Haikyū!! “Interhigh Arc” (Chapters 36 through 71) Manga Review

Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.

Synopsis: The story—written and drawn by Haruichi Furudate—follows Shōyō Hinata, a first-year high school student who wishes to become the best volleyball player ever despite his short height. He attends Karasuno High School, where his idol “The Little Giant” went. After the “The Little Giant” era though, Karasuno lost its fierce volleyball reputation. Together with his first real teammates, Hinata works hard to restore Karasuno High’s reputation by making it to the Nationals.

On August 12, 2020, I started reading Haikyū!!’s “Interhigh Arc” and finished on August 14, 2020. Reading Haikyū!!—despite my dwindling interest in volleyball—had been so much fun. After finishing this arc, I have come to understand why this manga is really popular. I’m really excited to watch the anime series—the first two seasons out on Netflix—once I’m done reading all 402 chapters.

Picking up where the first story arc—"Karasuno High Team Formation”—left off, with Karasuno High heading toward the Interhigh Preliminaries. The arc had a heavier character focus on the third-year students—Daichi, Sugawara, and Asahi—because this was going to be their last year playing volleyball before going off to college and starting their lives out in the real world. Haikyū!! remarkably used this realistic aspect to raise the stakes for Karasuno and their desire to win the Interhigh Preliminaries.

Karasuno High fought against three teams during the Interhigh Preliminaries:

1.     First Round: Karasuno versus Tokonami

a.     From a narrative standpoint, this match was essential to show how much Karasuno High had improved since the practice matches they had against Aobajohsai High from the previous arc, who were watching this match from the bleachers.

b.     From a character standpoint, the reader was reminded how much was at stake for Karasuno High, heavily emphasizing the importance of teamwork and how not one person alone can win a match, but the same stakes were also applied to all the teams participating in the Interhigh Preliminaries. Daichi’s childhood friend—Hayato Ikejiri—from junior high was on the Tokonami High Team, playing with the same mindset.

c.     All the teams had third-year players who needed to win to keep playing for as long as possible, which was strengthened further when we were shown Karasuno High’s girls volleyball team suffering defeat. Going off this, I did enjoy how Haruichi Furudate introduced more female characters during this arc.

d.    The girls’ defeat, along with Tokonami’s defeat, paralleled really well with Hinata’s reaction to winning with a team for the first time ever in addition to Kageyama acting more like a team player with his pronoun usage. He said “we won” instead of “I won”, a huge step in the right direction for character development.

2. Second Round: Karasuno versus Date Tech

a. As a result of Karasuno’s victory against Tokonami, Hinata starts to feel the pressure of participating in a sports tournament. Showing us Hinata’s—and the rest of Karasuno’s—anxious uneasiness going into the second round was effective in creating surreal tension.

b. In addition, Data Tech truly acknowledged Hinata’s volleyball abilities and created strategies to keep him from playing effectively, falling for Hinata’s role as “Strongest Decoy”. A great payoff to watching Hinata’s character journey so far with Karasuno High.

                                                         i. As I continue to read this manga and its “Interhigh Arc”, I have realized this isn’t just Hinata’s story but the whole team’s as well.

c. Playing against Data Tech was also a huge character moment for Asahi Azumane, a third-year student who had lost the spirit to play volleyball during his last match against them months ago, prior to the start of the series. What a payoff when Asahi helped turn the tide against Data Tech and their “Iron Wall”.

d. Asahi’s bond with Nishinoya—a second-year and close friend—and his other teammates were put to the forefront as they neared the volleyball match’s intense climax. The complete faith Asahi’s teammates had in his ability as their Ace—when he didn’t initially have it in himself—was beautiful to read.

3. Third Round: Karasuno vs Aobajohsai

a. There were heavy emotions going into this third round. Kageyama had a score to settle with Oikawa—Aobajohsai’s setter and former mentor from junior high—in addition to the team having a score to settle from their practice matches in the previous arc.

                                                         i. Chapter 48—the pregame—also showed both teams strategizing for their match and not underestimating each other due to various unknowns. The prime unknowns were Oikawa and Hinata. The match also explored the rivalry between Oikawa and Kageyama during their brief time together at junior high.

                                                        ii.  Throughout this amazing match, there were many unexpected twists and turns regarding Oikawa’s unbelievable—scarily drawn—serves as setter and his ability to figure out Hinata and Kageyama’s signals for their freaky quick-combos.

b. There were also many character payoffs happening as the match—and their insecurities—unfolded for Karasuno High’s volleyball team.

                                                         i. Tanaka—a second-year Karasuno student—was also falling under pressure, as Oikawa targeted him with his unbelievable serves. However, he didn’t allow himself to succumb for his teammates’ sake and insults himself for allowing the pressure to even touch him. His teammates just assured him that they have his back no matter what.

                                                        ii. Suguwara—a third-year Karasuno student and the team’s main setter—was also given the spotlight in this arc when he switched out with Kageyama to fix the game’s flow back in their favor. While admitting his faults compared to Kageyama, Suguwara admitted he had more experience watching the match from the sidelines.

                                                      iii. Kageyama and Tsukishima had tension on the court too, more than usual due to their inability to directly communicate; their characters bicker all the time since they met in the previous arc.

                                                      iv. Finally, Tadashi Yamaguchi—a benched Karasuno teammate with barely any screen time—stepped up as the pinch server for his first time playing a real match. The pressure was unreal, but Tadashi had been working on a “Jump Float Serve” that could help shift the tide in Karasuno’s favor.

Haikyū!! has a tendency to pack a lot of character moments and backstories that didn’t always mesh well with the action based on the list and bullets format I did for this review, but the manga’s emotion output was enough to keep me reading the pages.

The exposition was necessary for non-volleyball fans like myself, but it became distracting at times from the action happening on the court. The text was also too small for me to read at various times. Yes, explain what’s going on, but at same time, don’t or at least make the text bigger. Honestly, I’m not sure what I want or if the information dumping is an issue the author can fix. Exposition is tricky to deal with, sometimes.

Overall, I still had an amazing time reading Haikyū!!’s “Interhigh Arc”. The ending to this arc was heartbreaking, but they powered through like true champions. I’m super excited to see where the manga goes from here with the “Tokyo Expedition Arc” coming next. Thanks for reading this manga review, everyone! Let’s keep it reading!