the first omnibus volume of Wotakoi. The manga was funny and charming with adult characters who, to me, were immediately endearing. The second omnibus continues the trend of the first while introducing a new character, Ko, who manages to be both heartbreakingly and heartwarmingly socially awkward and anxious. Ko is paired with Naoya, but it remains to be seen whether their relationship will evolve into a romantic one. I suspect that at some point it may—after all, Wotakoi is at least in part a romantic comedy—but then again they could simply be destined to be close friends. The emphasis that Wotakoi places on friendship is actually one of the things about the series that I find particularly appealing. In fact, while arguably little romantic progress is made in the second omnibus, friendships are strengthened. – Ash Brown

By: Ash Brown