Make no mistake – I’m really loving Haikyuu!! so far this season.  Sometimes in anime these side arcs can seem like filler even if they’re canon material, but not this.  While the series has many strengths Shouyou is and (presumably) always will be its central character, and any subplot that can develop the central character as much as this one is a huge success.  I’ve never felt connected to Shouyou as much as I do when watching him struggle through this difficult patch that has nothing to do with being outperformed on the court.

As I noted last week, Shouyou is a character who’s grounded in shounen tropes to a sometimes problematic degree.  When he isn’t as in-focus as he is here sometimes the tropes are all you get, and while he’s rarely less than at least likeable, ofttimes he isn’t all that interesting.  But this is a different sort of Hinata, one who’s showing off the possibilities of the character class instead of its limitations.  As Johzenji’s coach Takaki-san notes, he’s basically an empty vessel.  That makes him flat as a character when the narrative isn’t at its best, but it allows opportunity for almost limitless personal growth.

The key moment here comes when he’s hanging out the jerseys to dry (which he’d initially forgotten to do in very Shouyou-poi fashion), and gets a chance to watch practice unfold from above.  I wouldn’t doubt that Hinata has seen volleyball from that angle before, but in the context of a player waiting his turn to get back in the action.  Here, against his will he’s in the role of observer – and observe he does.  This trial has forced him to observe the game differently than he normally does, especially when it comes to receiving (one of his many weaknesses).  Watching boys better at it than he, Shouyou notes the small details – the way they move their feet, the way they react to the quality of the set and the body language of the spiker.

It’s here that Shouyou thinks back on his time in middle school, helping one of his buddies practice soft tennis.  We see this foot movement in many sports (I’ve always heard it referred to as a “hop step“) – tennis, basketball, baseball et al – but I suppose it only makes sense it would be useful in receiving in volleyball.  But as Shouyou’s eyes tell him, there are many ways to approach this skill, and not all the players who are good at it (which he’s not) use the same techniques.  To again use the language of Takaki-san, this is the process of Shouyou’s instinct – primitive but keen – grow into intuition.

That’s a topic in and unto itself – generally speaking instinct is basically a biological reaction, whereas intuition is an action taken in the moment based on accumulated experience.  It’s all part of the learning curve for our hero, for whom observation and contemplation have filled too small a role up to this point.  Being forced to step back and watch and to think about what he’s seeing has been the best thing for Shouyou, and you can practically see the circuit breakers being switched on in his head.  What about food (since Washijou-sensei refuses to feed or house him) – how does that impact his growth?

It’s certainly been interesting watching all this play out (hell, Ushijima actually smiled thinking about it, and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that before).  But it’s all building to Hinata getting back into action eventually, which may or may not happen at this training camp.  Just what exactly does Tsukishima – clearly irritated as always by the forced interaction with someone motivated in all the ways he isn’t – mean to tell Shouyou when he calls him aside?  The cruel reality of sports is that physical limitations do matter, probably more than anything else, and someone less motivated and committed can be given opportunities a more deserving athlete is denied.  But there’s no better narrative niche for Shouyou than reaching out and grabbing what’s being denied him based on his body by using his mind.