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furudate thinks about each and every aspect of haikyuu with the utmost care. it’s just how they write their work. but one thing i really like that they add a lot of attention to is not just the game, not just the players, but the court. the battlefield. the home away from home.
there is this driving hunger from each and every character about who gets to be out there, who gets to make the plays, who gets to truly fight their teams battles. especially with karasuno we see the bench warmers not holding back from training in order to rise to the field,
get on the court. it’s a very common theme for each individual, and yet somehow it means something different to everyone.
of course we have the main promise between shouyou and tobio, which is argued to be the leading development throughout the series. in dialogue it almost always represents both the length of the game and the strength of each partner, but it’s not “i will play longer than you”,
it’s “i will stand on the court the longest”, “the strongest get to stand on the court, so become strong!”. so while the promise may be about strength, their own drive to continue is to play in game. using the court as a guideline of their rivalry means even more when you take
into account shouyou’s want to be an individual rather than just a pair: not only does being on the court represent how long he spends playing in game but also his journey to stay out there by himself, not just as an accessory.
we see a lot of focus on the setting during the ball boy arc, where shouyou just spends the whole time watching everyone. the most crucial line for me and i presume everyone else is this spread... “but there’s so much information lying over the court”.
furudate opens this new outlook on the entire game: volleyball is not just about the ball. it’s not just about where it is, who’s hitting in, who’s running for it. it’s about where you are, where they are, what they are doing before AND during AND after the ball.
it’s about the entirety of the court. after this, shouyou starts to envision the game in its totality: the ball, the players, the placement, and, of course, the word i’ve said a million times already, the court, the place the entire game actually begins.
one individual game arc of haikyuu that i feel really implements this idea too is the kamomedai match: even before shouyou’s fever there is focus on the court, on the way shouyou moves upon it and how there’s this feeling that this is hoshiumi’s second home, his strength.
shouyou’s receive is central here, but it’s also learning how to read the players and where he + them are placed. and of course shouyou’s fever. his knees fall, and he can no longer stand on the court. he had run himself sick just wanting to be on the field that he no longer CAN.
and beyond that, even after the match, we have tenma afterwards, who looks at the playing field like it’s something he missed, something with memory after memory and joy after joy.
this ... well, staring at the court basically appears all the time as a symbol of longing, of drive, even beyond those who never stopped playing. it appears a lot, especially for shouyou, since his driving force is to stay out there, stay present, keep playing.
during timeskip, we have shouyou when he’s in brazil, who has to adapt to a new court. one of sand and sun and wind and a million new aspects introduced that he has to think about beyond placement. he uses the floor he’s been given on the beach to learn how to jump even higher
on, his words, “solid, reliable floor”. and yet, even though the beach in mean and originally shouyou cant get used to it, he still has the drive to get better: so he does, and the court in which he trains prepares him for the professional world so well it’s almost scary.
i am 99% positive that furudate decided to put this in on purpose: to show how the setting of practice can so incredibly impact the way you play, and that the drive to stand, at least for shouyou, does not just disappear depending on circumstances.
and now this new chapter. this new chapter tht carries the idea of the court full circle. this chapter that almost half completes shouyou‘s promise: he stood. shouyou stood on the court, he stood on the battlefield and didn’t fall.
not for the longest, not yet, but he is now strong enough. he has found his footing, and the court has accepted it.
to each and every character the court means something to them: whether it is their strength, their guidance or a mixture of each and every aspect of volleyball. it is the home they long for, the place they return to, and furudate’s emphasis not only on the court in game
but ALWAYS, during practice or as a symbol of closure or as every single person watching the current game who didn’t continue volleyball. the court as an open book, the court as a giving and taking, the court as any of the many ways furudate uses it to demonstrate growth.
it is incredible to see each and every theme of haikyuu come forth just though the idea of placement and setting, and i just can’t wait to see how it comes into play at the end of it all, as well.
i feel like this thread was a little all over the place but once again the main point is: thank you furudate for putting so much care into each and every individual aspect of haikyuu, including setting and how each character views it.... you are amazing.
