CHARACTER DEEP DIVE : HINATA SHOYO AND PERSONAL GROWTH
In the time I’ve spent as an animanga enthusiast, I have had the privilege of observing some absolutely wonderful stories. Of those, Haikyuu has had arguably the biggest impact on my life in so many tangible ways. The series’ main character, Hinata Shoyo, serves as a shining example to all of us about what it takes and means to truly dedicate yourself to personal growth. Haikyuu is a ridiculously fun series to indulge yourself in, but in so many ways, it is also an incredibly in-depth commentary on life. Haruichi Furudate does a wonderful job of teaching lessons about life through the character roster and I believe there is something to be learned from every single one of them. At surface level, it’s about volleyball. When you take the time to consume this piece of media, you learn really quickly how much deeper it is than volleyball. To many who enjoy this series, they will have a few characters they relate to really closely. I believe that is a testament to how much depth Furudate gives his characters.
When the audience is first introduced to Hinata, he’s a scrawny little pipsqueak. Although he’s blessed with an absurd vertical leap, Hinata is not adept at the sport in any sense. Considering how late he got into volleyball compared to the large majority of the cast, his growth is extremely impressive. Hinata alone has so many lessons about self improvement that you can take away from his journey. His relentless pursuit for progression is perhaps his greatest strength. There will be plenty of people out there who are gifted with talent that you will never have. However, this does not mean you are not capable of reaching the same heights as them. Our main character is a beacon for this exact idea. During my initial viewing of Haikyuu, there was never a single point in which I believed Hinata had any natural talent or gift for volleyball. For the majority of the series, his skillset on the court is limited to scoring and even then he’s not a particularly polished hitter. As you continue spectating his story, you see what a diligent and resourceful individual Hinata is. Throughout your life, you have probably met so many people who say things like, “I want this” or, “I want that”. How many of them do you believe are actually capable of accomplishing the goals they talk about? Probably not many and that is most likely a result of their mentality toward progression.
Hinata shows all of us that growth and improvement is not an overnight change. When you want to get better at something, there’s a certain attitude you need to dedicate yourself to every single day. He shows us that when you instill good and healthy habits to your routine like eating correctly and allotting an appropriate amount of rest for yourself, everything begins to compound. Once you figure out what works, all of these attitudes begin to trickle into other parts of your life as well. A lesson of equal importance we learn from Hinata is how you need to accept failure as a necessary step for growth. He has a lot of triumphs in this series, but one of the greatest things that Furudate does while writing Hinata is show you his loud failures and what he does to learn from them. He loses. A lot. One particular instance I love to recall is Hinata’s omission from the first years’ training camp. Here, you see how badly losing and being left out hurts him. However, he does also show us how you can properly channel those negative feelings and turn them into a motivator. At this time in the series, he is an infamously bad defender which is highlighted by how often he digs a hit with everything besides his arms. Here at this camp, Wakatoshi Ushijima is present. As we learn fairly early on, Ushijima is THEE guy. There is one very brief interaction between the two that holds a lot of weight. During their short conversation, Hinata asks him, “What are you thinking about when you’re receiving the ball?”. The two proceed to have a short chat regarding Ushijima’s mentality while playing defense that causes a pivotal switch in Hinata’s gears. Letting go of your ego is one of the most essential steps in making any improvement in your life. Even if you consider yourself fairly good at whatever it is that you do, realistically, there are most likely hundreds of thousands of people who are way better than you. If there’s a standard or a level that you’re trying to reach, one of the most impactful things you can do is observe all of those people and learn from them. Ask them questions. Pick their mind. See what it is that makes them tick. As much as these people might be competitors to you, they can also be an extremely valuable learning resource.
Another aspect of Hinata’s character that we can all learn from is how firmly he dedicates himself to his objectives. He’s willing to do whatever is necessary to become the best and it’s almost as if nothing else really matters to him. This is blatantly apparent when you consider the fact that he was willing to leave Japan and spend years in Brazil to learn beach volleyball. This young man is willing to leave behind everything he knows and relocate somewhere where he has no friends, no family, or any sort of familiarity all for the sake of getting better at his craft. There are a multitude of reasons why I love Haikyuu but the amount of time that is spent showcasing how much Hinata finds himself kicked on the ground makes the conclusion of his character the ultimate payout. By the time the story is over and you get to see the culmination of his efforts, you almost want to jump in the pages, give him a hug, and tell him you’re proud of him yourself. His time in Brazil serves as a very loud and clear reminder of what the chase for your goals will often look like. It’s a thankless commitment every single day. The thought of uncomfortability is an unsettling thought to many which is also completely normal. Just like failure, the act of putting yourself in an uncomfortable position is also an integral step toward improvement. Inevitably, there are going to be moments where you’re presented with an opportunity that is going to cause a massive alteration to your life. Even if it’s scary, you owe it to yourself to do it anyway.
The value of companionship as well as the value of having a sturdy support system is a recurring theme in Hinata’s journey as well. As much as the average person would like to believe, you are not actually capable of doing everything on your own. Hinata, just like everybody else, needed the correct people around him to push him to become better. The people who you choose to surround yourself with will have a colossal role in how you go about living your life. You cannot talk about Hinata’s path without mentioning the people who crossed his path. Regardless of the fact that the two wear the same jersey for the majority of the story, it’s quite clear and obvious that Hinata sees Kageyama as a rival as well as a standard to chase after. This recurring theme in Hinata’s story right to the very end is also more than applicable in everyday life. You need people around you who are capable of pushing you. This doesn’t end at Kageyama. Throughout the story, we see plenty of other individuals who come along and show Hinata that there’s another level to reach. Coach Ukai. Coach Washijo. Takeda. Oikawa. Bokuto. Hoshiumi. Kenma. Ushijima. The Miya Twins. Sakusa. So on and so forth. All of the people in your life serve a purpose and you can learn so much from any one of them. Your entire web of friends and family are interconnected in some way and you would not be who you are without the time you’ve spent with any of them. Further, being around like-minded and stronger people will make you get better in more ways than you can possibly imagine. When all of the people around you seek to become better, you will all rub off on each other.
You would be hard pressed to find a piece of media that tackles the topic of self improvement better than Haikyuu does. I think every single person should read Haikyuu at some point in adulthood. There are very few stories like this that accurately convey the very harsh realities that come with improving at any aspect of your life. I read this story at a time when I lived thousands of miles away from home. At that period of time in my life, I didn’t know myself very well and being able to observe Hinata’s journey helped me make peace with a lot of aspects of my being. Through this character I was able to figure out exactly what type of mindset I need to have to be able to achieve everything I sought out to do. In short, if you want it, you need to be like Hinata.
