"Haikyu!!" is a hugely popular volleyball manga currently serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump. The story centers around the unfortunate protagonist, Hinata Shoyo, who excels in athletic ability but has zero competitive experience until he enters high school, and Kageyama Tobio, a genius setter with a questionable personality. The two enroll at Karasuno High School, a former powerhouse school, and aim to become number one in the nation! In this article, we'll introduce the promising first-year students who will be adding excitement to "Haikyu!!".
What is the Miyagi Prefecture First-Year Select Training Camp?
The "Miyagi Prefecture First-Year Select Training Camp" aims to strengthen the entire Miyagi prefecture, where Hinata and his friends live. In this article, we'll introduce some of the top, promising players who have been invited to the training camp. Karasuno High School's Tsukishima Kei has been selected! Tsukishima is the tallest player in Karasuno, standing over 190cm tall as a first-year high school student. In addition to Tsukishima, five other players have been selected. Without further ado, let's get into the details of the team members, including Tsukishima. Incidentally, Hinata showed up to the venue uninvited and participated as a ball-picker.
Kei Tsukishima (voiced by Kouki Uchiyama) from Karasuno High School
■Height: 190.1 cm Weight: 68.4 kg ■Position: Middle Blocker ■Uniform Number: 11
He has light beige hair and a generally cool personality. He often makes sarcastic remarks towards Hinata and Kageyama. He's good at studying, but he's also a brainy player in volleyball matches, and is the type to carefully observe his opponents and devise strategies, making him a troublesome opponent. He's not particularly greedy for anything, but he actually hates to lose. In the Spring High School High School preliminaries against Shiratorizawa, his volleyball spirit was ignited when he stopped ace Ushijima Wakatoshi, and for the first time he felt the desire to "fight until the end." He's good at fakes and blocking. His weaknesses are receiving and his low stamina.
Thoughts about his older brother Akiteru, whom he admired
The reason Tsukishima can't get serious about club activities is largely due to the presence of his older brother Akiteru, whom he has admired since childhood. Tsukishima learned that his brother, who devoted himself entirely to volleyball, played for Karasuno High School when it was a powerhouse, but didn't even make the bench. No matter how hard he tried, he knew he'd never be number one, so he no longer knew what he was trying for. Even if he worked hard at club activities, he knew he'd "lose somewhere"...so he decided to draw the line from the beginning and focus on club activities. "It's just club activities," he thought, a smart move that Tsukishima had. However, with Tsukishima's talent and height, it would be interesting to see how strong he would become if he were to get serious!
Shiratorizawa Academy - Goshiki Tsutomu (CV: Tsuchiya Shinba)
■Height: 181.5 cm, Weight: 69.5 kg, ■WS (Wing Spiker), ■Uniform Number: 8
He is the only first-year regular at the prestigious Shiratorizawa volleyball team. He calls himself the "ace" and is a fierce rival of the "great ace" Ushijima Wakatoshi, making provocative remarks and openly competing with him, but he is completely ignored. However, he actually admires Ushijima very much! After losing to Karasuno in the Spring High preliminaries, Ushijima entrusted him with the role of ace, and he felt both joy and responsibility. As a regular at Shiratorizawa, he excels at straight pitches, but due to his lack of experience, he often makes simple mistakes.
Hinata flatters Goshiki at training camp...
Hinata shows up to training camp uninvited, and at the request of Master Washio, he's tasked with picking up balls. He's surprised to find Hinata stuck between the mats in the gym storage room. Meanwhile, Hinata is fascinated by Goshiki's sharp straight shots. During private practice, Hinata praises Goshiki's straight shots with pure praise. As expected of someone who flatters Fukurodani's Bokuto so much. Goshiki is flattered by the attention he's receiving, and decides to show off his straight shot to Hinata.
Date Technical High School - Kanji Koganegawa (CV: Masayuki Shoji)
■Height: 191.5 cm Weight: 80.2 kg ■Position: S (Setter) ■Uniform Number: 7
He has blonde hair and a distinctive black crest standing up in the middle of his forehead. By the way, he has a high-energy, very serious and humble personality. He's a super-sized setter at over 190cm tall at Date Tech, a team with the most tall players in the prefecture! He still has a long way to go as a setter, but he uses his height to his advantage to catch the ball at a high position. He then performs the incredible feat of spiking the ball over the opponent's block. He's a talented and physically gifted player, so he has a lot of potential to grow.
He's still feeling the bitterness of losing to Aoba Johsai...
Koganegawa appeared as a rookie setter during the Spring High School High School preliminaries against Aoba Johsai. He caused numerous losses, including a toss that nearly reached the ceiling and another that was caught directly by the coach. His block being broken through was the deciding factor in the loss... This, combined with the frustration he felt after losing to Aoba Johsai, was palpable. To carry on the spirit of his kind predecessors, he vowed to toss the ball no matter what kind of reception he received, and to become worthy of his "Ironclad" block.
Aoba Johsai High School - Kindaichi Yuutaro (CV: Furukawa Makoto)
■Height: 189.2 cm Weight: 74.3 kg ■Position: Middle Blocker ■Uniform Number: 12
His long face and spiky hair earned him the unfortunate nickname "Pickled Radish Head" from Hinata. However, he's such a skilled volleyball player that he earned a regular spot on the team at the powerful Aoba Johsai High School despite only being a freshman. He's also quite tall for a high school student, making him an excellent blocker. In fact, he was teammates with Kageyama at Kitagawa Daiichi High School in middle school, but he couldn't keep up with Kageyama's tossing technique, and Kageyama had the worst opinion of him.
The feud with Kageyama runs deep...
When Kageyama was still the "king of the court," Kindaichi hated his aggressive tosses, which ignored the spiker's wishes. During one game, Kindaichi thought Kageyama was "the worst," to the point that he advised the coach, "Honestly, he's more of a nuisance than having him on the court." However, when they met again in high school as opponents, he had changed dramatically and even remembered how to "adjust to the spiker"! What's more, Kageyama's partner, Hinata Shoyo, said that his "toss is the best," which truly surprised Kindaichi, and at the same time, something like jealousy began to grow in him.
Aoba Johsai High School - Akira Kunimi
■Height: 182.8 cm Weight: 66.1 kg ■Position: WS (Wing Spiker) ■Uniform Number: 13
He has center-parted hair and sleepy-looking eyes. He often hangs out with Kindaichi, and is following the same path as Aoba Johsai High School from Kitagawa Daiichi High School. He hates the word "reckless," and is often scolded by the coach for not chasing balls he can catch or for slacking off when jumping as a decoy. However, Kunimi conserves his energy and improves in the second half, making him a nuisance for opposing teams. He only makes a few appearances in the first two seasons of the anime, but we can expect him to shine in the fourth season, including during training camp!
Kadokawa Gakuen - Yudai Hyakuzawa
■Height: 201.2 cm Weight: 88.2 kg ■Position: WS (Wing Spiker) ■Uniform Number: 9
Hyakuzawa is a powerful player who made the unknown Kadokawa Gakuen famous within just six months of starting volleyball. His strength is simple: his height and strength, as he is over two meters tall despite being a first-year high school student. He can easily stop any spike, so before playing against Karasuno, he completely underestimated volleyball, saying, "Volleyball is so simple." However, after playing against Karasuno, he was defeated, losing to Hinata, who is much smaller than him... After the match, his eyes lit up and he corrected himself, saying, "I take back what I said about volleyball being simple." He must have realized the excitement of how even a small player like Hinata can use tactics to score points against even Hyakuzawa.
The difference in strength is revealed during training camp!
During this training camp, Hyakuzawa realized the overwhelming difference in experience compared to the other selected members. Especially during 2-on-2 practice matches, he was so overwhelmed that others didn't want to play with him... Hyakuzawa himself felt increasingly left behind and his play was becoming sloppy. Exhausted both physically and mentally, Hyakuzawa couldn't help but say to Hinata, "I wish you had been chosen instead of me." Hinata responded, "2 meters is the most amazing 1MAX ever!"
Summary of the Miyagi Prefecture First-Year Select Training Camp Members
In this article, we introduced the members of the "Miyagi Prefecture First-Year Select Training Camp," which our protagonist, Shoyo Hinata, attended uninvited. Incidentally, the coach was Mr. Anahara of Jozenji High School, and the person in charge was Mr. Washio of Shiratorizawa Academy. The members are all tall, as expected from Washio-sensei, who focuses on power and height, and Hinata, who plays the "ball picker" position, joined the team. Check out the details of the training camp in Season 4 of the anime!
