i am once again thinking about post time skip haikyuu and how the series ended. i think so much of the series was how hinata overcome a lot of his insecurities in regards to volleyball; the passion and tackling burn out in regards to the sport as well as stating how volleyball can be “fun.” the ending of haikyuu, especially , beach volleyball, and post time skip is what got me into haikyuu. and yes. this meant i only had picked up the series very recently, at 2020-2021.

for reasons i can elaborate more later on: i didnt pick up haikyuu when it first published in 2012 because i had quit volleyball by then. i wanted nothing to do with the sport and i was eager to find myself outside of the sport and other passions i had always wanted to pick uo but couldn‘t because of volleyball. and yes this meant that i had avoided the sport for almost a decade.

ok maybe not completely avoided. i enjoy watching beach volleyball by the time rio olympics had rolled around the corner...and this is mostly since when i played indoor, we would play beach volleyball as thats a great way of learning what my coach, team, and i would consider “real volleyball.“ see where im going with this? the beach volleyball arc had me picking up haikyuu as a series…and eventually had me backtracking and reading kamomedai and a portion of the beginning of the series.

which leads me to a couple of things:

- i have a different perspective from one who had followed the series. (we all do, but considering that i have a past with volleyball where i avoided it for the duration of the manga’s serialization, and only really read the last few arcs of the series, i have a different approach towards the series and why i thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the ending).

- and yes i thoroughly enjoyed the ending of the series. it not only got me picking up the sport and actually…dare i say it…go back to indoors matches im…SHIT thats scary lol especially after a fucking decade of absolutely not wanting to…but i also got me loving the series ending from a literature/writing perspective? and its so fuckinf wild since i had always associated writing/reading and volleyball/sports SEPARATELY.

- so my mind is a bit jumbled. like i can understand people’s dislike of the kamomedai match as well as the mix reaction to post time skip. so lets address some of this:

POST TIME SKIP, SKIPPING OVER ARCS, AND SOME GAPS IN THE LITERATURE

ugh i seriously need to stop reading science research papers as i cant believe im using the term “gaps in the literature“ but please bear with me T^T

one of the main complaints of post time skip is the fact that furudate skipped over possible rematches (ie: inarizaki v karasuno, etc.), didnt go into detail of some character’s arcs (yamaguchi captain or ennoshita captain had me robbed ok i feel that 😭), or the overall journey and content of out fav first years and their eventual destination as third years going further into finals.

and as much as i would love to see that and wouldnt mind reading that in a light novel (so if furudate youre seeing this and willing to revisit haikyuu, i’d love to and will totally support), i just never thought theyd go over this part of their journeys? like even when i had initially heard of the manga at 2012, i didnt really think about whether they made it to finals. i didnt think about winning. i thought about their play style and dynamics. then i saw that their focus was more attack-oriented and lost interest.

because being attack-oriented isnt as fun as one would originally think, since rallies are what makes volleyball really fun.

in other words, i thought about how this series would make that come alive. how can this series emulate that sense of fun?

and ive thinking so much about how the last arcs really connects with that of the beginning, with some caveat. at the beginning obviously there was some conflict w hinata and his middle blocker position, his dynamic w a genius setter, his height - as it all are barriers to him fully enjoying volleyball. and initially it had been wanting to be an ace and winning games as his solution. but then…hinata grew as a character. and not only hinata, but those around him were very much affected by hinata’s journey with volleyball. and so, by the time we got to the later half of the series (karasuno v nekoma, kamomedai v karasuno), we get to see furudate’s message about passion, burn out, and having fun playing volleyball. having that passion for volleyball and choosing to play it, to make a living out of it, is eventually what makes a monster. i would even argue that those who see volleyball and inspire others to show that volleyball is fun, is also a monster…

this is a really long winded rant/observation thats not quite fully formed into coherency or completion, but i just needed to get this OUT and im tired of losing all my drafts and loose paper of these thought process so instead in publishing this impulsively lol.

will probs finish this later on or add more to it later…