Gonna need a sports montage…
Haikyu!! Episode 3 Recap – “The Formidable Ally”
Kageyama, Hinata and Tanaka are about to begin their 5 am practice, when Sugawara also shows up at the gym. He figured out it last night by watching Tanaka’s behaviour. He won’t tell Captain Daichi however, since he is apparently extremely frightening when mad.
Kageyama still has a bad attitude though, and insults Hinata by telling him he isn’t essential to winning. Tanaka practices spiking with Kageyama while Sugawara practices hits with Hinata. Hinata and Sugawara also meet during lunch breaks, where Suga introduces himself as the official setter of the team. Kageyama surreptitiously listens in on them, as Suga advises Hinata that “even if he is your most formidable opponent, he is now your most formidable ally.” Suga also figures out that Kageyama is Hinata’s opponent because he is the only player that he has had to face before, which shows that the show can poke fun at itself, which is always nice.
Later, Kageyama and Hinata are practicing on the school field, when we meet the two other first years, Kei Tsukishima and Tadashi Yamaguchi. Tsukishima teases Kageyama for losing the middle school tournament and jokingly calls him the King. He seems to know of an incident that happened between Kageyama and his former teammates that Hinata is not aware of. His demeanour is totally different towards Hinata though, as he is all smiles and cheers towards him. He obviously doesn’t see him as a real threat. Yamaguchi inquires as to why Tsukishima is so hung up on Kageyama, and he replies that “guys who are too intense for no reason get on my nerves.” Which is pretty much why Kageyama gets on my nerves too. Doesn’t mean that I totally side with Tsukishima though, as he is pretty much a petty brat at best.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Montage Time with Haikyu!! We see Hinata slowly progress in his returns and the bond between Kageyama and Hinata begin to form. At the next 5 am practice, the two have been practicing returns for 15 minutes straight without dropping the ball, when Hinata goes all out and saves a long ball. In return, Kageyama lays up a toss for him and Hinata spikes it, even after the grueling 15 mins. Kageyama seems to believe in him know and assures him that “we’re going to win tomorrow.” The Hinata throws up >_<. Next episode, the game!
My opinion of this series vastly improved over the last two episodes, as they used less of the superlatives and more of the endearing character traits to drew me in before. The whole king and crow imagery is still vastly silly, but it’s appearing less frequently than it did in the first episode. I’m sticking around for now, let’s hope it was worth it in the long run!
Interest Level: Medium High
TriptychAlessandro's Review 