there are a lot of relationships in haikyuu. there a bro/friendships (ie. tanaka and noya), there are student/mentor relationships (ie. suga and kageyama), there are rivalries (hoshiumi + hinata, atsumu + kageyama)

with that being said...

if you look clearly at all of these relationships, its very easy to see that certain ones dont quite fit those molds. obviously im talking about hinata and kageyama, but oikawa and iwaizumi, and bokuto and akaashi fit this too. it goes beyond what is normal and thats intentional

to say that what hinata and kageyama have in their relationship is equal to what...hinata and noya are, or hinata and hoshiumi, its kind of a disservice? noya is a mentor and friend, hoshiumi is a rival. kageyama is... a Partner. with a capital P. even when they ARENT teammates.

this spread alone speaks to how significant their relationship is and to say its "friendship/rivalry" is honestly cheapening what is actually there.

you have kageyama grieving, running, serving, tossing alone, in the actual dark, snow, and cold

and suddenly there is a light.

the chapter is titled "the greatest opponent" but kageyama thinks back to that moment when hinata appeared as his greatest partner.

they were alone, but they were each others salvation.

for god sake, even yachi cannot put a name to what they are...

and there is plenty more i can go on about. and i think i will!

ch 399; 化身 - "incarnation"

you see that even now kageyama is holding on to kazuyos words, and as kazuyos hands hold onto him, he is using his own hands to connect with hinata, to play even more. what he has always wanted, hinata is giving him that.

hinata is the incarnation of kazuyos promise to kageyama.

and again, the ending of chapter 399 we get a phrase, 戦いは常磐に, or "the battle is evergreen"

THIS. this is the "evergreen battle" they have promised themselves to.

any typical rival would scoff at how bold hinata is here and comment on the incredulity of it, especially given how inexperienced he was...but kageyama accepted, asked him to keep going, and waited for him.

hinata even thinks of this promise when hes going to sleep in brazil. everything he does is for that day and hes even aware that kageyama is waiting for him.

so what are we supposed to make of it that hinata and kageyamas entire Rivalry/Partnership is bound up by a promise they made to keep up with one another, that hinata is the incarnation of a promise made to kageyama by his grandfather, and that they are each others salvation?

that they are literally each others view from the top. they make it to the top of the world and the story ends with them looking at one another and restating that very same promise that will keep them together, again, for eternity.

and when i say eternity, i mean that quite literally. it has been acknowledged that their relationship is fated and divine.

and if after all of that it wasnt clear enough how significant this promise is, furudate parallels a couple getting engaged to that same promise.

furudate very well could have gone the route of making kageyama an egotistical person who looked down on hinata and finished it off with hinata finally proving himself, but they didnt. because its not about Winning.

hinata was alone. kageyama was alone. they found each other by coincidence or fate and they were able to become the strongest version of themselves.

from the guidebook, we learned they are "two people who will lift/enhance each other forever"

frankly, a promise to stay with someone and by extension promising to continue improving yourself in order to do that, eternally... it sounds a Lot like marriage.

also, to people that think that two main characters being coded in this way "ruins" things, you are narrow minded. you are a victim of your own implicit bias, and the fact you think gay people existing in any capacity "ruins" something is abhorrent.

the foundation of their story is their promise to keep improving themselves so they can keep playing together, whether it be as opponents or teammates, and that is simply what it is. any other interpretation falls flat and cheapens it.

i always like ending these threads with a song so anyways this is literally about Them

+

not asking anyone to ship them. im asking you to just read haikyuu. its all very clear.