“A Chance to Connect”
What They Say:
The Karasuno High School Volleyball Club finally won their way into the nationals after an intense battle for the Miyagi Prefecture Spring Tournament qualifiers. As they were preparing for the nationals, Kageyama is invited to go to All-Japan Youth Training Camp. At the same time, Tsukishima is invited to go to a special rookie select training camp for first-years in Miyagi Prefecture. Hinata feels panic that he’s being left behind as one of the first-years and then decides to show up at the Miyagi Prefecture rookie select training camp anyway… As they prepare for the nationals, Hinata, Kageyama and the rest of the Karasuno High School Volleyball team get ready to face some new challenges!!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The episode starts with a flashback of Karasuno’s former captain, Tashiro, telling the remaining members that their team may never be as good as they once were. But if there’s ever an opportunity, they have to take it! Fast forward to the present, Tashiro is in the crowd watching Karasuno’s current match at the nationals. He’s very proud to see those members he left behind make it this far! Back to the game, Kageyama has found his rhythm. He scores a point on a dump and connects with Hinata for another freak quick attack. Those two start arguing about how that play could have gone better. Kageyama hilariously tells Hinata that he could have dodged him because that’s, like, his one talent, haha. I love their bickering. Tashiro and Kurokawa are very impressed by these first-years. Kageyama is really shining at the moment. His passion is showing!
On the Tsubakihara side, the coach tells his players that they need to stop worrying about Hinata. The moment they focus on him is the moment they fall into their trap. They’re told to stick with their read blocking and keep applying pressure. No need to change their gameplan now! The coach’s pep talk seems to work as they score on the very next play thanks to a kill from Teradomari. But things aren’t going to get any easier from here. Tsukki has done his research on the other team’s players and predicts their next moves. He brings the pressure with his defense and Tsubakihara can’t seem to get a kill. But Tsukki’s reads aren’t always perfect. Tsubakihara finds a chance and attacks an open spot. Out of nowhere, Hinata shows up and makes the save! Everyone is surprised that he knew where to go. Everything he learned at the training camp is finally coming in handy! It wasn’t a fluke either as Hinata makes yet another save! Granted, his receives weren’t the prettiest but he still got the job done! Everyone else pokes fun at him for it though.
But it’s not just Hinata, everyone else is doing there part. Tanaka is showing off how much he’s grown. Tsukki continues to impress. Asahi is acting more like an ace. Kageyama and Hinata connect with yet another freak quick attack. Yup, things are going rather well for them. Karasuno takes a quick break and Kageyama tells Hinata he better not mess up his serve once their timeout is over. Guess what happens? Hinata messes up his serve, haha. Kageyama just glares at him as he tries to hide. Kinoshita is brought in to serve but he also messes up! Heck, even Kageyama messes up his serve. You just know that Hinata poked fun at him for that, haha. Anyway, these things happen. No one is perfect. In a hilarious twist, Tsubakihara brings in Himekawa to serve and he also messes up. He also nails Teradomari in the back of the head! Unfortunately for them, that also gives Karasuno the first set. An interesting thing to note about Himekawa’s serve is that he serves underhanded which is pretty unique. I haven’t seen anyone else do it in this series. Well. I’m pretty sure at least. It’s possible I could have forgotten, I am old.
Before the next set starts, the Karasuno players admit that they haven’t gotten the hang of distances in this gym yet. That may prove to be a problem for them. The second set begins and both teams seem to be pretty even. Tsubakihara brings Himekawa back out to serve. He’s still a bit nervous but everyone has faith in his serve. On a side note, Teradomari covers the back of his head every time he serves from this point on. I don’t blame him. Himekawa’s underhanded serve launches the ball really high towards the ceiling. It doesn’t have much power but the height he gets on it is really impressive. It works in his favor because the Karasuno players are still struggling with distances. The ceiling is his ally! His serves lead to Tsubakihara scoring three straight points. Momentum is on their side now! But it doesn’t last for long as Nishinoya picks up on his serve and Karasuno manages to score a point. Himekawa is taken out but Echigo tells him to get ready for the third set. Uh oh, he made a mistake there. He just rose a red flag! Doesn’t he watch anime!? Now Tsubakihara is definitely going to lose. And guess what? They lost. He should probably watch more anime.
The cool thing about the last few plays is that the Karasuno third-years were the stars. Daichi was making great plays. Asahi was getting kills. Suga was brought in on the last serve of the game and he made a few amazing plays. Again, we get a brief flashback of those three from a few years back. Tashiro told them if there was ever an opportunity, they had to take it. I think it’s safe to say that they found their opportunity and they definitely made the best of it. Tashiro watches proudly from the crowd with tears in his eyes. Asahi scores the last point of the game to give Karasuno the victory. A nice way to end the episode! I can certainly appreciate not ending on a cliffhanger.
In Summary:
Karasuno’s first match of the nationals is in the books! It was a rocky start for them but they managed to persevere and claim victory. The great thing about this win was that we saw the growth of the whole team, not just Kageyama and Hinata. Sure, we already know those two learned a lot during their respective training camps. I did like how Hinata showed off what he learned in this episode. Kageyama becoming more vocal is just great. Those two bickering with each other always makes me smile. But they’re not the only ones that have improved. the others have as well. Tsukki, Tanaka, Asahi, Daichi, Nishinoya, Suga, and everyone else have practiced their butts off and it’s beginning to show. And you know what? They’re only going to get better from here. On another note, I really felt bad for that underhanded server from the other school. I liked him and his unique serve. That’s another thing I like about this series, how it makes you sympathize with the players of the other teams. You want Karasuno to win but somewhere deep down, you also kind of want to see the other teams upset them. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the next match. Bring it on!
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, VRV
