Haikyu!! (ハイキュー!!)

Come on, bring it!

It went up!

I'm gonna go show Ushiwaka who's boss!

If you want to beat Wakatoshi-kun,

you're gonna have to beat me, first.

Haikyu!!

Karasuno High School vs Shiratorizawa Academy

Karasuno Shiratorizawa

Episode 03: GUESS-MONSTER

Whoa...

There he is... The Guess Monster.

What do they mean by that?

Is Shiratorizawa's #5 a sleazebag , or something?

I-Is he going to try to hit them in the eyes, or something?

Be careful, Hinata!

That'd be cheating...

Leon-san, nice serve!

Sorry!

Kageyama, get the last!

Stop another one!

Blocking isn't a technique to stop the ball.

Tsutomu, go up straight.

It's a technique to smack down the ball.

Be Courageous Warriors

All right!

When you're able to get a clean block,

it truly is a technique that makes you feel like the tables have turned.

I'm starting to get into it!

Get the next one!

Don't mind, Kageyama-kun!

Don't, don't mind! Kageyama—

Karasuno Shiratorizawa

Nice receive!

So naïve...

All right!

I'm...

120% today!

How is he able to react like that?

It's not just how he reacts.

In that moment, there were three possibilities.

Net

First, Kageyama's currently on the front line,

so it was possible for him to do a dump.

So was he going to dump, or not?

If he wasn't going to dump, he has Tanaka and Hinata on the front line,

and Azumane and Sawamura on the back line who he can set to.

And in this case, it went to Hinata,

but there were also various courses Hinata could have used.

You can see quite a bit when you're up here,

but when you're on the court, you can get frazzled.

So even if you know which way you want to go, your body may not move right.

But...

He's able to move.

I guess it's no surprise that they took a time out.

I totally thought that they were going to do a back attack just now.

I mean, he totally gave that other guy a look.

That was a complete fake.

Huh?

Karasuno's setter's pretty good, right?

But that glance was way too obvious and over the top.

Glances, footwork, and handling...

If Tendo-san figures any of those things out, you're finished.

Nice block, Satori.

Yup.

Sorry that I'm getting more attention than you, Wakatoshi-kun.

That's not a problem.

Certain Victory

We're going to cut them off on the next one!

Hinata, we're going to switch things up! Get this next one!

Right!

Hey, Kageyama, what's wrong with your face?

Nothing's wrong.

You liar!

It's one thing when my spike gets blocked,

but it pisses me off a million times more

when a spike from my set-up gets blocked...

How is their #5

able to continue blocking like that?

Sensei, you remember read blocking, right?

You see where the toss is going before jumping up to block, right?

Yeah. "Read" in this case doesn't necessarily mean to read,

but more to understand.

Since you're jumping up after watching the ball,

there's no danger in the toss tricking you.

Their reaction will be slightly slower,

but if you can cover by using three blockers,

it's the most effective.

We're still in the middle of practicing this ourselves.

On the other hand, what's special about their #5's blocks

are his reading and intuition. He does guess blocking.

"Guess" means to presume something,

and he'll read the attack before the toss goes up,

and then he'll jump pretty much on intuition.

Guess?!

Of course, there will be times where his intuition is off,

and he might get in the way of his team's blocks and receives.

This is definitely a style of blocking that doesn't work for everyone.

But I think that #5 is so accurate with his guesses that it's scary.

On top of that, he has a body that can react to those guesses.

It's better to think that his movements have no regularity to them.

Don't think too hard and get fooled by them.

Right!

What do we need to do in order for him not to read our tosses?

Does that mean Kageyama's going to have to do the crazy feints that Hinata does, too?

That actually sounds pretty amusing, so why not?

Karasuno Shiratorizawa

One more, nice serve!

Front!

Sorry, it's short!

It doesn't matter what kind of feints you try to use against Tendo-san...

So this must be what it means

to have perfect coordination...

Just barely missed me...

Yeah!

I had no idea where the toss was going to go

until he got the spike in.

So you aimed that

to go right over my head after what I just did.

You must really hate losing.

You guys really are amusing.

Japanese National High School Volleyball Tournament

Chance ball!

I've made a mistake!

One more, one more!

Hup!

Got it!

It's better to think that his movements have no regularity to them.

Don't think too hard and get fooled by them.

And with opponents like this,

it's best to lead them as far left or right as possible.

You just don't stop moving, do you?

Karasuno Shiratorizawa

All right!

All right! We caught up with them!

Hinata, nice kill!

Way to go, Hinata!

There have been setters who I admired for trying so hard to stop me from reading them...

But that #10's timing sure is fast.

If I'm even one tempo late, I can't reach it.

Were you just expecting us to forget your "I've made a mistake!" earlier?

Ayup, gesu...

You're talking strangely, Tendo.

Kageyama, one more! Nice serve!

Nice receive!

Nice receive!

This is their chance to attack!

One touch!

Got it!

Be Courageous Warriors

Did he just put in a fake?

Or did he just change his mind?

It really seems that conventional logic

doesn't work on Shiratorizawa.

Just what is with #5's blocking?

He's planning on stopping all of them on his own.

Huh?

Tendo's blocks are basically blocks used to score points.

He uses his opponent's spikes against them,

and makes them his own points.

But blocking isn't limited to being done on your own.

The blocking that we're trying to do right now,

blocking in order to connect...

If we can make it work, it'll lead to points.

In any case, depending on the timing,

blocks can actually be more valuable than spikes.

I see...

Karasuno Shiratorizawa

Nice receive!

Don't let them get ahead!

Ushijima-san!

If they get their opportunity, they're not going to stop!

Nice kill, Ushijima!

That was like a blow to shut up the commoners.

Ushijima! Ushijima! Ushijima!

Ushiwaka's definitely on another level.

In order to stop attacks, blocks evolve.

And in order to break through blocks, attacks also evolve.

Attacks become diverse by using back attacks,

attacks that get faster, and combinations.

And then by changing how one jumps and where they're positioned,

blocks shut down attacks.

They think they're at the top,

but they continue to go higher and higher and keep developing.

Looks like you've learned a few things, Sensei.

Those are just words.

I'm sure they kept developing through understanding,

All right!

their fighting spirit, and unwavering tenacity.

Miraculous super plays will save the team,

but the same can be said about understanding.

Karasuno Shiratorizawa

Oh?

Hey, it's the normal guy.

All right. Don't let him get to you.

Nice serve!

It's going to fall!

Chance ball! Chance ball!

Damn it... I'm sorry!

A time lag attack?

Huh?