Up-To-Date: Haikyuu 291

While I still can’t get over the last rally, the manga updates and AAAAHH! It’s such a good chapter!

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Of course, it starts with the still utterly shocked crowd as “one of the biggest upset of the Spring High Tournament” happened.

We see the team gather around Kageyama and Hinata. And look at poor Tsukki who’s so tired he slumped down on the floor! And Nishinoya’s so consistent with his biting his teammates. I remember being so amused when he did that to Tsukki when Tsukki managed to block Ushijima.

Seijoh wins first place for best reactions while Shirabu is the runner-up

The reactions of the spectators are a joy to see. But it’s also heartbreaking to see the Inarizaki team, too, though. Especially Gin who’s still on the floor near the unsaved ball!

Then we get these freak duo. Still competing despite their exhausted selves.

And we have this panel of Nekoma looking so ready to face Karasuno! Kuroo looks so fine! They all seem so serious while Lev looks like he’s happy (of course he is!) for the result and Fukunaga looks so amused there.

Then, we also get Anabara suddenly calling Coach Washijou. Before he can say anything else, Coach Washijou admits seeing the game and it’s just so satisfying how he has this soft expression on him. I wonder what reactions he had when he saw Hinata doing those amazing receives. Before, he evaluated Hinata as someone of no value because he lacks skills and he couldn’t fight on his own. I’m sure now he’s re-evaluated him and sees him in a better light. 

Then came the greetings of both teams. Kita and Daichi, Ojiro and Asahi, Kageyama and Atsumu.

Then comes one of my favorite scenes.

Atsumu addressed Hinata (who didn’t know which of the twins he was!) and told him that he’ll toss to him one of these days. I love how confident Atsumu is. He knows that since Hinata is a great player; there’s no way they’ll cross paths again. It’s such a touching scene to me because as they said, it’s a joy for a spiker to have setters trusting them the ball. And Atsumu isn’t even on Hinata’s team! In addition to that, it’s a real opposite to what Hinata had during middle school. Before, Hinata didn’t even have a setter to set for him, but now, he doesn’t only have Kageyama and Suga trusting him, but also one of the best setters in the country desiring to set for him. It’s a calls to mind what Oikawa said after the Shiratorizawa-Karasuno game, that Hinata is the type of spiker you’d want to toss the ball to.

Anyway, after that, Atsumu threatens to destroy them during the next Inter-High. Somehow, this gives me hope that we’ll still be able to see more of Atsumu.

And, of course, Osamu never fails to be savage.

The team, then, gathers to thank their supporters and, seriously, they’re a big part of their win! 

I almost forgot how the Inarizaki supporters gave trouble to Karasuno by their booing and ruining the team’s tempo.

Meanwhile, Inarizaki gathers to say their thanks, too, though Atsumu really wants their supporters to diss them. It’s amusing how there suddenly came a supporter who told Atsumu to knock it off. It surprised Atsumu knowing there’s no way that they can hear him all the way from those benches. But as it is, their supporters know them well and it’s touching to see them teary-eyed, too, because they know that their team did their best. There’s nothing shameful about doing your best even if the result doesn’t favor you.

Tanaka’s precious dissers-turned-fanboys and our lovely managers

Then, Coach Norimune of Inarizaki, during his interview, got asked of what he thought was the reason why they lost. He blamed it on his coaching, saying he should have stuck more to offensive plays. But I love how he knew that that game is valuable to the players of both teams.

After that, we see the supporters of both teams pass by each other. But before that, the leasers — Saeko and the old man who talked to Atsumu earlier — bowed down and it’s such a beautiful moment. In the end, even if they’re on the opponents’ side, they still respect one another.

Then, the scene turns to the foxes again.

Kita never stops to be amazingly straightforward and look at Ojiro’s amused face. Anyway, the twins must have thought that they should apologize to Kita because they lost. That’s Kita’s last match, after all. But their amazing captain, knowing the twins, is not having their apology.

He then goes on to say that he believed that they’d score with their last attack. It’s amusing how he kinda complimented them and kinda not with his saying how he isn’t a fan of them pulling off moves (during the real match) they didn’t practice.

“Zone”, huh? Reminds me of a certain basketball anime *winks*

It still amazes me how much Kita knew his teammates, his friends. I wonder just how much observing he did to get to know each of them, not only their mannerisms, but even their thought processes.

Anyway, despite the result, Kita is still happy to have that match. And it shows on his smiles. The foxes’ reactions to his smile are so cute!

But here comes something so heartbreaking for me.

Kita never got to play a lot. He isn’t a regular member. But he knows his teammates and is proud of them. It speaks a lot about how he trusts them a lot. And I think he also admires them just as much.

It’s just so impactful to see them teary-eyed here. They did look dejected earlier when the match just ended, but here, Ojiro, Ginjima, and Oomimi got teary eyes. And I love how determined the twins are when they answered him. And their answer is amazing, too! With those, it’s obvious that they aren’t just bluffing. They will do their best just for that.

A game isn’t officially over until I see a panel like this.

Then, we get back to the crows who are all so tired because of the game! They’re all so adorable even with those tired looks! Noya is so cute! And it’s great to see Tsukki exhausted like that. Just speaks of how much intense the game was and of how much effort he exerted just for it.

Then, Ennoshita and Suga comments on how despite the others are shut down, Hinata is amazingly up. Tsukki hears it and thinks of this:

“That moment” is something Tsukki learned from Bokuto. He experienced that during the game against Shiratorizawa. This time, he witnessed it happen to someone else — Hinata. Hinata has always been in love with volleyball. He loves hitting the ball and goes after it no matter what whenever he still can. This is the reason why he and Kageyama made a good pair initially. Kageyama who foolishly set tosses which are quite difficult for spikers to hit matches well with Hinata who foolishly goes after the ball. He was always one to score. Or be the decoy. But he was never one to receive. He sucked at that and serving.

Now, though, Hinata managed to receive well. He fell in love with another aspect of volleyball. And he’s truly falling “even further into volleyball mania”.

It’s just so exciting how this change will affect how the team does things. The rotation system is frequently talked about as each of the rotation has different strengths and weaknesses. With Hinata getting better at receives, I wonder just how much choices of rotation they’ll have!

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I believe there’ll be some more chill chapters before the actual Karasuno vs. Nekoma game and I’m so hyped for them!

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