Karasuno High (Japanese: 烏野高校 Karasuno Kōkō) is a high school located in Miyagi Prefecture.
Uniform
Karasuno, like most Japanese schools, has a uniform and dress code. The male uniform consists of the classic black gakuran, white collared shirt, cream sweater and black pants. Females wear a more "catholic" uniform, which consists of a white blouse, red ribbon, cream sweater, black blazer, and a grey skirt[1]. However, since many students are often seen without the cream sweater and wearing t-shirts instead of the collared shirt, it is assumed that the dress code isn't strictly enforced.
The boys' volleyball club's uniform consists of a black tracksuit with white details. The members wear white t-shirts and black shorts during practice matches and often don a yellow sports bib on top. During official matches, the majority of players don a black jersey and shorts with orange details. The libero has a contrasting jersey in orange with black details.
The girls' volleyball club uniform consists of a black jersey and shorts, with white details. The libero has a contrasting jersey in white with black details.
Academics
Each grade has five classes, with classes 4 and 5 being college preparatory classes. Periods are 50 minutes long, with a 10-minute break in between. Subjects taught include English, modern Japanese literature, math, and physical education. After graduation, students generally either continue on to higher education or work.
The passing grade for exams is 40 points. Students who fail their final exams must take weekend supplementary classes and a supplementary exam for each failed subject; these may sometimes be held during summer vacation. The passing grade for supplementary exams is 80 points, and students must take them until they pass.
Faculty
- Vice Principal
- Ittetsu Takeda - Modern Japanese Literature teacher
- Minaho Ono - English teacher
Volleyball Club
The school's Boys' Volleyball Club was founded many years ago and has often been associated with crows due to the school's name. Its banner, in fact, reads "Take to the Skies," which alludes to crows. It was said that Coach Ukai had a ferocious pack of crows during Karasuno's glory days.
As a former powerhouse of Miyagi, Karasuno has represented the prefecture at Spring High nationals nine times. One of those occasions was under the guidance of Coach Ukai and the "Small Giant", and was famous throughout Miyagi. However, after the initial success, Karasuno failed to pass its prefecture's preliminaries in future tournaments and therefore received the derogatory nicknames "The Fallen Champions" and "The Flightless Crows." It wasn't until five years later did the team finally return to nationals.
For a while, Karasuno did not have a coach due to Ukai's hospitalization after a few months of coaching the previous year. Daichi Sawamura took on both the captain and the coach's duties until Ukai's grandson, Keishin Ukai, became the new coach. The managers of the team consist of Kiyoko Shimizu, a third year and the original manager, and Hitoka Yachi, a first-year recruited by Kiyoko after the first tournament.
The main starting line-up is composed of Daichi Sawamura, Asahi Azumane, Ryūnosuke Tanaka, Yū Nishinoya, Shōyō Hinata, Tobio Kageyama, and Kei Tsukishima. Karasuno is currently famous for its odd quick strike (performed by Kageyama and Hinata) and its unique members: Kitagawa Daiichi Junior High's "King of the Court," Kageyama; Chidoriyama's champion libero, Nishinoya; and the 164cm-tall middle blocker, Hinata.
Karasuno's main rivals within the Miyagi Prefecture are Aobajohsai High, Date Tech High, and Shiratorizawa Academy. The club's "destined" rival is Nekoma High, which Karasuno has always lost to. Because their animal representatives (cat and crow) are usually found by the dumpster, their matches are called the "Battle at the Garbage Dump."
Karasuno's strongest attribute is its offensive power, with a heavy focus on attacks such as the quick strike, pipe-line, and synchronized attacks using tempo. It also utilizes uncommon techniques like the Calculated One-Point Two-Setter, the jump float serve, and a libero toss to throw off opponents.
Members
Former Players
Girls Club
Practice Matches
- Hinata, Kageyama, Tanaka vs Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Sawamura (2:0 / 25-23, 25-21)
- Karasuno High School vs Aobajohsai High School (2:1 / 13-25, 25-22, 25-23)
- Karasuno High School vs Karasuno Neighborhood Association + others (0:2 / 19-25, 18-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Nekoma High School (0:2 / 22-25, 23-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Nekoma High School (0:2 / 22-25, 24-26)
- Karasuno High School vs Nekoma High School (0:2 / 25-27, 30-32)
- Karasuno High School vs Ouginishi High School (2:0 / 25-12 ,25-16)
- Karasuno High School vs Date Tech High School (4:4 / 19-25, 23-25, ??-??, 25-23, ??-??, ??-??, ??-??, 25-21)
Summer Training Camp
Several sets against Nekoma, Fukurōdani, Shinzen, and Ubugawa (3 wins, 63 losses)
- Karasuno High School vs Shinzen High School (25-21)
- Karasuno High School vs Shinzen High School (23-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Fukurōdani Academy (12-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Fukurōdani Academy (14-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Fukurōdani Academy (22-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Fukurōdani Academy (23-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Nekoma High School (15-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Nekoma High School (16-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Ubugawa High School (16-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Ubugawa High School (22-25)
- Karasuno High School vs Ubugawa High School (23-25)
Interhigh-Preliminaries
For Interhigh's Miyagi Preliminaries, Karasuno was registered as team 5, Block A. Their venue was the Sendai City Gymnasium, along with Block B. They played over the span of two days (two games on the first day, one on the second) before losing in the third round to Aobajohsai. Overall, they placed within the top 16.
First Round
- Karasuno High School vs Tokonami High School (2:0 / 25-12, 25-14)
Second Round
- Karasuno High School vs Date Tech High School (2:0 / 25-19, 25-22)
Third Round
- Karasuno High School vs Aobajohsai High School (1:2 / 15-25, 25-23, 31-33)
Spring High-Miyagi Prefecture Representative Playoffs
For the first preliminary, Karasuno was registered as team 19, Group 4. Their venue was Kaji High School Gymnasium, along with Group 5. Because they placed within the top 16 during Interhigh, they were exempt from the first round of games and played only two matches. After winning their matches against Ougiminami and Kakugawa, they were allowed to move on to the representative playoffs held in October.
For the representative playoffs, Karasuno was registered as team 10. They played at the Sendai City Gymnasium over a span of three days (one game on the first day, two on the second, one on the third). After winning all their matches, they became Miyagi Prefecture's Representative for the Spring High National Playoffs.
First Preliminary
- Karasuno High School vs Ougiminami High School (2:0 / 25-16, 25-13)
- Karasuno High School vs Kakugawa High School (2:0 / 25-22, 25-19)
Main Preliminary
First Round
- Karasuno High School vs Johzenji High School (2:0 / 25-21, 25-20)
Quarter Final
- Karasuno High School vs Wakutani South High School (2:1/ 25-20, 20-25, 25-23)
Semi Final
- Karasuno High School vs Aobajohsai High School (2:1 / 25-23 , 26-28, 26-24)
Final
- Karasuno High School vs Shiratorizawa Academy (3:2 / 16-25, 31-29, 20-25, 29-27, 21-19)
Spring High National Tournament
For nationals, Karasuno wasn't exempt from the first round.
First Round
- Karasuno High School vs Tsubakihara Academy [Kanagawa] (2:0 / 25-23, 25-23)
Their first match was played on C Court as it's the third match of the day.
Second Round
- Karasuno High School vs Inarizaki High School [Hyōgo] (2:1 / 27-25, 16-25, 32-30)
The second round match was played on B Court as it's the second match of the day.
Third Round
- Karasuno High School vs Nekoma High School [Tokyo] (2:1 / 25-27, 26-24, 25-21)
Quarter Finals
- Karasuno High School vs Kamomedai High School [Nagano]
Trivia
- One of the team's strategic teamwork moves is known as mobbing, which is when they attack as a group to drive an opponent off. In the wildlife, it's a type of behavior that birds use against a large predator on the prowl; this is another reference to Karasuno's nickname as crows.
- Karasuno has the Kanji "crow" (烏 Karasu) in its name
- Karasuno High also has a girls' volleyball club, with Yui Michimiya as the captain during the Interhigh and Rinko Sudou replacing Yui after her retirement for the Spring High. However, they don't do very well in their matches due to lack of practice[2].
- There is a girls' tennis club, boys' soccer club, boys' basketball club, boys' tennis club, and boys' baseball clubs as well.
- Karasuno High has two gyms and a track field. The girls' volleyball club and boys' basketball club practice in First Gymnasium; the boys' volleyball club practices in Second Gymnasium. [3]
- The fictional brand for their uniforms and warm-up sweats is shown to be a foot with the letters "ics" underneath. The word for foot in Japanese is "ashi", so the full name would be "ashi-ics". This is a play on the name for the real life sports brand "asics", which in Japanese would be pronounced the same way. Asics is a Japanese sports company, and is recognized worldwide for their volleyball athletic wear.
- Like many of the other teams featured in the series, all of Karasuno seems to wear "asics" volleyball shoes, based on their shoe design.
- Other schools often misread Karasuno (烏野) for Torino (鳥野) because they have very similar kanji. Karasu (烏) refers to crows, whereas Tori (鳥) refers to birds in general.
- Like most Japanese high schools, Karasuno holds an annual sports festival. One of its events is a four-member relay race between the school's sports clubs. The winning club receives 20 boxes of sports drink mix.
- Karasuno in the season 3 anime now has its own cheering squad, consisting its own students from the School itself, including the principal himself. However, their cheer doesn't give off a vibe of being a powerhouse school, compared to Shiratorizawa's, since they only practised a little after school during the day of the finals. While in the manga, this did not happen.
- Karasuno has participated in Spring High tournament nine times and this time is their first appearance after five years.
- Karasuno High is based on Karumai Highschool in Iwate prefecture.