Review Episode 32:
To continue with the egg anology from earlier, I think the team has turned into scrambled eggs rather than an omelet. There’s a lot of focus on their evolution but they’ve yet to actually get it together as a team.
Though, this episode also sees Tsukishima get a lot of focus, mostly because he’s about the only one on the team not expending large amounts of energy running around and trying to collapse from exhaustion. I get from a team point of view Tsukishima’s attitude might be frustrating but to be honest he seems like the only sensible person on the team. He plays, he trains, he rests. Just because he isn’t killing himself doesn’t seem like reason enough to get annoyed at him (though then you have to compare him to the rest of the team dynamic).
Review Episode 33:
The focus on Tsukishima continues as we get angsty backstory. I don’t know why every character with an attitude problem has some terrible childhood realisation or disappointment (some people just have bad personalities, but apparently that isn’t possible in anime).
Anyway, props to Yamaguchi this episode for finally just confronting Tsukishima rather than letting the problem for the team linger. They still aren’t winning anything but they are getting closer.
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I’m laughing while reading this because you bring out a very valid point, Tsukishima is quite possibly the only sane person on the entire team. But, I can also see where everyone else is coming from, when everyone else is bending over backwards giving 110% and you have that one guy in the corner snarking away, it can be a bit frustrating. But, hey, every team needs that one black sheep, plus Yamaguchi balances out Tsukishima’s less than stellar personality, so it works itself out.
That’s probably why Haikyuu seems to work. They have enough variety on the team with personalities to keep it interesting and the focus never rests for too long on one player or another. It’s kind of nice.
I really enjoyed these episodes. Agreed that rest is important and there has to be a sensible approach to training in relation to this. That said, what is grating, perhaps, for the team members and even for viewers, is more his unwillingness to let himself get fired up or seek out new skills. It’s actually great characterisation. He’s afraid of getting too invested in case he loses, hurting his feelings and his pride, which is really relatable.
Also Yamaguchi is the best. Gotta love him