Haikyuu!! S2 – 15
tfw your opponent scores your points for you
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Wow, Karasuno has sure come a long way from losing every single match at training camp. It’s great to see them use everything they’ve learned in practice in actual matches. All their effort is paying off in glorious victory..err, not that they’ve won yet but I honestly doubt the frat boy team will beat them. |
The pure version of Tanaka is here to help
Haikyuu!! always manages to introduce a team, give us a ton of backstory about them, and therefore make matches against what should just be random fodder teams interesting. It’s amazing how quickly I learn to love teams that should be Karasuno’s enemies. It almost becomes tempting to root for them at times! In this case, we have Johzenji: the party team. They’re skilled enough to play matches recklessly and still win, so they spend most of their time laughing it up. However, when in a pinch, they have no idea what to do because they never do any real thinking.
They get a gold star for trying, but that’s about it
On one hand, there’s no doubt that enjoying a sport is hugely important. That look of pure joy on their faces is great, and not a single one of them isn’t trying their hardest. Compare this to Tsukishima who is still not sure if he likes it, and this dilemma is holding him back from reaching his full potential. So Johzenji aren’t quite as foolish as they appear (and they do appear pretty foolish). But that’s just me playing devil’s advocate, because they really have some issues they need to address.
Obviously, their problem is that they play around too much. Anyone can see that. They’re so busy partying it up and running unpredictable plays, that their skills are suffering. Yuuji taunts Daichi for being boring, but it’s stability and strong basics that holds the team up. Sure, Hinata and Kageyama run a flashy play to score points, but that wild side has to be tempered with more consistent players like Daichi. Afterall, Hinata still can’t even get his serves in! His basics suck! Without players strong in their basics like the senpais, Karasuno would only be winning half of their matches.
After seeing Daichi pave the way to success just by nailing the basics, Johzenji starts to doubt their strategy. It takes a push from their manager to get back on track, as they finally remember that their school motto actually does have a meaning. You can’t just flail around and have fun, you have to plan ahead! Practice simple plays! Get the basics down and then go buckwild with fancy plays! I think because these are grueling things, Johzenji just tried to gloss over them to get to the fun bits. There is a time in every sport where it isn’t fun, (like running laps in the rain for an hour, for example…) but the hard work always pays off in the end. You have to accept that if you want to get better.
It was quite the transformation in such a short time, and I think next week they’ll use a totally different style that blends work and play evenly. They won’t win because lol that would be the worst team for the main characters to lose to, but I’m still interested in seeing this match run to completion. Some other cute highlights here were Kageyama getting hit in the face, Tsukishima’s sport glasses, and watching the senpais play. As much as I love Kageyama and Hinata, I always feel so bad for the benchwarmers. Hell, I don’t even remember who the bald Tanaka-lookalike was! That’s how much he’s been ignored!
All in all, a fun match. It didn’t pose much of a competitive challenge for Karasuno so the “action” part was nothing outside of the norm. Hinata’s “spiderman” was pretty tight though. Even matches that aren’t the big ones, such as anything involving Nekoma, are always fun due to the rich history behind every single team. I don’t know how they get me so invested in just one episode, but I think it has to do how each team’s playing style is intimately linked with their personalities. Just seeing them play tells you so much about what kind of people they are. So even though Johzenji will likely be more streetsmart next week, I know the inner frat boy soul will never die.
*dubstep beat drops*
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
