Why Haikyuu Is Theorized to Be a BL
[A THOUGHT PROVOKING THREAD]

disclaimer, this is based on information and theories that i found on reddit discussion, so take this info as you please! the internet is a large and wonderful place so i encourage you to look into it more if interested.
with that said, LETS GOOOOOO

As context, Furudate’s gender is unknown and it is also likely that Haruichi Furudate is a male pen name/persona (since Haruichi is typically a guy’s name). Take Arakawa (the author of FMA) for example: she used the male pen name, Hiromu, instead of her real name, Hiromi.

Furudate upkeeps this male persona by using the male first person pronoun “boku” (which is “I” in japanese and carries a masculine tone). Furthermore, western audiences have an image of Furudate as a man due to VIZ using he/him pronouns when referring to sensei.

It’s not uncommon for women in any part of the world to use male pen names for the sake of publishing purposes and privacy. With that said, the name Haruichi Furudate COULD be (not saying it is) just a pen name to protect sensei’s privacy and help sales since it is a shonen manga

By this point you may be thinking okay so,,, Furudate may just be a persona and this is important how?
Well, Furudate’s actual gender being unknown raised a lot of speculation within Japanese fans of whether sensei is biologically female or male.

Japanese fans have an image of Furudate as a biological woman due to this video of sensei sketching Hinata. Due to this video, people were led to believe that anatomically, that is a female hand.

Furthermore, it is believed to fit the lens of sensei being biologically female due to how haikyuu is written. Firstly, there is NO sexualization of any female characters. In shonen manga, it’s easy to find female fan service bc the intended audience is well,,, male.

People find Furudate’s style of portraying women and not sexualizing them comparable to works of female mangaka. For example the design and treatment of the female characters in haikyuu can be similar to the treatment of girls in shoujos in terms of body type, personalities, etc.

Haikyuu doesn’t play around with the “I need a boy to save me” trope or the “omg i’m falling for him” trope. All female characters are realistic and have this sense of independence to them. They don’t fit the lens of being secondary to men or needing to be saved by them.

To sum up the first point, the female characters are portrayed in an honest and respectful way that leads people to believe that sensei is female.

Secondly, we have the treatment of the male characters. Fans also believe that the male characters are portrayed in a way that is similar to how female mangaka portray males. There’s no overbearing masculinity, just an honest depiction of guys.

Physically, we get this realistic depiction of male bodies and emotionally we get the same. We see feelings of inferiority, frustration, growth and most importantly, reliance. We see this unbearable trust/chemistry between characters that lead people to see hq in a BL lens

It’s as if haikyuu is a BL with the BL on mute. So many characters have their ships due to the harmony and balance between them. This balance and association between characters has made it easy for people to apply BL tropes to them.

You have Kagehina who are literally THE soulmate rivals (need i explain??).
Daisuga, the mom and dad couple. Asasnoya, big and shy meets small and loud. Tsukiyama, tsundere meets timid etc. The dynamics of these pairings have always made it easy for ppl to apply uke & seme labels

More importantly, these duos share chemistry due to how they were written, not just based on them always appearing together. For example, ppl don’t ship noya and tanaka despite them always being together. Likewise, ppl don’t ship bokuto and kuroo bc they’re bros at heart

This juxtaposition of non-ships make the harmonious ships STAND OUT MORE. It makes them feel as it they’re meant to me and have that purpose for a reason

To sum, the speculation of Furudate to be female + the characters being written in a feminine lens make hq fitting as a BL or inspired by such. Each pair had a purpose and an obvious harmony because the other relationships emphasized the special connections.

In conclusion, haikyuu being a bl is a theory based on speculation of Furudate’s gender and the fitting nature of bl tropes.
But the most takeaway is that FURUDATE’S GENDER HAS NO IMPACT ON THE MASTERPIECE SENSEI HAS GIVEN US OVER THE PAST 8 YEARS

People feel as if their ships are soulmates bc they are PURPOSEFULLY MADE THAT WAY. However, we cannot conclude that they are canon until Furudate gives us that “LMAOOOO YALL ARE RIGHT THEY ARE CANON” message, so until then we just hope

No matter what Furudate’s intentions were, there is an obvious connection between certain characters for a reason whether that be friendship or love, we don’t know. But most importantly we should RESPECT FURUDATE AND SENSEI’S PRIVACY AND HARD WORK THAT SAVED A LOT OF US