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Thread on Tsukishima’s growth throughout Haikyuu because he’s such a complex and beautifully written character, easily one of my top 5 in the entire series
When we first meet Tsukki, he’s immediately portrayed as an asshole. He’s very smug, clearly enjoys teasing people, and doesn’t really seem to care for volleyball. He refers to it as “just a club” which of course comes into play much later.
But underneath that exterior we see very early on that he becomes irritated by people like Hinata and Kageyama who are passionate about something that he thinks is not worth getting worked up over
We see right away in the first year scrimmage that despite Tsukki’s attitude towards volleyball, he does actually hate losing. Which begs the question: what’s the reason he treats volleyball like it’s something not to be taken seriously?
It turns out after finding out the truth about Akiteru, Tsukki became bitter because in his eyes no matter how good you get there’s always someone better than you, and it was because Akiteru was so passionate that he was lied to.
As someone who isn’t strong enough to be a regular and feels like he squandered his one chance, Yamaguchi is the one to start to bring Tsukishima to his senses and make him realize you don’t have to have some grand reason to give it your all at something
At this point Bokuto ends up giving him probably the most important piece of insight thus far. I think this is what marks the first true change in Tsukki’s mindset, and from this point forward we see him actively try to improve and work on his weaknesses as a player.
People around him immediately start to notice this too. Another thing to note here is we finally see him start to react to Yamaguchi’s encouragement to not lose to Hinata. We even see Yachi mention it saying “it’s like the sun versus the moon.”
I think it’s no question that one of if not the biggest point of Tsukki’s growth is the Shiratorizawa match. He is undisputedly the MVP, constantly strategizing and coordinating Karasuno’s defence in order to counter the cannon that is Ushiwaka.
And it cumulates here (despite this being fairly early on in the match). Tsukki is actually able to stop Ushiwaka and realizes that it feels like to succeed at something after pouring blood, sweat and tears into it. One of my favourite moments in the series.
Like did you ever think that Tsukki would make a face like this? He’s at the point where he cares about the game and his team so much that he doesn’t want to leave the court despite his injury
After coming back Tsukki continues to show tenacity against Ushiwaka and even tries new things that he’s never done before in order to throw Shiratorizawa off, a level of effort we’ve never seen him show before
By the Inarizaki match Tsukki’s attitude has totally changed. He used to expect that he would lose to stronger players but now he recognizes the strength of a team and knows that his teammates have his back.
A small touch during the Inarizaki match that I loved was another instance of Tsukki recognizing the work that Hinata puts in after his misplay with Kageyama. Tsukki has ALWAYS seen Hinata as his rival and whether or not he shows it, Hinata motivates him to be better.
It’s also much more noticeable how much more Tsukki respects Hinata now, and how them working together earns him respect in return. He’s come a long way from constantly shitting on him for getting too intense about volleyball because he’s seeing the results firsthand.
Also quick shoutout to the team for doing the lighting in this shot to make it look like an eclipse. I absolutely LOVE the concept of Hinata and Tsukishima being the sun and the moon.
This is someone who used to say volleyball is “just a club.” The effort the Tsukki is putting in to save the ball here is obvious but the thing that I feel like people haven’t touched on is that although this point would win the game, it’s not like they’ll lose if they drop it.
The old Tsukki would probably have been like “well it’ll just put us back to a deuce, it’s not like we’ll lose if I don’t save this ball” but now he’s determined to seize this opportunity and secure the win no matter what
On to the Nekoma match! For Tsukki this is a chance to show his mentor, Kuroo, everything he’s learned. We also get this great moment of Tsukki and Yamaguchi working in perfect combination, which is great to see after seeing them encourage each other for so long.
And finally after years of denying his love for the sport and butting heads with others who enjoy it, we get this wholesome moment with Tsukki and Kuroo where he shows his appreciation for everyone who has helped him get to this point.
Even Kuroo is surprised at the amount of effort Tsukki is putting in, keep in mind although he taught him everything he knows, he hasn’t seen him since their last training camp. He of all people would notice Tsukki’s growth the most.
Throughout the match we see Tsukishima actually enjoy being challenged and pushing himself to be better. He’s a completely different player. Look at that smile. We’ve NEVER seen him smile like that in a match before. I love it.
We don’t see as much focus on Tsukki in the Kamomedai match, but there is still more development from him. This play where he splendidly dodges Hoshiumi’s spike is due to the time he spent doing extra practice with Hinata, again something that is out of character for him.
And more instances of his determination not to lose to Hinata and giving it his all, we love to see it
I’ll end it on this. Post time skip, not only is Tsukishima the ONLY one from Karasuno other than Hinata/Kageyama that’s still playing volleyball, but we see again that he’s now motivated to get better and keep pushing himself to new heights. Perfect end to his character arc.
That’s it! Thank you so much for reading if you made it this far. There are probably other people that have articulated this much better than I have but I just wanted to give my thoughts on Tsukishima because I feel like he isn’t appreciated enough
