I will never have enough words to explain how much Haikyuu!! means to me. I think it's the very first manga that I've almost religiously (sorry 2019) followed until its end, and I think it's been 6 (?) years of following these characters every week and watching them develop one match at a time. I honestly have so much love for each and every one of these characters, choosing 10 was excruciatingly hard. I still remember reading the chapter when Hoshiumi was first introduced and when Sakusa was first introduced and he was all mysterious :") I still remember when Inarizaki was super mysterious and even when SHIRATORIZAWA seemed untouchable. Can you believe I thought Ushiwaka was scary & intimidating and now I'm screenshotting & printing memes of him?
I can actually imagine him saying this with a straight face :"")
So here are my top 10 most beloved Haikyuu!! characters, and...books........
AKA in which I reminisce over Haikyuu!! in honor of its end
I definitely just wanted Haikyuu!! and books.
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10. Nishinoya Yuu
I LOVE NISHINOYA!! Surprisingly he's the only libero on this list...which is interesting considering I really love the liberos. Fun fact: Nishinoya is actually the very first Haikyuu!! character I ever bought merch of. I have very fond memories of my trip to Japan when I bought his figurine. It is now a very cherished part of my Haikyuu!! collection. He, along with one other character on this list, is one of the characters where I just knew I was going to love him for a long, long time before I even got to know his character very well (I think I had only watched like the first episode where he showed up and I knew I was going to love him).
I am so fond of Nishinoya and his Rolling Thunder move :") Nishinoya is that person on the team that never fails to cheer everyone up and make them laugh in the direst of moments, so for Nishinoya I chose the prompt:
The funniest book you've ever read
which, for me, would have to be Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I definitely recommend this book way too often, but I really want everyone to read it! Romance isn't really my genre but this was so good, highly highly recommend.
9. Oikawa Tooru
GRAND KING 👑 I find it very funny that he's on some people's "anime villains" or "anime antagonist" lists :") "Don't you ever forget my worthless pride" will always be one of the most iconic, most powerful lines to ever exist in anime history. And honestly, Ushijima's comment in which he says that Oikawa would be better suited to the title of "Tactician" is something that I wholeheartedly agree with, since Oikawa is the best at bringing out the best in each and every one of his team members. And, in my opinion, he's the one who introduced & solidified the "strong as 6" mentality in Karasuno after they saw just how great he is at directing his team.
I'm also extremely fond of that one moment in the time skip where he meets Hinata in Rio and unknowingly helps pull him out of his slump.
Seijoh is the team that I felt had the most tragic...end... and Oikawa one of the more tragic characters. I really felt for Oikawa since he's worked so hard with the goal of Nationals and beating Ushijima in mind, and he never got to fulfill those wishes. So for Oikawa, I chose the prompt:
Book with character(s) that deserved a happy end
and this might seem like a spoiler, but if you don't know the Iliad and the story of Achilles, where have you been? I thought The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller was also very fitting because Achilles is a prince who would've been a king, and he was also extremely prideful. His hubris would continuously hurt him throughout the book.
8. Iwaizumi Hajime
IWA I miss Iwaizumi. I hope we see more of him in the last chapter because as cute as "Iwaizumi Hajime (22): sleeping" is, I want more of him.
Hmm what to say about Iwaizumi...I really love his friendship with Oikawa and how much they trust each other. I love how much he loves and trusts his team I just really love Seijoh. Every scene where he was keeping Oikawa in check was hilarious. And he's always a very supportive upperclassmen, even when Oikawa was being mean to Kageyama. He's Oikawa's "pillar" of strength, and everyone loves and respects him.
God I love Seijoh so much. Nekoma may be my #1 team because Kenma but if I were to choose a favorite team based on emotional attachment to each member of the team (this is excluding Karasuno), I would choose Seijoh. I have so much emotional attachment to Oikawa and Iwaizumi, but also Kyoutani and Yahaba and Kunimi and Matsukawa and Hanamaki... I really love Seijoh.
I also love time skip Iwaizumi. I can't believe he's in IRVINE! When I found out I was half tempted to drive up to Irvine even though I know he's!! Not!! Real!! 😢
Overall, I really loved the love and support and advice he had for all of his underclassmen and teammates (especially Oikawa). So for Iwaizumi, I chose the prompt:
A life-changing book: a book with a meaningful message
because Iwaizumi has always had the best advice for his teammates, and was a source of inspiration for many.
This might be controversial, because to some readers this book might not have much of a message. But to me, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng had a message that really spoke to me when I read it for the first time. This book means so much to me, I want to wax poetic about it forever.
7. Kageyama Tobio
KING OF THE COURT! Everyone's favorite blueberry child 💙👑
Like everyone else, Kageyama is one of my favorite characters of the entire series. And, like everyone else, I love his friendship with Hinata and how they bring out the best in each other. And I love how he reclaimed his title, King of the Court, after Hinata helped him realize that being a King isn't a bad thing. I loved how awkward he was with his team initially, and I got really emotional after the Kamomedai match when he says he wanted to go further with this team.
Kageyama's backstory was honestly one of the saddest backstories? Seeing his motivations for some of the choices we kinda brushed off and seeing some scenes in a different light...I really felt for him. I'm actually currently re-watching Haikyuu!! from the beginning and knowing Kageyama's backstory made so many scenes 100000x sadder than they were before. I can't believe I never noticed that we never got a Kageyama backstory? I guess I thought the middle school flashbacks were it? But no we got Kageyama (0) :")
So, for the much beloved Kageyama, I chose the prompt:
A highly-lauded book that you loved too
I chose The Secret History by Donna Tartt for this prompt because, even though it's one of my favorite books, I don't think I've ever talked about it? Probably because it's not a book I read recently. But this book is pretty well-known in the bookish community for being the king of the dark academia genre, so I thought it'd be fitting to recommend this under Tobio.
6. Hinata Shouyou
Hinata really climbed up my favorites list. Initially, he was a character I loved but never felt significantly strong feelings for, but that all started to change with the ball boy arc, and he finally secured a spot on my favorites post-Brazil arc. His growth as a character is absolutely amazing and I was actually shocked to find myself so emotional over how much he's changed as a player.
I still very fondly remember the very first practice game, when he served the ball right into Kageyama's head. And now our boy is capable of service aces and I am so proud. And I still fondly remember the ball boy arc, when Hinata's receives were non-existent. And now he's one of the most reliable receivers on MSBY and I had tears in my eyes after each and every receive. And he sets now too! He can really do anything and I am so proud of him.
So, for our jack of all trades Hinata Shouyou, I chose the prompt:
A book that is extremely well-rounded
I love The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I think it's an extremely good book and it excels in pretty much everything. The plot was amazing, the characters were very well-developed and so real, it made me cry, there were plot twists left and right that shocked me every time, this book is one of the best books I've ever read in my life and I highly recommend everyone read this at least once in their lives.
there's actually one other book that I find extremely well-rounded but I'm saving it for later
5. Bokuto Koutarou
Ah, Bokuto. I'm very fond of Bokuto for many, many reasons. One of them being that he reminds me of the love of my life, temanku, my bestest friend in the whole world 💖 He's another one of those characters that climbed my favorites list real fast, and I credit this to my best brofriend and how much she loves him. Honestly, before we came up with #4bros4lyfe Bokuto was a character I liked, but did not love, but obviously that changed real quickly. Bokuto is so endearing. Sure, he's a bit of a handful with his mood swings (the sub-arena scene had me wheezing) but he pulls through. The star of Fukurodani (thanks Akaashi for that lovely description).
Though he's often ridiculous, he's actually quite wise (even if his current concern is how to spell the word concern...) especially when he's giving advice to Hinata and inspiring Tsukishima to find that moment when volleyball becomes fun. It's easy to see why Akaashi admires him so much and puts him on such a pedestal.
So, for our star, our protagonist of the world (again, thank you Akaashi), I chose the prompt:
A book with the best protagonist
Say all you want about this book, but Neil Josten is *chefs kiss* perfection. I love Neil "I am not a pipe dream" Josten. Neil "I am nothing and as you've always said you want nothing" Josten has been and might always be my favorite protagonist. Anyways, Neil "You know, I get it" Josten 💕
4. Kuroo Tetsurou
KUROOOOO TETSUROU! Another character I'm extremely fond of for many reasons, one of which is my best friend. Another member of #4bros4lyfe, as you can tell I'm very fond of the #4bros4lyfe squad, which is an inside joke my best friend and I started way back when we first got into Haikyuu!! I love Kuroo so much he's so funny; I very fondly remember "I'm always this nice" and "Oya, oya, oya" and "Why are you trying so hard Tsukki". And ohmygod my personal favorite, "Ah, youth"
I really love his friendship/mentor-like relationship with Tsukishima (krtsk otp :") ). And I love his friendship with Kenma and Yaku and the rest of his team. And I also really love his friendship with Daichi and Bokuto as fellow captains.
Ummmm Kuroo might be my favorite captain of all captains? Of course I'm extremely biased because Nekoma is my favorite team of all teams :") 🐈 But I really admire Kuroo as a leader. The way he inspires his team to be the best they can be, and the way he shaped the team around the motto "Connect" and how great they are at working together seamlessly.
Also, I can't believe it took us this long to get time skip Kuroo I missed him dearly. Or, as Ronan would say, I missed him like a lung. And then he goes and betrays me—instead of getting the chem degree I thought he was going to get he goes and gets a business degree. But I guess, as I'm typing this, I see its significance. He went from someone who could barely muster up the courage to talk to people—to talk to Kenma—to someone with the confidence to go into a very people-heavy career like business—he's really grown as a person.
Kuroo's backstory is one of my favorite backstories in the entire series. He really surprised me. I wasn't expecting Kuroo, Mr. "Provocation Expert," to be the shy one in our KuroKen duo.
So, for my most beloved captain, I chose the prompt:
A book that surprised you with how much you loved it
Is anyone even surprised that I found a way to plug Green Creek into this post too? But honestly, Wolfsong by TJ Klune really surprised me. There are quite a lot of things this book has that I honest to God usually don't like at all: first person POV, werewolves, kind of insta-love, huge age gap. Yet here I am, waxing poetic.
3. Akaashi Keiji
AKAAAASHIIII!!!!!!! This entire post is just me typing each character's name in all-caps. Anyways, high school me latched onto Akaashi real quick because he's pretty. And he's a setter. I love setters there's like 4 of them on this list.
THERE HE IS!
Akaashi, what to say about Akaashi...I have a tsum of him. He's adorable and he accompanied me around campus for a while when the weather was nice because I was lonely & I liked to take pictures of him with flowers. But anyway, Akaashi is a very interesting character. And I feel like we really got to know the real Akaashi in volume 38. While everyone assumed that Bokuto was the one who would moon over Akaashi, it's actually AKAASHI who applied to Fukurodani because of Bokuto and Akaashi was the one who kept doing extra practices just so he could play with Bokuto and Bokuto was Akaashi's inspiration for finding his passion in volleyball and—I could honestly go on forever.
Akaashi is the one who called Bokuto a "star" and he's the one who said the line "no matter what anyone says, we are the protagonists of the world." Honestly I thought that was a Bokuto line and I had to reread that scene several times because it just sounds like it would be a Bokuto line but no Akaashi is quite dramatic I love him. I really loved the entire Fukurodani volume because, for the longest time, readers were led to believe Akaashi is always calm and composed and observant and just quite perfect. And watching Akaashi crack a little, and have a breakdown over his lost composure, hurt me—I definitely teared up when he cried.
I also loved time skip Akaashi and how there are little panels of him laughing over Bokuto's antics. And it's nice to see his love for onigiri still persists today :") (also Akaashi's glasses post-time skip? 👍)
So, for Akaashi, who is very near and dear to my heart but still continues to surprise me today, I chose a pretty similar prompt to the previous one:
A book that surprised you with its content
Beach Read by Emily Henry really surprised me in terms of content. I was expecting something more...chick-lit? And extremely light-hearted? Especially since the cover looks that cute, but actually it tackles some pretty heavy themes such as child abuse, cheating, death, and cults. And I'm really loving it. I'm actually still reading it at the time that I am typing this, but I'm really enjoying this book. It's surprisingly serious and really slapped me in the face with my preconceptions of the romance genre.
2. Tsukishima Kei
oh Tsukki...high school me was in love with Tsukki and I remember this quite fondly. I bought earrings that are of a moon motif because they reminded me of Tsukishima Kei...
I can't believe there are so many people who initially dislike Tsukishima Kei!! Well, actually I guess I do understand because he was quite mean in the beginning and I guess some people find it difficult to like the least devoted guy when it comes to a sports anime. But I found that particular trait of Tsukki's quite relatable. When it came to sports and/or performing arts and...pretty much everything, I was never the most devoted person. And seeing Tsukishima thrive despite his initial apathy, and seeing him find that moment during the Shiratorizawa match, well it was quite inspiring to the young, high school me who had dreams of excelling in the things I worked for.
I'm also just really weak for Tsukishima's snarky attitude. I particularly really love the entire 3rd gym arc in season 2. Tsukishima doing things out of pure spite is something I do quite often and I applaud him for it. Also, as you can see, most of the characters involved in that arc are on this list so...I think it's quite obvious that 3rd gym is possibly one of my favorite parts of the entire series. Also, the scene where Yamaguchi tells Tsukishima off was great I loved that scene. I love their friendship so much. Speaking of 3rd gym, Kuroo and Tsukishima friendship! My favorite! (wow this post is a mess my thoughts are a mess)
I also can't begin to explain how emotional I got during the entire Shiratorizawa match. Tsukki was the MVP of that match hands down and I honest to God almost cried when he shut out Ushijima. Also, Tsukki had, in my opinion, one of the best character developments in the entire series. There are so many Tsukishima plays that had me overwhelmed with how proud I was of him. One of them would have to be his dodge-block in the Kamomedai match, now that was amazing.
Also, the Nekoma match was so intense especially since there were so many showdowns we've been waiting for the entire series: Kuroo vs. Tsukishima & Kenma vs. Hinata & Kuroo vs. Daichi & Taketora vs. Tanaka. The banter between Kuroo and Tsukishima was so great during that match I was living for it. The "Tsukki, quit trying so hard" & "Well, Kuroo, if you stoped trying so hard we wouldn't be here" &&& Tsukki: "you can thank yourself for all this" & Kuroo: "well, you could do the same" &&& Kuroo's "thank goodness I wasn't wrong [about you]" &&& Kuroo: "How's volleyball been for you lately?" & Tsukki: "thanks to you, every once in a blue moon, it's fun" & it all ending with: "They improve each other by both refusing to back down." There's also this one scene that I loved in the Nekoma match where the chapter focused on Kuroo vs. Tsukishima and it ends with Tsukishima smiling so wide my heart melted. (oh no am i being too obvious now whoops krtsk otp)
And Tsukishima really took all the advice his upperclassmen gave him to heart. He still plays volleyball post-time skip and he's about to get his dream job in a museum straight out of uni what a dinosaur nerd :")
And so for my most beloved Tsukishima Kei, who still owns my heart 6 years later, I decided on the prompt:
Book with the best character development
This is such an underrated book I most definitely don't talk about it enough. Well, I'll try to remedy that now. The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang has one of the best character developments I've ever seen in the two protagonists: Mamoru and Misaki. I loved watching how Mamoru struggled to adapt to his worldview being flipped 180, and I loved watching how Misaki grew as a friend, mother, wife, and warrior over the course of the book. Honestly, this book is so underrated (I think it's self-published and I heard that the author illustrated the cover? Talent.) I urge you to read this book, you won't regret it.
1. Kozume Kenma
I have TWO Kenma gifs for everyone because I love him, he's special, so he gets two :")
ohmygod Kenmr. The amount of love I have for him is overwhelming. By now I think my personality is pretty much defined by my love for Kenma. I have a little nook of Kenma merch. And even then that's not all the Kenma I have because 2/3 of my Kenma plushies don't fit in the nook so they chill on my bed. And when I was on my high school's dance team, my teammates pasted pictures of Kenma on a huge poster because that's how widely-known my love for Kenma was. I have a Kenma nendoroid that my dad gifted me despite my protests over how expensive nendoroids are because he knows that my love for Kenma is boundless.
Some of my best friends have drawn Kenmas for me for my birthday because, again, everyone knows how much I love Kenma. I have a Nekoma shirt that's Kenma themed (of course) and my brother once spontaneously bought me a Nekoma vs. Karasuno shirt because he knows Nekoma is my favorite team because Kenma. My mom and I bake apple pie every year on October 16 because that's Kenma's birthday, and when I moved out to go to uni my mom continued baking apple pie to celebrate Kenma because, in this family, we love and stan Kozume Kenma. So my point is, I love Kozume Kenma.
Oh Kenma. Lovely, lovely Kenma. I don't even know where to start. First of all, I knew I was going to love Kenma before I ever loved Kenma. Call it fate, idk. I bought my Kenma plushie, the one that I've had for over 6 years now (I bought him in the beginning of July, I swear it was July 3rd or 4th or something like that), right around the time when I watched the episode where Kenma appeared. And for some reason, even though I knew nothing about Kenma except for the fact that he seems quiet, I decided that I loved him. And as I continued watching, I really did end up loving him with my entire heart. And that plushie has such a special place in my heart I travel with him everywhere. Doesn't matter if it's across the globe or my uni orientation, he comes with. And I have such fond travel memories with him, he's the best travelling companion.
^^A travel pic of Kenma + mini ken & kuroo
Umm ok all of that rambling aside, what do I like about Kenma? Many many things. When I was in the beginning of my high school days, I very personally related to Kenma's extreme shyness and his quietness and his lack of energy (I still relate to his lack of energy.) . He was also one of the first characters in Haikyuu!! to display an aptitude in game sense and the ability to be sly and shrewd during plays and I was here for it. Kenma is honestly so sly I love him so much. I mean, the imagery for the entire Nekoma vs. Karasuno match was Kenma trapping Hinata in a cage and I thought that was the greatest thing. I'm looking through old reaction shots from 2018 when the Nekoma vs. Karasuno match was first released and Kenma is so cool. He pretty much manipulated Karasuno into a miscommunication and I thought that was the most amazing thing imagine being that cunning. Also, canon confirmed that Kenma is actually that one picture of the cute duck with a knife because of the knife metaphor we got with him and Hinata.
I think it's pretty obvious that I really like characters who are shrewd and cunning with their plays. I mean, I have Kenma as my absolute favorite, and I also have Oikawa on my list and Tsukishima as well.
I also really love Kenma's development throughout the series. He initially displays mostly apathy towards volleyball—we see him make weak blocks, hesitate to run after the ball if it looks helpless, etc. But during the match with Karasuno, we see just how much Kenma really loves volleyball and how he's actually extremely competitive.
Also, speaking of the Nekoma vs. Karasuno arc, KENMA & KUROO'S BACKSTORY!!! Chapter 318 had the entire fandom in tears for the longest time. And I was so satisfied with post-time skip Kenma. I knew I chose the right person to stan. Kenma really took his love and passion, video games, and used it to become world-famous and rich. I thought everyone was joking when they told me Kenma's rich now but he bought himself his own house and installed a game room in it and he says he has money to spare. I am so proud :") And we get more of Kenma being highly amused by sly plays and ugh I love Kenma.
So for Kenma, the one that I have loved the longest & the one that I have loved the most, I chose the prompt:
Favorite book of all time:
Recently, I read A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and fell in love with it. This book is the saddest book I have ever read, which I appreciate because I really love sad stories. I mentioned earlier that there was another book that I found extremely well-rounded, and it's this one. I knew I was going to love this book when I first heard about it, and even then I was scared to start it because I fear disappointment. However, this book went above and beyond my expectations. The writing is beautiful, the characters are well-rounded and so real, the story is tragic, and I honestly was never bored. This book was 800+ pages long and I was never bored. I will always cherish my reading experience when it comes to this book.
A lot of why I'm so sad to let Haikyuu!! go is because of Kenma. Oh how I love Kenma. I realize that I didn't talk that much about why I love Kenma because I'm not even sure how to put into words how much I love him and why I love him. He's my ultimate comfort character. He's the character I hold the closest to my heart across all fandoms. Saying goodbye to Haikyuu!! is almost like saying goodbye to Kenma and his story and I'm not ready for that 😢
Honorable Mentions (buckle up this is gonna be long):
- Yachi Hitoka
- Yaku Morisuke
- Sugawara Koushi
- Kyoutani Kentaro
- Shirabu Kenjirou
- Konoha Akinori
- Kunimi Akira
- Miya Atsumu
- Sakusa Kiyoomi
There were so many characters...honestly I wish I could have just added everyone to my honorable mentions I feel bad now looking at the list and realizing I could add more. But I'll leave it at that because I need to exercise restraint :")
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So I guess this is the portion where I say goodbye to Haikyuu!! It still doesn't feel real, the fact that it's ending. Haikyuu!! has been such a huge part of my life for such a long time, and there are many parts of my life that I strongly associate with Haikyuu!! Back in high school, I had 2 instances of extreme Haikyuu!! craze? One of them is associated with extreme happiness and it was the time when my bro and I made the #4bros4lyfe squad, an inside joke that I hold very near and dear to my heart today. The other instance is associated with a really difficult time in my life when I felt little to no motivation to get up every day. And honestly that part of my life is a haze in my mind now, but the only things that I remember quite clearly from that time were my closest friends and Haikyuu!! cheering me up during the worst of it. I think that's the reason why I love the 3rd Gym squad so much. I always watched clips of the team bbq and the 3rd gym practice sessions whenever I was feeling down.
And honestly, even now, Haikyuu!! is such a comfort to me, I can't imagine it being over. Even when I wasn't following the manga week by week, I still got weekly updates on each of the characters and what they're doing and the fact that there will no longer be weekly updates on these characters makes me so sad...I don't think I've ever felt this way with a series ending. The last time was probably Kuroko no Basuke but I feel like that was different because it ended not long after I got into it. But Haikyuu!! I've been following for years.
So, goodbye Haikyuu!! Thank you for these past 6 years!
Who are your favorite Haikyuu!! characters?
—璇
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