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I know that there are people who view Kageyama as cold, unfeeling, perhaps even hostile, but I’d like to talk about him briefly before I go to sleep, because this has been weighing on me.
When I was young, my dad’s best friend and colleague, Nuri, lived with us and he was
When I was young, my dad’s best friend and colleague, Nuri, lived with us and he was
deeply passionate about soccer and wanted to instill that passion in me. Every day after I got home from elementary school, we’d play for hours and hours, passing the ball back and forth until night fell. I signed up to be on the school team the instant I could and loved every
moment of it (I played defense, which might contribute to my MB supremacy agenda). But then Nuri was diagnosed was cancer and I watched him deteriorate in front of my eyes. He couldn’t play with me anymore, and he lost the strength to even come watch me play at school.
When he passed away, I gave up on soccer because it was too painful and my passion didn’t run as deep as Tobio’s did.
While I was never bullied, I struggled to connect to people my own age, much like Kageyama. I was passionate about art and manga (which wasn’t popular back in
While I was never bullied, I struggled to connect to people my own age, much like Kageyama. I was passionate about art and manga (which wasn’t popular back in
the 1990s when I was a kid), so I was largely ostracized and left out by my peer group. I was Tobio and everyone else was Kunimi and Kindaichi. I got along best with my family friends, who were much older, but I’d lost the one closest to me. My inability to socialize well and
my inherent anger problems meant I was alone a lot and I built up resentment towards others as they walked away from me. I kept setting the ball to them, but I was too harsh, so when I turned around, they were nowhere to be found. I couldn’t connect with my Kunimi and Kindaichis
and I projected my insecurities onto others and lashed out (which is the only thing I share in common with Oikawa, sadly). Then I started college at 15 and was even more alone.
So when I look at Tobio, I don’t see someone cold and aggressive and cruel. I see a young boy who
So when I look at Tobio, I don’t see someone cold and aggressive and cruel. I see a young boy who
lost the most important person in the world to him, who didn’t know how to communicate well with others (but was always trying and his intentions were never bad), and who couldn’t find anyone who loved the thing he loved most to the extent that he loved it.
And when he joined Karasuno, he tried. He tried so hard. All those moments where he made attempts to learn from his senpai, to learn to smile at his teammates and monitor their morale...those things count for a lot. And there were times where he stumbled and his progress was
lost, but his team, his Karasuno family, never gave up on him and helped him through these times because they saw how good and pure his heart was and how hard he tried and how desperately he wanted to become better, not just as a player but as a person.
And those words he said to Hinata at the end of Kamomedai are often pointed to as an example of his cruelty but no: those words were an example of his *kindness*. He knows Hinata better than anyone and Hinata had just been taken out of a game, the worst possible thing.
Like Sakusa said, to pity him would be disrespectful and rude, and Kageyama knew that pity wasn’t the answer. When Kageyama said that he won again and stood on the court longer once more, he was really saying “this isn’t the end, for you or for us. You lost
this one challenge of ours, but so what? You’ll have another opportunity. Get rest, get stronger, then come at me with everything you have.” And that’s precisely what Hinata needed to hear, more than anything.
And I think that people also tend to forget that, for most of this story, these characters were children. They can’t be held to adult standards of emotional maturity (I think Kageyama and Oikawa are the two characters held to the highest standards and criticized as such).
Kageyama was so young during his time at Kitaiichi and his first year at Karasuno, but he’s grown and matured, as we all do, and he isn’t the same person anymore. He’s confident, he has the Adlers backing him up, he has his fated rival standing both across from and next to him.
He’s learned to get along with others, he’s found people who love vb as much as he does and who fill the void that was in his heart for so long. He has true friends and comrades and finally, after all this time, some peace and clarity and genuine happiness.
He’s grown and matured so much and he deserves to be seen for the young man he has become, because that man is spectacular. He’s a true and benevolent and great king now, and he will never again be alone.
