wylanslcve's reviews
365 reviews

edgar allen poe introduction!!!!!

oh I’m so deeply unwell.

someone please find a way to turn me into a fictional character so I can leap into this series and give atsushi the biggest hug and give him all the love he very much deserves.

yes the bonus story made me emotional and yes it made me love akutagawa more than I already did (as if that was even possible) and what about it?

asagiri and harukawa are absolute geniuses.

I love you kenji <3

yosano akiko the woman you are!!!

not to sound dramatic or anything but I would die for atsushi.

while having a pretty slow start, and despite being only one volume in, I can confidently say that the manga is (so far at least but I doubt my opinion will change) SIGNIFICANTLY better than the anime (which, as you can probably gather, I've already watched). I love the manga's atmosphere and I adore harukawa's art style! studio bones could never.

oh my goodness, where do I even begin?

I remember starting the anime a few months ago, not really knowing what to expect since I couldn’t care less about sports in real life and I knew next to nothing about volleyball, but nothing could have ever prepared me for how well written this series was going to end up being. it’s so healing, profound and inspiring in ways I never anticipated, and now having finished the manga, the hope in my heart is overwhelming. I wish I’d read this back when I was in high school, but I know this series will continue to inspire me well into the future. the characters, the relationships between them, the growth and development they all undergo over the course of these 45 volumes… it’s all so fantastic. I saw parts of myself in so many of the characters, and each of their journeys has helped me (and will continue to help me) through some very dark times. 

I’ve said this in a review of a previous volume, but I was admittedly quite apprehensive going into the timeskip because timeskip content could either be done really well or really poorly (and, at least in my experience, it’s mostly the latter), but what a pleasant surprise those final volumes ended up being. was it fan service? absolutely. was it also incredibly well-written and overall one of the most satisfying endings I’ve read in a while? also yes. where the characters end up as adults not only makes sense thematically but also makes so much sense for the characters individually. furudate clearly adores these characters and knows them inside and out (which, I know, should be something applicable to <i>all</i> authors, but unfortunately there are so many authors out there who mischaracterise their own characters).

that being said, my biggest criticism of this series is that we don’t really get to know these characters’ lives outside of volleyball. of course, we do get to know their personalities and psyches very intimately throughout the series (and I like to joke about volleyball just being a plot device that furthers the characters’ development), but we don’t know too much about their personal lives outside of the court. for example, it took us 44 volumes to find out that kageyama has a sister, and there’s still so much about the other characters’ personal lives we don’t get to know too much. I would’ve loved to see more content of these characters outside of volleyball, like the entire sideplot with hinata, kageyama, tanaka and nishinoya studying for their final exams before the tokyo expedition arc. I get it, this is a series about volleyball, but still.

apart from that, I couldn’t be more satisfied with the direction furudate took this story in. I don’t know how they’re going to be able to adapt the rest of the manga’s content in just one more film, but either way, my love for this series is endless and it will forever hold a special place in my heart. who knew this manga series about volleyball was going to impact me so immensely?