translated by carmellions1 on twitter

"google doc link"[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dgqlt2OQFxIoaZ-AVsdE7xqkxq-t9TSGitQuGDtoGao/edit]

Here we have a special talk with Furudate-sensei, the creator of Haikyuu and the editors who have supported it these last eight and a half years. Honda-san, who was the first editor, Ikeda-san, the second, and the current editor in charge, Azuma-san. With these three and with questions that Furudate-sensei has collected from readers on Twitter, we won't hold anything back as we look at the inner workings of Haikyuu!

Azuma: First off, Furudate-sensei, thank you for your hard work these past 8 and a half years!

Furudate: Thanks!!

Honda: From the climax to the last chapter, were you able to have fun working on it?

Furudate: I was able to visualize the last part clearly, so I finished the storyboard quickly and had 4 whole days to work on just drawing so I had fun. Except for the last two chapters.

Honda: Huh?

F: The last two chapters, there were a lot more pages, and there were colour pages too... (lol) You know, I was actually picturing the moment I finished drawing the last chapter. Opening up some nice alcohol, saying thank you to my staff... But finishing the drawings went until 4am. We were all at our limits so I just let everyone go home *laughs*

Ikeda: So, changing the topic, here's a question from the readers. The first question is, 'How did you decide on what everyone's future would be?'

F: So Azuma-san and I actually sat down and had a real meeting about everyone's post-graduation futures. We even made a list. With the exception of the characters where I for sure saw them as going pro, I was completely blank. My only knowledge on different kinds of careers was either from my own past experience or from what my friends do, so with the editor I sought out advice on, 'What jobs are there?'

A: Yes, that's right. For example, for Yamaguchi, we thought, 'Oh, Karasuno's efforts would definitely make it on the local newspaper. So wouldn't that be an advantage for him to get employment in his hometown?' Like during his job interview, being told, 'You’re the Yamaguchi-kun from back then!' We were discussing that.

F: Oh yeah, those scribbles are still on the list! (lol) And besides him, like for Taketora, we were thinking over how his position as a character is similar to Tanaka, but he's pretty different, isn't he? I felt like he'd go down a completely different path than Tanaka."

I: It's really interesting that Udai is a mangaka.

F. I always pictured him as being in a band, or being a mangaka, or some kind of career where he pursues his dream. Like in the arts.

I: And Akaashi is his manga editor (lol).

F: I thought that he'd definitely be either a manga editor or an analyst. When I asked Azuma-san, 'Which job is more miserable?' he immediately replied, 'Manga editor!!' lol And that's what decided it. *laughs*

A: The next question is, 'How do you decide on the characters' names or visuals?'

F: For the starting order, they all line up, so I make sure that there isn't any overlap between their names and silhouettes. The only team where I based the characters’ appearance off their animal motif is Fukurodani, I think. I designed Bokuto while referencing a photo of a real owl (lol)

I: How did you come up with the name 'Karasuno'?

F: Honda-san and I talked about how it'd be nice to have a villain-like name. Didn't we?

H: Yes, as the manga started serialization, we thought it'd be good to have a motif or a persona to each team.

F: During that meeting, a crow came down onto the balcony at my workplace. We felt, "Oh, wouldn't a crow be good?' 'They're black and they're cool!'

A: Even though they're the protagonist, having them be crows and in black is pretty memorable, huh? Alright, the next question, 'How do you do research and get material?'

H: Sensei, you're really good at that~

F: Uh, there is no way that’s true. Remember when we went to Hyogo Delfino (a volleyball club in Amagasaki) for research and even though the coach said, 'You can feel free to ask the players whatever you like’, I couldn't ask a single thing! *laughs*

H: That's true. *laughs* But you know, from where I was standing, it was really interesting. Stuff like, where do the players enter from, what do they talk about during the meetings, what do they eat after a match. I was surprised you were looking at all those things. You said, 'I can learn about tactics by looking it up in a book. I want to know the things that I can't know by looking them up. I'm not doing research so I can find the answers. I'm doing research so that I can find out what I don't know.’ Hearing that, I was really impressed.

F: I said that?

H: You did! Lol

I: When I went to collect data with you at the spring tournament, you went tailing after the players of Rakunan High, didn't you?

F: Yes, I admit that I exhibited some very suspicious behaviour and followed the players (lol) I was standing watch by the exit of the building and when the players came out, I was like, 'they're here!!' and followed after them. I even followed them to the same train car, lost sight of them halfway and started panicking (lol)

H: Hahahaha. Now that you mention it, before getting serialized, you went to look at a high school's volleyball club, didn't you?

F: Toa Academy. Since it was my first time going for research, I thought I should go to the winner of the Spring Tournament and that was Toa. At that time, it wasn't even decided that the manga was going to be serialized. I think that was when I was working on the storyboard for the one-shot? One of the teachers at Toa said, 'A volleyball manga in Weekly Shonen Jump? That's amazing!' but that hadn't been decided yet so I was like 'Oh no, I'm still just... working hard you see... " *laughs* The director there was really kind and polite too, and the coach was a younger person who was in charge of the physical training...

I: And that somehow ended up being the base and image for Aoba Johsai, didn't it?

F: In the manga, the lines for 'We usually have Mondays off' and 'Resting and skipping are two different things' said by Oikawa were actually based on what the director there said. ‘The club of a powerhouse school’ - they seemed like they would constantly be practicing, but actually, 'Toa Academy doesn't practice on Mondays. Making an effort to rest and just skipping are two different things.’ Hearing that from the director there really made an impact on me.

H: The words you heard while doing research ended up being really useful, huh?

A: There's a question here that goes, "The lines spoken by the adults in Haikyuu really resonate with me. Where did those come from?"

F: I also referenced the things that the director at Adachi Shinden High School said. The kids at this public high school's volleyball club were deciding whether or not they would stay in the club for the spring tournament or not. "You mustn't use what adults have told you as an excuse." I ended up using it in the scene where Sugawara decides whether or not he wants to continue his education.

H: "The words of adults shouldn't be used as excuses for them." That line.

F: Takeda's line of, "We have to make sure third years make the choice they won't regret 5, 10 years down the line" was also based on that.

A: The next question is, 'Which character has grown the most?'

F: It'd have to be Hinata. But really, all the characters changed more than I expected! I wasn't thinking that deeply about it from the start. *laughs*

I: Is there a character you think is the most similar to you?

F: Ukai. The part of him that thinks about: 'How do we defeat this strong opponent?' *laughs* While storyboarding, I spent the longest time figuring out how to match the rotations and I thought "Oh, I'm the same as Ukai."

H: The chapters where you show the rotations took a lot of time, didn't it?

F: It was really tough. There are a lot of characters to draw, and even though it takes more effort than drawing bigger panels, the readers are probably only glancing at it (lol)

H: We established showing the rotations during the Nekoma match, right?

F: But really, up until the 4th and 5th volume, we hadn't been doing proper matches. If we sprung it on them from the beginning, I thought it might alienate the reader. So for the first bit we focused on the drama. Tsukishima's part was like that too.

H: The Aoba Johsai match was technically a match, but it was more about showing off the characters there, too.

F: The first time we ever did a proper match was with Nekoma. I'd heard from another manga that 'for one battle, the limit is up to 4 chapters'. So I thought, ok I'll do Nekoma with 4 chapters and tried it, but it didn't really fit, and then for the 5th chapter, the reviews weren't very good.

H: That's right. And we found out that the readers are tired of that.

F: Yeah. I learned that you can't just go with the flow and try to dodge the hard stuff.

A: The next question is 'Please tell us about how you draw sound effects, like with the 'sururi'!"

F: I've always liked lettering since I was a kid. But you know, when I think about 'sururi' I think I was trying too hard (lol) It was a little too much, like I was saying, 'Look at what I'm doing with my lettering!' For that scene, there was the exact same movement in a V-League match. I remember that I watched the video as I drew it.

A. The next question is, 'If you weren't a mangaka, what job would you be doing?'

F: Oh!! Uhh... hm, what job, I wonder...

H: Well, before you debuted, you were working at a company right?

F: I was at a design company. There, I drew flyers for supermarkets and stuff. I did drawings of housewives or cashiers - a variety of things, so maybe I'm still using that even now. (lol)

A: Did you like design?

F: It was more like that's what I ended up doing for work. During the interview, I said, 'I'm going to be a mangaka, so I think I'll eventually be quitting.' I'm amazed they hired me...

H: You had a really strict boss, right?

F: Ah, yes, that's right. That boss was like, 'Hey you, show me your illustrations!' and when I did, they said, 'Is this all you can draw?' When I showed them my manga, they said, 'It's dark.' *laughs* And then during some meeting, they said, 'Oh, [Furudate's] drawings are too dark so you should get some other senpai to draw it,' and took a job way from me lol. But you know, because of that I got to observe my senpais drawing, look at all kinds of illustration collections and from that I think the variety of my own drawings increased... if it hadn’t been for that boss, I think I would have stayed as someone who could only draw one thing.

H: You said that was the first time you were conscious of your drawings as something you showed to people and did at work.

F: Yes! Like the feeling of, “This is a drawing someone has entrusted me to draw.” When that boss retired many years later, they complimented me and told me that I'd really improved. *laughs*

I: That's a nice story from before you were serialized, isn’t it? So what kind of story was in the first storyboard for Haikyuu before it was serialized?

F: For the really early storyboards, neither Hinata nor Kageyama were there. The main character was like more petite Tanaka. It was like I was wandering around with absolutely nothing. The storyboard version I drew after that too, it had the ‘view from the summit’ line that shows up in Chapter 8 of the serialized version but crammed into Chapter 3 instead. But that one didn’t pass the serialization meeting.

H: At the time, I was mad too, going, ‘Why won’t this manga get approved!” But the editor-in-chief told me, “The variety of characters in the cast is really good. This author will be fine, so just keep trying,” so that was really encouraging.

F: Another editor pointed out to me, “I can see you hesitating on how to use the coach.” At first, the coach character was like the sees-through-everything, taciturn, sharp and intelligent type. But the author can’t write a character who’s smarter than they are (lol). So that meant I could only make the character say things that sounded right, and the editor could see through that. I was like, “Oh, I got busted!’ But then from there I thought, just what kind of coach can I write? ‘Maybe even someone who’s not perfectly an adult would be ok?’ ‘Maybe they don’t even know volleyball?’ The design was originally a grandpa, but then Honda-san said, ‘Hm, it’s kinda plain...’ *laughs*

H: And that’s how the coach was split into the characters of Takeda and Ukai.

I: Ohh, I see. So that’s how you kept revising until you got serialized.

H: And that’s when, after I told you, ‘Oh, you’re going to be serialized’, that you said, ‘What, it’s happening?? Don’t you think we should fix a few more parts??’ *laughs*

F: Well, yeah! I mean, before, during a meeting about serialization, a storyboard that I felt really confident about failed… I was pretty depressed then. I went to a park in my neighborhood and sat down on the grass in seiza from the afternoon until the sun set, wondering, ‘Why did it fail…?’ And then I got interviewed for a radio show.

Carmel’s note: sitting in seiza is the standard Japanese traditional formal way of sitting, on your knees with your heels under your butt. It’s an integral part of martial arts, or tea ceremony, or used during apologies. It’s also really uncomfortable for long periods of time lol

I: Um??

F: I was sitting and watching people running when someone came up and said, ‘We’re with a radio station, do you mind if we interview you? Do you like tenshinhan? (crab omelette on rice)?” *laughs* And I think I was also asked, ‘What movies do you like?’ but the only word i remember is tenshinhan. lolol

H: What the heck was with that question? *laughs*

A: Shall we return to the readers’ questions? *laughs* The question is: “Furudate-sensei, have you ever quarreled with your editor about something?’ Has something happened before?

F: I fought with Honda-san about where Karasuno should lose during their first tournament. *laughs*

H: Yeah, that wasn’t an argument, that was a fight. *laughs*

F: Personally, I thought it was totally fine if they lost during their first game, but Honda-san was like, ‘No matter how you look at it, that’s a no.’ I don’t really remember what happened after. I wonder why we fought that much about it? Lol

H: “You just don’t like losing’, ‘I didn’t say that’ ‘But there has to be timing to when they lose, doesn’t there?’ ‘You really do just hate losing!’ We were at a bar talking about it after turning in a manuscript, and that’s how we started fighting.

F: The bartender was definitely thinking, ‘Oh, they’re getting into it’ *laughs* Also, I fought with Ikeda-san too, right? I don’t remember what happened leading up to it, but it was right as we were about to go into the spring tournament, I think? Ikeda-san said, ‘Hinata should gain the ability to fight against a 3-person block by himself’ and I said, ‘Then the protagonist should just be Ushiwaka!’

H: But those kinds of fights are fights to improve the content of the work. Did you argue about anything with your current editor, Azuma-kun?

F: Yeah, about whether or not to write the Fukurodani x Mujinazaka match. Azuma-san thought I should write it and I was like, ‘I don’t know…’ Oh! That was around when I had the flu!

A: Yes, I still remember that you sounded excited on the phone when you said, ‘I have the flu!!’ *laughs*

F: I hadn’t had the flu since I was in elementary school, so it was fun *laughs* It’s the same as a middle school student being happy about a typhoon coming (lol). At first it was fun but I remember my holidays being wasted with me having the flu. That’s why I gradually got in a worse mood lol. H: I remember you said, the thing that stuck with me was when you were talking about Oikawa. You said, ‘When you start something, there are a lot of manga where it’s written like whether or not having a talent is the key, but it’s totally different, isn’t it’. Carmel note: I’m not sure about this translation here.

F: …

H: ‘It’s by doing something and giving it your all that at the end you can say whether or not you had that talent. That’s why talent isn’t something so easy, that you can just casually say whether or not you have it from the beginning!’ When I heard that, I thought, ‘This author is amazing!’

F: ….Ummm…???

H: Why are you tilting your head?

F: Did I say that?? *laughs* But initially, in Haikyuu, I wrote that Oikawa is the excellent type and that Kageyama is the genius type and I put it out there as a kind of template. That’s why it left an impression on the readers, so I have to take responsibility for saying that. But personally for me, a while after that around the Inarizaki match, I put out my conclusion to the topic of ‘talent’.

H: You made Inarizaki’s Kita Shinsuke talk about it, right. It’s from a concentrated effort that you make your talent bloom. When I think back on it, sensei you too, ever since serialization started, you’ve been putting in so much effort writing and drawing.

F: But from around the comics volume 5 to volume 10? I was so terrified of Haikyu being cancelled. People would meet me and say,’ I look forward to reading Haikyuu the most!!’ and I would say, ‘Thanks!!’ but I couldn’t believe them....

H: Around when did it sink in that it would continue?

F: Hmm… I guess I felt that ‘It looks like it can continue’ when the anime adaptation was decided. But it’s not like I felt mentally at ease, either.

A: Well then, it’s about time to go on to our last question. ‘A message, please, for people who want to be mangaka, or a creator.’

F: Study a lot!!

H: Wha-

F: Also, do stuff outside of the stuff you want to do! Read some books that aren’t manga! Watch some movies! And I also want to say, ‘Work a job that has nothing to do with manga’.

I: And why is that?

F: If for example, I was told ‘to write a manga about something other than volleyball’, I don’t have anything to write! I don’t have experience or knowledge to draw on. If you don’t study and you don’t have knowledge, even if you wanted to start something, you wouldn’t know where to start. You don’t have any clue or starting point. That’s why studying is important, and that’s why having a bank of knowledge is necessary. I was just thinking ‘bout that around yesterday or the day before!!

H: Only from the day before yesterday??? *laughs* But then that means, ‘to enjoy something, you must be strong’. I feel like that line relates to this too.

F: I feel like I understand how people who enter university as an adult feel. *laugh* Well, I have time now, maybe I’ll go to university -? Lolol.

H: You were serialized for over 8 and a half years, so it might take years until you calm down. For me, I want to drink and talk with you more, sensei. And I want to go to Disneyland in America with you too!!

F: Then, please go to university with me too (lol).

Recorded on a certain day in September, 2020, at Furudate’s workplace.

Furudate-sensei on Honda-san:

“The first person who looked at my manuscript was Honda-san. But the manuscript still wasn't done, so I was still drawing even on the bullet train from Sendai to Tokyo, and on top of that I was running late. *laughs* I mean, just being late to the first meeting, I'd already failed as a working adult so I lost hope and thought, 'It's all over...' But then Honda-san said, "I'm not that punctual myself so I don't really care," and I was like thank goodness!!!! Honda-san's first impression of me was, 'Are you a uni student?' That hasn't really changed even now. Of course, compared to back then, I think I've become more of an uncle. And I've gained weight. (lol)”

Honda Hiroyuki. First editor, entered the company in 2007. Supervised Furudate-sensei since before their debut!

Furudate-sensei on Ikeda-san:

“When we went to Souma High School in Fukushima Prefecture to do some research, Ikeda-san was carrying a big backpack that was just packed to the brim. When I asked, ‘What’s in there?’, he said, ‘All the volumes of the manga.’ He brought them so he could show the teachers at the school that, ‘this is the kind of story Haikyu is!’ I thought, wow Ikeda-san is such a good person!! He always remembers even inconsequential conversations, and then just casually brings them up later in conversation. I think I’ve been very blessed when it comes to my editors!

Ikeda Ryota. Haikyu’s second editor. Joined the company in 2011. Was in charge from the Date Tech practice match up to the Nekoma match in the Spring Tournament.

Furudate-sensei on Azuma-san:

Azuma-san has a sunny personality, and when I first met him I thought he would be the pushy type. I went on a lot of research trips with Azuma-san. Like to Ariake Arena, and my first time abroad, in Brazil, was also with Azuma-san! Oh, and his phone calls were really long. *laughs* Once, on a Friday night, he called about a meeting for the next week and then said, ‘Oh, the Haikyuu anime is on now’ and kept talking, and even when the anime had finished he was still going. (lolol)

Azuma Riki. Current editor. Entered the company in 2018. Supervised from Fukurodani vs. Mujinazaka until the last chapter.

About Furudate’s desk:

Honda: Most recently, were you drawing your manuscripts while standing? Your desk is also two-stories tall now…

Furudate: Yes. When I stand, my heels do hurt but otherwise it doesn’t really change how I get tired.

Honda: I remember in the latter half of my time, I saw you drawing while sitting on an exercise ball and I thought to myself, ‘Oh, this person might be kind of weird.’ Hahaha.

Ikeda: When I was his editor too, I remember at the beginning it was the exercise ball.

Azuma: For me too, at first it was the exercise ball. And then one day I walked into the workplace and sensei was standing and drawing. *laughs*

Honda: I’ve never heard of someone standing and drawing. Does your lower back hurt?

Furudate: No, it’s not really a health thing. People who work at Google stand while working. If the smart people who are running the top of the world are doing it, then it must be right!!

Ikeda: Did you also do the colour illustrations while standing?

Furudate: That’s right.

Honda: Do you do all-nighters while standing too?

Furudate: I do lol I’ve even pulled two all-nighters in a row standing lol

Honda: Wow- !!