One-Shot (Weekly Shōnen Jump)

Haikyū!! One-Shot
Japanese Title	2011年WJ20・21合併号掲載読切「ハイキュー!!」
Romanized Title	2011-Nen WJ20•21 Gappei-gō Keisai Yomikiri "Haikyū!!"
Chapter Information
Release Date	April 25, 2011
Chapter Guide
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2011 WJ20•21 Merger Issue Publication One-Shot "Haikyū!!" (Japanese: 2011年WJ20・21合併号 (がっぺいごう) 掲載 (けいさい) 読切 (よみきり) 「ハイキュー!!」, 2011-Nen WJ20•21 Gappei-gō Keisai Yomikiri "Haikyū!!") or Haikyū!! One-Shot, is the second one-shot Haikyū!! manga, written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate. It was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine and together with the first one-shot formed the basis for the Haikyū!! serialized manga.

Overview

In the early April of 2011, the Karasuno High School Volleyball Team was famous for its practices in matches. One day, a boy named Shōyō Hinata wants to be part of the team as its ace. Hinata is short and the team has poor teamwork, but will they be able to beat the private school, Hanagata Academy, who challenged them to a practice match?

Publication

The one shot was originally published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on April 25, 2011.

It was then republished on October 3, 2015 inside Haikyū!! Complete Guidebook Volleyball Book!.

Plot

The chapter starts with Shōyō Hinata watching a practice match between an anonymous school and Karasuno High during the spring break. He listens to a couple of girls commenting on Karasuno players and they look surprised about Tobio Kageyama taking part in the club even though the entrance ceremonies haven't started yet. The match ends with Karasuno winning two games while the crowd is surprised about the team's strength. Then, Hinata leans over the fence and shouts: "Karasuno High, the team I'm going to be an ace in..."

A few days later, school starts and Hinata shows up to Karasuno High's gym, yelling that he's its new ace. They make fun of his height so he says his famous line for the first time: "Even if I'm not big, I can jump." Kageyama asks him to spike one of his tosses and although Hinata couldn't even touch the ball, the whole team is astonished at his jumping ability. He then tells them that he's never been in a real match before because his junior high didn't have enough team members, that is why he joined Karasuno.

Hinata starts practicing whenever he can, but Kageyama criticizes him often, saying that Hinata is wasting his jumping ability and he'll never be the ace.

Karasuno goes to its practice match against Hanagata Academy. The match begins with Hanagata taking the lead in the first game, with all of Karasuno's spikes being blocked. Hanagata Academy is known for its detailed analysis of its opponents, and it has plenty of data about Karasuno, enabling it to read all of Karasuno's patterns. Daichi Sawamura has to call for a member change in order to change the flow and puts Hinata into his first match.

On the first try, Hinata jumps for Kageyama's toss but fails to strike it, which leads to everyone making fun of him. He keeps missing the tosses until Kageyama snaps at him, saying that: "Motivation alone can't make up for technique and experience." Hinata simply answers: "I haven't practiced nearly enough yet..." These words make Kageyama think that Hinata's strength—apart from jumping—is that he never says: "impossible or I can't"; his first words are always: "I'll do it". Kageyama then asks Hinata to run as fast as he can, avoid the opponent blockers, jump as high as possible, and then swing his arm down without thinking about the ball. Surprisingly, their plan works, allowing Hinata to finally spike the ball, and leads to Karasuno winning the match.

On their way home, Daichi tells Ryūnosuke Tanaka that Hinata could've been a great player if he was in the right environment. Kageyama continues criticizing Hinata, saying that he still lacks basic skills and if he really wants to have fun, he needs to get better.

Debut

Characters

• Shōyō Hinata
• Tobio Kageyama
• Kei Tsukishima
• Ryūnosuke Tanaka
• Daichi Sawamura

Chapter notes

Character revelations

• Before entering Karasuno High, Hinata didn't play volleyball in a practice game or an official match.

Trivia

• This story begins in the Spring of 2011.
• Tsukishima started as a second-year while Hinata and Kageyama were first-years.
• Tsukishima stood at only 184 centimeters, rather than 188.
• There were only three first-years (Hinata, Kageyama, and another unknown character) who joined the boys' volleyball club.
• Hinata and Kageyama formed their "Odd-ball Combo" during a match against another school.
• Hinata was not a first-year regular.
• Kageyama's intention for joining Karasuno was that he wanted to fight "top schools".
• Sugawara, Asahi, Nishinoya, Yamaguchi, Ennoshita, Narita, and Kinoshita do not appear in this story.