Haikyu!! Second Season

Episode 8

Why hello, Sledgehammer of Symbolism! It's been a while since I've seen you in this show, and while I do have to applaud your return in the sense that you did my job for me by pointing out the celestial symbolism in Tsukishima's and Hinata's names, I must say that repeating it several times was overdoing it, as was all of the moon-in-the-clouds imagery. Showing that satellite vanishing behind a cloud bank every time Tsukishima was feeling down and/or angry only to have it re-emerge to telegraph his mood change not only got old, it also lacked any semblance of subtlety.

Those issues of visual storytelling aside, this was a very good episode of Haikyuu!!'s second season. Shifting the focus away from the ongoing Hinata/Kageyama debacle (which has more name symbolism, as “kage” can be written “shadow”) not only allows other previously overlooked characters like Yamaguchi to be developed, but it also ensures that we continue to view the team as a group of individuals trying to come together to form an effective whole. Last season spent more time on how the third years dealt with the rise of talented first years, so using this season to explore the dynamics between those newcomers broadens the scope of the show. As with last week's episode, the focus is on Tsukishima, the tall, blond, and broody player who has the same position on the team as Hinata and a fairly rotten attitude. Through flashbacks in the first half we start to understand why he is the way he is – his older brother was a volleyball star in middle school before coming to Karasuno and discovering what many do as they move up the education ladder: you may have been the big fish in your small pond, but there's almost always going to be a whale somewhere in the ocean. That may not have had an effect on young (and frankly adorable) Tsukishima had not his brother, fearful of losing his sibling's adoration, lied about his non-position on the team. When Tsukki found out his brother's deception, he was not only saddened by the lie, he was also angry at a sport that made itself so important to his beloved older brother that it forced him into a lie. While he himself never quit the sport (I feel like his budding friendship with Yamaguchi had something to do with that), he's also never let himself forget that there's someone out there who could force him to the bench, and he's played with that expectation.

The episode doesn't make that obvious at first – you really have to watch to the end and pick up on the nuances to get a full picture of Tsukishima, which is the kind of character development that turns characters into people for viewers. Tsukki's attitude isn't from any one thing; it's the result of several blows and how he processed them as a fifth grader. That Yamaguchi, to whom Tsukishima was an unwitting savior when he was being picked on, knows him well enough to have pieced it all together shows us that not only is he himself more than a throwaway background character, but also that Tsukki is nowhere near as aloof and alone as he thinks. That he does see himself as an outsider (deliberate or otherwise) allows him to forge friendships outside of his own team, something that really only Hinata has done before. Naturally Tsukishima does it in a totally opposite way, but for him, getting validation from someone on the outside is more important than proving himself to his teammates. In a sense, Tsukishima is saving his brother by moving forward, and when he and his attitude stagnate and sour, he feels that he is letting his brother down.

While the chick cracking his shell or leaving the nest metaphor is getting kind of old, it is a good one for the protagonists as they keep growing and evolving. Now we need to focus on the new awkwardness (or at least new kind of awkwardness) between Hinata and Kageyama, who can't quite reconcile their earlier fight. Neither boy is particularly great at admitting fault or backing down, which is what has made their inability to interact normally make sense, but it's time for that to end. Hopefully that's what we'll get next week – and maybe the newly motivated Tsukishima can help them to realize that they need to move forward in more than just skill.

Rating: A-

Haikyu!! Second Season is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.