“The past year or so, he had broken me down, softened me until I was nothing more than this useless, simpering lump with a quavering smile.“ When I first read this part of the book, I remember feeling worried, sad, and heartbroken. It felt very tragic to see this character, Delilah, express herself in such a way because of how her abusive step-father treated her.

In the manga Haikyu!! the allusion used in one of the chapters would be when a certain character calls out his teammate by comparing his looks to that of “sadako“. The author uses this allusion to show how this character's looks compare to the central character and antagonist of Koji Suzuki's Ring Trilogy novels, whose face is concealed behind her long black hair.

“Desire“, the strong want or feeling towards something/someone. That is denotation, the literal meaning of the word “Desire“. However, for the connotation of “Desire“ in the context of the manga, it is the wanting to win. The strong feeling of wanting to continue to be on the court to be able to defeat the obstacles that each volleyball player has, as well as their opponents. Therefore, to head to nationals and continue to win to the very end.