One more!
Gimme one more!
Shut up! You don't need to tell me!
Here it comes!
Yeah!
Man, that felt amazing!
And I can feel the full weight of the ball in my palm.
I love it!
Hell yeah!
Our fast attacks are gonna run roughshod over Neko!
Neko?
They're playing Nekoma?
We're playing a practice match at the end of Golden Week.
Ack!
What was that for? And stop running from me!
I don't want to be anywhere near you when you get mad.
But I'm not mad right now!
Well, talk of Nekoma always sounded like a history lesson to us.
Our teams don't really have that rivalry anymore.
That said,
the "Battle of the Garbage Dumpster: Cat vs Crow" is making a comeback!
We've heard so much about Neko, and now we're gonna be playing them for the first time in years.
Doesn't that get you a little hyped?
But I don't know how to face Suga or Nishinoya.
Oh, come on.
For all your size, you're still a wimp on the inside, huh?
You and Nishinoya are like polar opposites.
Can't you sugarcoat your words a little?
Relax.
Neither Suga nor Nishinoya will have a problem with it.
Unlike you, they have big hearts.
Weren't you supposed to be an all-round nice guy?
You get special treatment,
wimp that you are.
Who cares if you played hooky for a month?
So what if things are awkward and you're finding it hard to show up?
None of that matters.
If there's a chance you might still like volleyball,
then that's reason enough to come back.
Oh, and one more thing.
You can't let a guy who idolizes aces down, right?
Ow!
The heat flickers
Sweat glitters on my skin
Shouts echo and shoulders hit
We asked the sky through the open window
Haikyuu !!
what our summer would be like
Haikyuu !!
Tell me, Mr. Future
Come on, come on, come on
The chance is there
Come on, come on, come on
Do it together
Everybody always wants to stand there,
make mistakes, get angry, and struggle
We'll never give up
We don't want it to end
I will continue on with my imagination
I want to struggle and fall and become stronger
I want to persevere, stand back up, do it again,
and never give up
Let me run
I will run to where my imagination leads me
Foot of the Slope
On the bank of the flowing Hirose River...
Episode Nine: A Set For the Ace
I'm remembering what can't return...
In the dancing brightness of the rapids...
Wh-What are you doing?!
I'm sorry! I was checking to see if you had customers.
Is this about coaching again?
Yes.
I still love to play.
I put together a neighborhood team.
I'd hate being a coach 'cause I'd be dying to join in.
I see.
Besides, I don't want to go near that gym.
D-Do you have bad memories of the place?
The opposite! It's packed with memories of my youth.
Then why?
I don't care if that gym and our clubroom haven't changed.
I absolutely can't go back there.
The limited time I spent there felt unique.
It's like breathing the air from a bygone era.
So you're nostalgic? You're lucky.
Oh, be quiet!
That's why I don't want to go back there!
What if I said Nekoma High was coming?
At the end of Golden Week, we have our first practice match with them in five years.
What did... you just say?
Coach Nekomata, who had such a profound friendship with Coach Ukai, has recently come out of retirement.
When I heard this, I asked for a practice match.
In your day, wasn't that when the two teams had the closest ties?
Yeah.
Which reminds me, their current coach played setter at Nekoma 7 or 8 years ago.
This year will be our final chance, Ukai.
I want to see you at nationals, got it?
Right!
I'll be there!
That was when you were part of the volleyball team,
so perhaps you two know one another.
Hey.
Are you trying to aggravate me?!
I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
Bullshit! You're obviously trying to aggravate me! Do you seriously think that's gonna work?!
When does practice start?!
I'm sorr—
Huh?
Um...
I can't allow Nekoma to see my juniors in their current deplorable state!
I'm getting changed! Stay right there!
Sure!
Mom, mind the store for me!
Yes!
Yeah, hello? Tattsuan?
Say, Noya?
Yeah?
How did you train while you were suspended?
I focused on blocked ball retrieval.
Specialized training to retrieve any blocked ball!
I'm not that great at it, but if I can just retrieve blocked balls,
you guys can go for your spikes without worrying as much.
The guy seems to have a bruise in a new place every time I see him.
Noya, you are totally, utterly cool!
Why are you crying?!
Hello!
Gather 'round!
Allow me to introduce you to Ukai, your coach as of today!
Coach?
Do you mean it?!
Only for the duration of your match with Nekoma.
Oh.
What? He's the guy who runs Foot of the Slope right?
Is he really our coach?
He graduated from Karasuno, and he's the grandson of the famous Coach Ukai.
What?!
But your store isn't named after you, right? I mean, sir?!
The store comes from mom's side of the family.
There's no time! Let's get started!
I want to see how you guys play, so we have a match at 6:30.
I called in your opponents.
Opponents?
The Karasuno Neighborhood Association team.
If there's a chance you might still like volleyball,
then that's reason enough to come back.
I'm going in!
Right!
I'm going!
Damn, he isn't picking up.
I guess assembling the gang this late on a weekday was too much to ask.
Here.
Th-Thank you.
Hello!
Yo.
Damn!
This takes me back!
Excuse me?
Team Neighborhood Association...
...is on the scene!
Hey! Thanks for coming out at the drop of a hat like this, guys!
That's for sure!
I envisioned older guys when he said neighborhood association.
You owe me one.
Oh, fine.
Same here.
Okay, let's get this thing started!
Yeah!
Game on!
Hey, you. What's wrong?
I'm sorry. He's not ready.
What's the deal? Issues? Injury?
No, it's not that straightforward.
What, so he's not injured?
I dunno what the deal is, but join the neighborhood team.
Our libero is tied up at work.
Oh, in that case.
What'll we do about the other two?
You have more people, right?
Hey! It's Asahi!
Asahi!
Ugh! Him again.
I was just, um...
Asahi?!
A tardy guy? Are you jerkin' my chain?!
State your position!
Wing spiker.
We need players! Get the hell in here and get warmed up!
Make it snappy!
Now all we need is a setter.
I wanna do it, but I have to watch from the outside.
Loan me one of your setters.
Sugawara!
You're not deferring to me, are you?
If rising in the ranks comes at your expense, I'm out.
This whole time, I prepared to fight you for the starting position.
But after you joined the team, I think I felt relieved somehow.
The setter is a team's attack axis.
He must be steadfast.
But I was too freaked out to set properly.
I was so afraid of submitting the spiker to repeated blocks because of my sets,
that I hid in the shadow of Kageyama's overwhelming talent.
It was comfortable there.
The very thought of a spike being blocked still scares me.
That said...
Please let me set for you one more time, Asahi.
That's why I'm going on this side.
And Kageyama?
I'm not gonna lose.
Me neither.
Nishinoya, give me those good receives of yours!
Naturally!
Okay, let's get ready!
Asahi came! See?
Yeah, for now.
Karasuno Neighborhood Assoc.
Let's have a good match!
He really is intimidating.
Come at me, high schoolers!
It's a showdown against the ace!
Haikyuu !!
Karasuno Neighborhood Assoc.
Nice receive!
Looking good!
Nice set.
Thank you, sir!
Sugawara's fast attack!
Well, duh. Suga is a respectable setter in his own right!
He looks so happy.
Suga, nice set!
Only because they're adjusting their team play for my benefit.
They're real veterans.
My setting still needs work.
We need to keep using fast attacks and play hardball, or the match will ride on the ace again like before.
Suga, you've gotten really cool.
What? You think so?
That's kinda awesome, coming from you.
Why is that?
You know...
Suga, you've gotten really reliable since I last saw you.
Nishinoya is as reliable as ever.
No, I mean it. You've gotten really cool.
But here I am, drifting back to the team and standing on the court again.
It's pathetic.
However...
You can do it!
One more!
However, I really do love it here.
What the?
Right on!
That guy really flew!
That set was dead-on.
Good job, Hinata, Kageyama!
But now, with this guy setting for me, I can evade any block, no matter how high it may be.
The blockers vanish from my sight,
and I get a clear view of the other side of the net.
The other side of the net.
Shake it off!
One more!
68th Annual Prefectural
Volleyball Tournament
Date Tech Karasuno
It's a bluff! Forward!
Nice, Noya!
Asahi!
The Iron Wall of Date
Shit.
They failed, but their libero is amazing.
I'm sorry! I'll save the next one!
Yeah. He's on another level.
If it wasn't for that attacker...
Blocked again.
I've lost count of them now.
I called for so many sets.
"Send them my way. I'll make them count."
But when all was said and done...
I became too scared to call for the set.
Asahi?!
Asahi?
Suga, right!
D-Daichi!
Date Tech Karasuno
Shit!
I couldn't retrieve a single blocked ball!
Why?! Why aren't you putting the blame on me?!
We only lost the match because of me!
Any ball you could've saved would've been pointless because I couldn't make them count!
Asahi!
What do you mean, pointless?
Okay, then why didn't you call for the set at the end?
You were in position.
Lay off, Nishinoya!
It's my fault for sending all the sets his way. He got overwor—
Even if you did set it for me, I couldn't make it count.
You don't know that until you hit the damned thing!
You never know! The next one might get through!
Don't you dare give up on a ball I keep in play!
Noya!
I'm a libero!
I'm pivotal to defense, and pivotal to the team!
But I can't earn us any points.
I can't attack, but I don't care how many spikes don't get through.
I wouldn't blame you in the least.
However, I don't forgive anyone who up and quits on me!
Asahi!
Wait, Asahi!
Why didn't you come to practice yesterday?
The interhigh happens soon after the start of the new school year.
It's no fun hitting spikes that count for nothing.
What am I talking about? That's not how I think at all.
It's gotta be futile for you to retrieve balls that never count.
Stop it. Nishinoya doesn't think like that.
Suga feels responsible every time I get blocked—
It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks!
Hey! Who's doing all that shouting?!
Quiet in the halls!
Asahi!
Hey!
Shut up!
50th Anniversary
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50th Anniversary
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50th Anniversary
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50th Anniversary
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What have you done?
Uh, oh. Right in front of the Vice Principal.
Don't you want to make a spike count again?!
Nice, Hinata!
Thank you!
Hinata, it's your turn to serve.
I do want to.
No matter how many times I run up against it, I do want to hit it one more time.
That's all that matters.
That's all I needed to hear.
My only job is to keep the rally going.
Hinata, give us a good one!
It's over the net!
Oops!
Sorry! Cover me!
Long-haired guy! Seal the deal!
The skies are the spikers' domain.
It's not a place where I can fight...
We're stopping him!
Would you please not order me around?
We're playing for realsies, Asahi!
...but so long as I keep the rally going...
I do want to hit it one more time.
...our ace will definitely score.
That's heavy!
It's up!
Nice save!
Blocked ball retrieval.
Specialized training to retrieve any blocked ball!
Noya!
I'm going to keep that ball in play even if it rebounds off their wall of blockers.
So please, call for a set just one more time...
ace!
Cover it!
Got it!
What do I do? Who do I give it to?
The open left side is probably the most certain,
but what if I give it to Asahi, and he gets blocked again?
Sugawara!
Send them his way until he scores!
You're such a sadist, King.
Huh?!
When the going is tough and when the receives are all over the place,
the ace is the one you trust.
I know that. I know that, but...
I can't set for Asahi if he isn't expecting it and force him to take on a three blockers.
A spiker can only move in for a spike after the set is made.
Please let me set for you one more time, Asahi.
The set exists because a receive kept the ball in play.
Don't you dare give up on a ball I keep in play!
I'm not alone when I move in for a spike.
Everyone else was doing their jobs, but I...
It's only natural that you can't win all by yourself.
That is why everyone calls you the ace.
If there's a chance you might still like volleyball...
So please, call for a set just one more time...
ace!
Here!
Shimada!
Suga!
One more!
Right.
The ace is waiting.
He's calling for the set.
A high set, placed slightly in front of the net.
Asahi's favorite set. The one I've given him so many times.
I make this, the most simple set, with as much care as I can.
Are you backing the other team?
We're gonna have to block him again.
Obviously. There's no point cutting corners.
He's always got my back.
He gives me the sets I find easiest to hit.
I couldn't ask for more.
Somewhere along the way, I'd forgotten the simplest, most natural thing.
I'm...
not fighting alone!
Going through with the hit is what it means...
to be the ace!
If I tell you this story,
I wonder if I can explain to you
my feelings
and the distance between us
Standing on an empty field
I breathe out into the night air
Countless times I swore that I would change
I stumbled and fell a lot,
but I swore I would laugh at the end
and not let my tears go to waste
There are so many dreams that can definitely come true
I always sat somewhere, downcast, dejected, depressed,
but still I decided I would fight,
and not let all my frustration go to waste
This is our revenge
Next Episode Preview
Tanaka, stop crying and block properly.
You idiot! I'm not crying!
This is—
Yeah, yeah. You're gonna say it's sweat, right?
It's my runny nose.
Episode Ten: The Dream
Next time on Haikyuu!!:
"The Dream."