Five Years Ago, May
This year, I'll see you at nationals.
Heh! You say the same thing every year.
Shaddup!
This is gonna be the year.
We're looking forward to the Battle of the Garbage Dumpster at nationals this year!
But at the June interhigh, both schools narrowly miss earning a ticket to nationals.
In March of the next year, Karasuno High, representing Miyagi prefecture,
and Nekoma High, as Tokyo's second representative,
both appeared in the Spring High School National Volleyball Tournament, however...
Karasuno was defeated in the third round, and Nekoma was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
They held many, many practice matches,
but both coaches retired without ever crossing swords in an official capacity.
This led to the steady decline of both teams.
{=1}Karasuno High School Volleyball Team
{=0}Karasuno High School Volleyball Team
But now...
Let the fateful rematch begin!
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
Episode Twelve: The Cat and Crow Reunion
Kenma!
Y-Y-You go to Nekoma?!
Uh, yeah.
How come you didn't tell me?
You never asked.
But you said, "See you later"!
You must've known something!
The words "Karasuno High School" were on your T-shirt.
Hey, hey, hey!
What business do you have with our setter?
Hey.
I-I'm sorry!
What about you?
What business do you have with our first-year? Eh?
What's it to you?
You wanna rumble, city boy? Eh?
You're about to rumble in the match we're about to play.
And stop saying "city boy." It's embarrassing.
Yamamoto, stop picking fights all the time.
It makes you look stupid.
I apologize on behalf of my embarrassing teammate.
I apologize for mine as well. I'm very embarrassed.
Female manager... Good!
Right on!
They have a female manager! Yakisoba bun score!
You'll pay for this!
Taketora, stand your ground!
Why do you know one of them personally?
I happened to run into him while we were out jogging.
He's Nekoma's setter.
Setter?
I'm looking forward to our match today.
I'm also looking forward to our match today.
Woo-hoo! The ceiling is so high!
Hold that end.
It's just a ceiling.
Oh, he's the shrewd type.
It's been eight years.
What's the deal with your hair, Ukai?
Shaddup, Naoi. You should try something new for a change!
Hey, Keishin!
It's been a long time, Mr. Nekomata!
I see you still have the face the old man gave you.
I'm Takeda! We spoke on the phone.
Thank you for going out of your way today.
It's hard to ignore all those phone calls.
I had to respond.
Forgive me!
I'm only kidding.
We had ourselves some good practice matches in the last three days.
Thank you for the match.
Yes, sir! Thank you!
And I don't care if you're not the old man.
I'll show you no mercy.
To be honest,
we've only just met, and we're still awkward and uncoordinated.
Plus, this is our first match using these members.
I don't know what kind of wall we'll be up against with Nekoma.
But once we are up against that wall...
that will be our chance to rise above it!
We are plasma.
Keep the flow in motion.
Distribute the oxygen so the brain can run smoothly!
Let's go!
Yes, sir!
Kuro, can you stop doing that?
It's kind of embarrassing.
What's wrong with it?! It's for atmosphere.
It's like self-hypnosis.
Exactly.
We made it!
Line up!
It's been a long time since the last Battle of the Garbage Dumpster.
We will now commence the practice match between Nekoma High and Karasuno High!
Let's have a good match!
You aren't nervous today.
Yes, sir.
You're tiny!
D-Don't you mock me!
I'm not mocking you in the slightest!
R-Really?
Yeah!
Tch.
He could at least let his guard down.
Shouyou.
I know I said that I think I have a pretty good team...
but I'm not good.
We all are.
Give us a nice serve, Kenma!
Asahi!
Got it!
I'm sorry. It was too short!
It's your fault for skipping a whole month!
I'm sorry!
Kageyama, cover it!
Right!
That was really fast.
What was that?
A fast attack from that far away?
What was that? He didn't even look at the set.
That's amazing.
I'm surprised.
Good job, Shouyou!
Thank you!
Let's get going!
Fukunaga!
Take that!
Nice receive!
Another fast attack!
You could hardly expect him to retrieve that.
I'm counting on you!
Right.
Well done.
Thank you.
Their libero is a threat.
Hinata, let's go!
He'd never seen Asahi spike before, but he touched it.
I'm sorry!
I'm sorry! Take this!
Hinata, you dumbass!
Sure.
Shake it off, guys!
Noya, go for it!
Nishinoya sure switches a lot.
Left!
Yes, sir. Since the libero specializes in defense, they goes on and off the court many times.
Net
Front row
Back row
Our middle blockers, Hinata and Tsukishima, go to the rear to serve,
and once the rally is done, they swap positions with Nishinoya.
Now it's my turn!
Right on!
That's ridiculous.
Ooh!
A hasty timeout.
They have a good libero and good spikers.
The most ridiculous of the lot is their setter.
He's a monster.
He quickly sets to the spiker's optimum striking point.
He has the control to thread the needle.
Anyway, you can't do anything about a prodigy.
But they're not gonna win this thing just because they happen to have one prodigy on the team.
If Shouyou is their attack axis, we should stop him.
Shouyou?
Their nimble number ten.
Their number nine and number ten...
are like a demon and his iron club.
We'll take the iron club from the demon.
Nekoma
Karasuno
Let's do this!
This is great!
They're at their best!
They give me the willies.
Huh?
It's as though they're feeling us out. Like we're being scrutinized.
Dammit!
Nekoma
Karasuno
Shake it off!
You almost had it.
Their number seven is keeping up with Hinata.
I'm sorry!
Nekoma has moved their blockers to the side.
Yeah, a dedicated block.
This block isn't designed to keep the ace marked.
Could it be...
They're attempting to lead Hinata?
Just shrink down Shouyou's movement area.
From what I can tell, Shouyou simply charges to wherever there are no blockers.
So if we put our blockers on one side, he'll move to the opposite side.
After that, keep following him.
Yes, sir!
I think that anyone would be taken by surprise seeing their fast attack for the first time.
In a game, the more you repeat a level you can't pass at first...
the more you get used to it.
Follow number ten. Follow number ten.
He touched it again?!
It's a fast attack!
Damn.
Shake it off!
A setter dump.
Hey, don't get too tense.
They can see through the cracks.
Forward!
I'm sorry, Noya! Cover it!
I've got it!
Right!
What?! Kageyama called for a set?!
Kageyama, finish it!
Hey! That was a straight spike!
You go straight along the line.
You need to learn to choose your hits!
It seriously pisses me off how he's so good at everything.
You said it.
Nekoma
Karasuno
Nice tip, Tsukishima!
This guy is smart.
He thinks calmly and observes his surroundings.
The exact opposite of Shouyou.
Nice serve!
Yamamoto!
All right!
Nice receive!
Which side should I give it to?
The right?
No, the left.
He did watch closely, as I thought.
And he has fast reflexes.
All right!
That glance was a decoy!
Because he's not good with people,
he became so self-conscious of where they were looking that he became very observant of their eyes.
He's good at predicting his opponents' moves.
He can predict how someone will act based on what their personality is like.
Although, that isn't what makes our team strong.
Haikyuu !!
I've never had any luck making friends.
I wasn't good around people, so I wanted nothing to do with them.
But I became extremely self-conscious of their eyes.
I didn't let it get to me so that I wouldn't stand out.
My only playmate was Kuro, who was my age and lived nearby.
I don't really like sports, but I've always fiddled with volleyball.
In junior high, Kuro persuaded me to join the volleyball team.
It was a little fun.
In high school, I found myself still playing it.
Our school had a good team not long ago.
There were so many people.
I decided I couldn't handle it.
Hey, first-year! You need to clean up faster or we can't go home!
The people we call upperclassmen just happened to be born a year or two before us.
So why do they act so bossy?
Don't quit on me.
You have keen observational skills,
and you deliver accurate instructions.
The current first-years and second-years know how great you are.
You'll definitely make the team stronger.
He doesn't stand out.
Huh?
It's obvious to an amateur that Kageyama gives off sharp vibes.
Nekoma's setter might indeed be doing amazing things, but it's hard to tell by looking at him.
That's due to the consistency of their receiving.
The most important thing to set up a wide variety of attacks is
receives that deliver the ball neatly above the head of the setter.
Those receives enable their setter to utilize his best potential.
Kageyama is holding together his uncoordinated team with overwhelming talent,
while Nekoma's setter, Kozume, is supported by the receiving skills of his entire team.
We are plasma.
Keep the flow in motion.
Distribute the oxygen.
So the brain can run smoothly!
I touched it!
Nice cover, Yaku!
We don't need a superman for an ace.
As long as we earn the points one by one, slowly but surely.
Take that!
Nekoma
Karasuno
Yeah!
Kageyama, I'm going to make the next spike count, so set for me!
Right now, it's set point for the opponent.
Mess up, and we lose the set.
I know! I'll do it!
Nice receive!
In a game, the more you repeat a level you can't pass at first...
the more you get used to it.
Nekoma Karasuno
I finally caught you!
All right!
Hey, we can't let each little thing get us down.
We're going to take back the next set!
There's no spike that can't be stopped.
Don't get distracted.
Let's nail the next one, Hinata!
Smash it in.
Yes, sir!
Not again.
Nice block, Inuoka!
Their number seven is no fluke.
He's learning how Hinata moves.
Karasuno Nekoma
Daichi, nice cover!
Left!
Tanaka!
Do you want to ask why I don't swap out Hinata?
All right!
Not really.
If this was an official match, I might swap him out.
But right now, this is his chance to find the solution.
However, if that results in Hinata losing his will to fight, maybe I should take him out of the match once.
He's going around!
Shit!
It's no good!
All right!
Completely shut out in the first and last match in junior high.
No match for Tsukishima's height in high school.
But he finally obtained a way to fight opponents far taller than himself.
To Hinata, this is his sole, most powerful attack.
All prevented by a single blocker!
It's the spirit-breaking "human wall."
The more you hit it, the more your spirit breaks.
He's smiling.
Hey.
It's different somehow.
It's not the same as back when I felt confused because I couldn't see the other side past the blockers
and didn't know what to do.
It's different somehow.
I can tell that my opponent is having trouble keeping up with me.
Until now, I felt fear and hate when I was blocked.
Now, I get excited when he shows up in front of me.
With your sets and some kind of plan, I think I can get it past him.
So please send one more set my way!
That goes without saying.
Karasuno Nekoma
Give us a nice serve!
What?
Hinata was looking at...
...the set.
Until now, he left the ball fully up to Kageyama and just took the swing!
T-Time out!
I-It's not like I don't trust your sets...
How can I say it?
Why are you panicking?
Kageyama, I want you to give slightly weaker sets to Hinata.
Rather than the usual direct delivery...
Indirect delivery.
In...
Rather than the usual powerful, straight trajectory set,
it needs to float a little.
It might be tricky to change it up this sudden.
I'll do it.
Why would you have him change the set?
To give Hinata freedom in midair.
A moment ago, Hinata attempted to dodge the blocker in midair.
What?
He probably tried to mimic Kageyama's technique to dodge a blocker.
Although it was crap.
Until now, I've hit the ball without a thought in my head, so it's confusing to suddenly be the one aligning the shot!
Karasuno Nekoma
One more timeout!
Hinata, you need to calm down.
Yes, sir!
I'm sorry. I keep making mistakes.
Go on!
I always get to hit the ball unmarked thanks to you!
I think I'm allowed to totally own a match once in a while!
Although Asahi is scoring more points than you!
You shaddup! Anyway, it's all good!
Right, Asahi?
Uh, yeah. He's right.
We'll make back the points.
If you keep screwing up, you could be swapped out.
Tsukishima!
If you're on the verge of learning something, keep at it.
You jump alone,
but we're all here, right behind you.
After all, the ace claims he's going to win back all those points.
Daichi, don't put pressure on Asahi!
You wouldn't wanna damage him.
That's right! His heart is very fragile!
Please make it stop!
Asahi!
Left!
Go!
Nice hit!
Karasuno Nekoma
Aw, it's all he can do to return it.
What would it take to make it go smoother?
Nobody can be expected to get a play right the first time.
Nice receive!
Send it my way!
But the initial effort is the beginning in all things.
Remember how the Little Giant used to play for Karasuno?
Hinata's dream ace?
True to his name, he stood at around 170 cm, and at first, he kept being stopped by blockers.
But by the latter half of his second year, no one could match him in aerial battle.
He couldn't compete with the high blockers, so he aimed for the gap and fired.
He would intentionally hit the blockers' fingertips and make it ricochet.
That's how he found a way for a smaller guy like himself to fight.
At least, that's according to what my gramps told me.
You mean the previous Coach Ukai?
Yeah. I remember what my gramps told me very clearly.
Man doesn't have wings,
so he finds a way to fly.
Aw! It's out!
That was amazing!
That was amazing, Shouyou!
One more time!
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
Your resident small fry... Is his name Hinata?
He's pretty amazing, even though that last one was out.
Not at all. He's nothing compared to your resident Inuoka.
Even though he's always wowed by the opponent.
Excuse me, but you guys are scaring me.
Episode Thirteen: Worthy Adversaries
Next time on Haikyuu!!:
"Worthy Adversaries."