#and i was there too at one point.

[thawthebeez]

alrighty Haikyuu essay time again because I watched s2 ep5 and I have a lot of feelings.

The part I want to talk about specifically is the argument between Hinata and Kageyama because I feel like it's a fantastic display of their characters and values, and I also feel like it is heavily glossed over and reduced to "omg it's gay because they were making physical contact" which I would like to fix.

I'd like to take a quick moment to highlight the tension that gets established from before they even enter the gym.

This frame right here is fantastic, because it shows an empty seat beside BOTH OF THEM, and the fact that they're both sitting closest to the window makes that gap feel further. And it both sets the mood and FITS the mood, especially with Hinata having just been told by literally EVERYBODY (Ukai, Suga, AND Kageyama) that doing a fast attack with his eyes open is useless and it's not even worth trying.

The fast attack Hinata pulls of with Kageyama symbolizes freedom for him. It's an attack that avoids blocks (blocks being symbolized as tall, tall walls preventing him from seeing the other side), an attack that lets him fly, and an attack that lets allows him to use his abilities to their maximum potential (speed, height, and agility).

However, this current form of the fast attack in regards to Season 1 and 2 is still run completely under Kageyama's actions. Hinata may be running fast and jumping high, but that's the only freedom he has. The rest of it is done by Kageyama. So when blockers do start to catch up to the fast attack, it's frustrating, because the whole point the attack was to avoid blockers but now they aren't so Hinata, even at his maximum effort, is no longer free again.

To be free, he knows he needs to open his eyes- and to have the self-awareness to realize that on his own is impressive, but it also puts him in a tough spot because he is once again fighting on his own.

Now imagine you're Hinata, you want to fix this attack that you know isn't going to work anymore, and everyone is saying "it's not possible. It'll never happen." That'd probably give you some flashbacks to middle school when you wanted to start a proper volleyball team and go places with it only to be told "never gonna happen, kid," and it'd also be frustrating as hell.

Hinata is not at all the type to just give up. That man has never given up on something in his life (both pre- and post-time skip). The difference with this fight, however, is that he needs at least one other person to be on board for it to even work, and nobody is giving him that.

Hinata's quick attack symbolizes freedom for him. It seemed limitless at first but here he's hit one of those barriers and nobody seems to want to help him break through it. The thing that was once freedom for him now has him trapped.

Because Hinata (especially at this point in the series) is shit at everything besides his attacks. He can't block, he can't receive, and he can barely serve. He knows that if he loses this attack, he'll be useless (which he expresses later. Again, the self-awareness of this man is astounding).

This is what makes the motivation to fix the quick attack to strong. There's a lot at stake.

Which perfectly shows Hinata's 'unstoppable force' vs Kageyama's 'immovable object' mentality.

(okay small Kagehina ramble here because I am weak and flawed

the fact that kageyama noticed the subtle change instantly is nuts. like the fact that his tosses have grown to be muscle memory and have adapted to toss the ball right where hinata's point of impact is every time, coupled with the fact that he immediately notices that his jump isn't reaching that point, AND that fact that he knows what exactly is distracting him OUGH they just understand each other so well i'm so normal about it)

NOW LET'S GET INTO THE GOOD STUFF

(going to use manga panels for the sake of being able to understand things like dialogue and such)

A lot of people tend to misinterpret Tobio's character as one that's mean or cold-hearted, but he's not. This a bit of dialogue where that conclusion could be drawn. He looks angry, sure, but what he's saying is entirely true. Hinata is weak, and there are a lot of other things he could be working on. Kageyama is not wrong.

We also have a little bit of the ol' 'immovable object' with Kageyama outright not wanting to try the new attack. He's justified for saying this, though, because the whole point of being in that gym is to practice and get better. What they're doing- trying and failing with no progress- is not practice. It's a waste of time, and Kageyama being Kageyama, wasting time in the gym is NOT something he does. Like. Ever.

And what Hinata says here is entirely true as well. He knows and understands that without the quick attack, he's nothing. There's no point for him to be out there, which is precisely why he's fighting so hard for it. He wants to be out on that court more than anything.

Kageyama's response saying that his tosses evade blockers is like saying "You're no good without me. There's no reason for you to be out there without me," which Hinata obviously takes offense to because WTF? The quick attack is meant to represent freedom for Hinata and the fact that that freedom can only exist when another person says so is a paradox. It's not true freedom if that's the case.

(Now, side note, one part that was added in the anime that does not appear in the manga is that Hinata points out that the attacks got blocked when they were against Nekoma and Seijoh. Kageyama asks if his tosses weren't good enough and Hinata says "No, they were perfect. Spot-on. But they still got blocked." It's weird how that's an anime exclusive because it's another fantastic show of character- how Hinata does genuinely appreciate Kageyama's tosses and also the recurring motif of Kageyama expressing and insecurity and Hinata immediately comforting him about it.)

Hinata's "I won't be able to get any better because of this" is also ultimate truth. It's him expressing how he's trapped if they continue like this- if he's not able to fight on his own.

And Kageyama is once again back with a line that makes him sound awful BUT it's not really his fault (number one Tobio apologist right here hi ^_^) because in Kageyama's mind, Hinata wanting to get better is selfishness. WHICH MAKES SENSE because when Kageyama continued to train long after practice all throughout middle school TO GET BETTER, he was called selfish. His tosses were good, they would evade blocks, he was good, he trained to get better, and he got called selfish. He destroyed his team's balance because he was better (amongst other things like, you know, his grandpa passing away. That would cause quite a disruption as well).

"I'll only toss to those who are essential to victory" is yet another horrible-sounding line, but coupled with "The same holds true, even now" makes it essential to the prolonging of the 'immovable object' aspect of Tobio's character. Because Kageyama isn't unjustified or evil for saying that he'll only toss to those who will score points. Like, of course he's only going to toss to those who score points. Who else would he toss to?

Where Hinata prioritizes development (because that's where he's at), Kageyama prioritizes victory (because he's passed that stage of development. He's good, and he knows he is, and he no longer needs to focus on getting better because he is better. Development will continue to come, but he doesn't need it in the same abundance that Hinata does).

(Or he at least doesn't need physical skill development. Tobio could definitely use some emotional development- which he does get later on in season 4- and oh, don't you just love how they compliment each other like this? Hinata needing physical development since he strives in emotional understanding and Kageyama needing the exact opposite? Yin and Yang? Sun to Moon?)

Hinata HAS to be an unstoppable force. One of the main focuses in Haikyuu, especially between Hinata and Kageyama, is their rivalry and how they use each other to motivate themselves. Hinata is far behind when it comes to his skills, and if he wants to reach Kageyama's level so he can continue playing volleyball, he NEEDS to get better- keep moving- be the force he is and keep barrelling through.

And Kageyama, always complimenting Hinata is every regard (setter to a spiker, winter solstice to summer solstice), HAS to be his immovable object. I'm sure he doesn't mean to be, because Kageyama will always be seeking to improve himself and others around him (ex. raising Tsukishima's point of impact with his tosses), but it's so in-character of him to not want to move for the sake of complimenting Hinata's need to.

Haikyuu has got to have some of the BEST characters out there. They all work so well together, and I have yet to find a series where the two main characters compliment one another THIS WELL. Being the two main characters, of course they have to drive the plot of the show forward, but to do it in such a beautiful way is something you don't see very often.

[starridge]

puppet hour was brutal

[starbuck]

i say i like tragedies and everyone’s all like ‘why do you like sad stories? are you depressed?’ and never ‘how was the catharsis? was the catharsis fun?’

[rachelfc-art]

Princess in Shining Armor

[humming-fly]

They seem like the kind of guys who would keep count

Bonus:

[kaitcake1289]

in paris you gotta sleep with one eye open

[utilitycaster]

"why should I get invested in shows if they'll just get canceled" I was deeply invested in Heroes (2006) and it was not canceled, it just got really terrible. I also got really invested in the sandwich I had a few weeks ago despite it only lasting like 15 minutes. You must embrace the ephemeral. You must be willing to love things that may not love you back, that might betray you, or that may die an untimely death. As the great philosopher Mr. Mitchell Lee Hedberg said "I'm not gonna stop doing something because of what happens at the end."

[aridatinas-art]

something something ... Stanford "Why didn't Rudolf just kill the other reindeer?" Pines and Fiddleford "I create death-mechas when my feelings get hurt" McGucket

[franeridart]

more dragon

[fairsweetlonging]

headcanon that shen qingqiu (yuan) once yanked his plate away when someone reached for it and yue qingyuan got all teary eyed about it because his xiao jiu still has food insecurities and the memory loss must have made it worse, and he keeps getting shen yuan snacks and treats that he can squirrel away because yue qingyuan knows what it's like to worry about where your next meal comes from, and he's trying to help by ensuring that shen qingqiu is never without

meanwhile shen yuan has never truly been hungry but he did have two older brothers and a younger sister who would shamelessly steal things from his plate when they grew up and the instinct to protect his food has never left him so he WILL bite someone when they reach for his protagonist-made spring rolls

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

AND BUMBLEBEE !!!!!!!!

[inkskinned]

probably time for this story i guess but when i was a kid there was a summer that my brother was really into making smoothies and milkshakes. part of this was that we didn't have AC and couldn't afford to run fans all day so it was kind of important to get good at making Cool Down Concoctions.

we also had a patch of mint, and he had two impressionable little sisters who had the attitude of "fuck it, might as well."

at one point, for fun, this 16 year old boy with a dream in his eye and scientific fervor in heart just wanted to see how far one could push the idea of "vanilla mint smoothie". how much vanilla extract and how much mint can go into a blender before it truly is inedible.

the answer is 3 cups of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup milk alternative, and about 50 sprigs (not leaves, whole spring) of mint. add ice and the courage of a child. idk, it was summer and we were bored.

the word i would use to describe the feeling of drinking it would maybe be "violent" or perhaps, like. "triangular." my nose felt pristine. inhaling following the first sip was like trying to sculpt a new face. i was ensconced in a mesh of horror. it was something beyond taste. for years after, i assumed those commercials that said "this is how it feels to chew five gum" were referencing the exact experience of this singular viscous smoothie.

what's worse is that we knew our mother would hate that we wasted so much vanilla extract. so we had to make it worth it. we had to actually finish the drink. it wasn't "wasting" it if we actually drank it, right? we huddled around outside in the blistering sun, gagging and passing around a single green potion, shivering with disgust. each sip was transcendent, but in a sort of non-euclidean way. i think this is where i lost my binary gender. it eroded certain parts of me in an acidic gut ecology collapse.

here's the thing about love and trust: the next day my brother made a different shake, and i drank it without complaint. it's been like 15 years. he's now a genuinely skilled cook. sometimes one of the three of us will fuck up in the kitchen or find something horrible or make a terrible smoothie mistake and then we pass it to each other, single potion bottle, and we say try it it's delicious. it always smells disgusting. and then, cerimonious, we drink it together. because that's what family does.

[egophiliac]

crossing my fingers and wishing upon every star that chapter 10 finally brings us the tweel cards 🤞🤞

[akanemnon]

We didn't even get an answer, and we never will (at least it's not determination)

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[opashoo]

I'm absolutely losing my mind seeing "We need to not treat men and masculinity as inherently evil and worthy of hatred, and not fall back into biological and gender essentialism because that hurts everyone, including trans women" being misinterpreted as "Women need to stop oppressing men", "I think trans women are actually men" or "You specifically who have trauma around men need to get over it because men are the real victims". It's so willfully disingenuous. It makes me sick how willing people are to read in bad faith, especially how willing other trans women are to suddenly start harassing and dogpiling another trans woman.

I am a trans woman too, I understand what it's like to feel unsafe, but it helps no one this cynical attitude that crops up every time someone suggests being kind to men in our lives. "You could save a man you know from falling down the alt-right pipeline" is not the same as "It's your fault that men murder you". "There are people who could be on our side if we don't meet them with immediate hostility" is not the same as "You need to shut up and stop criticizing power structures for the sake of your oppressors' feelings" (I promise there are a lot of people who can be taught about their complicity in oppression without immediately shutting down but you need to work with them). This kind of attitude isn't somehow more informed or correct. It's just lashing out to avoid considering one's own agency.

Making a better, safer world for ourselves requires all kinds of work, but it's always work. It's hard to try to reach out to people who could very realistically harm us, it's work that not all of us can afford to or are able to do and that's fine because we're all just trying to survive. But some of you would rather condescend, tear each other down, and make more enemies before even considering it a possibility.

[humming-fly]

was anyone gonna tell me shadow saved rouge's life in sa2 or was I just supposed to find that out playing the game myself

(this worked out as a rather fitting closer for the Final Day in Year of Shadow haha, hope ya'll have a fun new year! 🎉🎉🎉)