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2020 was a tough year for everyone socially and it most certainly impacted students, especially those who excelled in sports. They faced their competitions getting cancelled and not having the chance to prove their talents. Due to these unfortunate events, Haruichi Furudate, the creator of iconic volleyball anime,Haikyuu!!,decided to send out his support to these high schoolers facing this setback. He did this despite the manga’s end, showcasing the never ending impactHaikyuu!!will have on future volleyball athletes.
As a former high school volleyball player, perhaps Furudate related to this deeply and wanted to lift their spirits up. It’s easy for anyone to give up when everything they have worked for gets canceled, and so the Haikyuu!! creator must’ve known it was his time to be an inspiration. He has looked at their competitions several times for his further research into volleyball. Now, it was time to give back to those who inspired him once.
Haruichi Furudate’sHaikyuu!!Is An Inspiration to Everyone
Haruichi Furudate, throughHaikyuu!!,has not only taught valuable lessons about sportsmanship but also friendships and healthy rivalry. The friendship between the players of the main team is wholesome and grows naturally together. This sportsmanship and friendship extends even beyond their small team.
The team is even great friends with their biggest rivals, Nekoma Volleyball Team, who have a long history to live up to. We see this rivalry grow and culminate into the All Japan High School Volleyball Championship Tournament. Overall, Furudate is about uplifting one another, even while opposing each other.
Haruichi Furudate Gave Hinata a “Handicap” to Make Haikyuu More Realistic, Never Wanted to Prioritize His Height Over the Most Important Aspect of Volleyball
Ina special message for studentswhose Inter High competitions were canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, Haruichi Furudate gathered every team’s jersey across Japan.The video, roughly translated, says:
Due to Covid-19, the Japanese Summer Inter High Tournament was cancelled. To recognize the teams that were supposed to compete this year, Jump and Haikyuu!! planned this event where they gathered a uniform from each team that was supposed to play at the tournament and brought them to the stadium where the IH finals are held.
Some of the messages say:
This year’s inter-high was cancelled but nothing will end here for you all. You can do anything you want from now towards the future.
Haikyuu’s story has now ended but their stories will continue within each of our hearts.
This is an especially amazing effort by Furudate and Shonen Jump who recognize how hard it is to train and the devastation of these students. The mangaka is a gem in the industry where he went the extra mile to comfort these athletes, and he continues to inspire more people.
The Legacy Left ByHaikyuu!!
It’s been 4 years since the manga forHaikyuu!!ended but the movies keep the fandom active and the legacy alive. More recently released sports anime, likeBlue Lock,will always be compared toHaikyuu!!It’s become the new standard for sports anime storytelling, regardless of how different the sports are.
“People who didn’t know much about basketball…”: Slam Dunk and Haikyuu Authors Managed to Do the Unthinkable and Had Their Dreams Come True
Haruichi Furudate is also much more humble and grateful to his fans and the population he writes about than most mangaka. Not every mangaka would go the extra mile to give this big of a physical love letter to the people who inspired him. It shows how much respect and love Furudate has for volleyball and its hardworking athletes.
Haikyuu!!is available on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
Bidisha Mitra
Articles Published :802
Bidisha is an Anime Content Writer at FandomWire with over 700 published articles. With over 7 years of writing experience, she’s versatile and adept. When she’s not writing, she’s also a voice actor on the side.Bidisha is currently continuing to learn Japanese and gets more fluent everyday. Her expertise is One Piece, Bungo Stray Dogs, and Haikyuu, but has been watching anime for over a decade. She was previously a Content Writer reviewing the latest Kpop music.
