Haruichi Furudate (Japanese: 古舘春一 Furudate Haruichi) is a 41-year-old manga artist best known for the series Haikyū!!. Haruichi Furudate was born on March 7, 1983, in the Iwate Prefecture, Japan and is currently employed by Shueisha Inc.
Furudate's gender identity has never been confirmed, but the official Viz translation uses he/him.
Biography[]
Furudate is from a small town Karumai, Iwate Prefecture. After graduating from high school, he moved to Miyagi Prefecture and enrolled in Sendai Design College. A well-known institution in Japan that is renowned for its manga, animation, and graphic design programs.
After graduating from college, at age 25, he submitted his series King Kid to the Weekly Shōnen Jump Editorial Department (Shueisha), which later received an accolade at the 2008 JUMP Treasure Newcomer Award. In 2009, Furudate made his debut with his work Playground, which received publication in the Akamaru Jump (later known as Jump Next! and now Jump Giga). Also, in 2009, in the 28th issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, Furudate published his One-Shot series A Ghost of Senior Yotsuya. Later, in 2010, it received serialization in the 31st issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump. The series lasted for about four volumes. After that Furudate, set his sights on his long-time goal of serializing a manga on his favorite sport, volleyball. In 2011, he submitted a One-Shot of Haikyū!! in the 21st issue of Jump Next! and in 2012, received serialization in the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. A total of 45 volumes have been published, and as of 2020, Haikyū!! has sold over 50 million copies in circulation.
In 2012, Furudate did a short crossover collaborative comedy series with fellow manga artist Naoshi Komi (Nisekoi) called Nisekyū!!
Sports[]
He was a member of the volleyball club, and started playing the sport in his junior high and remained active till high school. Furudate played the position of the middle blocker. His favorite volleyball players are Shigeru Aoyama and Yuta Yoneyama. He was passionate about playing volleyball professionally; however, he had some lingering doubts. Therefore, he decided to change his career path to a manga artist. So, he can share his passion and love of the sport with everyone in that visual art form.
Favorite Volleyball Players[]
Haruichi Furudate's favorite volleyball players:[1]
Works[]
One-Shot (short stories)[]
- King Kid (2008, Weekly Shōnen Website)
- Playground (2009, Akamaru Jump, Winter)
- A Ghost of Senior Yotsuya (2009, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Issue 28)
- Haikyū!! (2011, Jump Next!, Winter)
- Haikyū!! (2011, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Issue 20/21)
Manga Serialized[]
- A Ghost of Senior Yotsuya (2010, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Issue 31) [Volumes 1-4]
- Haikyū!! (2012, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Issue 33) [Volumes 1-45]
Crossovers[]
- 2012: Weekly Shōnen Jump - Nisekoi and Haikyū!! = Nisekyū!! (with Naoshi Komi)
Notable Assistant[]
- Tasuku Sugie known for Tenjin
Trivia[]
- In a poll conducted by Charapedia, a Japanese anime and manga character database, Furudate was ranked the 21st most popular mangaka. Furudate received 157 points[2] (points are based on votes, comments, and voting order, and other factors are decided by the Charapedia staff).
- Furudate's zodiac sign is Pisces.
- Furudate's hobbies are eating and drinking.
- Furudate's one-shot for Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2008, Ousama Kid (King Kid), won an honorable mention for the 14th Jump Treasure Newcomer Manga Prize.
- Furudate's favorite series are One Piece by Eiichiro Oda and Tekkonkinkreet by Taiyō Matsumoto.
- Because Furudate is a mangaka for Weekly Shōnen Jump, they participate in its Authors Comments section. Some of Furudate's comments have revealed the following information:
- A huge pile of storyboards and discarded drawings once fell from atop of an office cabinet. Furudate learned from this that continuous organization is very important.
- Riding vehicles (especially buses) after not going outside for a long time makes Furudate nervous.
- Furudate received an incredible photo book for Sugawara's birthday.
- Furudate owns a Jurassic Park poster signed by Haiyuu-san.
- Furudate's older brother is married and has two kids (the second child was born sometime in July 2016).
- Furudate has always looked up to and yearned to match Tite Kubo's (the mangaka of Bleach) visual style.
- Because Furudate missed watching the Rio 2016 Olympics on live TV, Furudate was very grateful that the matches and commentary could be found online. Although Furudate found them intense, Furudate wishes that more footage was taken from the end of the court.
- Furudate's editor, Mr. Honda, has a younger brother, who released a novel on September 10th.
- Furudate was a volleyball player in Junior High School and held the position of a middle blocker.
- Furudate lived in the Iwate Prefecture until graduation and then moved to the Miyagi Prefecture.
- In Haikyuu's first popularity poll, Furudate was included and ranked 26th with 706 votes.[3] In the second popularity poll, he dropped to 39th with 521 votes.[4]
- Volleyball and love of drawing drew Furudate to create the character of Shōyō Hinata and the manga series Haikyū!!.