Growing up the only knowledge I had of anime was Dragonball. My best friends and I would go to each others houses and spend time together watching Dragonball and Dragonball Z. Going outside and pretending we could do the Kamehameha and thinking we knew how to fight just like Goku. Many many years later Dragonball Super comes out and I begin watching that and revisiting the world of anime. Eventually Dragonball Super ends leaving me feeling sad and with a Crunchyroll account with nothing to watch on there until I started browsing. Which leads me to my next love… Haikyu.

“It’s a sports anime it automatically means it’s not good” A phrase I have been told many times. A phrase that I have ignored many many times and I am glad I did. Haikyu is an anime and a manga series about a high school boy’s volleyball club that goes to achieve a longtime goal. The chance to win the tournament and play in Nationals.
Its full of humor, volleyball references, and lovable relationships. Following the newcomers of Karasuno High, Shoyo Hinata and Tobio Kageyama, and how they become the best duo of setter and hitter. Showcasing the unbelievable talent they bring forward to Karasuno High along with other First -year students, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi.

I finished all of the 3 seasons available on Crunchyroll in 2 weeks. A decision I regretted almost immediately because now I can’t continue on this journey with them. That is when I found out that the manga series is a lot longer and I can find out what has happened after the finale of the anime series. Haikyu the manga has 32 volumes published in English, 37 volumes in Japanese and still many more that are not included in the volumes. Haikyu began as a one-shot story and has expanded into a weekly release in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since February 2012. I hope it continues for as long as the story can hold.

Haikyu is a story that can make you laugh and see the fun of playing volleyball.

If someone were to ask you about the origin story of Spider-Man what would say? You would probably say bitten by radioactive spider, Uncle Ben dies, and the infamous phrase of “With great power there must also come – great responsibility!” These are the most common things we associate with when talking about the origins of Spider-Man.

In 1962, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko introduced the world to Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15.

In 2002, Spider-Man featuring Tobey Maguire was released.

With the introduction of Spider-Man in different formats you would think the origin story would be the same but it’s not. There are some similarities but there are also big differences as well.

Let’s begin with Amazing Fantasy #15 with the first time we see Peter Parker/ Spider-Man. The first panel starting with our beloved Peter and showing his characteristics, a professional wallflower. Despite how he is treated by others he stills asks a few classmates if they would like to see a new exhibit at Science Hall. He ends up going alone, while their Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider. Almost immediately he notices changes, the ability to climb walls, strength, and walking along cables effortlessly like a spider. Moments later Peter uses his power in a wrestling ring to test them. Then, something we are all not familiar with in a Spider-Man origin story is Peter being approached by a TV Producer promising him to be a TV star.

Up until this moment the comic origin story and movie origin story were similar in a way. Now we have our first major difference, something I was surprised by the first time I read it. Peter Parker becoming a TV star by being Spider-Man. In the movie, we see Peter going against many opponents in the wrestling ring instead of becoming a TV star. However, the next part of the story we are all to familiar with was the death of Uncle Ben by the hands of the thief Peter had let get away from the security guard. The way it is shown in the comic is different than the movie. Unlike the movie, in the comic we don’t see the crime scene instead we are informed about it by a police officer. Peter runs off and finds the thief in an abandoned building. Yet another difference we have come to, in the comics the thief is apprehended and turned into the police. While in the movie the thief trips and falls out the window to his death.

“With great power there must also come – great responsibility” a phrase that was told to Peter by his Uncle Ben…. in the movie at least.