𐙚 hattori minako.

minako hattori.

“

thank you for letting me be your manager! — minako hattori to the seijoh team.

”

[ ! ] ㅤhattori minako [ japanese: 服部 美奈子・hattori minako] is a side character in haikyū!! written by haruichi furudate.

in 2012, minako was a second-year student at aoba johsai high in miyagi prefecture. originally, minako resided in nerima, tokyo but moved to miyagi with her parents before the start of high school. despite her past playing soccer, minako decides to become the boys' volleyball team’s manager upon entering seijoh. on top of her after-school activities, she’s also one of her grade's top students. due to her close friendship with nekoma’s kenma kozume, she becomes friends with karasuno’s shōyō hinata.

post her graduation from seijoh, minako was accepted into waseda university and studied kinesiology. in 2018 she is shown attending medical school and interning as an assistant to the lead physician of the sendai frogs, a division 2 volleyball team in v league. she will continue to work with various sports teams until she completes medical school in 2022.

* [ (๑ > ◡ < ๑) ] “ i want snake bites but my dad says i can’t get another piercing until i’m 18.“

• hair color: dark brown with bleached highlights.
• eye color: hazel.
• ethnicity: pakistani , vietnamese.

at the time of her introduction, minako stood at 157cm. she has a tan complexion and softer youthful features giving her a ‘baby face’ look. her eyes are a round almond shape with long eyelashes, her eyes are a brown-green hazel mix. she wears eyeliner and mascara to make herself look older. hair is naturally straight and dark brown, she styles it in a messy mullet with short layers and styled bangs framing her face. she’s bleached her bangs and stripes in her hair. she has a birthmark under her left eye, right cheek & left side of her neck. she also has a stud piercing on the left side of her nose as well as 2 lobes & 1 helix piercing on each ear.

• note ᐢ..ᐢ: minako’s visual look is inspired by her love of visual kei bands.

minako wears the seijoh girl’s uniform with small alterations to fit her style! the uniform consists of a pale lilac dress shirt, a red ribbon tied around her collar, and a dark brown skirt with darker detailing. minako has some internal insecurities about her body leading to her wearing a large off-the-shoulder sweater that floods her figure. she often switches between knee-length and thigh-high black socks as well as black leg warmers and loafers. after school, she’ll wear the usual turquoise t-shirt under her white and turquoise tracksuit. she’ll often borrow other's jackets as they are larger than hers.

minako’s style consists mainly of oversized sweaters and skirts. she likes darker earthy colors like dark brown, black, and greens. she likes wearing knitted sweaters over short jean skirts or pleated skirts and pairing them with sheer tights and leg warmers. whenever she wears pants they’re often low-waisted and have wider legs. some of her favorite accessories are beanies, tapper hats, and scarfs. in the summer she’ll often wear t-shirts and jort style pants.

post-timeskip, minako’s appearance remains similar. her hair is now longer and she’s acquired more piercings – specifically an eyebrow piercing and a belly button ring. her hair is still bleached but in a different style.

• design extras !
  • slight bump on her nose ; thick eyeliner & mascara.
  • she smells like cinnamon & vanilla.
  • looks like her mother ; has her father's eyes.

[ earnest . perceptive . emotionally closed off . goofy . kind . pessimistic ]

what’s on her mind: “i guess even people who seem positive struggle with their own insecurities …”

upon moving to miyagi, minako’s classmate's first impression of her was that she might be intimidating and hard to approach due to her appearance and lack of effort when interacting with her new classmates. this wasn’t purposeful of course, it was simply a result of her having a hard time initiating social interactions and having a habit of waiting for others to approach her. minako can come off as very shy and stoic upon first meeting as she has a hard time putting herself out there. despite his initial fear, minako came to learn how much she valued friendship and companionship from others as miyagi began to become her home.

slowly minako can break out of her shell and let her previously mentioned personality show to her classmates. she’d been able to fully break the ice during her first sports festival as she participated in her grade soccer game and led her team to victory. despite it being a little awkward for her at first she was able to warm up and show everyone she wasn’t intimidating or stoic but very relaxed and goofy.

minako is described as having an earnest and goofy personality. she has a calm aura to her. not being too loud or quiet, she comes off as a relaxed person. throughout her life, she’s always wanted to be helpful to those around her. stemming from her genuinely kind-hearted nature she simply wishes to make other people's lives comfortable and enjoyable. she’s quite observant and perceptive, she’s able to read the room easily and can be very analytical of situations in front of her. despite this bubbly exterior, minako does struggle internally with being emotionally closed off and pessimistic about herself. growing up she’d struggled with issues of insecurity and lack of self-love but she’d never been good at expressing it which led her to put up an exterior without ever addressing how she felt. she’s grown to think that sharing her emotions will inconvenience others which is why she refrains from doing so. despite what she feels deep down, she’s always quick to reassure those around her that she’s fine. she has a habit of neglecting herself for things like her studies as she considers those to be one of the few things she’s good at.

she’s quite goofy and humorous around her friends, often cracking jokes and teasing those around her [in an affectionate manner]. this shows in her friendship with kyoken as she’s often poking fun at his hot-headed nature and outburst. she also seems to not take things too seriously and is very laid back, even when it’s a serious situation, she prefers not to show when her feelings get to her.

due to her relaxed nature, it would be hard to assume that minako is one of the top students in her grade academically. her parents had always prioritized education and minako also received a lot of academic validation from getting high scores.

• habits: pulling the sleeves of her sweater , kicking trash into the bin.
• hobbies: soccer , crocheting , reading manga , and watching turkish dramas.

minako likes; ✧

• bun bo hue [a vietnamese beef noodle soup].
• visual kei bands – her fave is buck-tick!
• mononoke hime & howl’s moving castle.
• otome games & visual novels.

minako dislikes; ✧

• cats.
• most shounen manga.
• large crowds / crowded places.

• hometown: nerima ward - tokyo, japan.
• relatives: unnamed mother & father ; cousins in the us & yokohama.

[ january 1, 1995 - tokyo, japan: minako was born an only child! ]

minako was born to her father, a vietnamese mechanical engineer, and her mother, a pakistani-american forensic pathologist, on new years day 1995. her father’s family had moved to japan and adopted a japanese name two generations prior and her mother had settled in japan after completing medical school there. they’d been set up on a blind date by a mutual friend, and they instantly hit it off and began dating – getting married two years later and having minako two years after that. minako grew up in a very homey environment, while her parents were busy with work they’d do their best to spend time with minako. her family had moved into the same neighborhood as kozume kenma shortly after kuroo tetsuro moved in. minako grew up being pretty shy but her interest peaked when she saw kuroo and kenma playing volleyball outside and asked if she could join them. she’d always had an interest in sports as was very athletic but volleyball wasn’t her primary interest – instead, she enjoyed playing soccer more and would often ask kuroo and kenma to play with her. the trio quickly became close friends and often played video games together when they weren’t outside.

once they entered junior high, minako dedicated herself to soccer and became an outstanding player. she especially excelled in scoring points and would be a consistent forward for her team. around this time the changes her peers would go through at this time would make minako hyper-aware of herself, her appearance, and her personality which leads to depleting confidence and growing insecurity. she would find validation in being the best she could be at soccer and being a high academic achiever.

move to miyagi - before the canon storyline

around her last year of junior high, minako’s mom got a job offer in miyagi prefecture, the pay raise would be considerably larger than her current position which led to her parents deciding to move the summer before minako started high school. while touring high schools she would attend she would end up applying to shiraitorizawa academy which offered her a sports scholarship for soccer. unfortunately, during the latter half of her season, she suffered a fracture on her ankle which meant she wouldn’t be able to play for shiraitorizawa’s team jeopardizing her scholarship.

in the end, she enrolled in a private high school named aoba johsai high, it also happened to be closer to home making her commute shorter. initially, minako considered becoming the manager of the soccer team. still, while stalling on attending the interest meeting, she stumbled upon the boys' volleyball team practicing because she didn’t want to be reminded she couldn’t play. it made her feel nostalgic towards watching kuroo & kenma play in middle school. she was snapped out of her thoughts by a ball rolling her way and a taller brunette with swoopy hair asking if she could pass it toward them. while helping minako ended up asking if the team had a manager. the boy she was talking to seemed excited at the notion and introduced himself as oikawa tooru, a second-year. he ushered her towards the coach who asked about her knowledge of volleyball and said she could start her manager duties the next day.

karasuno high team formation arc

aoba johsai practice match.

minako is formally introduced around chapter 11 – reunion and failure – alongside the rest of aoba johsai. tanaka & nishinoya comment that the cute manager from the previous year is back again, minako waves when she recognizes them as the karasuno second-years. she initiates a conversation with shimizu kiyoko whom she’d become friends with in the past year after seeing her at previous volleyball matches.

as the match goes on minako does her usual duties as manager but notices that the karasuno team has a different aura to them and she attributes it to the addition of the new first years. while the first set seemed normal she noticed that the first year with orange hair was extremely nervous. she was later amazed by how quick the previously nervous boy was when performing the quick attack. in the third set, minako visibly rolls her eyes as oikawa enters the gym with his fangirls following, oikawa greets her and minako playfully brushes him off saying “if your fangirls see they’ll sabotage me.”

while karasuno exits the school, minako bumps into a few of the players and wishes them a safe trip home.

nekoma practice match

after the nekoma practice match, minako is briefly mentioned by kenma while he's talking to hinata. “one of my friends moved to miyagi a while ago, but i don’t think she goes to karasuno. i think she told me she manages the seijoh team?” hinata thinks back a little before remembering seijohs manager. later that day while minako and kenma are up playing a game he mentions his previous match with karasuno. minako’s jealous of the team because they got to visit her friends before she did.

interhigh arc

leading up to the start of the inter-high tournament minako bumps into some of the karasuno players, recognizing hinata she approaches him asking about his match with nekoma. hinata recognizes her from kenma’s description and they strike up and conversation with minako telling him she grew up with kenma and kuroo and tokyo before moving to miyagi. they end up exchanging contacts after their conversation and minako wishes them all luck for tomorrow.

the next day when the matches begin, minako joins the boys in watching karasuno’s first game. she’s able to catch hinata’s attention and waves at him which surprises the seijoh boys.

aoba johsai vs oomisaki

during the match against oomisaki high, minako does her usual duties. she comments to the coach that oikawa’s on a roll as he’d scored 4 services in the second set and the whole team has been performing well. she notes how oikawa can have everyone bring out 100% of their ability and how well they all play off each other.

aoba johsai vs karasuno

minako was pretty excited to watch this match as she’d become familiar more with shoyo and wanted to see how this spirit karasuno had would go against seijoh. minako had full confidence that her team would excel because of how much faith they put into each other and oikawa as their captain and setter.

however, minako was very excited to see hinata and kageyama’s decoy quick attack as she got chills watching how fast hinata could move. minako was also impressed by how quickly oikawa denoted her verbal signifiers for when they’d use the quick attack. as the game grew intense minako was glad to see the difference between this karasuno and the karasuno she’d seen the year prior but in the end she was happy to see her team succeed.

aoba johsai vs shiratorizawa

minako went into this match confident seijoh could beat shiratorizawa but unfortunately they were defeated. she was pleased when the third years decided to stay on the team and get revenge during the spring interhigh.

tokyo expedition arc

while not involved in this arc, minako, and hinata briefly text about the trip karasuno will be taking for their training camp. minako expresses her jealousy and how she misses tokyo and her friends.

spring high preliminary arc

the evening before the qualifiers began, seijoh had been conducting practice as usual. when kyōtani kentarō makes his entrance, minako feels relieved that oikawa welcomes him to the team as minako had become close to kyotani during his time off. she smiles at him before telling him “it’s about time you came back, i was getting bored on my walks home.”

aoba johsai vs date tech

during the match against date tech minako was confident that seijoh would win but also felt conflicted as she had become friends with futakuchi who happened to be one of her neighbors.

minako comments to the coach that date tech’s iron wall seemed to be an obstacle due to the school’s specialty being their blocks. minako starts to become nervous after seeing how even iwaizumi is having difficulty scoring against the blockers. she notices a slight shift in oikawa’s setting which allows iwaizumi to strike and win the set.

aoba johsai vs karasuno

minako becomes aware of the shift in karasuno’s atmosphere. she knew this match would be intense but she has hope that this time their third year would be able to move on and make it to nationals, karasuno would just be one of the matches that would get them there. she was happy by the attitude the third years held going into the game as they told oikawa he owed them ramen if he didn’t land his first serve.

while oikawa was failing his serves, minako was aware that he had started to adjust himself to using a more powerful serve. once kyotani joins the lineup up minako is excited to see her friend in action again. she knows that despite his anger issues kyotani is extremely talented and when he’s focused he’s able to rack up points for the team.

during this rally minako could tell the intensity of the match had increased as this would be the deciding set of who’d move onto the next round. minako watched anxiously as iwaizumi, kunimi, and kyotani went for the triple block but ended up failing, oikawa attempted to dig the ball but ultimately failed leading to the teams' loss. minako tried to hold back from tearing up even when the thought of the third-years graduating without seeing nationals made her sad.

on their way out minako bumped into hinata. she congratulates him on his team’s win playfully punches his shoulder and tells him “make sure you beat shiratorizawa okay? i kinda hold a grudge against them for taking away my scholarship. and make sure you give nekoma a tough match too, i’d pay anything to see kuroo fumble up a plan to beat you.”

later that evening, at a ramen shop, minako sits with iwaizumi, matsukawa, and kindaichi and tearfully eats. she accidentally spills extra hot sauce on her ramen making her actually cry from how hot it is which entertains the team. later when they exit, minako says goodbye to everyone and begins her walk home. on her way she realizes she’d left some materials for her class in her locker at the gym. she passes by as it’s on her way home and notices people playing in the gym, peaking her head in she sees the third years and asks them “how can you play on such a full stomach?” hanamaki wines out for minako to sub with him because he’s going to puke his ramen, she gives in and changes into her manager joggers. messing around with her upperclassmen she shows them some soccer tricks, maki remarks “you’re not too bad minako hime” and she responds “you’re not the only annoying volleyball freaks i’ve been friends with.” as they start to clean up she’s initially amused by oikawa and maki bickering. Still, she soon gets emotional as oikawa thanks the other third years for the last three years. she instinctively starts to comfort the nearest person who happens to be maki and he teases her through tears “how can you comfort me when you’re sobbing yourself.”

karasuno vs shiratorizawa

minako receives a text from hinata saying that they’ll be going against shiratorizawa and she decides to put her studies on hold to attend. she’s not surprised though when she sees oikawa peeking through the entrance, “are ya here to watch ushijima lose?” she says which startles him. they both sit down to watch and are met by iwaizumi who’d also come to watch the match. when the match is over minako is proud to see hinata has won, she tells the other two she’s going to wait and try to speak to hinata after.

when everyone is making their exit minako approaches hinata to congratulate him. she gives him an omamori and tells him to make sure kenma runs around the court when they play against each other.

tokyo nationals arc

minako is shortly seen on the train with matsukawa and hanamaki when he is mentioned by hinata during the inarizaki game.

she doesn’t appear in this arc much aside from being updated by hinata, kenma, and kuroo on what’s going on at nationals.

final arc

minako’s stays with aobajohsai’s vbc throughout her remaining years of high school as their manager. once she graduates she’s accepted into waseda university and works hard to get good grades and internships. with her prior history with sports, her interest in studying kinesiology doesn’t surprise anyone. her goal is to become a physician for japan’s olympic volleyball team but throughout her time studying she becomes an assistant physician for japan’s v league working with various teams.

during the black jackals vs schweiden adlers game, she’s taking some time off work and can watch the match in person and since she's friends with hinata she’s able to get autographs and pictures with the team.

during the olympic match, she reunites with her seijoh alumni to watch the argentina and japan match. hanamaki jokes that it must be awkward for her as iwaizumi and hinata are going against oikawa.

• best subject: advanced chemistry.
• worst subject: home economics.
• talents & abilities: stacking soccer balls on her head ; bilingual [japanese & english].

formerly a soccer player, minako has amazing speed and stamina. she was her team's forward in middle school and easily led her team to multiple victories. she’s also noted to have high endurance and pain tolerance thanks to soccer one time a ball spiked by kyotani hit her square in the face and she wasn’t phased by it. her knowledge of volleyball before seijoh was fundamental from playing with her childhood friends but once she became manager she grew to understand the sport more on her own as she’s a quick learner.

aoba johsai high

karasuno high

nekoma high

• nomenclature:
  • minako 美奈子 is a feminine japanese name that breaks down into 'beautiful,' the phonetic syllable 奈 (na), and the character 子 (ko), meaning ‘child’. she also shares a name with sailor venus from the anime sailor moon which her mother often watched when learning japanese.
  • her father’s surname hattori 服部 means clothing guide. after moving from vietnam, her father’s family adopted japanese names.
    • * note ᐢ..ᐢ: her surname is directly inspired by hattori hanzo from kill bill vol. 1 & 2.

• favorite food: bun bo hue [a vietnamese beef noodle soup].
• pre-timeskip concern: she’s tried tutoring kyotani in math and he still can’t solve the problem.
• post-timeskip concern: med school finals are starting to make her question her career choices.
• star sign: capricorn.
• worst subject: home economics.
  • she’s bad at cooking and other home economics-related subjects.

(๑ > ◡ < ๑) more headcanons!

• minako can only speak japanese & english fluently. she learned english as a child to be able to communicate with her family in the states, and she knows very little urdu aside from greetings.
• she’s the second youngest out of the second years.
• she loves visual kei bands – she initially found out about the genre from subforms online and by visiting harajuku after school and seeing advertisements.
• her favorite colors are yellow and orange.
• her father also loves ghibli films and he’s the one who introduced them to her.
• in middle school minako would get mistaken for a boy as her hair was very short and she wore baggy clothes. she also received a lot of chocolates on valentines day from guys and girls which she would brag about to kuroo.
• in the haikyuu quest alternate universe minako is a mage.
• she’s good at playing card games as her cousins will often play with her during family reunions.
• her favorite genre of games is otome games and visual novels – she feeds into the consumerist aspect of these games often. she has a lot of merch displayed in her room.
• while she enjoys anime, she prefers to read manga as she can consume it faster. one of her favorites being jojo’s bizarre adventure, death note & dorohedoro.
• she got her nose piercing because her mom also wanted one. she wants more piercings but her dad doesn’t want her to get too many at once.
• she keeps a bullet journal/diary to keep track of her due dates and events. she likes inserting pictures she takes with friends and other cute cutouts she finds.
• her favorite sanrio character is pompompurin.
• while buck-tick is her favorite musical group she also likes david bowie, no doubt, malice mizer & maximum the hormone.
• she doesn’t label her sexuality, she says her ideal type is someone with a cool vibe or atsushi sakurai.

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