Haikyu!! To The Top

Episode 20

Even though we probably all saw it coming, it's still exactly zero fun to see Karasuno lose, especially to a team whose coach is the king of the smug face. (Admittedly, I have a very low tolerance for smugness.) It also means that the pressure is on for both teams, because there won't be a fourth chance after this set – whoever takes it moves on up the line in Nationals, and whoever doesn't has to head on home.

Karasuno looks like they've got the more stressful part, or at least as if they're feeling it more. In part that's certainly because they just lost set two, but it's also due to the fact that not only do they have anxiety poster child Asahi, but one of their two usual bundles of energy and optimism, Nishinoya…isn't. Being targeted by a Miya Twin has really got him feeling like a failure, in part because he's never been another player's dedicated target before. Off the court that would look a lot like him being picked on; unfortunately it's apparently a legitimate piece of the game that Nishinoya just has to deal with. Fortunately if there's one thing Asahi understands, it's being nervous, and in his own, poorly expressed way he's got Noya's back…assuming his manner of telling the younger boy that got through, which from Daichi and Suga's faces seems debatable.

Asahi actually reminds me of Captain, a pitbull I knew. Captain was the absolute picture of a pit: big, muscular, with a block head, but whenever any other dog got near him – lab, chihuahua, whatever – Captain would make a terrified little squeaking sound and flop over like a fainting goat. Asahi's not quite that bad, but whenever anyone refers to him as “the samurai dude” I think of Captain and how appearances can definitely be deceiving. It's lucky that Asahi can carry through on his promise to Nishinoya and is as scary as he apparently looks during a game, because if any of the other players ever talked to him, I fear they'd be very disillusioned. That's something that we see working both ways, though, when Inarizaki brings out their number one (Kita, I think). He's completely mild and unassuming, and in all fairness he's not an amazing player; better than average, certainly, but not the stuff fears are made of. But what he does have is complete control over his emotions, a total lack of anxiety of any kind, and a good sense of what every single member of his team is likely to do. Possibly he's a secret telepath.

It's his arrival on the court that ultimately costs Karasuno the second set. It's not so much that his teammates are afraid of him (although there's a sense that they do find him unsettling or outright spooky), but they know that he's got their number. Any nonsense they were thinking of pulling or new, untested plays they were toying with whipping out quickly falls by the wayside, both because he calls them on it before they've said anything, but also because there's a sense of expectation from him. He expects that they will play well, that they won't do anything stupid, and that gooses them into playing their best. It's not that “someone” is always watching, as his grandmother apparently told him ad nauseum in his childhood, it's that he is watching, and that's more than enough for his team.

But he's off the court now as the third set commences. Everyone's getting tired, and that goes for both sides, but perhaps more importantly, both teams can see a way to winning here. That fixation can be helpful in that it causes people to focus, but it could also make the more egotistical players start trying to show off or act just a bit cocky. Karasuno does have Tanaka who could fit that mold, but I think the other team has an even bigger cockiness liability, and if he lets himself get carried away…well. It's still anyone's game. We'll see who slips up first.

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Haikyu!! To The Top is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.