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A review by styxandstones
ハイキュー!! 2 [Haikyū!! 2] by Haruichi Furudate
4.0
This was a wonderful volume for characterization and development of dynamics, my favorite part of series in general.
Again, I’ve watched the anime before, and so the majority of my commentary will be about detail oriented stuff that may or may not be manga exclusive: with the rest of it being general character analysis.
It’s an imperative volume for Hinata.
It develops his understanding of the sport. It’s his first time playing a game on a real team. One that he respects nonetheless! And his experience with nerves is both a relatable and realistic struggle. Near the end of the set with Aoba Johsai he begins to find his spot in the team dynamic; paced pretty realistically.
Kageyama excersizes his newly found patience, and helps Hinata find his footing during the second set. It’s really Kageyama that helps Hinata to feel comfortable in his role, explaining that the team knows that he is inexperienced: and that they trust him despite this. His assertion to Sugawara also gives him a lovable quality of a hard worker that cares about how he reaches his goals.
But truly, this was a volume for Tsukishima.
As opposed to his straightforward portrayal in the volume before, here we see more layered interactions between him and his teammates. This volume is the one that throws the first wrenches into the perception that he’s a “one note” snarky bully.
On several occasions his teammates make jokes about him being mean, that the team will have to face blockers just like him, and instead of jumping in and retorting-he sits back with a deadpan expression.
He silences Yamaguchi when the younger tries to stand up for him, and brag about him. It’s at this point that readers might reflect and realize that Tsukishima (though not pleasant) only instigates when it comes to Hinata or Kageyama. He respects his upperclassmen. Never being disrespectful to them, and listening to instructions.
Knowing his backstory (and his perception of the characters at this time), this makes perfect sense. He resents passionate people, people that devote themselves wholly to the sport. He sees it as useless, a setup for disappointment.
On top of this-they’re both strangely talented. It this talent that made it impossible for his brother to succeed at the sport, no matter how much he was passionate about it. Both these factors feed into his attitude towards the main characters.
Tsuki refuses to see that talent in himself. He refuses to attribute his talent at the sport to anything other than his height, because that would be going against his own ideology. So he shuts down Yamaguchi whenever the smaller pipes up about his skills. If he agreed, that would put him on a similar level to the other first years (which he doesn’t believe) and get rid of his reasoning that trying is a pointless endeavor.
Additionally, he probably feels entitled to treat Hinata and Kageyama that way. He only had heard about the fighting delinquent children tangentially through Suga. Most likely he uses this as a justification to take out his pent up frustration on them.
I liked this more than the first volume, for sure.
4.6/5.
:)
Again, I’ve watched the anime before, and so the majority of my commentary will be about detail oriented stuff that may or may not be manga exclusive: with the rest of it being general character analysis.
It’s an imperative volume for Hinata.
It develops his understanding of the sport. It’s his first time playing a game on a real team. One that he respects nonetheless! And his experience with nerves is both a relatable and realistic struggle. Near the end of the set with Aoba Johsai he begins to find his spot in the team dynamic; paced pretty realistically.
Kageyama excersizes his newly found patience, and helps Hinata find his footing during the second set. It’s really Kageyama that helps Hinata to feel comfortable in his role, explaining that the team knows that he is inexperienced: and that they trust him despite this. His assertion to Sugawara also gives him a lovable quality of a hard worker that cares about how he reaches his goals.
But truly, this was a volume for Tsukishima.
As opposed to his straightforward portrayal in the volume before, here we see more layered interactions between him and his teammates. This volume is the one that throws the first wrenches into the perception that he’s a “one note” snarky bully.
On several occasions his teammates make jokes about him being mean, that the team will have to face blockers just like him, and instead of jumping in and retorting-he sits back with a deadpan expression.
He silences Yamaguchi when the younger tries to stand up for him, and brag about him. It’s at this point that readers might reflect and realize that Tsukishima (though not pleasant) only instigates when it comes to Hinata or Kageyama. He respects his upperclassmen. Never being disrespectful to them, and listening to instructions.
Knowing his backstory (and his perception of the characters at this time), this makes perfect sense. He resents passionate people, people that devote themselves wholly to the sport. He sees it as useless, a setup for disappointment.
On top of this-they’re both strangely talented. It this talent that made it impossible for his brother to succeed at the sport, no matter how much he was passionate about it. Both these factors feed into his attitude towards the main characters.
Tsuki refuses to see that talent in himself. He refuses to attribute his talent at the sport to anything other than his height, because that would be going against his own ideology. So he shuts down Yamaguchi whenever the smaller pipes up about his skills. If he agreed, that would put him on a similar level to the other first years (which he doesn’t believe) and get rid of his reasoning that trying is a pointless endeavor.
Additionally, he probably feels entitled to treat Hinata and Kageyama that way. He only had heard about the fighting delinquent children tangentially through Suga. Most likely he uses this as a justification to take out his pent up frustration on them.
I liked this more than the first volume, for sure.
4.6/5.
:)