“I actually am pretty much half *ssing them”: Haikyuu Creator Hated Drawing Comedy Scenes for a Simple Reason Despite Them Being His Favorite
As a deep silence hangs over the court until it is pierced by the shrill of the umpire’s whistle, all fans sit with bated breath waiting for Karasuno to serve the ball. Haikyuu!! is easily one of the most popular sports anime of all time, and its popularity only seems to increase by the day. Even anime watchers who are not into sports anime sit enraptured as they watch Karasuno’s #10 soar high.
While sports anime can get repetitive due to the frequently used tournament arcs, the same does not apply to Haikyuu!! as it still draws in viewer after viewer with its compelling characters, wholesome content, and dynamic narrative. It is also crucial to note that volleyball is not as mainstream a sport as basketball or football, making Haikyuu!!‘s achievements so far even more impressive.
Haruichi Furudate Half-*ssed The Comedic Scenes In Haikyuu!!
What makes the series so riveting is its use of humor. The story is sequenced in a way that it takes viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions, from feeling super hyped to feeling nervous to laughing until your breath hitches. The ratio of the intense scenes is perfectly balanced with the humorous scenes, which is partly one of the reasons that makes Haikyuu!! a blast to watch. So it is surprising, to say the least, that Haikyuu!! creator, Haruichi Furudate, dislikes drawing comedy scenes.
The Da Vinci April 2014 issue featured an interview with Furudate, the interviewer pointed out the distortion of the art- the roundness (cuteness) of the characters versus the increased head-to-height ratio to depict the coolness of the characters- which made his art stand out. Furudate admitted that he did not actually take note of when he was drawing “realness” or “distortion”. He further stated:
“Even in the match scenes, in order to express momentum, I would insert a lot of parses into the character’s body. Although it looks like I’m half-*ssing the characters’ caricatures in the comedic scenes, I actually am pretty much half-*ssing them.“
In Furudate’s words, the half-hearted attempts turned out the best when he would draw them on the storyboard, but since he could not paste them directly into the manuscript, he was a little disappointed. Furudate also explained that in his previous work as well as the initial stages of the serialization of Haikyuu!!, he used a lot of elaborate angles and paneling so as to not bore the readers. That is some high-level dedication!
Haruichi Furudate Paid Particular Attention To SFX While Drawing
Furudate was quick to realize that nothing would get accomplished if he couldn’t get readers to read his story. Many fans prefer to watch anime over reading mangas since the animation brings the visualization to another level. Particularly for a sports series like Haikyuu!!, a lot of the scenes are dependent on the visual effects to draw the most reaction out of fans.
In the interview, Furudate revealed that he paid special attention to the SFX while drawing, however, he always thought about how powerful manga could be if there were some way to incorporate sound in the manga. He continued:
“Although I always think about how powerful manga would be if it could incorporate sound in addition to art and words, but alas such a thing is unfortunately impossible, so I constantly try my best to express sound, momentum, atmosphere and depth via SFX. It’s something I’m trying to balance with “readability”, so it’s still in a stage of trial and error.”
Continuing the same line of thought, Furudate said he was still not satisfied with the sound when a ball was hit. According to him, with SFX, the resulting sound was always subpar as the ball sounded “rubbery” and unrealistic.
You can watch Haikyuu!! on Crunchyroll.
