SIX OF CROWS HAIKYUU!! VERSION just slammed into my brain at top speed and refused to leave.
First version that came into my head was this: Kuroo as Kaz, scheming and always thinking several steps ahead and manipulating others, friends and enemies. Bokuto as Jesper, powerful and has a presence, loves the adrenaline of a fight (or facing a wall of three blockers, whatever), and loud and cheerful (most of the time). Oikawa and Iwaizumi as Nina and Matthias. I probably don’t need to explain to you who is who and why. Matthiwaizumi, of course, lives to a ripe old age, happy and in love with Ninoikawa. That’s what happens, yep.
I ran into an issue with Inej and Wylan. Because to me, Akaashi is quite similar to Inej, quiet but calculating and dangerous and threatening when they want to be. Independent and supportive and unfalteringly loyal, but also keeping their counterpart honest/humble/etc. And Kenma reminds me of Wylan in that he’s not super dedicated to and in love with volleyball in the same way as the others are, like Wylan was not used to the life that the others led before Kaz pulled him in. Also, Kenma is very smart and good at thinking strategically. Wylan was very good at engineering and math, and I feel like Kenma’s video game prowess would lend itself well to learning about technology systems. And Kenma is the least physically threatening out of these six, like Wylan was among the crows. But the way the ships work, Kenma should be Inej and Akaashi should be Wylan… well, it’s an AU, anyway. Akaashinej can be pining after Bokutojesper. And after pulling him in, Kazuroo falls for Wylenma.
Terushima is Kuwei. Smart and flirtatious. Makes Kenma extremely angry by flirting with Kuroo excessively. Tried on Bokuto at first, but Akaashi and his knives put an end to that very quickly. Daishou would probably also work, plus, it would be hilarious to have him flirting incessantly with Kuroo.
Second cast of Crows (maybe they’re rivals with the first cast… ):
Well, the image of sakuatsu as helnik (matthias helvar x nina zenik? I think?) wouldn’t leave my head. Hate each other at first, warm up to each other, Sakusa/Matthias lets their guard down for the first time with Atsumu/Nina, who break their trust to save them, and when they meet again, Sakusa/Matthias absolutely hate Atsumu/Nina and hate that they still have feelings for them. Atsumu/Nina had been longing to see them again but when provoked, physically or otherwise, absolutely refuse to take that lying down and immediately fight back. Classic enemies to lovers to enemies to allied enemies to lovers. The basic staple of sakuatsu, really.
Now that I’m attached to sakuatsu helnik, might as well make it a national team (+friends) party. Hinata strikes me as the perfect Wylan, except maybe that Wylan was never that exuberant. But Hinata is so nice and friendly (unless you insult him) that he would be horrified by the cruelty and death that the Crows live with on a daily basis. But then, once he got used to it and started to really love and care for his friends/teammates, he would be the fiercest and most protective of all. Also, can you just imagine the national team looking at Hinata after he casually suggests murder a la Wylan, like, “oh my god, we’ve corrupted him,” and then having a miniature crisis? Also, he starts with natural talent, albeit with an uncontrollable disadvantage that he then turns to his advantage, becoming better than anyone hoped he could be. Hinata had extreme athletic gifts, but the disadvantage of his small height. Wylan had dyslexia but also extreme intelligence and knowledge. Plus, everyone wants to be Hinata’s dad, like how Kaz adopted Wylan.
That would make Kageyama Jesper. They both have fantastic, utterly precise, superhuman (literally in Jesper’s case) aim. Kageyama is definitely impulsive at times, but although I can totally see him gambling away all his money, I feel like that would be more because he had no idea what was going on and someone conned him into it, rather than Jesper’s addiction. Their personalities are almost complete opposites, but they both come alive the most during high pressure situations (fights/games) and perform at their best in them. They can both be offensive, although Kageyama is mainly just blunt, while if Jesper is insulting, he’s probably doing it on purpose. They both encouraged their counterparts in their own ways, and convinced them that they were valuable despite their perceived disadvantages. Kageyama was the first to treat Hinata as a serious opponent and rival, and to take him seriously. Jesper was one of the first to make Wylan feel like he was more than his inability to read and that he was, regardless of the disadvantage, incredibly smart and special. They both were condescending at first to Hinata/Wylan but grew to respect them and care for them.
I’m not sure who would be Kaz… no one on the national team really strikes me as scheming and manipulative enough to be him… Maybe Suna, but I like the idea of him as Inej. Inconspicuous at first, especially compared to their colleagues, underestimated, but very skilled. Plus, the whole Thief of Secrets thing really suits Suna’s tendency for collecting blackmail. If anyone on the national team is collecting information to use against people to gain an advantage over them, it would probably be Suna. Ship-wise, that would make Osamu Kaz but… Osamu is not like Kaz in the slightest. He’s all impulse and Kaz is all calculation. Personality wise, if we spread the candidate pool to be Japanese-born volleyball players at the Olympics, Oikawa would definitely be Kaz. Scheming, strategically turning his weaknesses into strengths, manipulating, thinking ahead, bringing out the strengths of his team, and very powerful and frightening in his own right. Ship wise though, I feel like Oikawa and Suna wouldn’t last a day. They would probably destroy each other. Maybe Iwaizumi and Osamu are two of the Dregs that come along with the group, but don’t participate in the actual heist, staying on the ship instead. There were a few of those in the book; I think Rotty and Dirix were supposed to go but one of them died when their decoy ship was attacked by Pekka Rollins. There were others but I forget who.
Komori can be Kuwei. I don’t know how smart he is, but he doesn’t have a prominent partner he’s shipped with, and I can see him flirting with everyone for the fun of it and making everyone else really mad. He and Sakusa are probably not cousins in this AU.
I left out Hoshiumi, Ushijima, Hakuba, Yaku, Hyakuzawa, and Aran, which makes me sad, but I couldn’t think of a role that would fit them well. Ushijima is (I think) their captain but he is way too himbo to be Kaz (@ him and Kageyama discussing gravity in South America). Hoshiumi would be a good Jesper but Hirugami Sachirou is too experienced and calm to be Wylan. Hyakuzawa could be Wylan, but he doesn’t have an obvious partner, I don’t remember very much about Hakuba except that he’s huge, and Aran isn’t calculating enough to be Kaz, stoic enough to be Matthias, outgoing and purposefully charming enough to be Nina or Jesper, or innocently inexperienced enough to be Wylan. I included Bokuto in the previous set of Crow volleyboy musings, so I won’t count him here. Yaku is probably waiting at the Crow Club/Slat to take care of everyone when they get back and yell at them for being stupid and reckless.
Or, using a similar cast of characters, Atsumu and Osamu split up Kaz’s character (Atsumu is the schemer and manipulator, Osamu handles the logistics of being a leader - he has his own business, he’s used to records and numbers, plus it would probably have been very useful for Kaz to have a doppelganger to use as an alibi), Sakusa and Komori split up Kuwei’s character (Komori is the chaos, Sakusa, the university graduate, is Kuwei’s scientific prowess; they can be cousins here), Suna, Hinata, and Kageyama as Inej, Wylan, and Jesper, and Ushijima as Matthias. We’ll bring Tendou on to be Nina: he is very out there and not afraid to be himself, and I can totally see him sacrificing his relationship with Ushijima to keep them both safe, and Ushijima being so hurt and confused by Tendou’s betrayal that he keeps a distance when they’re reunited and accidentally comes across as aggressive.
Anyway, if you’ve reached the end of my Six of Crows/Haikyuu!! rant, thank you for sticking around! A gold star for you! ⭐ I love the volleyboys and the Crows (the Dregs ones not the Karasuno ones, although I love them too) very much and they take up much of my mental real estate.
(also known as: Oikawa, Atsumu, and Bokuto’s worst nightmare.)
They are also probably the Meme Dream Team (or the bane of team moms Iwaizumi, Aran, and Akaashi’s existences)
Reon is too nice to gossip (or, at least, no one on Shiratorizawa is clown-able enough to roast properly. But the Meme Dream Team probably knows all about Tendou’s breaking hearts songs, Semi’s bad fashion sense, Yamagata’s inability to keep track of his phone, etc.)
Imagine adding Kuroo, Tendou, Suga, Futakuchi, Komori, and Daishou to this group though… C H A O S
Furudate-sensei’s little one-liners / Q&As from the final Haikyuu guidebook! Of course I must collect them all! LET’S GO!!!
*AS ALWAYS I’m still learning the language and cannot guarantee complete accuracy!
Character Comments
Miya Atsumu: When he first appeared, I wasn’t thinking of him as a twin. I basically just drew him to be a mysterious character. But keeping him that way was impossible.
Miya Osamu: When he started talking about food, I decided, “That’s going to be his thing.”
Kita Shinsuke: The character furthest away from the creator. Although he’s the exact opposite of me, he was unexpectedly easy to draw.
Suna Rintarou: He’s from Aichi Prefecture. He came to Inarizaki after being scouted. [this explains why he doesn’t speak Kansai]
Ojiro Aran: He’s probably the type who can’t abandon someone who’s in trouble. I hope he doesn’t get scammed or anything.
Riseki Heisuke: A man who has become mentally buff after tons of mental muscle pain.
Given Name Origins
Note: This is kind of from the perspectives of the parents, since given names are like a wish for the child’s future. Will make more sense if you know what their names mean.
Miya Atsumu: To become a person who helps others.
Miya Osamu: To become a person who helps others.
Kita Shinsuke: He inherited one character from his grandpa.
Suna Rintarou: To be able to walk a just and honest path.
Ojiro Aran: To be a cheerful / jovial person.
Riseki Heisuke: To be able to live calmly.
Ginjima Hitoshi: To be blessed with good relationships / connections to good people.
Omimi Ren: To discipline and refine [himself].
Akagi Michinari: To be able to open up his life / choose between many roads.
Tiny Q&A
Q: Which character did you most enjoy drawing?
Atsumu. Because he’s animal-like.
Q: Was there someone with whom you entrusted editorial supervision while writing Kansai-ben?
Inarizaki is supposed to be in Amagasaki, so characters’ conversations were written by recreating a dialogue between two downtowners inside my head. Occasionally, Miyagawa Daisuke-san [comedian] or Tokui Yoshimi-san [actor] would come in[to my imagination?] so I think the phrasing became properly Kyoto-esque. I believe I had supervision from someone in my editorial department who was from Kansai, but the writing was never changed so I’ve gained some confidence.
[I’m so fascinated by this, it was a pretty extensive answer so I hope I’ve translated correctly. In other words, the Kansai-ben was written mostly intuitively, with occasional reference. すごい]
Q: Which character’s post-graduation path did you have the most trouble with?
Suna. For him to keep playing volleyball or to stop completely —I think either one is possible.
Ace of Hearts: An Ojiro Aran Fanzine is a Haikyuu!! charity fanzine featuring, you guessed it, Ojiro Aran! This high quality zine will include 80+ pages of content created by 17 artists and 7 writers.
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[Image Description 1: A tweet from pretty boy struggle tweets (@/KaiSeiw) that reads: Why do people in sports anime like they’re dead ‘Senpai are you watching’ Senpai is furthering their education. End Image Description.]
[Image Description 2: A manga panel from Haikyuu of Atsumu Miya and Ojiro Aran. Atsumu is drawn from the back standing on the background of a cloudy sky with the sun coming through. Aran is drawn in the sky doing a two fingered solute. The text on the panel reads: I know it’s late now, but…thank you, aran-kun. I’ll do my best to live up to your example! End Image Description.]
One of my favourite dynamics in Haikyuu!! is Aran and the twins!
I mean, they’ve known each other for so long and the twins always thought he was cool!
And even though he doesn’t seem to like them much initially…
…He pays attention to them and how they’re developing…
…And when they’re on the same team they all work so well together and seem to genuinely enjoy playing together…
…Even if they give each other attitude sometimes.
Well, some things never change… But I think it’s really telling how much they seem to miss each other’s bickering and comebacks and little shared references!
Also, I know it’s not canon, but here are some out of context Haikyuu Bu panels that made me love them even more:
