Characters / Haikyuu!! - Karasuno

Haikyuu!! Main Character Index
Karasuno High | Other Miyagi Prefecture Schools | Other Schools

This is a partial character sheet for Haikyuu!!, containing characters affiliated with Karasuno High School.

Spoilers from Seasons 1-3 of the anime are unmarked.

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Boys' Volleyball Team Players

General

• Accidental Misnaming: Due to the kanji character for karasu (烏, meaning crow) being similar to tori (鳥, meaning bird), Karasuno is frequently misread as Torino since no one remembers the fallen powerhouse's name anymore.
• Animal Motifs: Crows for Karasuno. They are compared to baby birds breaking open their eggshells and spreading their wings. They are also highly resourceful players that are continuously adapting and evolving.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Aptly put, the team aren't the most normal around (especially with the so-called "Volleyball Idiots" aka Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, and Tanaka), but they are absolute monsters on the court.
• Calling Your Attacks: Downplayed during matches. On-court members of Karasuno will mentally yell out their synchronized attack whenever they plan to carry out this technique, which is justified because it needs everyone to work and if someone isn't on the same page the attack loses 1/4 of its effect.
• David Versus Goliath: At first, Karasuno is the underdog in nearly every match they play due to their fallen status. This trope is especially prevalent in their first match against Date Tech, which pits small, inexperienced Hinata up against giant blocker Aone. They get better, and as Shimizu notes, have nationals-level offensive skills by the time they're preparing for the Miyagi Spring High Preliminaries.
• Determinator: The team will fight until the very end, even when their stamina has worn extremely thin and fatigue has fully settled in.
• Fallen Hero: The Karasuno team was considered to once be a remarkable volleyball team, having even gone to Nationals. However, with the departure of Coach Ukai Sr, they soon declined and were considered less than stellar by the start of the manga. Individuals in series would refer to the team as "The Flightless Birds" and "The Fallen Champions". The current Karasuno lineup work hard to overcome this so they can become powerhouses once more.
• Friendly Rivalry:
  • Good friends and rivals with Nekoma. Their teams have had a great relationship even before the events of the series thanks to Ukai Sr and Nekomata's friendly rivalry with one another. The relationship is maintained with the current lineups of each team.
  • Everyone in Karasuno has an amicable rivalry towards each other to some extent, and is actively encouraged by Ukai and Takeda because having a worthy rival prevents them from stagnating.
• Foil: To Nekoma. Nekoma is more used to working together, while Karasuno spends some time finding its bearings because of its new freshman players. Nekoma's biggest strength is their steady receives, which are Karasuno's immediate weakness since only Nishinoya and Daichi are particularly good at them; Nekoma is a team that works together in order to support their setter, whereas the Karasuno team is essentially unified by their own talented setter.
• Glass Cannon: Their offensive power is admirable, but their defense is noted to be weak without the libero Nishinoya and defense-specialist Daichi. The holes in their defense makes it easy for their opponents to score if they're caught off-guard. Although they primarily rely on their incredibly powerful offense to score points, they later become a more well-rounded team.
• Last-Name Basis: Members' surnames are the standard, with some exceptions. Notably, even 3/4 of the first year players call Daichi and Asahi by their surnames instead of 'first-name'-san like the second years do, which shows they're respectful but not necessarily close to the third years like the second years. (In contrast, Hinata likes to call Daichi just "Captain", and he catches the habit of using "Asahi-san" thanks to the other older members like Nishinoya).
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Downplayed. Individually, they all have certain strengths that they can exploit on the court, but putting those strengths together took a lot of time and effort to perfect. With tons of practice and new tricks up their sleeves, they eventually become a powerhouse and True Companions throughout the series.
• Technician vs. Performer: Compared to powerhouses Aoba Johsai and Shiratorizawa, Karasuno's play style utilizes many unconventional attacks and strategies to gain the upper hand, at the cost of being left potentially vulnerable due to their high-risk game and lop-sided basics. That being said, they do value the basics as much as their unconventional tactics and emphasize that learning the basics is how one becomes a better player.
• Took a Level in Badass: Karasuno's skills and teamwork improve remarkably by the end of Golden Week and again after the summer vacation training camps, compared to what they're capable of when the team is first formed. Their individual skills and development also becomes evident:
  • Hinata initially lacks in technique, so he often goes through a lot of improvement in order to keep up with his peers. In particular, his ball-boy experience at the Miyagi First Year Training Camp improves his observational skills and receives, and he becomes more well-rounded after playing beach volleyball in Brazil, evident in his first pro volleyball match where he can perfectly receive Kageyama's killer serve, do an improved freak quick with Atsumu and can even do service aces.
  • After the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminaries, Sugawara becomes proactive more in the matches thanks to expanding his repertoire, such as the development of the synchronised attacks (which include one variation where he sets while Kageyama attacks). Notable when he actually spikes and scores a point during the synchronized attack in the Shiratorizawa match, a stark contrast to his usually supportive play style.
  • Ennoshita was one of the "cowards" that briefly left the team in his first year due to Coach Ukai's strict training and is one of the second years who's benched in favour of the talented first years. For these reasons, he doesn't value himself very well and is hesitant to become the next captain. Despite his "shameful" history, the Wakutani match shows that he's no longer the same coward as he once was when he's made to come on court in place of the injured Daichi. He steps out of his comfort zone multiple times to keep the struggling Karasuno in the game, and his overhand back receive in the last point is what allows Hinata to get the final spike.
  • Yamaguchi learns the jump float serve but is still shaky and misses in the first time he's called into a match. He continues working hard on the serve thanks to Shimada's mentorship, and by the Miyagi Spring High Preliminary match against Aoba Johsai he's perfected the serve and plays a pivotal role in Karasuno's matches from then on. Oikawa is baffled by how much he's changed compared to the first time he served.
  • Tsukishima was noted to be a middle blocker that does enough to get the job done but otherwise lacking in much-needed development needed for a starter. However, his blocks get a major boost thanks to his impressive read-blocking and training with Bokuto and Kuroo. This upgrade becomes most evident in the match against Shiratorizawa, which takes his already impressive skills in strategizing and cranks it up to the point of actually troubling Ushijima.
• True Companions: Throughout their time as a team, Karasuno learns to work together to bolster each others' strengths and lift each other up when down. Hell, even Tsukishima manages to get in on this, in his own deadpan manner.
• Two Girls to a Team: There are two female students managing the team, Shimizu and Yachi. Justified since the main characters are from a boys' team.
• Worthy Opponent: To Nekoma. The two teams bring out the best from each other and they both aspire to have their first official match aka the much anticipated "Battle at the Garbage Dump". Other schools also began seeing them as noteworthy opponents after they Took a Level in Badass, including Aoba Johsai and Shiratorizawa.

Shōyō Hinata

Shōyō Hinata — #10

Voiced by: Ayumu Murase (JP), Bryson Baugus (EN), Jeong-hwa Yang (KR), Alberto Bernal (Latin America)

Played by: Kenta Suga (2015 - 2018), Kotarou Daigo (2019 - 2021)

Position: Middle Blocker
Height/Weight: 162.8cm → 164.2cm/51.9kg
1st Year

"Even though I'm short, I can jump! I'll show you that I can become Karasuno's ace!"

The protagonist of the series, Hinata aspired to become the ace of a volleyball team after seeing "The Little Giant" in a match on television. His aspirations were challenged after facing a crushing defeat against Tobio Kageyama and Kitagawa Daiichi in his first and last match in middle school; and then after entering high school and learning that not only he did not have the power nor technique to become a wing spiker, the opponent he had sworn to defeat, Kageyama, was now his teammate.

However, his extraordinarily good jumping ability, along with Kageyama's tosses, gave him the potential to become "The Strongest Decoy", drawing away opposing teams’ focus from the other attackers with his various types of quick strikes.

Favourite food: Tamago kake gohan.^note A breakfast dish where raw egg is topped/mixed into the rice with soy sauce, and often other seasoning.

Current concern: He can't catch the ball one-handed.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Is called "Shō-chan" by his friend Izumi, whom he calls "Izumin" in turn.
• All-Loving Hero: Hinata is a naturally friendly person who tries to get along with everyone. His open and straightforward personality allows him to befriend even the quietest of people effortlessly, such as Kenma from Nekoma High and Aone from Date Tech High.
• Anime Hair: Light ginger and spiked in various directions.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: He learns how to properly receive by looking at how others do, becomes far more observant and absorbs information on the court at a pace that shocks the others during the Tokyo Nationals arc. He even manages to figure out how their feet are moving just by watching, incorporating it into his receiving style.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Hinata is generally upbeat and friendly, but can be very scary when he gets serious.
• Book Dumb: His academics are terrible to the point that he initially doesn't even know what counts as a failing mark. He tells Sugawara that he's never made a double digit score on a test, and he complains to the vice-principal that he's never gotten 90% in his life. However, he takes a great deal to listen to people's advice and his observation skills, especially in split-second decisions, are on par with Tsukishima's when it comes to volleyball.
• Buffy Speak: Is prone to describing things with terms like "pwah!" or "gwah".
• Butt-Monkey: In the beginning, when he has little skill in volleyball aside from spiking, he often receives the ball with his face. It's become something his teammates have gotten used to.
• Catchphrase: "I may be small, but I can jump!"
• Character Development: Subtle but still there. He overcomes his nervousness in games and started surely but slowly use his brain. He's still a Keet but relatively calmer.
• Child-Like Voice: His spunky cuteness and short stature are matched by a fittingly high, boyish tenor.
• Childhood Friends: Has been good friends with Koji and Izumi since they were young. They still talk to each other in high school, and the two of them even come to see him play against Shiratorizawa.
• Cloudcuckoolanguage: Hinata has a habit of describing things with sound effects, especially when he's excited. Other players occasionally do the same, such as Kageyama, Nishinoya when explaining receives, or Inuoka (leading to an excited and perfectly incomprehensible conversation between him and Hinata that consists almost solely of sound effects).
• Crippling Overspecialization: Hinata has terrible technique at first, with his speed and jumping ability being his only saving graces. His offensive skills when paired up with Kageyama to do the freak quick however is considered so valuable that he's chosen as a starting member over the others despite them having better basic skills. Deconstructed as it's made clear several times how Hinata is still lacking as an individual volleyball player without Kageyama and is frequently made to explore other ways of fighting. He works hard to overcome this by picking up other skills (such as feints and rebounds) and polishes his technique (such as receives).
• Cool Big Bro: He has a little sister named Natsu who looks up to him and loves to play with him.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: You would never guess he'd be such a talented player just by looking at him.
• The Ditz: Hinata is Book Dumb and extremely childish.
• Dork Knight: He's enthusiastic, dorky, and Book Dumb as hell, but he's also a scary good jumper and incredibly fast when it comes to volleyball. He can also pull off quite the Death Glare if he's absolutely determined.
• The Dreaded: Due to his role as Karasuno's decoy and his unpredictable playstyle, opposing teams tend to at least feel wary of him, if not outright threatened.
  • This gets highlighted best during the match against Shiratorizawa Academy where Hinata's presence manages to get under the skin of a number of the players and even fans of Shiratorizawa breathe a sigh a relief when he gets temporarily subbed out.
  • Emphasised during Karasuno's Nationals match with Nekoma. Near the end of the second set it's made abundant clear that blockers despise having to match up against Hinata. After Hinata manages to spike a ball pass Lev and Inuoka, reaction shots of Kuroo, Tendou, and even Tsukishima shows them being frustrated.
• Endearingly Dorky: Hinata is often ditzy and clumsy, especially when flustered, which can be endearing or amusing to others. When he helps Shimizu with a task and responds to her gratitude with a fumbled "Yes! No!", the puzzled older girl can't help but smile and laugh over his awkwardness.
• Expressive Hair: His messy hair spike in a sun-like shape whenever he gets scared, shocked or angry.
• Faux Fluency: Inverted. Ayumu Murase was born in America and so is fluent in English. Since Hinata is supposed to suck at the language (along with his many other subjects), Murase had to put on a heavy accent in the Season 3 OVA when Hinata poorly reads out a sentence in English class.
• Fiery Redhead: He has bright ginger hair and has a loud, boisterous personality to match.
• Fragile Speedster: Although he's incredibly fast, his attacks don't have as much power behind them compared to Tanaka's or Asahi's (the freak quick notwithstanding) and his defense is nothing to write home about. He gets better.
• Friendly Rivalry:
  • Kageyama is the first and most important rival to Hinata in the series, even after they both join Karasuno. Gutted by the one-sided loss in junior high, Hinata pledges to take his revenge and beat Kageyama on court, and Kageyama in return acknowledges his potential and refuses to let his guard down. Despite their initial animosity, however, they learn to become trustworthy teammates and value their friendship.
  • Tries and succeeds in creating a competitive friendship with the usually uninterested Kenma, thanks to his friendly personality and (in Kenma's words) his ability to do new things and always be interesting.
  • With Lev Haiba and Sō Inuoka, two blockers for Nekoma. Their relationship is both competitive and playful, as the two have similar personalities.
  • With Aone. Ever since the two faced off at the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminaries, Aone has formed an unlikely friendship and rivalry with Hinata.
• Height Angst: Hinata occasionally feels insecure about his short height (especially in earlier chapters). Despite putting all his faith on his incredible jumping height in order to overcome this, he sometimes can’t help but feel jealous of taller players.
• Hero on Hiatus: Is made to leave the Karasuno vs Kamomedai match at a climactic moment, after everyone finds out he has a fever. Hinata is heartbroken and Karasuno's prowess weakens without him, but it's better than letting him play and putting him in danger of permanently ruining his body. This is the first significance absence Hinata's had in a match.
• Hero-Worshipper: If someone is older, good at volleyball and is nice enough, Hinata probably thinks they're the coolest ever and will ask them to teach him their moves, with no hint of shyness.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kageyama. Their partnership on the court notwithstanding, they're usually seen training and studying together.
• Hot-Blooded: He's terrifyingly passionate about volleyball.
• I Can Still Fight!: Dramatically defied during Karasuno’s match against Kamomedai. Despite struggling to so much as stand up due to a fever, he claims he can still play since he isn’t injured. Takeda talks him out of it, reminding him that he's already at a disadvantage due to his height and so must ensure he doesn't permanently damage his body if he wants to fight on par with the taller players. Hinata tearfully agrees and is taken out for the rest of the match so he can go get checked.
• Idiot Hair: Hinata's hair often shows one or two strands standing up on its own (especially with the Art Evolution) which fits his ditzy and simple-minded nature.
• Idiot Hero: Besides being Book Dumb, Hinata is usually clueless about the topic at hand. He also has a habit to describe things with onomatopoeia words, emphasizing his lack of vocabulary as often lampshaded by other people.
• Invisible Parents: While Hinata's mother makes the occasional cameo (majority of them via voice appearances), it's unknown whether his father is still around and simply never onscreen or is physically absent.
• Keet: He does not run out of energy. This isn't helped by the fact that he's frequently mistaken for a junior high-school student because of his height.
• Jack of All Stats: Hinata spends the two-year Time Skip training in beach volleyball to hone the other areas in his skillset that he was lacking during high school. By the time he does become a part of V-League, he's become an incredibly versatile player.
• Magnetic Hero:
  • It becomes a Running Gag that Hinata has a way of flattering other players, and his abundant enthusiasm tends to be endearing to most others.
  • The perk of both his quick attacks and being considered the perfect decoy ends up resulting in quite a few setters admitting they'd like to play with Hinata as a teammate.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Hinata" (日向), can be translated to "place in the sun" or "to face the sun", while "Shōyō" (翔陽) can mean "flying heaven", where "shō" (翔) means "to fly", and "you" (陽) means "sun/heaven/male".
  • The flying imagery is taken up a notch when you combine the first kanji in Kageyama's and his given names: 飛翔 ("hishō") means "to soar" (as in 飛翔する; "hishō suru") or "flight". Guess whose freak quick is taking Karasuno to new heights?
• Mirror Character: Despite being complete and intended foils to each other at first, on closer look Hinata and Kageyama do have some similarities. Aside from their devotion to volleyball and (for different reasons) the lack of true teammates in middle school, they're both Book Dumb and very simple-minded kids who come to Karasuno solely because of a person who was once on the team (the Little Giant for Hinata, Coach Ukai Sr. for Kageyama). Both also take offense when someone doesn't give their all for even one point in-game (though this isn't so much a true Berserk Button for Hinata until he believes Kageyama himself does a shoddy job as setter), no matter if they're winning or set for a loss. These similarities allow for them to eventually become partners.
• Mr. Fanservice: The scene in the bath house opens with a shot of his buttocks floating on water. They're shiny enough no one would blame you if you mistook them for eggs.
• The Napoleon: This is the biggest part of Hinata's story. He's very small for his age, only 162cm, but he's incredibly passionate about volleyball and tries to make up for his short stature with his incredible jumping abilities.
• The Nicknamer: Prone to calling players outside of his team by nicknames he makes up, such as Oikawa "Great King" and Kindaichi "Shallot-head". He also mockingly calls Kageyama "Tiredyama-kun" (Bateyama-kun in Japanese) during the later stages of a match, and sometimes calls Tsukishima "Stingyshima" (Kechishima in Japanese) whenever the aforementioned character refuses to help him.
• Nervous Wreck: Because of his lack of experience, Hinata is a terrible nervous wreck before matches. In his first practice match with Aoba Johsai, he's so nervous that he can't concentrate and keeps messing up until Kageyama straightens him out, partially by reminding him that he should be much more afraid of his own setter than of theirs.
• Nonuniform Uniform: Hinata wears a hoodie underneath the black gakuran jacket worn by male Karasuno students in the winter, befitting of the hyperactive shonen manga protagonist.
• Odd Friendship:
  • With Kenma. They couldn't be any more different in personality, but they frequently text each other, hang out during training camp, are on a First-Name Basis and openly admire each other's playing.
  • He manages to befriend Aone, who otherwise appears stern and intimidating which contrasts Hinata's bright and friendly demeanour.
• Older Than He Looks: People constantly mistake him for a middle-schooler, or even an elementary school student. Taken up a notch when you realize he's the oldest of the first years on the team. Even when he grew to about 170cm as a 20 year old in a flashback, Oikawa still tried to pass him off as a middle school student.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Hinata hates to see his great rivals struggling and makes it clear that he wants them all to play their best specifically so that Hinata himself can beat them. He gives advice to a depressed Hyakuzawa because he wants to defeat him in his best form, and all the way back in the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminary match against Aoba Johsai he demands that Kageyama (who's just been subbed out due to poor play) not lose to anyone else as he's already declared his intent to defeat him.
• Performance Anxiety: He has a bad case of anxiety when he starts playing actual volleyball matches. It's usually limited to him getting stomachaches and having to run to the bathroom before the match starts (and meeting one of his opponents) but the day before and the actual day of Karasuno's first practice match against Seijoh, he was barely able to function. Kageyama and Tanaka manage to set him straight and he manages to play normally after that, but his anxiety does come up in later episodes. He gets better with time.
• Phrase Catcher: Whenever he messes up or riles up Kageyama, the latter can be heard yelling at him "HINATA YOU DUMBASS!!!" ("Hinata boke!" in Japanese).
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Downplayed. He's the second shortest on the team and not very strong, but he has impressive offensive skills thanks to his speed and stamina and plays a big role in Karasuno's offense thanks to his and Kageyama's freak quick. At Nationals, he's noted to be the shortest middle blocker out of the whole tournament.
• Positive Friend Influence: Hinata is a very optimistic person who readily believes the best in people, resulting in this trope.
  • Hinata vows to be able to make Kenma, who's shown to be apathetic about most things, feel something in a match. Kenma is shown to be fairly comfortable with Hinata despite being a relatively recent acquaintance.
  • He also pushes Yachi, an insecure Nervous Wreck, to stand up to her mother and commit to the volleyball club for Yachi's own benefit, something she'd never done before.
  • During a training camp hosted by the Shiratorizawa staff, Hinata manages to help get Yūdai Hyakuzawa out of his head with all of his self doubt. When Hyakuzawa asks him why Hinata cares so much about helping someone from another team, Hinata responds that it wouldn't be fun to beat them in a match if they're not playing their best.
• Red Baron: In Brazil he becomes well-known in the beach volleyball scene and gains the nickname Ninja Shōyō. It's so famous there that even the great volleyball Brazilian player Nicolas Romero has heard of it (but doesn't realize who Hinata is during their V-League match until later in the first set).
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Fiery Red Head and keet Red Oni to Kageyama's Socially Awkward Hero and aloof (at a glance anyways) Blue Oni.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Downplayed and played for laughs when Hinata had to borrow his sister's cat-patterned bento wrap, in which Shimizu finds it cute.
• Signature Move: He's one of few people who can jump high and fast enough to hit the super-fast tosses that Kageyama wants to toss, so the two of them turn it into an incredibly fast quick that nets Karasuno many points in matches. The quick itself continues to evolve as the two of them improve as well.
• Smarter Than You Look: He's very much Book Dumb and clueless at the manner at hand most of the time, but he's also an astute observer, allowing him to quickly read situations and come up with solutions on the fly. He's also very capable of giving sound words of wisdom to others thanks to his natural empathy and aforementioned observation skills.
• The Social Expert: Hinata is capable of reading social cues and be incredibly empathetic toward others' struggles. As such, he often says just what others need to hear to push themselves in the right direction.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: A tiny, energetic, Book Dumb volleyball enthusiast with Anime Hair who's at a disadvantage because of his height. Although inexperienced, he has incredible speed that allows him to become a team with Kageyama, is determined to get better at all costs, and learns The Power of Friendship through the series.
• Terms of Endangerment: Sometimes likes to mock Kageyama by calling him "Kageyama-kun" instead of just his surname.
• Tiny Schoolboy: He clocks in at around 164cm/ 5'3'', so people frequently mistake him for someone younger.
• Unskilled, but Strong: As several characters note, Hinata has incredible jumping power and speed, but initially lacks the training or experience to put these to good use.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Develops this type of friendship with Kageyama. They play off each other very well on and off the court, but they'll insult and snark at each other at the slightest provocation.
• Worthy Opponent: Many volleyball players have acknowledged his potential, often saying that he is a monster, including the likes of The Dreaded Ushijima, The Ace setter Oikawa, and Drill Sergeant Nasty Coach Washijo. Hinata in return takes his rivalries very seriously, such as with Kageyama (whom he's sworn to beat ever since middle school) and Hoshiumi (who are both inspired by The Little Giant and come to respect each other as fellow short players).

Tobio Kageyama

Tobio Kageyama — #9

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa (JP), Scott Gibbs (EN), Gyu-hyuk Shim (KR), Brandon Santini (Latin America)

Played by: Tatsunari Kimura (2013 - Winners and Losers (2017)), Tatsuya Kageyama (Summer of Evolution (2017) - 2018), Ryuunosuke Akana (2019 - 2021)

Position: Setter
Height/Weight: 180.6cm → 181.9cm/66.3kg
1st Year

"The last ones standing are the victors, only the strongest. If you want to be the last one standing, become strong."

The former setter of Kitagawa Daiichi that Hinata swore revenge upon. He is hailed "King of the Court" by his junior high teammates due to his tyrannical attitude towards leading the team. Not too long after his match with Hinata, his teammates turned on him and Kageyama was benched for the rest of his tenure in junior high. Due to his actions, none of the top volleyball high schools would accept his application, leading him to attend Karasuno High School, where he must learn the value of teamwork.

Favourite food: Pork curry with an egg on top.

Current concern: He gets the feeling that animals dislike him.

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• The Ace: He's one of the best setters in his region, and certainly has potential to surpass Oikawa.
  • Kageyama's stats are killer, he literally maxes out in half of them and and gets 4/5 in everything else, better than Oikawa, who is a monster to go up against on court. Said player even acknowledges his junior's skill, saying that Kageyama would be the ideal setter if he would just think about his team instead of himself.
  • He also manages to avert a perhaps expected Crippling Overspecialization, as being an extraordinary setter doesn't stop him from being just as competent in spiking and receiving, much to the rest of the team's exasperation.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He actually begs Oikawa for advice at one point, much to the latter's delight.
• Always Someone Better:
  • Sugawara was Karasuno's setter prior to Kageyama joining the team, and it becomes clear he's the more skillful of the two. Though he isn't all happy about it, Sugawara accepts that the prodigy Kageyama is better than him as a setter, and encourages Ukai to choose the first year as the regular setter if it gives a better chance of taking Karasuno to Nationals.
  • The already-talented Oikawa felt threatened when Kageyama joined his team in middle school and saw how much of a genius setter he was, to the point of refusing to mentor him because he didn't want his underclassman to surpass him just yet. In the present he still resents Kageyama to a degree, annoyed that no matter how hard he works he'll eventually be surpassed by the younger teen.
• Animals Hate Him: One of his concerns is that animals don't get along with him. In one manga omake he picks up a cat, only to have it put its claws over his eyes.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Since Oikawa refused to teach him his killer serve, Kageyama mastered it by simply observing him. He also efficiently copies Kenma's feint after seeing it only once, since he's initially too awkward to actually ask Kenma to teach him.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Now a popular pro volleyball player, Kageyama stars in a curry commercial after the Time Skip. The eating scenes are fine since he's just being himself. Afterward? He's unable to find the camera for a few seconds, and then delivers the commercial tagline with no expression whatsoever. Hinata and Atsumu laugh at this terrible acting and wonder why this wasn't retaken. His horrid acting skills also show up in the stage play when Karasuno perform Hamlet, as he can't even say his one line as the moon without sounding and looking stiff (not to mention he needs his line written on his hand and misses his cue anyway).
• Big Little Brother: At some point during junior high, he started outgrowing his sister who is about eight years older than him. Unsurprising since he would go on to be a tall boy, being 180cm when starting high school and reaching almost 190cm as an adult.
• Book Dumb: An interesting example because he looks the part of the smart and diligent student. And he's a promising tactician where volleyball is concerned (the official databook has him tied with Tsukishima as most intelligent player on the team) to boot. It's just that Kageyama couldn't care less about academics, resulting in horrifically poor school grades.
  • While Shiratorizawa Academy was his top pick for his high school choices (due to his grandfather being the alumni), Kageyama failed his entrance exam, resulting him to attend Karasuno High instead.
• Break the Haughty: Being abandoned by his team in the middle of a match during junior high gave him a reality check about his increasingly strict demands and his confidence as a supportive and reliable setter. This is the trigger for his character development that begins when he joins Karasuno.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Grandparent variant. Ever since he was little, Kageyama and his older sister called their grandfather by his name Kazuyo-san/kun (respectively). This was done positively and showed the close relationship between him and his grandchildren, since he helped look after them in place of their busy parents and acted as a volleyball mentor to them.
• Catchphrase Insult: Kageyama is prone to calling Hinata a dumbass (boke in the original Japanese), especially when the character in question messes up. It's been joked by other Karasuno members that it's the only insult Kageyama uses for him because his vocabulary is that limited.
• Character Development: Kageyama during junior high used to order his teammates around and chastised them over every little mistake, even if he himself had blame. His tyrannical behavior even gave him the nickname "King of the Court". Upon bonding with Karasuno, he makes an effort to not let his emotions get the better of him, takes responsibility for his mistakes, learns to treat everyone as teammates, and comes to genuinely care about everyone on the team.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Things tend to fly over his head, for example thinking about food when Ukai makes a jab at the simple-minded duos (ie. him/Hinata and Tanaka/Nishinoya). He's also surprised when he sees Tsukishima without glasses, thinking that his eyes would look like the number three.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: An omake and its CD drama adaptation show that a couple of girls are attracted to him because of his aloof demeanor, much to Hinata's confusion and dismay. Kageyama doesn't seem to be aware of the fact.
• The Comically Serious: A good part of Kageyama's humor comes from the fact that he's thinking of the strangest things with the same serious expression, or that he often has to interact with very... excited upperclassmen (such as Tanaka and Nishinoya), which is something he has no experience with.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Has grey eyes, which highlight his antisocial nature and high level of competence. Notable since most characters have brown eyes.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Aside from being an outcast in elementary school and being rejected by his role model Oikawa at Kitagawa Daiichi, he also had to cope with his grandfather's death during a very difficult period in his life, which most likely played its part in contributing to his poor attitude in his third year of middle school. The abandonment by his teammates in their last match together is only the icing on the cake, but it's traumatic enough to stick with him for a long time, nightmares and flashbacks included.
• Decoy Antagonist: In the beginning chapters, Kageyama is set up as The Rival. Flash forward a year, and we see both Hinata and Kageyama showing up for volleyball practice at their new high school at Karasuno.
• Defrosting Ice King: After what happened at his last junior high tournament (his entire team abandoning him), he realizes he needs to trust in his teammates more and not just do everything himself. He is slowly starting to do this at Karasuno.
• Death Glare: Has an extremely powerful glare, to the point that it tops Hinata's list of things that scare him the most.
• Deuteragonist: No less important than Hinata in the story, and also a huge part of the latter's motivation (to keep winning) and improvement (when they team up).
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Although he's polite to his elders by default, he has a habit of unintentionally pissing off the most prestigious players. At the All-Japan Youth Intensive Training Camp, Kageyama 1) has no problem telling Sakusa (aka a Top 3 Ace and a much more renowned player) to his face that he seems rather average so far, and 2) doesn't bat an eye at Hoshiumi (someone who's considered the current Little Giant) and just blatantly tells him he's a "great reference". Chigaya is astonished by his guts, while another Itachiyama member Komori thinks it's Actually Pretty Funny the way he spoke to Sakusa. Although this doesn't sour their relationships with Kageyama, Sakusa and Hoshiumi are visibly irritated by his comments.
• Dork Knight: Dear lord. Off the court, he's a Cloudcuckoolander with No Social Skills to the max and has a Hair-Trigger Temper a mile wide. On the court, he's an absolute monster, all the while still having those traits when interacting with his teammates.
• Foil:
  • To Hinata, in nearly every way. Kageyama is a prodigy in volleyball born with good reflexes as well as the necessary height, which made him known as a fearfully good setter even when younger. Hinata on the other hand is short and can only count on his jump power to make him a noticeable figure in volleyball, and had trouble finding a team who'd play with him in junior high. Unlike Kageyama, who has a terrible temper, Hinata is extremely friendly and excitable. Also, their hair colors both contrast and complement each other, as they're also Karasuno's volleyball team's official colors.
  • He's a foil to fellow Karasuno setter Sugawara in terms of their type of play. Kageyama can only utilize Hinata and a few other players to score points while Sugawara is able to utilize all the members on the court due to his strategic style of playing. Also, Sugawara cannot score on his own, while Kageyama can. Although Kageyama is overall the superior setter of the team, Sugawara finds his own strengths that allow him to be subbed into the match for reasons other than replacing Kageyama.
  • Kageyama and Kenma are both very crafty setters of their respective teams and the core of their teams. Kageyama however lacks all the qualities Kenma has in terms of playing style, with Kageyama being much more athletic but nowhere near as strategical.
• Genius Ditz: He's not exactly the brightest around - having terrible grades and a very straightforward mindset - but he's an absolute prodigy in volleyball, to the point of scaring Oikawa of all people.
• The Gift: An extraordinarily talented volleyball player who's referred to as a genius several times. Oikawa resents him for it.
• Grin of Audacity: After hearing the news that he's the only one invited to the All-Japan Youth Training Camp, Kageyama looked down on Hinata with a cocky smile, saying that he's going ahead, much to the latter's jealousy and frustration. It could have been easy if Hinata were to become invited to the training camp alongside him; otherwise, Kageyama would have revert himself back to who he was in junior high.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Mainly in his junior high days, when little mistakes would tick him off, and he'd scream and put the blame on others. Hinata is still able to make him revert to this even after he gets better, though it's more obviously Played for Laughs.
• Hot-Blooded: One of the characters who take volleyball more seriously in the series, and will snap at the slightest hint of someone slacking off. He's also very passionate about the setter position in particular.
• Humanizing Tears: Kageyama is sometimes cool-headed and sometimes snappy, and can overall be difficult to deal with due to his lack of social skills. The way he cries with the rest of the team at the restaurant after their loss against Aoba Johsai is one of his most vulnerable and emotional moments, showing that not even he's immune to a big loss.
• Ineffectual Loner: He's a force of nature on the court, but is terrible at understanding and empathizing with others. Unfortunately for him, volleyball is a team sport, but it helps him to grow as a team player.
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: His prodigious talent in volleyball translated to a Hair-Trigger Temper when others couldn't keep up with him and a Friendless Background as a result. He gets better after he joins Karasuno.
• Invisible Parents: The flashback of Kageyama's childhood confirms that he does have parents, but they would usually come home late due to work and presumably still do, which is why they are never shown nor mentioned in neither flashbacks nor the present whenever he's home.
• Ironic Nickname: Those who don't know him would be inclined to think he's called the "King of the Court" because he's a well-known badass setter, which is what Hinata assumes before getting to know him. It actually refers to Kageyama's It's All About Me attitude during matches, which is why he himself dislikes the title.
• The Leader: Although not the captain, during his time with Kitagawa Daiichi he acted as the mastermind behind their plans.
• Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: While his social skills are still terrible, his personality is a lot better after a season of interacting with the various characters on his new high school team, and by the second season he's even attempting high fives and dancing along with Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Hinata.
• Master of All: He's got incredible volleyball statistics. His genius setter talents notwithstanding, he's also competent at receives and spikes.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Kage" (影) means "shadow" which is understandable since he's like a shadow to the sun (Hinata). The kanji of Kageyama (影山) literally translates to "shadow mountain".
  • His given name, Tobio (飛雄), means "flying hero", which serves him well with regards to his jump serve.
  • The flying imagery is taken up a notch when you combine the first kanji in his and Hinata's given names: 飛翔 ("hishō") means "to soar" (as in 飛翔する; "hishō suru") or "flight". Guess whose freak quick is taking Karasuno to new heights?
• Mirror Character: Although he and Hinata initially appear different as night and day in terms of personality, appearance, and skill level, they actually have a few similarities. They both are extremely passionate about volleyball, are Book Dumb, and joined the Karasuno team because of one specific person (The Little Giant in Hinata's case, and Coach Ukai Sr. in Kageyama's case).
• No Social Skills: Has little understanding of social cues, to the point he can’t even recognize when others try to high five him. He’s also really bad at asking people things, usually approaching them on an awkward and (unknowingly) almost aggressive manner.
• Perpetual Frowner: Usually has a frown of some sort, which is lampshade a good number of times. Tanaka says he has this type of expression on his face even when picking yogurt.
• Raised by Grandparents: Kageyama had a strong relationship with his grandfather, who appeared to spend more time with him than his actual parents did. His grandfather's death is implied to have influenced his spiral into becoming "The King of the Court".
• Red Baron: He was known as the King of the Court during junior high school, and it still carries with him in the present until he shakes it off. Although it seems like a badass name at first, it turns out he received this nickname because his junior high teammates compared him to a tyrannical king, and so used the title mockingly. He dislikes being referred to as such because of the implications.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Socially Awkward Hero and aloof (at a glance anyways) Blue Oni to Hinata's Fiery Red Head and keet Red Oni.
• Signature Move: Becomes well-known for the freak quick he shares with Hinata.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Off the court, he seemingly has very little idea how to properly interact with other people. He tries to improve in this area, with mixed results.
• The Stoic: Subverted. He appears to be stoic due to his excellent strategic skills and cool-headedness, from Hinata's first meeting of him in junior high. Then Hinata and the audience get to know him and find out he's actually pretty hot-tempered and easily emotional.
• Stock Shōnen Rival: Subverted. The beginning immediately sets him up as a typical rival one would expect for the protagonist Hinata — he is in every way a foil to him (taller, dark-haired, bad-tempered, asocial, a loner, a prodigy). After his team decimates Hinata's in the prologue the latter swears to defeat him one day... and then they wind up being high school teammates who are forced to work closely together.
• Strong and Skilled: He scores a 4/5 in terms of power, and his overall skill makes him one of the best players on the court.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's 180cm (about 5'11") in height, has dark hair and has a standoffish, aloof personality to match. Girls his year are shown to have think of him as cool and attractive in an omake and CD Drama, but Kageyama is totally oblivious to it.
• Team Prima Donna: When he was in Kitagawa Daiichi, he used to order his teammates around and wanted everything his way.
• Teen Genius: Is exceptionally talented at volleyball for his age. However, he usually doesn't bother applying himself to his academic studies.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He's still very much a hot-tempered person, but he gradually starts to get along and treat his teammates much nicer than he ever did back when he was in middle school. He also allows himself to trust them more, which allows him to gradually soften his edges as the series goes on.
• Trademark Favorite Food: While his favorite dish is stated to be pork curry (with an egg on top), Kageyama is often seen drinking milk and yogurt during school hours.
• Tranquil Fury: The angrier Kageyama gets, the quieter he becomes. Hinata lampshades it after he loses focus during the practice match against the Neighborhood Association and takes a spike to the face.
  Hinata: Crap... Kageyama isn't yelling at me. That means he's really angry.
• Tsundere: One moment he'll be shouting insults, the next trying to encourage his teammates. His dere side tends to show mostly around Hinata.
• The Un-Smile: The first time he tries to smile traumatizes Hinata and confuses the others.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: During his first year of junior high, he was a good-natured kid who once asked Oikawa for some mentoring. By the time Hinata played against him in their match, his personality had soured considerably.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Eventually with Hinata. They clash endlessly, but have each other's backs on and off the court.

Daichi Sawamura

Daichi Sawamura — #1

Voiced by: Satoshi Hino (JP), Justin Doran (EN), Ja-hyung Gu (KR), Sergio Moriel (Latin America)

Played by: Keita Tanaka (2015, 2018), Kentaro Akisawa (2016 - 2017), Shou Higano (2019 - "The Strongest Challengers" (2020)), Koudai Takikawa ("The Dumpster Battle" (2020) - 2021)

Position: Wing Spiker
Height/Weight: 176.8cm → 176.7cm/70.1kg
3rd Year

"Even if we're not confident that we'll win, even if others tell us we don't stand a chance, we must never tell ourselves that."

Daichi is the captain of the Karasuno boys’ volleyball team. He claims to have come to Karasuno High School because he saw a volleyball match he could never forget on TV — also it's close to his house. His biggest strength is his defensive abilities.

Favourite food: Shoyu ramen.

Current concern: His incessant dreams about the vice-principal's flying wig.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: Despite his friendly nature, his team (particularly Tanaka and Asahi) is very aware of how scary Daichi can be when he’s mad.
• Boring, but Practical: His style of playing. He's not flashy and renowned like Nishinoya or Kageyama, nor is he the ace like Asahi or does any special attacks like Hinata, but he instead rounds these off with solid receives and decent all-around moves. It's noted that Karasuno would have a much weaker defence if it weren't for him. In fact, when he's injured in the team's match against Wakutani, the team has trouble finding its footing.
• Childhood Friends: He attented junior high with Michimiya and Ikejiri, who were all very close friends. He and Michimiya are still on good terms at Karasuno (although he's unfortunately unaware of the latter's crush on him), and he's more than happy to talk to Ikejiri and compete with him seriously whenever they encounter each other on and off the court.
• Deadpan Snarker: Often snarks in a flat unimpressed manner, especially towards the more hot-blooded underclassmen and Asahi.
• A Death in the Limelight: Downplayed. Daichi is given more attention than usual in the Johzenji match where his Boring, but Practical defensive play and comforting leadership skills help Karasuno not go too astray, which Terushima picks up on. In the next round, he becomes injured from colliding with Tanaka and is forced to pull out of the match, leaving Karasuno on shaky ground. The very moment he's injured, Terushima laments to his teammates back at school how Daichi is the reason why they lost.
• A Father to His Men: Comes with being the Team Dad, Daichi is a friendly and kind captain who's respected by his team and keeps everyone grounded in and out of the court.
• First-Name Basis: The second years call him "Daichi-san", while fellow third years Sugawara and Asahi drop the honorific.
• The Gadfly: He and Sugawara like to go out of their way to poke fun at Asahi purely for their own amusement.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He's normally a composed person, but it doesn't take a whole lot for him to start yelling at the other members for being idiots.
• Height Angst: Played for Laughs — although he's on the average/taller side, he's still horrified when his height is remeasured and he finds out he shrunk by 1mm.
• Hero on Hiatus: He knocks out a tooth after colliding with Tanaka during their match with Wakutani and is immediately pulled from the game. The team manages to win the match but clearly struggle without his presence.
• Jack of All Stats: He had solid all-around moves, with his receives being his strong suit, followed by his soft block and spikes. His game sense is pretty good as well, having to learn all the ins and outs of volleyball due to a lack of a coach when Ukai Sr. was taken out of commission.
• I Can Still Fight!: When he gets injured during the match with Wakutani he insists he can still play. Shortly afterwards however he is sent to the infirmary and stays out for the remainder of the match.
• The Leader: The kind, level-headed captain and leader of the Karasuno volleyball team. He's part of the third years and is one of the most mature characters of the team, and even his character design denotes his neutral part. Fittingly, his playing style is also supportive in nature: he's the best of the team at receives, the libero Nishinoya being the only exception.
• Meaningful Name: The characters used for Daichi (大地) mean "good" and "earth" respectively. As the captain, he acts as the "ground" that supports his teammates.
• Not So Above It All: His composure and maturiy for his age is often commented on, but he occasionally shows a more childish side. One such example Yachi mentions is when he got in trouble because he set off the emergency bell by accident when he was trying to get past the boys' basketball team captain during the lunchtime rush.
• Oblivious to Love: He has no idea his childhood friend Michimiya is crushing hard on him.
• The Reliable One: Daichi finds himself overshadowed by the more flashy play-styles of the rest of the starting lineup, but he is in a lot of ways the backbone of Karasuno's defense. This becomes apparent in the practice match against Aoba Johsai, as he was the only one able to receive Oikawa's serves.
• Supporting Leader: Not the protagonist, but the captain and leader of the volleyball club.
• Team Dad: He’s a strict leader who most of the team visibly try not to piss off (since he’s quite scary when he’s mad), but is also a reliable and friendly figure.
• Weight Woe: He gets pretty self-conscious of his figure due to being called "big" by many players when they see him up close.
• Worthy Opponent: Other teams' captains often perceive him to be the player to watch out for, notably Oikawa, Kuroo and Terushima. Oikawa often goes out of his way to compliment Daichi, both in person (such as before Aoba Johsai's second match against Karasuno) and in Internal Monologue, and Terushima even attributes the reason of Johzenji's loss mostly to Daichi, rather than to Hinata.

Kōshi Sugawara

Kōshi Sugawara — #2

Voiced by: Miyu Irino (JP), Adam Gibbs (EN), Seung-gon Ryu (KR), David Bueno (Latin America)

Played by: Hiroki Ino (2015 - 2017), Naoki Tanaka (2018), Ryuu Ichinose (2019 - 2021)

Position: Setter
Height/Weight: 174.3cm → 174.6cm/63.5kg
3rd Year

"Every player feels the same pride about the fact that they're going to be on the court, no matter whether they're some genius or just a regular guy."

Sugawara is one of Karasuno’s setters and also the team's vice captain. Originally the primary setter, he steps down in favour of Kageyama when it's clear how much more potential the first year brings for the team's chances of success. Composed and courteous, his style of playing is more generic and he’s not a prodigy like Kageyama. He compensates this by being very reliable (and quite clever) when in court.

Favourite food: Super spicy mapo tofu.

Current concern: A lot of his kouhai are bigger than him.

---

• Adaptation Dye-Job: His hair is a much lighter shade of silvery-blond in the manga, most notably in one of the center color pages during the Karasuno vs. Aoba Johsai match.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Extremely downplayed when it comes to the stage plays. Stage play Sugawara is notably willing to hit people (namely Ennoshita and Tanaka) to get them to chill out, but he's faithful to the manga/anime nonetheless. ^note  It should be noted that only Hiroki Ino did this to add another level of humor to the show.
• Affectionate Nickname: Having developed a good relationship with the team, the second and third years call him "Suga-san" and "Suga" respectively (notable since the third years are called by their first names by the same people).
• Always Someone Better: Despite being the more skilled setter than Sugawara, Kageyama actually considers himself inferior to him since Sugawara is far better at working with the team. After seeing him cooperate with the team on court following his brief benching, Kageyama becomes more determined to improve his communication with the team.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Among the players, he is the one who often observes the opponents' plays, especially as he is mostly benched. This in turn makes him a threat once he's on the court, as he knows the spikers' tendencies so he is almost always in position to receive or cover a bad deflection, setting up for a good counter. He is also a setter who can utilize every teammate in Karasuno, even Kageyama, despite having less talent than him, as he knows each of their playstyles. This allows Karasuno more versatility when both he and Kageyama are on the court, as he fills the roles of a pinch server, a second setter, and a secondary defensive specialist.
• The Benchwarmer: Sugawara was Karasuno's primary setter prior to the story. However when Kageyama joins, he gives up his spot as the main setter and assures Ukai to not assign the position to him out of pity. Eventually, Sugawara develops other techniques with the team and is put in games as a backup when needed.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The nicest member of the team, but he's the only one who can get away with telling Sawamura off which scares the others. Played for Laughs when the usually calm and respectable Sugawara screams at the players on-court to get it together during the first few points of their match against Shiratorizawa, freaking the other members out and warranting a glare from the referee.
• Big Brother Mentor: Acts as the older setter mentor to Kageyama. He's also labelled as the Kageyama handler whenever Kageyama gets out of control.
• Foil:
  • To Oikawa. They're both third year setters outshined by Kageyama, but their treatment of Kageyama is very different. Since Oikawa resented Kageyama, he never gave him advice or helped him when they were teammates. Sugawara, on the other hand, is jealous of Kageyama but he holds no animosity towards him; he always treats him with the kindness Oikawa never gave him as an upperclassman and rival setter.
  • A foil to Kageyama in terms of their types of play. Kageyama can only fully utilize Hinata and a few other players to score points while Sugawara is able to utilize all the members on the court due to his strategic style of playing. Also, Sugawara cannot score on his own, while Kageyama can.
• The Gadfly: He and Daichi like to go out of their way to poke fun at Asahi purely for their own amusement.
• Idiot Hair: Has a few strands of hair pointing up, although he does not have any of the characteristics regarding this trope.
• In-Series Nickname: Oikawa calls him "Mr. Refreshing" (Sawayaka-kun aka literally "Refreshing-kun" in the original Japanese) due to Sugawara's bright and gentle demeanour. Also doubles as a Punny Name as there's another term for the word "refreshing", which is "Sugasugashii".
• Jack of All Stats: Sugawara's a good setter and is also decent at receives and at reading the other team. He's aware of the fact that he's not a particularly outstanding player compared to Kageyama, though.
• Nice Guy: Sugawara is generally a supportive and considerate person. It’s one of the reasons everyone on the team gets along well with him, from the snarky Tsukishima to the aloof manager Shimizu.
• Not So Above It All: Despite that he is a generally composed Team Mom, Sugawara is hilariously chaotic and often mischievous when it comes to teasingly slam his teammates out of pure excitement or supporting Hinata's plan of attending the training camp uninvited, much to Daichi's chagrin.
• Number Two: He is the vice captain of the team. Although he stops being a regular in favour of Kageyama, he still supports Sawamura and helps put plans together with the team.
• Only Sane Man: He's usually one of the main guys that call out and handle the other members (usually the "Volleyball Idiots" and Tsukishima) when they get out of hand.
• Shipper on Deck: Is supportive of Michimiya's crush on Daichi, if the way he immediately pushes Asahi away with a grin on his face to give them alone time is anything to go by.
• The Strategist: Since he is no prodigy, his playing style is all about efficiently outwitting the opponent.
• Team Mom: Sugawara has a calm, soothing personality, being a source of support for the team. According to Asahi and Tanaka, he’s also the only one who can lecture Daichi, the resident Team Dad.

Asahi Azumane

Asahi Azumane — #3

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (JP), Orlanders Jones (EN), Young-jae Pyo (KR), Dave Ramos (Latin America)

Played by: Justin Tomimori (2015 - 2018), Yuuya Fukuda (2019 - 2021)

Position: Wing Spiker
Height/Weight: 184.7cm → 186.4cm/75.2kg
3rd Year

Karasuno's resident ace spiker. He is said to have a heart of glass, and occasionally gets poked fun at by the other third years for it. Asahi briefly quit the volleyball team after the team got crushed by Date Tech during their match the previous year, blaming himself for not being able to break down their defenses.

Favourite food: Tonkotsu ramen.

Current concern: When he tells people he's a student nobody believes him, first years are afraid of him, girls in his class say things like "even though he looks the way he does, he's kinda weak" then go getting themselves all disappointed, future plans, the captain being scary... (cut for length)

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• Alliterative Name: Asahi Azumane.
• Broken Ace: He's Karasuno's almighty ace spiker, being the go-to member to score the crucial points. However, in his past he was scared off from his place as ace after being crushed by Date Tech's defenses and quit. After some encouragement from the team (especially Hinata and Kageyama) and a confidence-building performance against the Date Tech rematch, he's able to overcome most of his insecurities about it.
• Butt-Monkey: Among the third years, he is put on the short end of the stick the most. Daichi especially loves to crack a few jokes at his expense.
• Cowardly Lion: He's extremely sensitive and timid, but he's the team's most powerful spiker.
• Cute Giant: Asahi is the tallest third-year standing at 184.7 cm (or 6'0.5") and is actually a Gentle Giant instead of an intimidating thug as what others hilariously assumed. Despite his height, he is also the second-youngest member of the team next to Shimizu.
• Face of a Thug: Played for laughs. People are often intimidated by how he looks, thinking he's a criminal. Ironically, in the team he surpasses even Team Mom Sugawara in softness.
• Face Your Fears: In the team's match against Date Tech, he gets over his fear and reluctance at spiking at their incredible defense.
• Foil: To Nishinoya. Asahi is shy and insecure despite looking big and threatening, while Nishinoya is almost too loud and blunt for his short stature. They even play opposite positions on the team: Asahi is the ace, which means he gets most of the attack points, while Nishinoya being the libero is responsible for only the receives. Comparing their manga profiles, Asahi has a long list of his current concerns (although cut for length) while Nishinoya himself said that he has none. Trivia takes it further: their names contrast, with Asahi's name translating to "Eastern Peaks Morning Sun" and Nishinoya's name being "Western Valley Evening". And finally, their mirrored birthdays (01/01 for Asahi and 10/10 for Nishinoya) also drive the point home.
• First-Name Basis: The third and second years plus Hinata call him by his first name, or at least "Asahi-san", rather than by his surname.
• Gentle Giant: Asahi is the second tallest of the team and the one with the most powerful physical build, and is also a sensible boy who gets intimidated easily.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Outside of the court, he's anxious to a fault and very timid. On the court, he's far more serious and a threat to watch - that is, when he isn't flipping out over something trivial.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: A fairly attractive guy whose hair is long enough to be tied back in a bun. Later, he holds it back with a headband after Shimizu notes that he might go bald.
• Looks Like Jesus: His long hair and unshaven face has him resembling Jesus. The team even dresses him up as him during the Shonen Jump Christmas special. He's not exactly pleased about it.◊
• Lovable Coward: Asahi readily admits that he's not the one you want watching your back in a tough situation, because he tends to freak out easily. Nevertheless, the entire team respects and admires him.
• Meaningful Name: Asahi (旭) means "morning sun". Not only is he warm-hearted and much-needed powerhouse spiker on the team, but it also contrasts his foil Nishinoya's first name.
• Mighty Glacier: According to his stats, he maxes out in power but scores lowest in speed, another thing that contrasts him with Nishinoya.
• My Greatest Failure: Their match against Date Tech the year prior to the start of the series made him leave the club because he believed the team's loss was due to his failed spikes. He eventually gets over it after the team defeat them in the Inter-High preliminaries.
• Nervous Wreck: While he doesn't let it affect him on the court, Asahi is a very anxious person who's prone to easily panic.
• Nonuniform Uniform: Asahi omits the pad for his right knee, wearing one less knee pad than his teammates.
• Only Sane Man: Cowardly Lion tendencies notwithstanding, he's one of the main people to call his teammates out when they do something ridiculous or insulting (usually the latter).
• Perma-Stubble: He's growing a goatee, which may be part of why people always think he's older than 17.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's the mighty ace of the team but still has some non-traditionally masculine interests. Besides his sensitive nature, his gift for the team's Secret Santa in the Christmas drama CD is his favorite book of nature poetry. After the Time Skip, it's revealed he's become a fashion designer.
• 10-Minute Retirement: A bad loss to Date Tech caused Asahi to start skipping club activities prior to the main timeline, having lost his confidence as the ace since Date Tech's Iron Wall was too strong for him. It's only when he and Nishinoya are dragged into a practice match and fix their rough patches that he returns to the team.
• Younger Than They Look: He's often mistaken as being older than 17 due to his height, build and prominent facial hair. People often think he was held back, much to his embarrassment. Students have even mistook him for a teacher, such as Yachi in their first meeting.

Yū Nishinoya

Yū Nishinoya — #4

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (JP) , Greg Ayres (EN), Seung-hoon Choi (KR), Diego Becerril (Latin America)

Played by: Shōhei Hashimoto (2015 - Winners and Losers (2017)), Yuuto Fuchino (Summer of Evolution (2017) - 2018), Yuuma Kitazawa (2019 - 2021)

Position: Libero
Height/Weight: 159.3cm → 160.5cm/51.1kg
2nd Year

"My role is to strictly 'connect' everyone. I can't fight in the sky — that's the spikers' domain. But I will, without fail, get the ball to them at the highest point possible."

Nishinoya is the team's expert libero. Due playing for a powerful junior high team and being very skilled, he could have easily gone to any of the top volleyball high schools. Instead, he chose to go to Karasuno because he thought the uniforms looked cool. He was put under house arrest and banned from club activities for a period of time due to hitting the vice-principal during the uproar of a fight with Asahi after losing to Date Tech the year prior to the series’ events.

Favourite food: Garigari-kun popsicles! (Soda flavour!)

Current concern: None!!!

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• Affectionate Nickname: Tanaka (his closest second year friend) and Hinata (his closest underclassman on the team) call him "Noya-san".
• Accidental Pervert: Has on multiple occasions unintentionally perved on a girl in some way, although he takes some glee in it. He's more than happy when he falls near a few girls and sees up their skirts in an omake, and when he nearly lands face-first into Kanoka's chest it prompts a dramatic internal monologue about how he's about to get a once-in-a-lifetime miraculous experience.
• Anime Hair: His hair is excessvely spiked up because he wants to make up for his short height. Hilariously, he looks so different with his hair down that even Hinata doesn't recognize him and mistakes him for a small child during their Golden Week training camp excursion.
• Berserk Button: Though he doesn't have an Height Angst nearly as bad as Hinata or Yaku, he doesn't like being mocked about his short stature. Or people getting it wrong.
  Student: He's 150 cm, I think.
  Nishinoya: I'M 160, DAMN IT!!!
• Birds of a Feather:
  • Gets along with Tanaka due to their similar personalities.
  • Is the closest to Hinata out of all the first years. They're both short and Hot-Blooded in a sport usually meant for taller people.
• Book Dumb: An excellent libero with terrible school grades. Ennoshita is unimpressed when he checks one of his compehension tests and sees that he wrote "Live a manlier life, Norio!" as one of the answers, having blatantly ignored the question and the text.
• Brutal Honesty: Very blunt when voicing his criticism, with Asahi as a common target.
• Calling Your Attacks: Parodied during their training or pre-match warmups, when he does a flashy receive while shouting the name he's given it, "Rolling Thunder". Otherwise averted as he never actually does so in a match.
  Nishinoya: ROOOOOOLLING! THUUUUNDERRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Again!
• Cannot Talk to Women: Downplayed, since he’s very blunt about his crush on Shimizu and doesn’t hesitate in saying he chose Karasuno High because he liked the girls’ uniforms. Therefore the first years are a bit surprised when he gets uncharacteristically shy upon meeting Yachi, who’s new to the team, and it's pointed out that he and Tanaka are like that when meeting new girls.
• Catchphrase: Loves to shout out "Rolling Thunder" while performing a rolling receive.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He has absolutely terrible grades and is a Large Ham to the max, but he's still a libero on the top of his game, performing insane receives at the blink of an eye when it comes down to the wire.
• First-Name Basis: Showing his chummy personality, he calls the third years (minus "Suga-san"), fellow second years and his beloved underclassman Hinata by their first names. He also calls Cool Big Sis Saeko "Saeko-nee-san" and his libero buddy Yaku "Morisuke-kun", who in return call him Yū.
• Foil: To Asahi. Asahi is shy and insecure despite looking big and threatening, while Nishinoya is almost too loud and blunt for his short stature. They even play opposite positions on the team: Asahi is the ace, which means he gets most of the attack points, while Nishinoya being the libero is responsible for only the receives. Comparing their manga profiles, Nishinoya's current concern is stated to be "None!!" while Asahi has an otherwise long list of concerns (although cut for length). Trivia takes it further: their names contrast, with Asahi's name translating to "Eastern Peaks Morning Sun" and Nishinoya's name being "Western Valley Evening". And finally, their mirrored birthdays (01/01 for Asahi and 10/10 for Nishinoya) also drive the point home.
• Fragile Speedster: As seen in his stats, he maxes out in speed and scores high in stamina and jumping but scores lowest in power. However, as a defensive player, power isn't needed much as long as he keeps the ball in play.
• Grin of Audacity: Tends to grin despite being in a pinch during games, especially in the one against Shiratorizawa where has to figure out a way to handle Ushijima's brutal power.
• Height Angst: Downplayed. It's not a source of insecurity for him, but if you ridicule his height or guess his actual size is smaller than it actually is, he'll snap at you.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Chummy and almost always seen with fellow second year Tanaka, due to their similar personalities.
• Hot-Blooded: Nishinoya is incredibly passionate about volleyball, and has the attitude to match. He's blunt and loudmouthed, but is extremely skilled.
• Keet: He does not run out of energy. Like Hinata, this isn't helped by his short height. In the manga character profiles, all his answers are listed with exclamation points and his current concern is listed as, "None!!!"
• Large Ham: He's ridiculously dramatic and flashy in everything he does. This serves as a contrast to his concentrative and serious playstyle on-court, which is described as "surprisingly quiet" by his teammates.
• Manchild: He's even more childish than Hinata, which doesn't help him not being confused for an elementary school kid.
• The Napoleon: He's shorter than Hinata but isn't usually bothered by his height since he's a very skilled libero, which his height is useful for. Despite his height, he is very boisterous and hot-tempered.
• Nonuniform Uniform:
  • Nishinoya not only wears knee pads like most players do, but also an elbow pad for his right arm. This is useful for his libero duties which would include a lot of diving on the floor. As the libero, he also wears the inverted color to the rest of the team (orange most of the time).
  • Inverted when it comes to the school uniform, as he's one of the few members to properly abiding with the dresscode despite his character archetype's tendency to do the opposite. Considering he goes to Karasuno because he likes the uniform design, this is to be expected.
• Nervous Wreck: He used to be very timid and jittery child. He was scared of everything, from being around people to moths and bell peppers. Fortunately, his grandfather whipped him into shape and helped him becoming more willing to take on any challenge.
• Older Than They Look: He's been mistaken for an elementary-schooler thanks to his short height and childish demeanour.
• Positive Friend Influence: Nishinoya is a non-romantic example for Asahi. He tries to motivate him into becoming a confident ace.
• Red Baron: Known as "Karasuno's Guardian Deity" due to his vital defensive receiving, much to his delight.
• Rejection Affection: He's always affectionate towards his crush Shimizu, despite her clear lack of interest in him (and even having to slap him away at one point). They're friendly about it, however.
• 10-Minute Retirement: A bad loss to Date Tech caused Asahi to start skipping training, angering Nishinoya and leading him to accidentally break a vase which gets him briefly suspended from school and club activities. Even when his suspension is lifted, he still refuses to go back to volleyball unless Asahi also comes back. He reluctantly offers to help train Hinata and the other first years with their receives, but it's only when he and Asahi are dragged into a practice match and fix their rough patches that he properly returns to the team.
• Tiny Schoolboy: The team's shortest player. Among the others on the team, only Yachi is shorter than he is.

Ryūnosuke Tanaka

Ryūnosuke Tanaka — #5

Voiced by: Yu Hayashi, Mai Nishigawa (young) (JP); Greg Cote (EN), Ho-san Lee (KR), Miguel de Leon (Latin America)

Played by: Kōhei Shiota (2015 - 2018), Kou Kanegae (2019 - 2021)

Position: Wing Spiker
Height/Weight: 177.2cm → 178.2cm/68.8kg
2nd Year

"In volleyball... everyone on your team's side of the net are not your enemies!"

Tanaka is the team's boisterous wing spiker. He has budding potential to become the next ace spiker. He always manages to stay positive in bleak situations. Tanaka quickly took Hinata under his wing towards the beginning of the latter’s tenure on the team.

Favourite food: Melon bread.

Current concern: When he tried calling out to a lost-looking first year girl to tell her the way to her classroom, she started to cry.

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• Affectionate Nickname: His older sister Saeko and best friend Nishinoya call him "Ryū".
• Animal Theme Naming: Ryūnosuke has a Played for Laughs rivalry with Taketora.
• Bald Head of Toughness: He's frequently mockingly called "Baldy" or some other variant. His shaved head accentuates his tougher, more brusque personality.
• Beneath the Mask: He appears confident and boastful, but during the Inarizaki match, it's shown that he often thinks of himself self-depreciatingly, calling himself a know-it-all who doesn't have anything special to contribute.
• Berserk Button: He'll get pissed off if you tell him he's bald or call him "Baldy" (even with no malicious intent). Played for Laughs.
• Big Brother Instinct: He is quick to jump to the defense of his underclassmen, especially Hinata.
• Big Brother Mentor: Does his best to be a helpful and older brother mentor to the first years, particularly Hinata. He goes out of his way to look after Hinata and Kageyama while they prepare for their match with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, and he's desperate when begging his sister to drive Hinata and Kageyama to Tokyo in the OVA because he doesn't want to let them down as their upperclassman.
• Big Little Brother: Almost 180cm tall, whereas his 21 year old sister Saeko is 155cm tall.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • He and Nishinoya get along great because of their very similar boisterous personalities.
  • Played with in his relationship with Nekoma's Yamamoto. The two initially dislike each other, but later on develop a Vitriolic Best Buds type of relationship... because they're pretty much the same person.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's brash, competitive, and one of the largest hams on the team. He's also one of their best offensive players.
• Book Dumb: An excellent spiker and likely to become the next ace of the team, but has less than impressive school grades. Supposedly runs in the family, snarking that Saeko is just as dumb as him when she offers to help him study.
• Cannot Talk to Women: Downplayed. Despite his obsession with girls and obvious crush on Shimizu, he's surprisingly shy when talking to girls he's just met such as Yachi.
• Catchphrase: Loves to mock Tokyo teams (principally Nekoma) by calling them "city boys".
• Comical Angry Face: The absolute master of those, as he tries to intimidate other teams.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's a Large Ham that often tries to hilariously intimidate people and has awful grades, but he's a powerful spiker nonetheless (second most powerful after Asahi). His mental fortitude is nothing to scoff at either, often performing at his absolute best even when cornered hard.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: When he first joined Karasuno, his hair was not shaven like it is in the present and he was even more unruly. After seeing how dignified the now-third years acted despite the club being treated unfairly, he decided to follow their ways and adopted his current buzz-cut as a fresh start.
• Face of a Thug: Has a delinquent-like face, although he's not as bad as Asahi, and most of the time he puts on a thug-like face on purpose in order to intimidate opponents. His thug face was enough to scare a girl in her first year whe he was only trying to help her.
• Flipping the Bird: Frequently has his middle finger up, though only in the manga.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Nishinoya. The two are very physical with each other, with Tanaka often lifting Nishinoya up in the air when excited and complimenting each other somewhat excessively.
• Hidden Depths: Despite his easygoing Hot-Blooded nature, his mental fortitude can be easily swayed in matches which opponents sometimes comment on or take adantage of. He does well to overcome this most of the time, and is considered to be the mental MVP of the team.
• Hot-Blooded: Easily provoked, and likes to cheer boisterously and loudly (sometimes too loudly) when scoring a point. However, compared to Hinata and Nishinoya, he does have a bit more common sense, and despite (or because of) his temper he has the potential to become Karasuno's next ace spiker.
• It's All My Fault: Due to his wavering mentality, he's quick to blame himself when he's not playing as well as he wants and things go awry in a match. Notably, he blames himself for injuring Daichi during their game against Wakutani since he collided into him, and is shocked and unfocused afterwards. Luckily, Ennoshita and Asahi make him realize he's not to blame since it was an accident and they're glad he wasn't injured too.
• Large Ham: Loud and boisterous in and out of the volleyball court.
• Leeroy Jenkins: When Hinata and Kageyama failed their final exams, Tanaka wanted to help them attend the Tokyo Training Camp with Saeko's help before he asked her permission to do so until she finally agreed.
• Meaningful Name: Ryū (龍) means dragon, which is a good contrast with Nekoma's Taketora Yamamoto who has "tora" (tiger) in his name.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's often seen shirtless, and he's very muscled.
• No Indoor Voice: It's rare to see Tanaka not yelling.
• Rejection Affection: He's very obvious about his crush on Shimizu, despite always rejecting his advances (including his proposal in their very first meeting in a flashback) and dismissing his offers to help. They're friendly about it, however. She eventually returns his feelings during the Time Skip and are married by the final arc.
• Shirtless Scene: Often shown shirtless when in the locking room. Sometimes acts as Mr. Fanservice and other times is Played for Laughs, such as when he takes his shirt off to spins in over his head after scoring a point in the three-on-three match which invites a lot of mockery from his team.
• Signature Laugh: He has a loud, heartfelt laugh.
• Verbal Tic: In Japanese dialogue, he tends to end his sentences with kora, a gruff and impolite interjection that's translated as "damn it". The official English translation of the manga attempts to replicate this by having him end many of his sentences with "bruh".
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Often clashes with Yamamoto especially when girls are concerned, but they still get along and talk to each other the most out of the others on the opposing team.

Chikara Ennoshita

Chikara Ennoshita — #6

Voiced by: Toshiki Masuda (JP), Adam Noble (EN), Seung-woo Min (KR), Victor Vazquez (Latin America)

Played by: Kazuma Kawahara (2015 - 2018), Yuushin Nakatani (2019 - 2021)

Position: Wing Spiker
Height/Weight: 175.4cm → 176.1cm/66.4kg
2nd Year

One of the second-year members who often looks out for the first years and also frequently has to keep Tanaka and Nishinoya under control. He plays in the practice match with Aoba Johsai but afterward becomes a benchwarmer.

Favourite food: Vinegared sea pineapple.

Current concern: Even when he's really fired up, people still tell him he looks sleepy.

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• Adaptation Expansion: Ennoshita gets quite a bit more to do in the stage plays compared to his manga/anime counterparts, such as being one of the key players to analyze the synchronized attack.
• All There in the Manual: Though the anime and main story of the manga never mention it, extra material reveals he's an aspiring film director. The light novels contain some of his scripts which are all spoofs of other works. ^Examples  Shimmer Tsukky and the Philosopher's Ball, Crow's Angels, Haikyuu Fighter: The Movie, Final Haikyuu Quest
• The Benchwarmer: He's one of the second-year benchwarmers after Asahi and Nishinoya rejoin the team. Although not the ideal scenario, he and the other second years acknowledge the first years' skills and reassure them they'll still do their best to stand on court with everyone else. It's a scary situation for him when he's suddenly brought into a match as a substitute for an injured Daichi; although his leadership and determination helps the team pull through, he's reminded of how lacking he still is in some areas and how he once "ran away" as a first-year.
• Brainy Brunette: Has dark brown hair and he mentions he's never had failing marks. He ends up having to tutor Tanaka and Nishinoya during the upcoming exams so they don't fail, and later helps out Kageyama and Hinata study for their supplementary exams.
• Brutal Honesty: Just pay attention to whenever he opens his mouth. Ennoshita is often able to guess what other people, notably the first years, are thinking and say it out loud without sugarcoating, leaving them bewildered. He also doesn’t hesitate in calling the Hot-Blooded Nishinoya "obnoxious" during an extra comic, something even the resident snarker Tsukishima had the sense of not doing.
  Everyone: [discusses why Nishinoya isn't good with girls]
  Tsukishima: Because he's annoy- [coughs] I mean, a bit loud at times.
  Ennoshita: Because he is annoying and obnoxious.
  Everyone: [thinking] HE JUST SAID IT OUT LOUD!
• Butt-Monkey: He gets pushed around a lot in the stage plays. Averted in the manga and anime where he's the most respected second year and keeps his cohort or underclassmen on their toes.
• Characterization Marches On: In the early stages of the series, Ennoshita looks more like your traditional, generic Nice Guy. As the story goes on and by the time his Day in the Limelight arrives, he's gained a sharp tongue and acts more like the leader and handler of the second years, often openly annoyed at Tanaka and Noya's antics. He's still nice, but that niceness is more directed at the first years, while the "disconcerted by his more hammy teammates" part tends to fall more on Yamaguchi.
• A Day in the Limelight: Ennoshita is subbed in when Daichi gets injured mid-game against Wakutani, and even gets flashbacks about him. It's highlighted that he's more reliable than he looks and is the second year most likely to take over Daichi's place as captain.
• Deadpan Snarker: With more emphasis on the deadpan. He tends to make snarky comments about his team, which comes with being surrounded by Hot-Blooded loud mouths such as Tanaka and Nishinoya.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He doesn't believe in his potential to become a regular because of the period of time he spent avoiding volleyball practice when training got tough.
• Meaningful Name: Chikara (力) means power, and he has the skills appropriate to potentially succeed Sawamura as the next captain. His full name in particular comes from "en no shita no chikara mochi" (縁の下の力持ち) meaning "unsung hero" or "person who performs a thankless task".
• Nice Guy: Despite his Brutal Honesty, Ennoshita's key trait is his kindness and reliability towards his teammates, which is why the younger players listen to him and everyone feels confident he'll do well as the next captain.
• Only Sane Man: He's usually one of the members to keep the others in line, namely the "Volleyball Idiots".
• Rank Up: Ennoshita is slated to succeed Daichi as next year's captain. A short montage shows the third years graduating with Daichi passing on his duties to Ennoshita, and the second-turn-third-year is seen leading the team on a jog some time afterward. Other than Karasuno losing in Round 3 of Spring High and narrowly losing the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminary match to Date Tech under his care, not much is known of his leadership, but the way he looks after his underclassmen and same-age members in the present certainly gives a good impression.
• Shipper on Deck: Ennoshita tells Tanaka he has a "chance", after he watches him talk to Kanoka and notices how much the girl seems to like her childhood friend. This doesn't do Tanaka any favours since he 1) has a brain malfunction (he's too used to Shimizu denying his affections) and 2) becomes so self-conscious about it that he rejects Kanoka (who he thinks is about to confess to him but isn't) just as Kanoka's "boyfriend" (actually her cousin) arrives, which prompts Tanaka to run away in embarrassment while cursing Ennoshita.
• Supporting Leader: He's the most likely candidate for captaincy once Daichi graduates, since he's the most level-headed second year. He frequently keeps the second and first years in check when Daichi's not around, and Saeko explains that he's taken on the leading role when studying with the second years. The team thus has some good faith in him when he's made to take Daichi's place in the Wakutani match.
• Team Dad: Of all second-years, Ennoshita is this to his classmates and underclassmen teammates (usually Tanaka and Nishinoya regarding their poor academics). He later succeeded Daichi shortly after the third years' graduation.
• 10-Minute Retirement: He, alongside Narita and Kinoshita, started skipping club activities in their first year due to Coach Ukai's Sr strict training. He enjoyed getting to relax in the comfort of his home at first, but returned to the club after reminiscing over the time he made a good receive in a practice match. It's because of this period that he doesn't have much confidence in himself and also feels unworthy of potentially being the next captain of Karasuno.
• Those Two Guys: Frequently appears alongside Kinoshita and Narita with their main roles being second-year benchwarmers. He initially has little significance but eventually gets fleshed out more than the other two.

Hisashi Kinoshita

Hisashi Kinoshita — #7

Voiced by: Nobuyori Sagara (JP), Blake Shepard (EN), Mario Leyla (Latin America)

Played by: Sean Osada (2019 - "The Strongest Challengers" (2020)), Shouta Morimoto ("The Dumpster Battle" (2020) - 2021)

Position: Wing Spiker
Height/Weight: 174.7cm → 175.8cm/65.5kg
2nd Year

One of the other second years and reserves.

Favourite food: Pickled ginger.

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• Adaptation Expansion: The stage plays give him a bit more material to work with, although it isn't that major.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: He isn't present in the first few stage plays due to lacking significance at the time. He finally makes his debut in the first stage play covering Nationals since he has more of a role to play here.
• The Benchwarmer: He's one of the second-year benchwarmers, although Ukai later sees potential in him as a pinch server. Despite it not being the ideal scenario, he and the other second years acknowledge the first years' skills and reassure them they'll still do their best to stand on court with everyone else.
• A Day in the Limelight: After the Miyagi Spring High Prelimnaries, more focus is put on him when he begins practicing the jump float serve, allowing him to be another pinch server for Karasuno's run at Nationals. He helps Nishinoya with his overhead receives during practice, since it's something he's weak at. He's especially emphasized in the Inarizaki match when Nishinoya finally tackles Atsumu Miya's float serve; Nishinoya thinks back to all of the practice the two of them did alongside his grandfather's advice to get help from people whenever he's scared, and he specifically thanks Kinoshita and acknowledges the pivotal role he played.
• Gratuitous English: Shouts and says random English (with a remarkably good accent) in the stage plays. Justified as his first stage actor is fluent in English.
• Nervous Wreck: Not usually, but during games, he's even more awkward than Yamaguchi when being subbed in. Ukai calls him out for it when he's subbed back out during the Date Tech practice match.
• 10-Minute Retirement: He, alongside Ennoshita and Narita, started skipping club activities in their first year due to Coach Ukai's Sr strict training. Feeling guilty, all three of them came back (better than two other fellow first years who also left but never returned).
• Those Two Guys: Frequently appears alongside Ennoshita and Narita. He has a small character arc during Nationals but otherwise his main role is to be a second year benchwarmer alongside the others.

Kazuhito Narita

Kazuhito Narita — #8

Voiced by: Kōtarō Nishiyama (JP), Gabriel Regojo (EN), Luis Koellar (Latin America)

Position: Middle Blocker
Height/Weight: 180.2cm → 180.9cm/70.2kg
2nd Year

One of the other second years and reserves.

Favourite food: Omelette sushi.

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• Adapted Out: He isn't present in the stage play due to being a Bit Character, making him the only Karasuno member who's unadapted.
• The Benchwarmer: He's one of the second-year benchwarmers, only coming on court when Tsukishima or Hinata are unavailable. Although not the ideal scenario, he and the other second years acknowledge the first years' skills and reassure them they'll still do their best to stand on court with everyone else.
• Bit Character: He's mostly there to fill in the ranks and gets little spotlight or development. Unlike Ennoshita and Kinoshita, Narita gets no significant character arcs in the story. He does however occasionally subtitute for Hinata or Tsukishima which shows his reliability.
• A Day in the Limelight: Is subbed in whenever one of the middle blockers in the starting lineup (ie. Tsukishima and Hinata) needs to get taken out. The most significant example is when he gets subbed in during the final set of the Shiratorizawa match while Tsukishima receives treatment for the finger he injured from blocking Ushijima; despite the immense pressure at the time, he helps score and block for the team and holds his own until Tsukishima comes back and helps the team win the match.
• 10-Minute Retirement: He, alongside Ennoshita and Kinoshita, started skipping club activities in their first year due to Coach Ukai's Sr strict training. Feeling guilty, all three of them came back (better than two other fellow first years who also left but never returned).
• Those Two Guys: Frequently appears alongside Kinoshita and Ennoshita and has little significance other than being a back-up member.

Kei Tsukishima

Kei Tsukishima — #11

Voiced by: Kōki Uchiyama, Tomo Muranaka (young) (JP), Leraldo Anzaldua (EN), Yong-woo Shin (KR), Eduardo Garza (Latin America)

Played by: Ryōtarō Kosaka (2015 - 2018), Ryousuke Yamamoto (2019 - 2021)

Position: Middle Blocker
Height/Weight: 188.3cm → 190.1cm/68.4kg
1st Year

"This is just a club. Why do you put so much [effort] into it? It's because you put so much into it that you suffer later."

One of the other first years, who happens to be the tallest member of the team. Due to his height and intellect, he is an excellent blocker. However, he lacks a drive to improve, due to his disdain towards volleyball. Tsukishima loves to incriminate Hinata and Kageyama.

Favourite food: Shortcake.

Current concern: Since starting high school, he once again has to deal with the various people asking how you read the character for his first name.^note The kanji character for Kei, 蛍, can also be read as Hotaru which means "firefly".

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• Academic Athlete: He's a starting member despite only being in his first year, and he's regarded as a smart guy at school (Class 1-4 is one of the advanced classes). Hinata and Kageyama at one point (begrudgingly) ask him to tutor them so they won't fail their exams. While Tsukishima's physical prowess is average at best (only his ~190cm height is something to write home about), he makes up for it with his intellect; the official statistics rate his game sense 5/5, meaning he strategises very effectively during matches.
• Affectionate Nickname: Yamaguchi calls him "Tsukki". Eventually other characters, like Kuroo and Bokuto, catch this habit as well, much to Tsukishima's disdain.
• Aloof Big Brother: Inverted. He's the aloof younger brother, which heavily contrasts him with the more cheerful and devoted Akiteru, his older brother. Though despite being distant, Tsukishima still greatly respects and looks up to his older brother.
• Awesome by Analysis: Tsukishima's ability to stay calm under pressure and gradually analyze patterns and appropriate responses against opponents during a match turns into one of his greatest strengths. This proves to be critical in the match against Shiratorizawa - he's able to figure out attack patterns and tells of individual players like Ushijima, as well as both team's faults and flaws within a few points, and adjusts himself as well as the rest of his team accordingly.
• Badass Bookworm: He's one of the smartest characters and he's known for having good grades. On top of that, he comes up with strategies on the fly, especially when they are up against Shiratorizawa.
• Big Brother Worship: Has an older brother who also plays volleyball, and who he used to admire a lot as a kid. Although it's downplayed in the present, he still respects him a lot.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Tsukishima is the tallest player on the team and his intellect in court matches prodigy Kageyama’s, but he's initially criticized for not putting in enough effort in his training and matches. It’s explicitly said that if he had the drive, he could be a much more impressive player. After being called out by Yamaguchi, Kuroo and Bokuto, he starts taking his training more seriously and invests more in his blocking.
• Brutal Honesty: He doesn't mince his words, to say the least.
• Bully Hunter: Downplayed. As a child, he insulted and scared off bullies who were messing with Yamaguchi, which started off their friendship once Yamaguchi thanked him for helping.
• Catchphrase Insult: Prone to saying "Shut up, Yamaguchi" whenever the character in question bothers him in some way (which is often). He says it more in earlier chapters, but he eventually stops after he and Yamaguchi hit their respective character developments.
• Character Development: Although he remains a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, he eventually eases up on pushing people's buttons (though not by a whole lot) and is a lot more open with his emotions in moments of great exhilaration or stress. He's also much more willing to get invested with volleyball; asking a lot more questions about how to get around opponents, openly sharing strategies with the team, leading in key blocks, and being more of a team player than ever. As a result of this and finding his "moment", he starts to gain more of Determinator side, willing to play until the very end, even when obviously hurt.
• Cheerful Child: Until his Cynicism Catalyst, Tsukishima was actually more optimistic and happy as a kid.
• Chick Magnet: If Yamaguchi's current concern is of any indication, cute girls always wants to talk to him about Tsukishima, hinting that the latter may be popular with girls. Though it's unknown whether or not he's aware of it.
• Childhood Friends: He and Yamaguchi have been friends since elementary school when he saved the latter from bullies.
• Collector of the Strange: One panel shows him having a wall of dinosaur memorabilia in his room.
• Curtains Match the Window: His yellowish eyes match his blond hair, which (unlike Ukai or Kenma) isn't dyed.
• Cynicism Catalyst: When he finds out that all the hard work put it by his brother to be part of the first string of Karasuno was for naught, his views concerning volleyball become more cynical and he starts believing Hard Work Hardly Works.
• Deadpan Snarker: Frequently snarks with a stoic and slightly disgusted look his face. Not of the good-natured variety.
• Death Glare: Sometimes when in the heat of games, he has an intense glare that rivals Kageyama's. He gives a hilarious one to his brother when he sees the latter showed up to his game anyway despite his protests.
• Defrosting Ice King: Part of his Character Development, though it is more gradual than Kageyama, as his troll nature is still present.
• Determinator: Thanks to Character Development, he evolves from a decent yet half-hearted player to a much more strong-willed middle blocker, notably in the Shiratorizawa match. Despite being temporarily taken out of commission due to an injured finger, he's still determined to play until the very end, something that the old Tsukishima would've never even attempted.
• Dismotivation: He does not like putting too much effort into things that seem like a lost cause. He eventually starts to grow out of it, as the team notices when he starts to ask questions to the coach about blocking and strategy, something he never did before.
• Foil: To Hinata. Tsukishima possesses height and wits (two things Hinata wishes he had), but doesn't particularly enjoy playing volleyball; Hinata is short and relies basically on his jump and speed. Another parallel shows up in that while they share the same position, Tsukishima focuses on the block itself, while Hinata is more interested in spiking. Their names also contrast, with their names relating to the moon and sun, respectively.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Tsukishima is introduced as the tall boy in glasses with only a mild interest in volleyball and a horrible personality. Although he still remains smug and provocative at times (mostly to Kageyama and Hinata), he comes to embrace the sport and (grudgingly) the people around him, and his backstory reveals he was a much more pleasant kid until his brother's secret came to light.
• The Generic Guy: Tendou taunts that Tsukishima is the boring member of Karasuno, since he's not as flashy as the others. Tendou's quickly proven wrong when Tsukishima starts working around Tendou's guess block.
• Genius Sweet Tooth: He is an Academic Athlete whose favorite food is shortcake, according to his character profile.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: A major reason behind his cynicism. He assumes that no matter how you hard you work and what you achieve, there'll always be a bigger, harder challenge ahead. He even later puts himself as inferior to Hinata, because he considers talent a superior virtue to hard work and doesn't consider himself gifted just for being tall.
• Have We Met?: He saved a younger Yamaguchi from bullies but didn't remember him when the latter came to thank him.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: He's often seen with headphones when not playing volleyball, which highlights his aloof, standoffish personality.
• Hero on Hiatus: During the final match of the Miyagi preliminaries for Spring High against Shiratorizawa he's briefly pulled out after suffering an injury on the pinky finger. He comes back at a vital time after receiving first aid.
• I Can Still Fight!: As part of his Character Development, later in the story he shockingly becomes resilient to the idea of being kept out/getting subbed out of a match due to physical strain; after he returns from getting medical treatment for his injured finger during the Shiratorizawa match, he's very eager to inform Ukai that he's still in a good enough condition to play, and when he's visibly fatigued at Nationals he insists that he doesn't need to get taken out of the match. A stark contrast to his initial characterisation, where he's not particularly motivated about playing.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Although Tsukishima acts rather smug, he's shown to be greatly insecure, as he refused to put so much work into volleyball in fear of being hurt like his older brother. Then after winning against the match against Shiratorizawa, he calls himself pathetic for only blocking one spike from Ushijima.
• Invisible Parents: While Tsukishima's mother makes a few appearances at home in both flashbacks and the present, it's unknown if he also has a father living with him or not.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Acts very smug towards Hinata and Kageyama upon meeting them, often mocking the latter for his old habits as the "King of the Court" as well as using the nickname just to mess with him. He is shown to have a kinder side to him, although though they're usually reserved for his close friend Yamaguchi and his brother Akiteru. For all his bad attitude, to his credit he also does help Hinata and Kageyama study when they ask him to, and in the OVA, he blatantly insults them in order to motivate them to study harder.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Downplayed. In the post-timeskip, Tsukishima grew his hair a bit longer and appeared much more attractive with it.
• Kick the Dog: He can twist the knife about a personal matter for Kageyama and Hinata at times (such as when Hinata is stuck being ball boy at the Miyagi Training camp and tries to apologize for his behavior to Tsukishima only for the latter to mock him losing his time), even after his Character Development.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After being one of the only people to actually block one of Ushijima's spikes, he takes the match far more seriously than he ever did. It's to the point where the moment he steps back on to the court, he immediately and very eagerly informs Ukai that he's still in good enough condition to play.
• Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: He mellows down after spending time with the volleyball team, all of whom are significantly more amiable than he is (except Kageyama). During the Tokyo camps, Kuroo and Bokuto more or less shower him with support until he starts really loving volleyball again.
• Meaningful Name: "Tsuki" (月) means "moon", a contrast to Hinata's "sun" (日). His given name, Kei, is an Alternate Character Reading for 蛍 ("firefly"), usually read as "hotaru".
• Mouthy Kid: Despite being sweet as a child, Akiteru implies at one point that even as a kid (and before his Broken Pedestal), Kei has always been a Deadpan Snarker that didn't get along well with other kids.
• Not So Stoic: He generally expresses very little other than snark, but will emote more expresively when the situation calls for it:
  • He lets out a victorious yell after managing to successfully block Ushijima, all while telling himself that its only one point, that it's only one game, and that it's only a sports club.
  • He loses it when Hinata sneaks into the Miyagi training camp that Tsukishima was invited to, baffled that Hinata would even dare to do something so outrageous. The others are impressed that Hinata's actions can leave even Tsukishima stuttering.
  • He yells at his team at Nationals when he's being taken to the bench at a vital time during the Kamomedai match due to cramps, desperately giving them blocking instructions. A flustered Shimizu has to physically drag him away.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Tsukishima initially likes volleyball enough to be a part of the team, but not enough to push himself to improve. This is due to his backstory where he found out not even his seemingly talented brother Akiteru made it to his team's starting lineup (and Kageyama's natural talent and Hinata's eagerness as players certainly doesn't help). He ends up being the last one to even begin to grow as a player as a result, and this only happens when Kuroo and Bokuto's criticism about his half-hearted effort annoy him so much that he can't help but improve in order to finally shut them up and prove them wrong. From then on, despite his aloofness and seemingly lack of enthusiasm, he occasionally shows just how invested and pumped up he can truly get in volleyball (such as his fist pump after blocking Ushijima).
  • While he's pretty blunt with his own teammates, Tsukishima's reputation as a quieter player on the court compared to Hinata or even Kageyama means that it's hilarious when he actually does engage in trash talk with other teams - when Tendou and Shirabu remark (many times) during the Shiratorizawa match that Tsukishima is annoying them because of how often he's managed to block their shots, he finally gleefully replies back, "Thanks!" just to rile them up.
  • Although he largely manages to maintain his composure it becomes apparent though his internal monologue that by the third set of Karasuno's match with Inarizaki that he is clearly frustrated that he never manages to get a block off on Suna.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He visibly loses it when Hinata crashes at the Miyagi camp and yells at him for being so stupidly impulsive. Hinata is obviously taken aback.
• Only Friend: To Yamaguchi in the beginning, until Yamaguchi befriends the other boys in the team and Yachi.
• Only Sane Man: As part of being The Stoic, Tsukishima is always apathetic to anything his teammates does. For example, he's the only one who doesn't cry after Karasuno loses to Aoba Johsai in the Inter-High tournament, doesn't show off his jersey when Yachi becomes the official manager, and doesn't drool upon hearing about what's for dinner.
• Pet the Dog: As much of a Jerkass he can be, Tsukishima showcases on many occasions that he's far from being a bad person.
  • His whole friendship with Yamaguchi is filled with those moments. Even if he tells him to shut up at times, Tsukishima really does care about Yamaguchi and sees him as his best friend. Not only did he stop bullies messing with him when they were children, even in the present day he showcases moments of concern for Yamaguchi (such as when he tells him to go to the toilet if he feels sick or kindly gives him a towel after Yamaguchi doubted himself on his float serve against Wakutani).
  • Tsukishima holds his older brother in high regard, even if their relationship isn't as close as they used to be since Akiteru's lie was revealed.
  • Tsukishima riles up Hinata and Kageyama on purpose in order to motivate them to study so they can pass the supplementary exams and be present at the Tokyo summer training camp, showcasing he knows how important volleyball is to them and how the team needs them to be present.
• Phrase Catcher: Gets told "Sorry, Tsukki!" by Yamaguchi often, usually when Tsukishima himself tells him to shut up.
• The Rival: Downplayed. Not that Tsukishima will ever admit it, but like Kageyama he gets increasingly pushed to play better by watching Hinata. It even becomes a Running Gag that whenever Hinata succeeds at blowing past other teams blockers, Tsukishima will look just as frustrated as members from the other team.
• Safety in Indifference: Due to a past incident with his brother, he tries to detach himself from volleyball because he thinks that the more he cares about it, the more he will suffer if he isn't successful. He constantly tells himself (and others) that Karasuno is just a club and that anything that happens doesn't really affect him.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Tsukishima wears glasses and has 5/5 points in strategy on the official character profile. He has also mentions never getting failing marks at school, and helps tutor Kageyama and Hinata for their exams.
• Smug Smiler: He always sports a provocative smirk to piss off his opponents, or most of the time, Kageyama and Hinata.
• Stepford Snarker: Tsukishima frequently snarks at everyone as a way to rattle them, but it's hinted that he actually has an inferiority complex about his role on the team, particularly feeling inferior to the more athletic Hinata. Over time this gets revealed to be rooted in how his brother got denied entry into the volleyball team and overshadowed by the Little Giant.
• Stoic Spectacles: Wears glasses and shows less emotion than anyone else in the team. He's usually collected unless he's mocking someone or something shocking gets him out of his usual vague expression.
• Stone Wall: Further contrasting him with Hinata. His spikes don't have much variety, but his tactical awareness and height makes him an excellent blocker.
• Stopped Caring: He did not take it well as a child when he found out that his brother, whom he looked up to as a volleyball player, wasn't even a starter on the team and had been lying to him about being the ace the whole time.
• The Strategist: Starts to invest more in blocking tactics after the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminaries. He's usually the one directing his teammates on where and how to block on the court to shut down troublesome opponents.
• Those Two Guys: Tsukishima is usually seen hanging out with Yamaguchi.
• Troll: Loves pushing Hinata and Kageyama's buttons, and it's more malicious than playful teasing. He also sometimes enjoys deliberately pissing off his opponents in between plays.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Tsukishima was rather sweet as a child, at least towards his big brother, until his Broken Pedestal.
• Verbal Tic: He does a "tch" sound whenever he's frustrated or annoyed, which of course happens 98% of the time. Hinata jokes it makes him sound like a clock. In one of the episode previews from Season 3, Hinata lampshaded this.
• We Do Not Know Each Other: When Hinata sneaks into the Miyagi training camp he wasn't invited to and stands next to Tsukishima (who was invited), an appalled Tsukishima mentally tells himself to ignore him and make as if he didn't know him, despite funnily enough wearing the same team jersey.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: A downplayed example. The cover for Volume 19 shows that Tsukishima holds a shield to represent his notable blocking skills.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He gets surprisingly angry when Hinata crashed the Miyagi training camp practice (that he wasn't invited to) and calls him out on doing something so stupid and scandalous.

Tadashi Yamaguchi

Tadashi Yamaguchi — #12

Voiced by: Soma Saito, Hiro Nakajima (young) (JP), Cameron Bautsch (EN), Do-hyung Nam (KR), Alex Villamar (Latin America)

Played by: Kairi Miura (2015 - 2018), Yoshinari Oribe (2019 - 2021)

Position: Middle Blocker
Height/Weight: 179.5cm → 180cm/63.0kg
1st Year

"This line [of the volleyball court]... everything beyond this line is a different world."

Tsukishima's companion who is almost never seen without him. Yamaguchi has a strong desire to become one of the starting members, as he dislikes being the only first year who isn't one. He trains hard out of school to improve his serving technique, and eventually becomes the team's pinch server.

Favourite food: French fries that have gone soft and floppy.

Current concern: When he thinks a cute girl comes over to talk to him, all she'll ask about is Tsukki.

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• A Day in the Limelight: Yamaguchi has a few episodes/chapters that indicate that he is more than just Tsukishima's timid Yes-Man, most notably his improved jump float serves during a match with Aoba Johsai in the Spring Tournament.
• All of the Other Reindeer: As a child, Yamaguchi was mocked for his freckles and scrawniness, until he met and became friends with Tsukishima.
• Apologizes a Lot: Always says, "Sorry, Tsukki," whenever the aforementioned friend is annoyed by him for whatever reason.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Yamaguchi was bullied when he was younger. Tsukishima told off his bullies and they've been good friends ever since.
• The Benchwarmer: Yamaguchi is the only first year who is not a regular. He initially resents this, saying he doesn't want to be the only one benched, so he asks Shimada to teach him how to do a jump float serve. After a lot of practice and a few failed attempts, he finally perfects it in the Miyagi Spring High Preliminaries match against Aoba Johsai and from that moment onwards gets called in the match whenever the team needs to stop their opponent's momentum.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Yamaguchi is an absolute sweetheart and means no harm. However, he has his limits; at one point, he grabs Tsukishima, whom he is tired of seeing him not work hard enough, by his shirt and literally shakes some sense into him with an Armor-Piercing Question and a look of absolute anger on his face. Tsukishima is deeply shocked by this.
• Birds of a Feather: Yamaguchi shares the same traits as the new manager Yachi, as both are first-years who are easily nervous in overwhelming situations, take advanced classes in Karasuno (bonus points for being able to help Hinata and Kageyama study before attending the Tokyo training camp), are close friends with their respective Stoic Spectacles, and they cheer for the team in practice or official matces.
• Book Smart: Other than his lack of proficiency in English and 3/5 intelligence from his character profile, Yamaguchi is in Class 4, one of the two advanced classes.
• Break the Cutie: The shy and amicable Yamaguchi has a few moments of this, which includes his freckles being the reason why he was bullied as a kid, his best friend's lack of effort and attitude in volleyball, and, to a more emphasizing take as a the only first-year benchwarmer, his first jump float serve during the Inter-High match with Aoba Johsai.
• Character Development: He starts as Tsukishima's Only Friend and Yes-Man, but the more the manga progresses, the more Yamaguchi works hard to be a valuable player despite being benched and becomes more confident in himself. He even goes as far as calling out Tsukishima on his laziness and attitude towards volleyball.
• Cheerful Child: Was very cheerful as a kid, as seen when he fanboyed over Tsukishima's brother being the ace.
• Catchphrase: "Sorry, Tsukki!" in response to Tsukishima telling him to shut up (which happens often).
• Childhood Friends: He and Tsukishima have been friends since elementary school.
• Color Motif: Green. Yamaguchi has his hair, sports bag, and cell phone colored green, especially a couple of his outfits back when he was an elementary schooler.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Downplayed. Although not a bad player, Yamaguchi doesn't have physical advantages like Hinata, Tanaka, or Asahi, nor skill like Daichi and Tsukishima. Resentful of how he's the only first-year not on the starting lineup, he picks up the jump float serve so he can at least be useful in another area. This allows him to eventually become Karasuno's go-to pinch server, whose sole purpose is to score as many points as possible with their serve alone.
• Crush Blush: When Yachi first met the team in the gym, Yamaguchi blushed and thought that she's cute.
  • One of the Haikyuu-bu!! chapters shows that Yamaguchi has a crush on Yachi, given that he wanted to get the bromide picture card of her.
• Cuddle Bug: He was seen cuddling a pillow in his sleep during the summer training camp.
• Cute Giant: Yamaguchi is one of the three tallest first-years who is 5'10.9" (or 180 cm) and is a Badass Adorable pinch server.
• Determined Expression: He usually casts an extremely determined expression (if not entirely a Death Glare) in the direction of Ukai when he's ready to jump into a set. It's so poignant that Ukai usually feels it from his place on the coach's bench even though he's focused on watching the game on the court.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Yamaguchi's hair was cut shorter than his previous length as a first-year, which indicates that he overcame his fears and insecurities by the time he succeeded Ennoshita as team captain.
• Foreshadowing: Yamaguchi looks out with his first-year teammates most of the time, especially being the first one to notice Tsukishima's bleeding hand shortly after blocking Ushiwaka's spike. Along with him being the token good first-year who doesn't make a lot of trouble, this ultimately leads to him being fit to become a captain two years later.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Downplayed. Yamaguchi grabs Tsukishima by the shirt at one point and literally shakes some sense into him to get out of his cynical attitude about volleyball that lasted for years, something he's never dared to do until he's had enough.
• Grew a Spine: Is usually timid and amicable, but eventually finds it in him to call Tsukishima out on his negative attitude. Notable as he's initially portrayed to be Tsukishima's Yes-Man.
• I Just Want to Be Special: He works hard throughout the series to stop being benched so he can be just as valuable as the other first years. During the Miyagi Spring High Preliminary match again Aoba Johsai, he scores five points for their team, and holds down the fort during the Shiratorizawa match while Tsukishima is in the infirmary.
• Idiot Hair: He has a few strands of hair sticking up, although he's a timid and soft guy rather than an idiot.
• Innocently Insensitive: Played for laughs.
  • Yamaguchi implied that Tanaka is bald when the former said that there are hot bald guys.
  • In one of the CD dramas, Tanaka questioned his teammates as to why Nishinoya isn't popular with girls. Yamaguchi answered that the libero is quite childish, much to the latter's chagrin.
• Lovable Coward: Even when he failed his jump float serve during the Interhigh Preliminaries, Yamaguchi is still valued by his teammates (especially Tsukishima) because of his higher determination to become special like Hinata and Kageyama.
• Luminescent Blush: Yamaguchi is often seen blushing in certain ways such as feeling embarrassed or meeting a cute girl like Yachi.
• Meaningful Name: His given name, Tadashi (忠), means "loyalty" or "devotion". He's certainly been a loyal friend to Tsukishima since childhood.
• Morality Pet: To some extent towards Tsukishima. Even if the latter sometimes tells him to "shut up", he clearly sees him as his friend and is at his most sympathetic when it comes to him (or his older brother).
• My Greatest Failure: His first jump float serve from the Aoba Johsai match in the Inter-High prelims (along with his high school court debut) failed miserably as the ball didn't go through the net.
• Nervous Wreck: Contrary to Hinata, his overflowing nerves are not Played for Laughs in the first match against Aoba Johsai. Thanks to Character Development, Yamaguchi grows out of this and becomes more confident in future games.
• Nice Guy: Yamaguchi is one of the few most amicable guys in the team, in stark contrast to his salty Childhood Friend Tsukishima.
• Odd Friendship: Before witnessing Tsukishima's Broken Pedestal, Tsukishima's cold and uncaring personality seems to contrast heavily with Yamaguchi's much more gentle personality. As the series goes on however, they seem to get closer and have a much more genuine friendship.
• Only Friend: To Tsukishima. Even as a child, Tsukishima was too stingy towards his classmates, and Akiteru is surprised to learn he has other friends than Yamaguchi in the match against Shiratorizawa.
• Only Sane Man: Among the first years, Yamaguchi takes this role whenever it's either Tsukishima bickering Kageyama or Hinata making any trouble, or perhaps both. This hints that he is the only one who's well-suited to become captain in his third year.
• Paralysis by Analysis: When called in as a pinch server against their Miyagi Interhigh Preliminary match against Aoba Johsai, he completely overthinks the serve, causing it to fall short.
• Phrase Catcher: Whenever he says something to annoy Tsukishima, gets a "Shut up, Yamaguchi" in response.
• Rank Up: Panels showing Hinata's cohort in their third-year jerseys confirms Yamaguchi becomes the captain, since his jersey has the underlined #1 (a common tradition which Karasuno follows). It's a nice accomplishment for a first-year benchwarmer who's initially overshadowed by his talented peers and has to work his way to his pinch-server role; what's more impressive is that it's under his captaincy that Karasuno achieves their best Spring High result in recent times (semifinals and third place).
• Shrinking Violet: He's shy and initially lacks self-confidence. He grows more comfortable with the team and gets stronger mentally but otherwise remains timid in personality.
• Signature Move: The jump float serve is the main skill he's in charge of.
• Team Dad: To the first-years since he's completely a Nice Guy who doesn't make any trouble, and even after succeeding Ennoshita as captain, Yamaguchi often had to put up Tsukishima and Kageyama's constant bickering.
• Those Two Guys: He is rarely seen without his bespectacled childhood best friend.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed. Of all four first-years, Yamaguchi is the most amicable and level-headed compared to the volleyball idiots (Hinata and Kageyama) or the cynical smartass (Tsukishima). In addition to him being the only first-year player out from the starting lineup, he has a goal of becoming special by learning how to pinch serve under Shimada's mentorship.
• Understanding Boyfriend: An extra chapter from Volume 21 shows that Yamaguchi (although not officially Yachi's boyfriend) cheered her up from her insecurities about her looks, stating that every beauty is different. Takeda pointed out that of all boys in the team, Yamaguchi has the least trouble of getting a girlfriend.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: A downplayed example. Yamaguchi was called "Karasuno's Spear", given his newfound specialty in pinch serving. The cover for Volume 16 shows that he holds one with pride.
• White Collar Worker: Post-college timeskip reveals that Yamaguchi is wearing office attire because of his job at a home electronics company.
• Yes-Man: Initially seems to follow Tsukishima's every footstep. Growing out of it is what constitutes his character development.
• Youthful Freckles: One of the younger members on the team and has freckles, which was the source of his bullying when he was younger.

The Managers and Coaches of the Boys' Volleyball Team

Kiyoko Shimizu

Kiyoko Shimizu

Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (JP), Rebekah Stevens (EN), Hyeon-ji Kim (KR), Carla Cerda (Latin America)

Played by: Shizune Nagao (Summer of Evolution (2017) - 2018), Satomi Ookubo (2019 - 2021)

Position: Head Manager
Height/Weight: 166.2cm/51.4kg
3rd Year

Karasuno team’s manager. Shimizu is a quiet girl who gives off a responsible vibe, and is noted as beautiful by many characters. The whole team is very fond of her.

Favourite food: Shrimp tempura onigiri.

Current concern: Whether to have Jarico or Jagabee for her snack.

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• Adaptational Late Appearance: "Appears" off-stage at best in the first few stage plays but then makes her official debut in the Summer of Evolution since she plays the important role of recruiting and mentoring Yachi.
• Adaptational Personality Change: In the stage plays, she's far more willing to push the boys around and yell at them for being too rowdy, compared to her manga/anime characterization.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Dark-haired, tall in comparison to the other girls of the series, by far the most composed and quiet of the team, and has had her beauty noted by several characters. Made even more evident with the arrival of Yachi, a blonde, and whose nervous, talkative and far from intimidating personality serves as a contrast to Shimizu's in almost every way.
• Bespectacled Cutie: A sweet, sensible girl whose glasses are noted as a Charm Point.
• Big Sister Instinct: Becomes protective towards Yachi after taking her under her wing. When the younger girl feels intimidated by Yamamoto, Shimizu shields her with her arm, and she's also always around to protect her from flying volleyballs.
• Big Sister Mentor: When Yachi becomes the second manager, Shimizu frequently gives the younger girl advice, mentors her in volleyball, and protects her from anything (whether it be stray flying volleyballs or overenthusiastic guys).
• Cool Big Sis: Yachi greatly admires Shimizu for her beauty as well as her experience as Karasuno's manager.
• Covered with Scars: The reason why Shimizu wears tights as part of her high school uniform. Back in junior high, Shimizu was part of the track and field team, where she struggled doing hurdles, resulting both of her legs to be covered with scars.
• A Day in the Limelight: Her search for a successor is a subplot while Karasuno begin training for the Miyagi Spring High Preliminaries and study for exams. During the Tokyo Nationals arc, she has a chapter dedicated to her past and her feelings about her journey as the manager.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She becomes more open and smiles more often after Yachi joins the team.
• Dude Magnet: She always attracts the attention of other boys even from different schools.
• Hidden Depths: Appears to be nothing more than the beautiful stoic manager at a glance, but it's shown she puts a lot of pride in her job. She's hellbent on finding a successor and is thrilled when she recruits Yachi, and she considers Karasuno's matches to be her battles as much as the boys even if she's not the one on court. Although bittersweet about being with the club for only one more year, she's come to terms with it and is determined to face the team's future challenges regardless of how it ends. This is a contrast to her days as a track and field athlete (specifically hurdles) in junior high, where she was dreading her final days and disliked how anticlimactic it ended despite her hard work.
• Icy Gray Eyes: She has grey eyes, and is quiet, strongwilled, and considered beautiful.
• Informed Attractiveness: Other female characters are drawn in a similar style as her, but characters frequently go out of their way to comment on her beauty.
• Lascivious Beauty Mark: Shimizu is universally considered to be a beautiful girl, with guys from other schools trying to catch a glimpse of Karasuno's famed beautiful manager. When she speaks to Yachi about potentially succeeding her as manager, Yachi is distracted by Shimizu's good looks and specifically points to the mole near Shimizu's mouth as sexy.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The Dark to Yachi's Light. Shimizu is often specifically described as having a "sexy" type of beauty, while Yachi is usually thought of as "cute".
• Loved by All: Despite being stoic and quiet, Shimizu is absolutely loved and valued by the boys' volleyball club (mostly Tanaka and Nishinoya) for not only her attractive appearance, but also every effort she contributed as a manager, especially her words of motivation that put them to tears of joy.
• Not So Stoic: She breaks from her usual stoic demeanor when Karasuno wins against Shiratorizawa, as she starts crying of joy and pride for the team.
• Oblivious to Love: It's a bit ambiguous regarding Tanaka and Nishinoya, but one of Oikawa's concerns is that she ignored him when he tried to flirt with her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Something shocking has happened if Shimizu breaks her stoic and aloof demeanour (especially in a game, like when she also gapes at Tsukishima blocking Ushijima and fist-pumping afterward). Notably, when she finally agrees to Tanaka carrying her bag (she usually declines his offers to help), it's because she and the third years have just played their final high school match.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: At school, unlike other significant female students of Karasuno, Shimizu always wears tights with her main uniform (blouse and skirt) even in the summer. This is part of her stoic and introverted image, though it doesn't stop people from admiring her beauty. Justified as she wears tights to hide the leg scars she got from doing hurdles in junior high school. In other official art she's always seen in tights whenever she wears short skirts (but she appears to prefer long skirts in-series). In the timeskip, as she and Tanaka arrived to go see Hinata and Kageyama play, she decided to skip wearing tights, leaving her scarred legs exposed and saying that it's a badge of honor.
• The Quiet One: Doesn't speak much early on in the series. However she is shown to be more talkative, or at least more open to conversation, with Yachi.
• The Stoic: As Sugawara puts it, Shimizu doesn't show her feelings often. The whole team is greatly touched when she puts together the banner for them, since it's the most emotion she's shown at this point. And despite her seemingly aloof during the training sessions and matches, she's devoted to the team and, like the rest of the third years, is reluctant to step down from her position.
• Terrible Artist: If you notice her handmade flyer while searching for new managers, it appears to look terribly drawn. The Haikyuu-bu!! chapter focuses on Shimizu's several attempts of her flyer drawings, and hilariously, Tanaka and Nishinoya praised her for her inadequate artistic skills.
• When She Smiles: She's usually The Stoic, so people like Hinata get flustered whenever she genuinely smiles.

Hitoka Yachi

Hitoka Yachi

Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi (JP), Brittney Karbowski (EN)

Played by: Ami Saitou (Summer of Evolution (2017) - 2018), Julie Yamamoto (2019 - 2021)

Position: Manager
Height/Weight: 149.7cm/42.5kg
1st Year

Karasuno's second manager. She is recruited by Shimizu after the latter's search for a successor when she graduates.

Favourite food: Fugashi.

Current concern: What she'd do if she ended up in a situation where she died or was about to die?

---

• A-Cup Angst: Yachi notices Saeko's bouncing chest during her enthusiastic cheering and then clutches at her own chest in shock. A manga omake has her embarrassed by being on the same movie poster as Saeko and Shimizu, complaining about how flat she is compared to them.
• Affectionate Nickname: Is called "Yacchan" by some members of the team and other volleyball acquaintances, due to her endearing personality.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: It's heavily implied Yachi only lives with her mother, based on their relationship and the way she's expected to look after the house alone and take care of herself whenever her mother is away for work. There's no indication of her father's whereabouts.
• Apologizes a Lot: Early on, she's terrified of committing mistakes and apologizes at the drop of a hat.
• Book Smart: Yachi is from Class 1-5, one of the two advanced classes in Karasuno High, and unlike Tsukishima, she is more willing to help Hinata and Kageyama study for finals exams.
• Break the Cutie: A minor example. Yachi is The Cutie of the Karasuno gang, and Hinata and Kageyama's fight frightens her into tears. For the remainder of the Tokyo Expedition arc she constantly worries for the fate of their friendship, clearly scarred by the incident.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: A clumsy girl, often due to her nerves. In one of the eyecatches, she tries to do an underhand serve, only to have it go wildly off-course and hit Hinata in the face.
• Cute Sports Club Manager: She's recruited by Shimizu (who is in her third year and is in need of a successor) and becomes the second manager of th Karasuno volleyball team. She fits this trope better than Shimizu, as she's a more cutesy girl and directly interacts with the boys more.
• The Cutie: Tiny in size? Check. Kind-hearted? Check. Clumsy? Check. Hilariously nervous? Check. Shy and fragile? Check. Just plain adorable? Check.
• Endearingly Dorky: Her Nervous Wreck tendencies and shyness make her very endearing to most people she meets. Guys from other teams go crazy from seeing Karasuno's new cute manager, and Shimizu herself quickly becomes close to Yachi and is both amused and patient with the younger girl's awkward side.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Downplayed with Yachi who is blonde and considered attractive in a more adorable sense rather than sensual. Everyone who first meets her think of her as a cute girl.
• Expressive Hair: In the anime, her hair sometimes spikes up slightly to go with her negative reactions, whether it be fear/anxiety or annoyance (like the time she glares at a few guys who are calling Karasuno mediocre). Her hair also flies wildly when she mimics the way Yamaguchi was desperately screaming out "Tsukki" when he went to confront him.
• Girlish Pigtails: Usually wears one pigtail on the side, which emphasizes her cuteness. From the extra chapter in Volume 35, her elementary school photo shows that her hair was styled into pigtails.
• Grew a Spine: With Hinata's help, she finds it in her to prove to her mother she's passionate about something and will fight for this passion, something she's never dared to do before. Her mother cries out of pride towards her daughter.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's blonde, and has a cheerful, kind demeanor that matches Hinata's and contrasts Shimizu's.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: She initially doesn't believe she's capable of becoming anyone particularly significant (referring to herself as a "Townsperson B"), but she proves to be a great help to the Karasuno team. Her confidence improves over the course of the series.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The Light to Shimizu's Dark. Shimizu is often specifically described as having a "sexy" type of beauty, while Yachi is usually thought of as "cute".
• Luminescent Blush: Exaggerated. Yachi's face blushed completely red because of seeing the boys change their T-shirts shortly before starting their practice match.
• Meaningful Name: Her given name, Hitoka (仁花), is written with the kanji for "compassion" and "flower". Ties in well with her role on the team.
• Nervous Wreck: Especially earlier on, thanks to her low self-esteem. Yachi’s first reaction to thinking she forgot Hinata and Kageyama’s names after meeting them once is to panic over the fact that she might not get a job because she isn’t good at memorizing names and consequently having to resort to organ trafficking as her worst-case scenario.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Yachi is the shortest member of the volleyball club and is from one of the two college-prep classes in Karasuno High.
• Shrinking Violet: Very timid than Yamaguchi and Asahi. She’s more of a "nervous" variety (especially when surrounded by taller boys), than outright shy.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: All she can think about when being recruited by Shimizu is how pretty she is, and she winds up joining the volleyball team because she was distracted by said beauty.
• Team Mom: She grows into the mother figure role especially among the first years, as she goes out of her way to help Hinata and Kageyama with their studies and is actually quite good at reining them in. She's shown to be greatly affected by their fight in Season 2 and particularly looks out for them. She also helps Yamaguchi with his nerves and has a fairly good understanding of Tsukishima's personality (making Akiteru wonder if his brother actually has friends other than Yamaguchi). Even as a third-year, she maintained her role for the sake of not only the players, but also to her junior managers.
• The Watson: After the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminaries, as the newest member of the team, she gets some of the finer points of volleyball explained to her (and the audience).
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Her mother is acting aloof and harsh out of Tough Love for her, but in spite of her insecurities, Yachi decides to work with Hinata's help in order to make her mother proud.

Ittetsu Takeda

Ittetsu Takeda

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (JP), Gareth West (EN), Miguel Angel Leal (Latin America)

Played by: Shige Uchida (2015 - 2018), Kenta Kamakari (2019 - 2021)

Position: Faculty Advisor
Height/Weight: 166.5cm/59.4kg

"When colors mix, they become muddy and messy. But when they all blend together, the final result is the color that wins against all others: black. Become a team of black, like the crows you represent."

The faculty adviser for the Karasuno boys' volleyball team. He doesn't actually know all too much about volleyball, but he catches on very fast when given information.

Favourite food: Meat and potato stew.

Current concern: He's been told by his students that "your glasses are totally uncool, sensei".

---

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He isn't above getting on his knees and begging if it's going to get the team a practice match.
• Bespectacled Cutie: A gender-inverted example. He wears glasses and is a kind, sweet and devoted teacher with a nervous streak.
• Beware of the Nice Ones: Gentle by nature, but students and teachers are terrified whenever they seem him truly angry.
• Cool Teacher: A nice and amicable teacher who puts his students above everything else.
• Determinator: He will get Karasuno matches with other teams even if he has to beg. When struggling to find funds for the bus hire to Tokyo, he's even willing to use his savings (thankfully Ukai quickly rejects the idea).
• Inelegant Blubbering: Prone to mumbling nonsense when he's overwhelmed with emotions. Most prominent when the team wins against Shiratorizawa, when Takeda bursts into loud, incomprehensible sobs while telling Ukai and the team on court and during their post-victory meal/drinks about how happy he is. (It's highly possible alcohol is the main cause in the latter scene, too.)
• Nervous Wreck: He's easily prone to panic in earlier chapters.
• Nice Guy: A good and friendly teacher who'd do anything for the students of the volleyball club.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Downplayed and justified. He's officially listed as Karasuno's main coach (since Ukai isn't employed the school he can only be assistant coach at best), however he has no past experience with volleyball himself, leaving the strategy and training to Sawamura and then to Ukai. The team could not find a coach after Ukai Sr's retirement so a faculty adviser was the best they could get prior to Ukai joining. Takeda nevertheless is essential to the team, helping organise their practice matches and boosting their morale with rousing speeches.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Goes out of his way to fulfill his duties as the club's liaison with the school.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: At times, though it's usually played for laughs (as when he's stalking Ukai to ask him to coach the team).
• Sensei-chan: Being the club's young faculty adviser, he's on friendly and informal terms with some students. Some even call him Take-chan.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive and more timid compared to the more boisterous and no-nonsense Ukai.
• Stalker without a Crush: At the beginning, he keeps calling and spying on Ukai in his shop in order for him to accept to coach the volleyball team. There's only good motives behind this contrary to most examples, but Ukai is still annoyed by him and is only convinced once Nekoma is brought up.
• Tranquil Fury: When he really gets angry, he's eerily calm, which terrifies students and teachers alike.
• The Watson: He’s not very familiar with volleyball’s rules and positions at first, so his questions about the game are usually what helps the readers to understand the basics of the sport and what exactly is going on, especially in the beginning of the story. Eventually, he learns enough that having him asking questions all the time would no longer make much sense, so this role gets passed on to Saeko or Yachi.

Keishin Ukai

Keishin Ukai

Voiced by: Kazunari Tanaka (until Season 3 - Episode 8), Hisao Egawa (from Season 3 - Episode 9) (JP), David Wald (EN), Hiram Cardenas (Latin America)

Played by: Tsuyoshi Hayashi (2015 - 2018), Ken Ogasawara (2019 - 2021)

Position: Coach
Height/Weight: 178.2cm/72.2kg

"Victory goes to the team that connects."

Introduced as an irritable shopkeeper. As it turns out, he is the grandson of the legendary Coach Ukai, who helped propel Karasuno to victory under his instruction. Originally he's not very enthusiastic about taking his grandfather's place, but Takeda manages to convince him into taking the role by showing him Karasuno's current potential.

Favourite food: Konnyaku dumplings.

Current concern: He's not even 30 yet but his parents are telling him to "hurry up and get married already".

---

• The Benchwarmer: Ukai was a setter when he went to Karasuno but never became a regular even as a third year. This is why he's torn when deciding whether to make Kageyama or Sugawara the team's main setter, since he sympathises with the third year's situation. Sugawara notices his conflicted feelings and confronts him, arguing that Karasuno's chances of making it to Nationals is more important than himself being given the main setter role out of pity.
• Book Dumb: He runs his family shop and is a very good coach to Karasuno. As Hinata unfortunately finds out, however, that doesn't mean he's a good choice for tutoring for school exams:
  Ukai: I didn't want to bring this up, but... Do I look like the type of guy who got good grades?
• Celibate Hero: He's single and in his late 20s. His main concern is how everyone in his entourage tells him about finding a fiancée.
• Chekhov's Gunman: First appears as the grumpy shopkeeper near Karasuno, with his place frequented by students including the volleyball team itself. Then the audience sees Takeda talk to him and Ukai's identity as the grandson of the famous Ukai Sr. is revealed. Despite refusing at first, he eventually becomes Karasuno's coach and gives them the guidance and push needed to be a top-tier team.
• Cigar Chomper: When he’s not exerting his duties as Karasuno's coach, he’s nearly always seen smoking.
• Cool Teacher: A cool, helpful coach.
• Expository Hairstyle Change:
  • He had a buzz cut as a high school student. Having developed a punk image as an adult, his hair has grown and is dyed blonde.
  • His hair is no longer dyed blonde after the Time Skip, likely for the sake of professionalism since he's been Karasuno's (assistant) coach for several years at this point.
• Face of a Thug: Is a genuinely friendly guy even if a little irritable, however his menacing face alongside his pierced ears and dyed hair is enough to frighten Yachi and have her mistake him for a punk.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He's easy to irritate, though he's pretty amicable otherwise.
• Legacy Character: After some initial reluctance, he takes up his grandfather's place as the next Coach Ukai of the Karasuno team.
• Meaningful Name: His surname is written to mean "crow nurture," which is exactly what he's doing coaching Karasuno.
• Mood-Swinger: Can go from calm and neutral to shouting at students in one go.
• Mr. Exposition: Answers most of Takeda's questions about strategy or players' abilities and styles.
• The Nicknamer: Prone to referring to other people by nicknames in the English dub - he calls the Meganekko Takeda "Specs" (in the original Japanese it's a much more respectful "Sensei") and Hinata "Ginger" (referring to his hair).
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The boisterous and no-nonsense man to Takeda’s sensitive and timid guy.
• Smarter Than You Look: He looks like a punk, but he's a skilled strategist and very knowledgable about volleyball, thanks to his former background as a setter and his grandfather.
• The Strategist: As their coach, he comes up with strategies for the team to follow after observing and getting details on opposing teams. On the court, he usually leaves this up to the other members when they're in the heat of the moment, namely Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Sugawara.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He strikingly resembles his grandfather (in a show that has a Cast of Snowflakes), which is why Nekomata picks on him.

Ikkei Ukai

Ikkei Ukai

Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka (JP), James Belcher (EN), Santos Alberto (Latin America)

Played by: Yasuji Kimura ("The Dumpster Battle" (2020))

Position: Coach (former)

Karasuno's retired coach, who was able to bring the team to Nationals some years ago. He briefly came back to coach the current second and third years in the previous year, but was hospitalised and forced to quit prior to the story.

---

• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Frequently nags his grandson and even throws him around, but he's very proud of him going to Nationals. He smugly says, "My grandson", when Ukai Jr appears on TV during the Nekoma match broadcast, and he says he doesn't mind that he's not at the tournament himself because "[his] blood" is there.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Casually mentioned now and then as the almighty super coach that brought to Karasuno to Nationals years ago, with Kageyama going to the school specifically for him. Some time after Karasuno's loss at the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminaries, Ukai Sr meets Hinata and plays a big role in refining the quick attack by getting Hinata to improve his awareness of the ball and inspiring his grandson to teach Kageyama how to do the falling toss.
• Cool Old Guy: Still playing volleyball well into old age, and is still capable of flipping his grandson over.
• The Dreaded: His name as the tough-as-nails successful Karasuno coach is known across all of Miyagi, and all the students that were under his teaching both respect and fear him at once. When Hinata meets him, he shits his pants to say the least.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Was known to be awfully strict in his training, to the point that Shimada, Takinoue, and Akiteru still instinctively react with fear when he shows up at Karasuno's match against Shiratorizawa.
• Friendly Rivalry: He's longtime friends with Nekoma's coach, Nekomata; it was their dream that Nekoma and Karasuno would play an official match together. According to Kuroo, this is why Karasuno is welcome to join the Fukurodani group's training camp, as Nekomata's retiring soon and would like to see the so-called "Battle of the Garbage Dump" before he does so.
• Friend to All Children: Now that he's retired, he teaches volleyball to children, who appear to greatly like him as a coach.
• Meaningful Name: His surname is written to mean "crow nurture," which is exactly what did during his time as Karasuno's coach.
• The Mentor: He currently teaches elementary schoolers volleyball. He briefly mentors Hinata during the summer before the Miyagi Spring High Preliminaries and is one of the key people to establishing Hinata and Kageyama's new and improved quick attack.
• The Nicknamer: Doesn't bother calling Hinata by his name despite the latter's complaints, initially calling him chibisuke and then settling on chibitaro (both variations of "shorty/shrimp"). His students wonder whether this nickname change counts as a "promotion" or not.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: He's golden aged, yet he doesn't mince his words and is able to throw his grandson like he's a sack of potatoes.
• Stronger Than They Look: He may be old, but he's capable to literally throw his grandson, a grown man, around.

Girls' Volleyball Team

Yui Michimiya

Yui Michimiya — #1

Voiced by: Asami Seto (JP), Maggie Flecknoe (EN), Erika Langarica (Latin America)

Position: Wing Spiker
Height/Weight: 159.3cm/51.0kg
3rd Year

Captain of the girls' volleyball team. Has been friends with Daichi since junior high.

Favourite food: Natto with rice.

Current concern: She's been told her thighs are "sturdy".

---

• Boyish Short Hair: Her hair is very short, fitting her tomboy nature and role as the girls' volleyball team captain.
• Character Tic: She gives friendly punches, most of them to Daichi. Judging by his reaction, the punches are not as harmless as she thinks they are.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Downplayed. She and Daichi, alongside Ikejiri, have known each other since middle school, and she's hinted multiple times to have a crush on him. Unfortunately for her, he has yet to even notice.
• Crush Blush: Michimiya sometimes blushes around Daichi (such as the time when she gives him the good luck charm) whom she's hinted to have a crush on. Sugawara picks up on it, as seen when he pushes Asahi away to give her and Daichi alone time while grinning.
• Determinator: She's the one player in the girls' team who gives all her might into each game, even if they clearly get beaten by the opponent team.
• Distaff Counterpart: She's sort of one to Daichi; both are the nice, devoted captains to their respective volleyball teams. However, despite her hard work, Michimiya lacks the authority Daichi has to keep her team grounded and make them take volleyball as seriously as she does.
• A Father to His Men: Gender-flipped. She's a dedicated captain that puts her team before everything else and comforts them after their loss, and cries when she's alone not to destroy their spirit.
• Genki Girl: Cheerful and excitable.
• The Leader: Until her retirement at the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminaries, she's the reasonable and encouraging captain of the girls' volleyball team. She does her best to keep everyone in high spirits no matter how well or badly they're doing in their matches.
• Passionate Sports Girl: She's one of the few girls in the volleyball team that takes the sport seriously and always give her 100%, even if they're bound to lose.
• Plucky Girl: She's determinate and passionate about volleyball, and even if her team is not the best, she encourages them to give their all until the end.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: Downplayed. She has a crush on Daichi and often gets jittery around him, but she is still comfortable talking to him since they've known each other since middle school. Although he's nice to her, he's totally oblivious about the crush.
• Stepford Smiler: She holds her composure and cheerful spirit around her team only to cry behind closed doors.
• Trying Not to Cry: She holds her tears after her team loses, as she is the captain and has to maintain her composure. She lets it out later, on her own.

Alumni

The Little Giant

Tenma Udai — #10

Voiced by: N/A

Played by: Daiki Sagawa (2021)

Position: Ace
Height/Weight: 170cm/?kg
Alumnus
^{Click here a clearer look of his face (spoiler from after Season 4).} 

A particularly prodigious player on the Karasuno team that went to Nationals, known by the nickname "The Little Giant" because of his short height. Watching him on television is what inspired Hinata to take up volleyball.

---

• The Ace: His incredible abilities as the ace were vital to Karasuno back in the day when they made Nationals, and he was known as the Little Giant.
• Author Avatar: Like Furudate, Udai also played volleyball in high school. The author self-insert becomes clear after the Time Skip when it's revealed he's drawing a horror manga (which is just about to be axed) for Weekly Shōnen Vie and later works on a volleyball manga; this mirrors Furudate's career, as they also drew a horror shōnen series that eventually got cancelled and then moved on to Haikyuu!!.
• Always Someone Better: Despite his hard work and his previous role as the ace of his middle school team, Akiteru was overlooked in favour of Udai at high school since the latter was the ace of the team and hogged all the attention. While his inability to play in matches broke down Akiteru's confidence at that time, he still appears to have an amicable relationship with his former teammate in the present.
• Broken Pedestal: Subverted when Hinata finally meets his volleyball idol during Nationals. At first it looks like a downplayed example; Udai reveals he doesn't play volleyball anymore since he wanted to do other things and wasn't recruited by any teams after high school, which shocks Hinata. Saeko even worries if she made a mistake to introduce them to each other just before a big match. However, Hinata confesses to Kageyama that he actually isn't disappointed at all, showing that his love for volleyball now has more depth compared to when he was just blindly trying to emulate the Little Giant.
• Chekhov M.I.A.: He's a frequent topic amongst the cast (especially his biggest fan Hinata), but for a long time he only appears in flashbacks while faceless and it's never mentioned what became of him after his run at Nationals. He finally makes a proper appearance during the Nationals arc when he goes to watch Karasuno play there once more. He has an unexpectedly chill first meeting with Hinata, showing his support for the "New Little Giant" but also revealing he quit volleyball after high school to pursue other interests (something Hinata surprisingly isn't bothered by). Afterward he sticks by Akiteru and Saeko during the quarterfinal against Kamomedai and provides his insight on the matchup.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Flashbacks of his days as The Little Giant show him with short black spiky hair similar to Hinata's. In the present day his hair's become wavy and grown to a lax shoulder length; he's now living a simple university life in Tokyo while no longer playing volleyball.
• The Faceless: Aside from one shot of his eyes, he's shown either faceless or from the back whenever there's flashbacks of him. His face is only properly shown once he makes his official debut appearance in the series.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Prior to his proper debut appearance, only his Little Giant nickname is known to the audience.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's called "The Little Giant" because despite his short height he was an invaluable asset in bringing Karasuno to Nationals.
• Red Baron: Is famous amongst volleyball players and fans as "The Little Giant", thanks to his small height being a contrast to his tredemendous skills as the ace. This legacy is what continues to inspire shorter players like Hinata or Nakashima.

Yūsuke Takinoue

Yūsuke Takinoue

Voiced by: Shuhei Sakaguchi (JP), Kyle Colby Jones (EN)

Played by: Shinnosuke Sakaguchi (2015 - "The View from the Top" (2016))

Position: Middle Blocker
Height/Weight: 185.6cm/?kg
Alumnus

A former schoolmate and teammate of Ukai's, currently a member of the Neighborhood Association Team. He works for Takinoue Electronics.

---

• Adapted Out: He shows up in the first stage play but doesn't reappear afterward, unlike Shimada who plays a larger role in the series and so ends up taking over both their jobs.
• Chekhov's Gunman: First appears as an acquaintance of Ukai's and takes part in a practice match against Karasuno, alongside a couple of other guys. Out of the four that appear, he and Shimada are the ones that go on to become their most loyal supporters, even helping lead a cheer team once they make the Miyagi Spring High Preliminary final.
• Combat Commentator: Takinoue has been playing volleyball since high school, and is thus in a position to comment on happenings during matches.
• Mr. Exposition: He's in a position to explain volleyball-related things during matches to whoever's acting as The Watson at the moment.
• Those Two Guys: Alongside Shimada. The two of them aren't significant characters but frequently show up to show their support to the Karasuno team; they attend matches whenever they can and frequently act as Combat Commentators.

Makoto Shimada

Makoto Shimada

Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (JP), Kregg Dailey (EN), Edson Matus (Latin America)

Played by: Kento Yamaguchi (2015 - 2018), Shou Somekawa (2020 - 2021)

Position: Wing Spiker
Height/Weight: 177.7cm/?kg
Alumnus

A former schoolmate and teammate of Ukai's, currently a member of the Neighborhood Association Team. He works for Shimada Mart.

---

• Chekhov's Gunman: First appears as an acquaintance of Ukai's and takes part in a practice match against Karasuno. Yamaguchi is drawn to his jump float serve and later seeks him so he too can learn it. Shimada not only becomes an important figure for Karasuno's cheer support but also plays a huge role in Yamaguchi's development as a player.
• Combat Commentator: Uses his experience as a volleyball player to comment on the matches from the sidelines alongside Takinoue.
• The Mentor: Becomes a volleyball mentor to Yamaguchi. He understands the younger boy's feelings of inadequacy and teaches him how to do a jump float serve.
• Mr. Exposition: He often explains volleyball details, tactics, and rules to whoever's acting as The Watson.
• Those Two Guys: Alongside Takinoue. The two of them aren't significant characters but frequently show up to show their support to the Karasuno team; they attend matches whenever they can and frequently act as Combat Commentators.

---

Hidemi Tashiro

Hidemi Tashiro

Voiced by: Kōki Miyata

The captain of the Karasuno boys' volleyball team when the current third years were first years at the time.

---

• Large Ham: Wears his heart on his sleeve and was very enthusiastic when he talked about the team's dreams of going to Nationals in a flashback.
• The Leader: He was the captain of the Karasuno team when Sawamura, Asahi and Sugawara were first years. Despite the team's fallen status, he still did his best to motivate everyone and gave a lot of encouragement to the then-first years after his final match.
• So Proud of You: When he goes see Karasuno playing their first match at Nationals, he cries when he sees the third years improving and doing so well.

Hiroki Kurokawa

Hiroki Kurokawa

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (JP), Joel Mc Cray (EN)

The captain of the Karasuno boys' volleyball team when the current third and second years were a year younger at the time.

---

• Adaptation Dye-Job: He has unshaded hair in the manga but is a brunette in the anime adaptation.
• The Leader: He was the captain of the Karasuno team when the current third years and second years were a year younger. Unlike Tashiro, he was more down-to-earth and strict with his team, as seen when he sharply told the first-year Ennoshita to go get changed after the latter ended his boycott and returned to practice. The second years' energetic greeting to him during a brief reunion implies he was a respectable captain nevertheless.
• So Proud of You: Although not as extravagent as Tashiro, he shows much pride when he sees his underclassmen finally take Karasuno to Nationals and tells them to win their next match. In the anime he even smiles when he sees how much Tanaka has matured as a player.
• The Stoic: Both in the present and in his flashbacks with Karasuno, he's shown to not emote much regardless of the situation.

Family members

Saeko Tanaka

Saeko Tanaka

Voiced by: Yuka Komatsu (JP), Carli Mosier (EN)

Played by: Momoko Sadachi (Summer of Evolution (2017) - 2018), Rina Yasukawa (2020 - 2021)

Height/Weight: 155.2cm/48.8kg
Alumnus

Tanaka’s older sister. She was also once a student at Karasuno, in the same year as The Little Giant. She does taiko drumming when she's not studying or working.

Favourite food: Home run ice cream bars.

Current concern: Not a single girl seems to get just how cool her lil' bro is!

---

• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: An older sibling variant. Her loud and enthusiastic cheers for her brother during the matches tend to embarrass him, and she tells the team a story about him wetting his bed as a child in a CD Drama which buries him in embarassment.
• Big Damn Heroes: During the match with Inarizaki, she and her taiko drum crew come in to help reset the rhythm for Karasuno after Inarizaki's cheer team messes up their groove.
• Chekhov's Hobby: It's casually mentioned that she practises taiko drums, something she takes a lot of pride and interest in. She and her crew arrive at a vital time during Karasuno's Nationals match against Inarizaki (who boast a very overwhelming cheer squad) and lead their own cheer with the help of their instruments, helping boost the team's morale.
• Cool Big Sis: The spunky older sister to Tanaka, and also acts as the cool older sister figure to other members of the team like Nishinoya, Hinata and Yachi. Saeko seems to be quite fond of her little brother, as her main concern in her character profile is that girls don’t realize how cool he is. She also makes an appearance on a popularity poll wondering why Tanaka wasn’t in the Top 10.
• Drives Like Crazy: Tanaka implies she's a reckless driver and is genuinely happy to see them in one piece when they arrive in Tokyo late. The anime adaptation shows that she is indeed reckless, being prone to very sharp turns and speeding.
• First-Name Basis: Is friendly and affectionate towards her brother's team, calling many of the members by their first names without honorifics. Nishinoya and Hinata return the favour as "Saeko-nee-san", taking a liking to her, and all the other adult Karasuno men call her "Saeko-chan".
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: A playful and outgoing girl who's fond of sculling down alcohol whenever possible. She has one hell of a hangover during the Tokyo Training Camp after hanging out with the coaches for drinks, and in between matches at Nationals she's seen drinking beer with her lunch. When watching the Adlers vs Black Jackals match, Akiteru is concerned by how she doesn't even look tipsy despite already having had a couple of drinks and dreads that she may want to go bar-hopping later.
• Hot-Blooded: Loud and boisterous, just like her younger brother.
• The Lad-ette: She has a boisterous personality close to that of her Hot-Blooded brother and is seen drinking with the other teams' coaches at the Tokyo training camp.
• Little Big Sister: Her younger brother Ryūnosuke is 177.2 cm (5'9"), which is over 20cm taller than she is at 155.2cm (about 5'2") tall.
• The Napoleon: She's 155.2 cm tall, but she's just as wild and rowdy as her brother.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: In her high school days, Saeko wears a long neck tie as part of her uniform instead of the usual bow tie.
• Shared Family Quirks: She shares the same Hot-Blooded streak and laugh with her younger brother.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks a lot like her brother, which Shimada and Takinoue comment on.
• The Watson: As someone mostly unfamiliar with volleyball, she gets certain details explained to her.

Akiteru Tsukishima

Akiteru Tsukishima

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (JP), Clifford Chapin (EN)

Played by: Soichiro Yamakawa (Summer of Evolution (2017))

Position: Wing Spiker
Height/Weight: 185.2cm/79.5kg
Alumnus

Tsukishima's older brother. Also a volleyball player, and once a student at Karasuno.

Favourite food: Wasabi leaves in soy sauce.

Current concern: He's not used to drinking sake.

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• Broken Pedestal: Tsukishima looked up to Akiteru when he was little, praising him as a talented volleyball player and thinking he was the ace of Karasuno's volleyball team. However, he was later shocked to find out Akiteru wasn't even in the bench and had been lying all the time to not disappoint him. While Tsukishima's relationship with him is still intact in the present (at worst he just doesn't talk to Akiteru much whenever he's home), the incident was enough to change his views about volleyball and hard work. Appropriately, when Tsukishima starts having a change of heart after his talk with the Tokyo upperclassmen, he and Akiteru finally resolve any remaining awkward feelings between them.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: His current concern is that he still hasn't got used to drinking sake, which implies he doesn't alcohol very well.
• Cool Big Bro: Although their relationship is not as close as it used to be, he's very interested in how Tsukishima does at the Karasuno team, disguises himself in order to watch him play and even complains about how he can't call Tsukishima "cute" anymore. Despite a dip in their relationship thanks to Akiteru's lying being found out, Tsukishima still holds him in high regard.
• Determinator: As a high schooler, he put a lot of hard work into volleyball, even if it lead to nowhere in the end.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Akiteru had the misfortune of attending Karasuno at a time where the team was at their peak. Despite being a fairly good player in middle school, he wasn't even able to make it on the team as a benchwarmer. This ended up having quite the negative effect on Tsukishima.
• Little Big Brother: Is well over 180cm yet is still slightly shorter than his younger brother (who to be fair is very tall).
• Meaningful Name: His name means "bright light", which fits with the meaning of his brother's name, "firefly"; Akiteru helps his brother through his character development to get better in volleyball and take it more seriously, in other words, create his own light.
• Morality Pet: He's the one person that Tsukishima is not a complete asshole to (next to Yamaguchi, that is).
• Nice Guy: He's a good and supportive older brother towards Tsukishima, as well as a cheerful and amicable guy in general.
• Prone to Tears: Gets easily emotional and cries when his precious little brother is involved. When Saeko wonders if he'll cry because he missed Tsukishima doing an awesome block at Nationals against Inarizaki (because he's at work), Shimada points out that he'd cry even if he was here to watch.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Akiteru is friendly and genial, in contrast to Kei's snarkiness and aloofness. This is even lampshaded by Takinoue.
• So Proud of You: Is overwhelmed when Tsukishima shows how much he's grown (both in skills and in his demeanour), especially in the Shiratorizawa match. He will never miss an opportunity to boast about him regardless of who he's talking to.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Akiteru's lie about joining the Karasuno team ended up being the Cynicism Catalyst for Tsukishima. Akiteru was hoping to spare his brother the truth about how all his effort didn't actually pay off, but once Tsukishima found out on his own this fostered his negative outlook on sport in the present.

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Madoka Yachi

Madoka Yachi

Voiced by: Mie Sonozaki (JP), Shelley Calene-Black (EN)

Yachi's emotionally-distant, but well-meaning mother.

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• Absurdly Youthful Mother: For being Yachi's mother, she looks like she's in her late 20s.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's harsh towards Yachi, but still loves her nonetheless and wants her to be prepared for the cold world that awaits her in the future.
• Motherly Side Plait: She's Yachi's mother and wears her hair in a curly ponytail over her shoulder. However, she isn't as "motherly" as most example.
• Parental Neglect: While her mother provides for Yachi and is shown to love her, she's always busy (and rarely spends time with Yachi as a result) and is occasionally Innocently Insensitive regarding Yachi's activities, which contributes to her insecurities.
• Pet the Dog: She gives her help to Hitoka in order to create the poster for the volleyball club's fundings.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Madoka appears in a few chapters, yet she plays a big role on her daughter's insecurities and the latter deciding to stand for herself and become the volleyball club's manager.
• So Proud of You: When Yachi finally stands for herself and proudly declares to her mother she'll become the new manager and she can fight too, Madoka is proud of her daughter's progress that she bursts into tears.
• Tough Love: She's aloof and somewhat cold towards her daughter, but it's for her well-being and in order for her to become emotionally stronger.
  Madoka: (to her coworker about her daughter) If my words are enough to dissuade her, it's clear that she'll become discouraged by trivial things in the future.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Yachi's mother has her own design company and works a lot, which contributes in her unintentional neglect of her daughter.
• Workaholic: She spends a lot of time at her work place which often leaves Yachi alone at home.

Natsu Hinata

Natsu Hinata

Voiced by: Haruka Yamazaki (JP), Allison Sumrall (EN)

Hinata's younger sister.

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• Big Brother Worship: She absolutely adores her big brother and always wants to play with him or join his solo volleyball practices at home.
• Bit Character: She doesn't have a major role in the story as a whole, but she does have a scene dedicated to her and her brother's dynamic during the Nationals Arc.
• Cheerful Child: A young girl who's usually seen in a cheerful mood. A scene has her happily asking her brother to play skip rope with her.
• The Cutie: A small, adorable and bubbly child. She mostly serves to provide light-hearted slice-of-life entertainment whenever Hinata's shown at home.
• Fiery Redhead: She shares her brother's iconic orange hair colour. Despite her young age she appears to still have a feisty personality, which is shown when she yells at Hinata to shut up.
• Genki Girl: Her cheerful streak is something she gets from her brother.
• Girlish Pigtails: She's a cute little girl and her hair is often styled with two small pigtails.
• Mouthy Kid: The scenes of her interacting with Hinata implies she shares the same mouthy habits as he does. She isn't afraid to yell at her brother to shut up when he's too noisy.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Implied. Natsu shows a lot of curiosity in Hinata's volleyball training and claims to be good at anything athletic, indicating a love for sports at a young age. A drawing of her as a teenager suggests she does end up playing high school volleyball, and for Niiyama Girls of all teams.
• Shared Family Quirks: Like her brother, she's got a happy demeanor and is a Fiery Redhead. She also starts to share his interest in volleyball, and a drawing from the mangaka shows she'll eventually go on to play for the Niiyama Girls' volleyball team and even share the same jersey number as her brother did in his first year.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She basically looks like a mini female Hinata thanks to her wild ginger hair. Strangely, their mother is the opposite to them and has simple black hair.

Miwa Kageyama

Miwa Kageyama

Kageyama's older sister. Like her brother, she grew up playing volleyball.

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• Little Big Sister: A flashback shows she was a head shorter than her brother while he was in middle school, despite being about eight years younger. Not much of a surprise, since he's a tall boy for his age and would later grow past 180cm as a high schooler and then past 190cm as an adult.
• Family Theme Naming: Like her brother whose name has the kanji for "fly" (飛), hers has the kanji for "feathers" (羽).
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks like an older, female version of her younger brother, down to the eyes and facial expressions.

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