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Kentarō Kyōtani (Japanese:
Appearance
Kyōtani is an easily identifiable character, particularly due to his short-cropped blond hair with two black stripes running across the sides of his head, just above the ears. He is one of the shortest members of the team though this usually gets overlooked because of the rest of his appearance. His honey brown eyes are sharp and appear fierce and hostile (he almost appears to be wearing eye-liner, or has dark bags beneath his eyes), and he has small eyebrows. He lives up to his nickname of "kyōken" or "Mad Dog", given from the the start of his given and surname (though this nickname was not necessarily made up by Oikawa to exemplify his fierce and brash personality, and different kanji are used).
Personality
He's said to have the best ability among the second years at Aobajohsai High, but his brash attitude is cause for poor relationships with other members of the volleyball team. He is seen to be hot-tempered and always has a frown on his face. He doesn't seem to show any respect for the third years (besides Iwaizumi), irritating them and shocking the first years upon Kentaro's return to the team. He is extremely strong, and he can only hit the ball with his full strength or he "doesn't feel satisfied." He is also shown to display some violence (intentional or not is unknown), as he shoves multiple characters throughout the show knocking them to the floor on some occasions. It seems Yahaba is one of the only people, besides Iwaizumi, that is able to effectively calm him down and get him to focus when he loses control of himself.
History
Before high school, Kyōtani played volleyball at Minamisan Junior High (#4). It is revealed that he has not played with the Aobajohsai team outside of a few practice matches due to his uncooperative attitude[1].
Plot
Spring High Preliminary Arc
Before the tournament for the prefecture qualifiers for Nationals takes place, Kyōtani is sought out by Oikawa to return to the team after having been absent for a some time due to his conflicts with the previous third years.
His first time playing would be in the match against Karasuno when he is subbed in for Kunimi at the end of the first set. Eager to be playing once more, Kyōtani steals a set that Oikawa made for Kindaichi. Because of his excitement to be back in a game and the power behind his spike, the ball had landed out and therefore won the first set for Karasuno.
Oikawa was too stunned by Kyōtani's actions that he had no idea how to reprimand him for it but Iwaizumi was quick to scold Kyōtani and hit him on the head. Though Oikawa says that Kyōtani is free to play as he wishes, he firmly states that he will have no problem getting the second year subbed out if he continues to cause problems for the team. Kyōtani does not take Oikawa's warning serious until Iwaizumi makes the same threat and he is quick to obey. Yahaba reveals this is due to Kyōtani having challenged Iwaizumi to numerous athletic contests in the past and has lost to Iwaizumi every single time. This resulted in Kyōtani seeing Iwaizumi as the 'alpha-dog' and the only third year he will listen to.
Throughout the match against Karasuno, Kyōtani makes numerous spikes but also has an equal amount of mistakes he makes. When faced against a triple block, Oikawa orders Kyōtani to bring the ball back but Kyōtani instead spikes and is blocked out. When Coach Mizoguchi questioned why he didn't try a rebound or feint, Kyōtani answers that only spikes that can land for the kill is the only way it feels nice.
As the game continues, Kyōtani starts to form a rivalry with Tanaka. The two continue to target each other with spikes, blocks, and ricocheted balls. Kyōtani's behavior starts getting out of hand to where he is eventually subbed out until he is able to calm down. When he does, Yahaba takes the chance to get through to Kyōtani that he had personally been asked by Oikawa to return to the team when everyone else had to try their hardest to make it onto the team and to be starting players. Yahaba warns Kyōtani that he should not ruin this game for the third years. Kyōtani calms down after this and is sent back into the game where he finally begins working together with his team. After Aobajohsai loses to Karasuno, though he doesn't cry, Kyōtani is seen being upset. He, Watari, and Yahaba all vow to get revenge on Karasuno.
Tokyo National Arc
With his team in Aobajohsai's computer lab, Kyōtani watches Karasuno's matches at the Spring Tournament.
Final Arc
At the end of the series, Kyōtani is revealed to now be playing on the Sendai Frogs; a Division 2 team in Japan's V-League. He is teammates with Tsukishima.
Statistics
| High School Statistics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Power | 4/5 | ||
| Jumping | 4/5 | ||
| Stamina | 3/5 | ||
| Game Sense | 1/5 | ||
| Technique | 3/5 | ||
| Speed | 4/5 | ||
According to the coach, Kyōtani is a slow-starter who requires a lot of support to get going. He seems to do recklessly dangerous plays with no regard for game situation, such as knocking teammates over to spike the ball out of bounds with Karasuno at set point even though it wasn't tossed to him just to vent his frustration of not starting. By doing an approach run that's close to the net, he can do an insane inner spike that can cut across the blockers from a spot right beside them. He can also do a sideways jump from behind the setter to spike and surprise the opponent. He dislikes doing feints because he prefers to spike at full power. According to Coach Ukai, Kyōtani's plays are risky, so he's most likely a double-edged sword. His plays generally surprise his own teammates as well, and they are often enough to shake the unified dynamic of the team (this likely created some openings during Karasuno's second official game with Seijou while he was on the court), but he can also make a very valuable decoy, even without him recognizing that talent. As a server, he often overpowers his jump serves as he considers himself a power player, but has dialled it back after Yahaba's lecture.
According to Oikawa, Kyōtani has real jumping power, and his back & abdominal muscles are exceptional. He amasses power with the full bend of his body and then snaps forward, using his whole body in the way he plays. His cut shot involves him running parallel to the net and spike cross court to bypass direct blockers. Coach Ukai also noted his great body control that allowed him to spike with his left hand when necessary.
Jumping Reach: 327 cm
Relationships
Tōru Oikawa
While Oikawa calls him "Mad Dog-chan," Kyōtani was instinctively wary of him, jumping back when Oikawa got close. Oikawa seems to appreciate Kyōtani's skill, and wants to make him a better player, saying to himself that he wishes to "sharpen [his] fangs." Despite this, Kyōtani does not listen or respond the same way to Oikawa that he does to Iwaizumi, much to the former's irritation and seems to be either highly irritated or highly nervous around him.
Hajime Iwaizumi
He's known to only listen to Iwaizumi's words and respond to his upperclassman, as he had challenged Iwaizumi to multiple athletic competitions and lost to him every time. When Kyōtani makes a dangerous move and Oikawa doesn't know what to do about it, Iwaizumi is the one who scolds him and actually hits him. Kunimi refers to this relationship as Kyōtani seeing Iwaizumi as the 'alpha-dog'.
Yahaba confronts Kyōtani
Shigeru Yahaba
Although they're in the same grade, Yahaba is extremely hostile and critical towards Kyōtani, more so than the rest of the players. At Kyōtani's return, the first thing Yahaba does is scold him. Even though he recognizes his talent, Yahaba doesn't seem to be intimidated by Kyōtani. This can be seen when Yahaba slams him against a wall and lectures him about respecting their senpai and asks Kyōtani to lend them his strength [2][3]. His words seem to affect Kyōtani, who after that seems to cool down a little and get his head in the game as an actual part of the team.
Trivia
- Favorite food: Hamima Chicken
- Current concern: Lawson's new "Kara Age Kun" is hard to throw away.
- The Kara Age Kun is a unique dish of fried chicken bits served by the Lawson franchise. To attract more clients, they use cute packages with mascots for carrying the food.
- The reason for his nickname given by Oikawa is because "kyōken" means mad dog, taken from Kyōtani Kentaro. However, the kanji is entirely different.
- His star sign is Sagittarius.
- According to the anime, he picked no.4 in middle school because he admired a player in the National team who played with the same number and was also known as a powerful wing spiker. He dyed his hair blonde, also because of him.[3]
- It has been shown twice that he seems to have a dog of some kind with it first appearing as a puppy then shown later as an adult.
- He has a habit of licking his lips before hitting a volleyball.
- Whenever it shows him as a child sitting in the stands watching a volleyball game beside him is a male that looks like him, with short black hair and the same marks around his eyes that he possesses. This implies Kyōtani was there with his father, or possibly an older brother.
- Nomenclature
- Kentarō (賢太郎) - Capable Excessive Son
- Kyōtani (京谷) - Capital City Valley