Good luck @Asachi!
Part II:
The writting on characters
«There must be thousands of guys in this country, whose last season gets cut short.
Winning all the preliminaries and going on to the nationals.
If all this were a work of fiction, those guys who go to the nationals would be the protagonists, and the rest of us would just be extras.
But regardless, we got to play volleyball» (Hayato Ikejiri)
As mentioned previously, one of the most important aspects of Haikyuu is the writting on each one of the characters.
Even if Hinata’s steps are the follow of the story, Haruichi Furudate never ignores the focus on any character, they all have hardships and motives, and not only necessarly volleyball players.
Its a rarity for animes to concentrate on the extra characters or those characters who are created merely to make the protagonist(s) shine even more brightly. They even have a long part of expressing their regrets and their thoughts about losing, the author makes you hestiate in
who support, you start caring and debating about each individual of every team, every manager and every family member of the characters.
This is why, not only in the sport aspect but even as a shonen manga, Furudate's writing is great because she focuses on the world-building her series is developing: a realistic world setting where you can either lose or win, and where all the efforts of characters developed in many chapters and arcs can still result in defeat. Not only she cares for the protagonists, she gives the spotlight and the importance to every other that relations with the MCs.
You know what each character's personality is like. What their role is on the court and on the team. Even the characters that are on the bench, you really feel it and connect with them even if they aren't the ones playing in the main match (i.e. their disappointment at not playing, their desire to be on the court, their feelings of support for their team).
But this not only happen with the male characters that fill most part of the cast: HQ! is also great when it comes to the writing of
female characters.
Volleyball female teams, managers, families or friends female characters all get their own focus and there's respect in the writing of them, they're not written for fanservice or for the sake of serving the male cast, each one of them have their own role and personality, they matter as much as the matches/battles of the manga.
They too have their goals and passions, frustrations and ups and downs, where Furudate writes so much it gives room for readers to know the characters enough to decide if they like them or not, if they can identify with them or not; they don't end up being a cute face for background character.
Haikyuu's art and action focuses, of course, mostly on the matches. But the matches aren't emotional and exciting just for the sake of the volleyball, the plays and abilities, it's because the author managaes to introduce such an EXTENSE cast while focusing on each one of them no matter their role in the entire story. While watching/reading the matches, you get exited because you care about character, because you cheer for certain people and the background behind them.
You really get a sense of the character's ability, athletically and emotionally. Their maturity levels (both mentally and sports-wise). Their tendencies and characteristics that make them, well,
them.
Even a lot of the teams the protagonists face, you can easily fall in love with the opposing players, because they make sure to develop them as well. This is what makes matches and plot much more interesting and makes you more emotionally invested in them.
Hope that HQ! gets another chance!