History Characters / HaikyuuMiyagiPrefectureSchools

Oikawa is the captain of Aoba Johsai's volleyball team and is widely regarded as the ace setter. A former member and setter of Kitagawa First, he won the "Best Setter Award" in the Miyagi prefecture during his third year in junior high.

* NiceGuy: He's a good mentor figure to his underclassmen and he was nice to Kageyama in his Kitagawa First years.

Kindaichi is a middle blocker from Aoba Johsai. He is also one of Kageyama’s former teammates from Kitagawa First. Because of Kageyama’s difficult temper during middle school, Kindaichi used to clash with him a lot and still thinks poorly of him.

* {{Tsundere}}: Shows concern for Kageyama now and then but refuses to admit it. When the Miyagi first year camp training finishes, he tries to ask Hinata about Kageyama's wellbeing as uncaringly as possible, with little success. He claims to just be making small talk, but does show some relief when Hinata reassures him Kageyama's fine and it's natural to have disagreements as teammates like the two of them did in Kitagawa First.

One of Kageyama's teammates back in Kitagawa First.

* InSeriesNickname: Oikawa calls him Kyouken-chan (狂犬), literally [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Mad Dog"]], derived from his name (though with different kanji).

Hinata's friends from middle school who helped him out in their only volleyball match together against Kitagawa First in the prologue. They were on the tennis and basketball teams, respectively.

Oikawa is the captain of Aoba Johsai's volleyball team and is widely regarded as the ace setter. A former member and setter of Kitagawa Daiichi, he won the "Best Setter Award" in the Miyagi prefecture during his third year in junior high.

* NiceGuy: He's a good mentor figure to his underclassmen and he was nice to Kageyama in Kitagawa Daiichi years.

Kindaichi is a middle blocker from Aoba Johsai. He is also one of Kageyama’s former teammates from Kitagawa Daiichi. Because of Kageyama’s difficult temper during middle school, Kindaichi used to clash with him a lot and still thinks poorly of him.

* {{Tsundere}}: Shows concern for Kageyama now and then but refuses to admit it. When the Miyagi first year camp training finishes, he tries to ask Hinata about Kageyama's wellbeing as uncaringly as possible, with little success. He claims to just be making small talk, but does show some relief when Hinata reassures him Kageyama's fine and it's natural to have disagreements as teammates like the two of them did in Kitagawa Daiichi.

One of Kageyama's teammates back in Kitagawa Daiichi.

!Niiyama Girls' High

* EarlyBirdCameo: In Chapter 108, the Niiyama Girls' volleyball team briefly shows up during the Spring High Preliminaries and the back of Kanako's head is shown. She's properly introduced over 100 chapters later during Nationals, where both her name and relationship to Tanaka is revealed.

Hinata's friends from middle school who helped him out in their only volleyball match together against Kitagawa Daiichi in the prologue. They were on the tennis and basketball teams, respectively.

[[folder:Kōji and Izumin]]
!!Kōji Sekimukai and Yukitaka Izumin

!!!'''Izumin voiced by:''' Kyousuke Ikeda

* AffectionateNickname: Being close friends since junior high, Izumin and Hinata call each other Izumin and Sho-chan.

* PutOnABus: Kōji and Izumin are not seen for a ''long'' time after Hinata enters high school. Justified since they go to different high schools and Hinata has only contacted them via text.

* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: All the starting players other than Ushijima look drastically different in their proper debut when playing against Karasuno compared to their previous appearances in the background, presumably because their character designs weren't finalised yet. Tendou's initial design for example looks a lot more mundane compared to his more wacky look in the Karasuno match.

* TheComicallySerious: He is proper and unflappable to the point of absurdity, like when Tendou lends him a manga magazine and he reads skin-care tips from the pharmaceutical ads instead of the comics. Played up in ''Haikyuu-bu!!'' where he's hilariously unfazed by all the supernatural events surrounding him and his team (who are all freaking out in comparison).

->'''Current concern:''' Tendou told him that he looks uncool in casual clothes.

* EmbarrassingNickname: Tendou starts calling him "Semi-Semi" during the first year training camp. Semi finds this offputting and tells him to knock it off.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Tendou was rejected by his peers as a child for supposedly looking "like a monster" because of his large eyes.

* CallingYourAttacks: At one point in an omake, Tendou decides to name his block "the shooting star". And then promptly calls it... while missing the block and falling the wrong direction, pissing the coach off.

* FirstNameBasis: Suiting his casual and chummy nature, he calls everyone on the team by their first names, sometimes with a ''-kun'' attached if being extra affectionate. This includes Ushijima aka "Wakatoshi-kun" (a stark contrast to the more respectful Ushijima-san from underclassmen or plain Wakatoshi from other fellow third years) and his elderly ''coach'' Washijo aka "Tanji-kun".
* {{Foil}}: To Tsukishima in terms of play style. Tendou thinks blocking is based on instinct while Tsukishima relies more on strategy.

-->'''Tendou''': (''when he gets tricked into blocking at a wrong spot'') I MADE A MISTAAAAAKE!
* SignatureMove: He's known for his guess block, giving him the nickname Guess Monster. The move is unusual as a wrong guess can easily put a blocker in a bad position to block the ball; Tendou just happens to be really good at guessing.

* TheBabyOfTheBunch: The only first year in the starting lineup. The other members tend to roll their eyes at his HotBlooded and LargeHam moments, and scold people like Tendou for coddling him.
* ButtMonkey: Is frequently on the receiving end of the coach and older members' scolding. During the Nationals arc, his upperclassmen also constantly bother him despite him wanting to watch the tournament in piece. [[spoiler:Even after the TimeSkip, his former teammates ''still'' gather at his place uninvited to watch Tendou and Ushijima on TV.]]

* CombatCommentator: Joins Tendou and Goshiki when they're watching Nationals and comments on the matches.

* CharacterDevelopment: Shows remarkable change throughout the series for a coach. He has low opinion of anything that goes again traditional gameplay, hence his dislike for Ukai Sr; in particular, thanks to his youth, he believes that one is hopeless without height and so thinks poorly of short players like Hinata, even deeming him unsuitable for the Miyagi Camp (despite another coach having recommended him). However, Hinata's performance in the Shiratorizawa match and Nationals, as well as his determination at the Miyagi Camp, does catch Washijo's eye and slowly makes him reconsider his beliefs. [[spoiler:By the time Hinata plays in the Kamomedai match, Washijo whole-heartedly roots for him and comes to realize that it is indeed possible for short players to fight with their own strengths. During the TimeSkip, he's the one to recommend Hinata to a beach volleyball coach in Brazil and admits he's had a change of heart towards him. When he watches the V-League game after the TimeSkip, he's more invested in all the unique plays everyone comes up with (especially the two short players Hoshiumi and Hinata) than he would have been in the past.]]
* CombatPragmatist: His style of coaching as well as how he picks the players who end up on his team. He picks physically fit (tall), individual powerhouse players that can earn points with their own ability, and outright tells a young Tendou that he doesn't care how points are earned, as long as he earns them. Washijo's past shows that his view regarding the heights of his players stems from his own time as a player in high school in which he was told that "height is a barrier [Washijo] can never overcome."

** Both he and Ukai Sr are/were elderly DrillSergeantNasty coaches of their respective schools and have led their powerhouse teams to Nationals. While Washijo dislikes unconventional tactics and sticks to tradition, Ukai Sr as a coach always looked for new ways for his team to fight.
** Like Hinata, Washijo wasn't looked at favourably by his school team because of his lack of height, despite his determination. While Washijo never made it to the starting lineup, accepted this and went on to build a team based on simple strength, Hinata succeeds in becoming a regular and frequently fights with his jumping power and speed.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Washijo is harsh but he usually brings up valid criticism. In particular is when he forbids Hinata from taking part in the training camp and says he's worthless without Kageyama as his setter. Although he makes his distaste for him very obvious, he is nevertheless correct in pointing out that Hinata is still quite reliant on Kageyama at this stage, which spurs the Karasuno first year to stay at the Miyagi camp as a "ballboy" and use his observation skills to improve his own technique.

* PetTheDog: Usually acts as a DrillSergeantNasty towards his team, such as threatening them to run back to school if they lose their match against Karasuno. When Shiratorizawa does narrowly lose to them in the final, Washijo gently tells them to just hop on the bus (indirectly telling them they didn't lose, but rather Karasuno ''won'') and have a meeting... and to do a hundred serves.

* FirstNameBasis: Despite Oikawa's chummy personality and fondness for nicknames, Kageyama is notably the only player he refers to by his first name (and in turn is initially the only character to refer to him as such), flip-flopping between "Tobio-chan" and no honorifics depending on whether he's mocking him. Although Oikawa respects him and was his captain back in middle school, he clearly does this to invoke TermsOfEndangerment rather than with good intentions. By the end of the series, [[spoiler:he also refers to Hinata as just "Shoyo" out of genuine friendship, something he first started doing in the Brazil flashback after spending time with him]].

[[folder:Yuutarō Kindaichi]]
!!Yuutarō Kindaichi -- '''#12'''

[[folder:Yudai Hyakuzawa]]
!!Yudai Hyakuzawa -- '''#9'''

[[folder:Kouji and Izumi]]
!!Kouji Sekimukai and Yukitaka Izumi
!!!'''Kouji voiced by:''' Seigo Yokota
!!!'''Izumi voiced by:''' Kyousuke Ikeda

* AffectionateNickname: Being close friends since junior high, Izumi and Hinata call each other Izumin and Sho-chan.

* PutOnABus: Kouji and Izumi are not seen for a ''long'' time after Hinata enters high school. Justified since they go to different high schools and Hinata has only contacted them via text.

[[quoteright:237:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_hq_kyōtani.png]]

** In the teams' rematch at the Spring High Preliminaries, when Karasuno is about to clinch the first set, it turns out Aoba Johsai has one more ace up their sleeve, Kentaro Kyoutani, who had not played in their previous two matches. Although it takes a while for him to get into the groove, he proves to be very dangerous and Karasuno struggles to fight him off.

[[folder:Tooru Oikawa]]
!!Tooru Oikawa -- '''#1'''

* CoolUncle: Implied with his young nephew Takeru. He keeps him company at the kids' volleyball class, and the anime shows he has photos of him in class on his cellphone. His nephew (who doesn't even bother with honorifics and calls him just Tooru) isn't above calling him out when his uncle is being childish, though.

** Played for laughs with Kyoutani of all people, who seems to have a innate unease towards Oikawa and so mostly keeps a distance from him. The rest of the team, Oikawa included, is rather amused by this.

* TheNicknamer: He usually addresses people by nicknames, be it the suffix ''-chan'' (e.g., Iwaizumi, Kageyama, Kunimi) or something he came up with himself ("Mad Dog" for Kyoutani and "Mr. Refreshing" for Sugawara). He also doesn't call Hinata anything but ''chibi-chan'' (translated as "shorty", "shrimp" or similar).

** In a PlayedForLaughs variety, Iwaizumi is the only one that the aggressive and disobedient Kyoutani will listen to, due to the former [[DefeatMeansRespect repeatedly defeating the latter in various fields (track, arm-wrestling, etc)]].

* WorthyOpponent: To Oikawa's dismay, Iwaizumi is the only person on the team Kyoutani listens to... because every time Kyoutani challenged him in physicality, Iwaizumi would win.

* BewareOfTheNiceOnes: Yahaba is generally polite and friendly. When he can no longer tolerate Kyoutani's reckless behaviour in the match against Karasuno, however, he slams him against the wall and furiously says he won't forgive him if he screws up the match for their upperclassmen. Kyoutani is surprised, having thought Yahaba was more shallow.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Yahaba gets a lot of focus during the Spring High Preliminaries match against Karasuno, getting substituted in the game a few times and also slapping some sense into Kyoutani.
* SeriousBusiness: He makes it clear to Kyoutani that it's the last year the third years get to play, and that it means that he won't allow anyone to get in their way to win.

* {{Tsundere}}: Cheers for Karasuno when watching them play at Nationals. When he can feel Kyoutani and Kunimi staring at him, he gets defensive and claims he's only doing it because they're the only team he knows at Nationals and seeing them lose early would look bad for Aoba Johsai.

[[folder:Yuutarou Kindaichi]]
!!Yuutarou Kindaichi -- '''#12'''

[[folder:Kentaro Kyoutani]]
!!Kentaro Kyoutani -- '''#16'''

[[quoteright:237:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_hq_kyoutani.png]]

'''Current concern:''' Lawson's new "Karaage-kun" is hard to throw away.

* AlliterativeName: '''K'''entaro '''K'''youtani.

* DefeatMeansRespect: Iwaizumi is the only person on the team that he'll listen to, as Kyoutani challenged him multiple times and lost every time. Yahaba slamming him against the wall shortly before asking him to help them out on the court appears to have a similar effect.

!!!'''Played by:''' Shōtarō Arisawa (2015 - 2017 "Winners and Losers", Masakazu Kanda "The Strongest Team" (2018) - 2021)

!!Yuutarou Kindaichi -- '''#9'''

!!Akira Kunimi -- '''#10'''

!!!'''Played by:''' Shōtarō Arisawa (2015 - 2017 "Winners and Losers", Masakazu Kanda ("The Strongest Team" (2018) - 2021)

!!!'''Played by:''' Allen Kohatsu

!!!'''Played by:''' Shōtarō Arisawa

* AlwaysSecondBest: Aoba Johsai eventually gets revealed as the victims of this to Shiratorizawa Academy. Aoba Johsai never managed to make it to a National tournament because they would always get defeated in a Finals match to them.
* BadassNormal: Comapred to Shiratorizawa (which is considered an Elite team) and Date Tech (who are considered the toughest defensive team in the prefecture), Aoba Johsai is viewed as a rather "normal" team. What sets them apart is Oikawa is considered an exceptional setter who can bring out the best in all of his teammates.
* ClimaxBoss: Ultimately served as this to Karasuno, compared to Shiratorizawa Academ, who were the TrueFinalBoss of the Playoffs tournament.
* EveryYearTheyFizzleOut: Despite as talented as the team is, they never managed to make it to a National Tournament because Shiratorizawa was always the roadblock they could never get past.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: Aoba Johsai pulls this twice over the course of their three matches with Karasuno. They barely loses their Practice match with Karasuno and this came off the fact that Oikawa was forced to sit out the first two sets due to his knee injury. They ended up winning their rematch at the Interhigh Preliminaries with Oikawa back at 100%. In their third and final match with Karasuno at the Playoffs, it turns out they had one more ace up their sleeve, Kentaro Kyoutani, who had not played in their previous two matches.
* TheRival: The first primary rival to Karasuno introduced in the series.

* FirstNameBasis: Oikawa normally refers to people he acknowledge by their first name, but typically adds a '-chan' honorific as a way to mock them. Interestingly enough, by the timeskip, he refers to Hinata simply as "Shoyo."

* HairTriggerTemper: That only Oikawa knows how to set off.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: While Oikawa has a family, Iwaizumi has been his friend since childhood and if it wasn't from him, Oikawa would've made terrible decisions and possibly injured himself so much he put pressure on himself to get better at volleyball.

* FriendlyRival: Date Tech is introduced as the second primary rival for Karasuno in the Miyagi Prefecture. The team as a whole has a rather postive relationship with Karasuno though and even play practice matches against them to prepare for Nationals.
* StoneWall: The team got nicknamed 'The Iron Wall' for their ability to use their defense to smoother opposing team offenses. Their loss to Karasuno during the Interhigh Qualifiers seemed to have inspired them to better improve their offense as well.
* TookALevelInBadass: By the time of their rematch with Karasuno in their practice match, the Date Tech team had greatly improved their defense strategies. [[spoiler: It gets revealed during the TimeSkip montage that they even defeated Karasuno in the finals of the Interhigh Qualifiers the following year and placed in the Top 16 in the national tournament.]]

* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: His eyes and hair are the same brownish-purple color.

* TheAce: Ushijima is Shiratorizawa’s ace spiker, and apparently has been so since middle school. He’s also recognized as one of the Top 3 high school aces in the prefecture and third in the country -- and it's implied that he's considered the best out of the trio.

Kakugawa's relatively new Wing Spiker who boasts a height of over 200cm.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/SaoriOnishi (Japanese)

* AlmightyJanitor: For all of his swagger, Oikawa actually isn't recognized for his talent on a National Level compared to the likes of Ushijima, Kageyama and later even Hinata. This is due in part to Aoba Johsai High's team [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut never actually being able to advance to a National Tournament]]. Ushijima even bluntly states that he believed that Oikawa's talents were being squandered on Aoba's team. [[spoiler: By series end, Oikawa does manage to become a renowned international player though so all of his hard work and effort does eventually pay off.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: While he doesn't like to show it, Oikawa has a lot of deep rooted fears in his ability to succeed in volleyball, from never being able to defeat Ushijima to his "mentee" Kageyama being more naturally talented than him. Add to that, Oikawa ''isn't'' actually a nationally recognized setter like Kageyama and Atsumu are since he never got to Nationals. [[spoiler: Oikawa is nevertheless hardworking to the end and goes as far as to relocate to Argentina to go pro. After a rough start there, he is considered the center piece of the Argentinian National Volleyball team by the time they appear at the Olympics.]]

* {{Foil}}:a

* {{Meganekko}}: He's an attractive guy popular with the ladies, and the pair of glasses he wears while he watches Karasuno play against Shiratorizawa amplifies this. It's unknown if he needs them due to bad eyesight or wears them just for fashion (or as a disguise, since he was trying to hide himself at the Shiratorizawa match).
* TheNicknamer: He usually addresses people by nicknames, be it the suffix ''-chan'' (e.g., Iwaizumi, Kageyama, Kunimi) or something he came up with himself ("Mad Dog" for Kyoutani and "Mr. Refreshing" for Sugawara). He also doesn't call Hinata anything but ''chibi-chan'' (translated as "shorty", "shrimp" or similar).

* FaceOfAThug: Has a very intimidating look and [[PerpetualFrowning always frowning]], plus his huge size doesn't help. However he's a gentle and polite student, striking up a friendship with Hinata after the two first meet.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Is not seen with the rest of Date Tech at all during the Interhigh preliminaries, only making his series debut during the Spring High preliminaries as the team's new setter in the starting lineup. The retired third years are left to explain to Karasuno who he is.

* CavalierCompetitor: Yūji's FatalFlaw is that he takes his and his team's talent for granted and treat high stake matches as just fine as along as they're having fun. He even complains to Hinata how dull he finds [[BoringButPractical Daichi's playstyle]] compared to Hinata's more flashy fast-paced one, completely oblivious to the fact that Daichi is the backbone of Karasuno's defense.

* {{Foil}}: To Hinata. They share the HeightAngst and the admiration for and desire to surpass the Little Giant, but while Hinata is a HotBlooded {{Keet}}, Nakashima is level-headed and far more technically skilled.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: By virtue of being a third year player, Nakashima doesn't get anywhere near the amount of focus that the other younger players in the Miyagi prefecture does. Even his bid to be considered the "Next Little Giant" ultimately gets overtaken by the more impressive Hoshifumi during the National Tournament. [[spoiler: After the timeskip, it gets revealed that Nakashima ends up becoming a Libero while both Hinata and Hoshifumi are wingspikers.]]

Shiratorizawa's former official setter, who was replaced by Shirabu sometime before the Spring High preliminaries. He gets called in as the pinch server when needed.

* EarlyBirdCameo: In Chapter 108, the Niiyama Girls' volleyball team briefly shows up during the Spring High preliminaries and the back of Kanako's head is shown. She's properly introduced over 100 chapters later during Nationals, where both her name and relationship to Tanaka is revealed.

->'''Favourite food:''' Kuri kinton.[[note]]Candied chestbuts and sweet potato[[/note]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Hyakuzawa is a character plagued with a lot of crippling self-doubt, convinced that his only worth as a volleyball player is his build and fear that he can't live up to everyone's expectations. A pep talk from Hinata during a training camp helps to motivate him to build more confidence and take better strides in improving as player. [[spoiler: By the end of the series, not only is Hyakuzawa one of the few players from the Miyagi Prefecture to become a Division 1 player [[note]]the others being Hinata, Kageyama, and Ushijima[[/note]], but he's also among those selected to represent Japan for the National Team in the Olympics.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: While he doesn't like to show it, Oikawa has a lot of deep rooted fears in his ability to succeed in Volley Ball. From his never being able to defeat Ushijima to his "mentee" Kageyama, being more naturally talented than him. Add to that, Oikawa ''isn't'' actually a nationally recognized setter like Kageyama and Atsumu are. [[spoiler: By series end, Oikawa has actually become a professional volleyball player in Argentina, and is considered the center piece of the Argentinian National Volleyball team during the Olympics.]]
* EpicFail: During the timeskip [[spoiler: Hinata invites Oikawa to play Beach Volleyball with him, and Oikawa takes offense to the casual way Hinata did so, thinking he was getting too cocky....only for Oikawa to completely suck at playing on the sand. He immediately starts making excuses how it isn't the same type of volleyball and Hinata needs to go easy on him because he's only a beginner.]]

* {{Foil}}:

* AdvertisedExtra: The Johzenji team as a whole gets a rather prominent placement in the Third Season's ending, along with the other prominent rival teams introduced in the series at the point. Johzenji's inclusion was rather odd in hindsight given that they were largely only a one-off team in the grand scheme of things, and none of their players were brought back in the series after their lost.

* AllWorkVsAllPlay:
** Terushima and Johzenji as a whole offers an interesting case on this as they fall hard on the side of "let's just have fun." The team is naturally athletic and gifted, but because they did not take the time to actually hone their techniques, they end up getting eliminated much earlier in the qualifying tournaments than expected.
** This also gets displayed by how Terushima perceives the Karasuno players. He immediately takes a liking to Hinata's flashy playstyle, and wants to match up with him the most during the match while he finds Daichi's BoringButPractical defensive plays completely uninteresting. It's not until after the match that he realizes how much these different playstyles complimented one another.

* InvincibleVillain: How some of the other teams in the prefecture see him; he's ''so'' good that it's pointless to put up much of an effort in a match, as he and his team will simply deliver a beatdown and go to Nationals as usual.

* KickTheDog:
** Ushijima doesn't mince words that he considers Oikawa and ''only'' Oikawa his WorthyOpponent in the Miyagi Prefecture. This doesn't extend to the rest Aoba Johsai, who he feels is an inferior team who squanders Oikawa's talents.
** He [[SubvertedTrope tries]] to do this to Hinata, wanting to crush his spirit during their Finals Match all because [[EvilIsPetty he doesn't like how confident Hinata was despite his lackof skill.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: While he does give [[JerkassHasAPoint harsh but accurate]] criticisms about Hinata skill, on the same side of the coin he invites Tsukishima and Hyakuzawa to his training camp based solely on his preference for tall players, ignoring the fact that they both are just as green (even more so in Hyakuzawa's case) as Hinata when it comes to player volleyball.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Hyakuzawa was recruited by Kakugawa specifically due to his height and build. Unfortunately he seemed to have grown to comfortable relying on just the fact and it ended up costing them in their match with Karasuno.

* {{Foil}}: Another one towards Hinata. Just like him, Hyakuzawa gets recruited by his school's team for a very specific reason, in this case his height making him an excellent blocker. Unfortunately, he coasted on this and never bothered to try and expand his skills, compared to Hinata who realized early on the limitations of just relying on his quick attack. Kakugawa's lost to Karasuno does end up inpsiring Hyakuzawa to get better.

* AttentionWhore: A less irritating example. He ''adores'' being praised, and sometimes specifically shows off just so he can bask in someone else's compliments.