Motoya Komori (Japanese:
As of 2018, he is currently a member of EJP Raijin, a professional volleyball team in Division 1 of Japan's V.League. He is also a member of the Japan National Volleyball Team, and participated in the 2021 Olympics.
Appearance
Komori is the tallest libero in the series, standing at 180cm tall. He has short, light-colored hair and thick, round eyebrows. He also has slim, dark-colored irises. He seems to have a large build.
Personality
Komori appears to have a friendly and outgoing personality. He encourages and admires other players at the training camp and strikes up a conversation with Kageyama when he sees him at nationals.
Plot
Tokyo Nationals Arc
Preparation for Nationals
Komori is invited to the All-Japan Youth Intensive Training Camp[3]. He is on Kageyama's team during a practice game and encourages him when he mistakenly perform the floating set out of habit, which resulted in their team losing a point. Later, appears while Sakusa is interrogating Kageyama about how Karasuno beat Shiratorizawa and the players who hindered Ushijima. He tells Kageyama to ignore him, commenting that Sakusa can be "a real downer."[4]. He explains that Sakusa can be overly cautious as he tends to want to know everything he can about possible threats. When Sakusa leaves, Komori follows and apologizes for the intrusion.
Later, during another practice game, Komori notes Kageyama's ability to calmly respond to and deliver on spikers' requests and calls it "terrifying.". He's also vocally impressed by Hoshiumi's jumping ability when seeing him spiking. In the last practice game, the players switch up their regular positions and Komori plays opposite hitter[5]. It's here that he demonstrates incredible court awareness when he made a receive and immediately removed himself from the path of the back row attacker. When he leaves the camp, he waves goodbye to Kageyama with a smile.
Nationals
Komori greets Kageyama just before the tournament opening ceremony. Upon Kageyama's inquiry of Sakusa, Komori points out Sakusa standing in a corner trying to avoid being amongst the crowd[6]. Komori and Sakusa are later seen watching the beginning of Karasuno's match against Inarizaki where they would witness the minus-tempo broad attack performed by Hinata and Kageyama. Komori was in awe of the attack while Sakusa watched with caution[7].
Final Arc
Komori plays for the Eastern Japan Paper Mills (EJP) Raijin, a Division 1 team in Japan's V-League. He is teammates with Suna and Washio[8]. Komori and Suna watch the Adlers and Jackals game online. While watching, Komori reveals that he and Sakusa are cousins who have known each other since grade school. He is the one who introduced volleyball to Sakusa.
In 2021, Komori becomes a member of the Japan Men's National Volleyball Team at the Olympics as one of the liberos.
Statistics
| High School Statistics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Power | 3/5 | ||
| Jumping | 3/5 | ||
| Stamina | 4/5 | ||
| Game Sense | 4/5 | ||
| Technique | 4/5 | ||
| Speed | 3/5 | ||
Komori is a skilled libero acknowledged as the top high school libero in Japan during his second year[6]. He was invited to the All-Japan Youth Intensive Training Camp and eventually became part of Japan's Olympic volleyball team.
- Jumping Reach:
- Post-Timeskip: 330 cm
Skills
| Post-Timeskip Skills Parameter | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Serve | 7/10 | ||
| Serve Reception | 10/10 | ||
| Dig | 9/10 | ||
| Setting | 8/10 | ||
| Spike | 6/10 | ||
| Block | 6/10 | ||
- Receives: Komori is known as the number one high school libero for his defensive skills. He is shown to have great court awareness, as shown during the All-Japan Youth Camp when he made way for Kageyama to attack immediately after a receive. Like Sakusa, his specialty is serve defense.
- Setting: Komori lists setting as one of his strengths, indicating that he is very competent in this area[2].
Relationships
Kiyoomi Sakusa
Komori attends the same school and plays on the same team as Sakusa, and later is revealed to be Sakusa's cousin. Having known each other since they were young, Komori knows Sakusa very well and often teases Sakusa about his cautious nature, calling him "a real downer", and commenting that a lot of the time he's imagining his physical ailments. However, he does tend to worry of whether or not Sakusa can get along with others.
Quotes
- "Hey! Sorry 'bout this. This guy is kinda the most utterly pessimistic person you'll find on the whole planet." (To Kageyama about Sakusa, Volume 24 Chapter 215)
- "Right now he thinks his shoulder isn't feeling up to snuff. Though it's almost always completely in his head. Oh well! There's nothing bad about being careful, right? Better safe than sorry, they say!" (To Kageyama about Sakusa, Volume 24 Chapter 215 / Season 4 Episode 4)
- "'Okay', he says. After that vague of a request—and he'll actually manage it too. That's the really scary part." (Thoughts about Kageyama, Volume 24 Chapter 215 / Season 4 Episode 4)
- "Sakusa really, really hates crowds." (To Kageyama about Sakusa, Volume 26 Chapter 231 / Season 4 Episode 9)
- "You got that right. It's like, c'mon, Sakusa. Do the rest of us a favor and have some kind of weak point, woud you?" (To Suna about Sakusa, Volume 45 Chapter 394)
Trivia
- He was shown in Volleyball Monthly for being the #1 high school libero, meaning that he's even better or just as good as Yū Nishinoya.
- His star sign is Leo.
- According to the Final Guidebook, he used to be an Outside Hitter until Junior High. However, he was with Sakusa during that time and thought that he couldn't beat him overall, so he turned to the libero position to compete in defense.
- Nomenclature
- Komori (古森) - Old Forest
- Motoya (元也) - 元- Origin, 也 - Call
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Haikyū!! Final Guidebook Volleyball Climax!
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Monthly Volleyball 2020 August Issue
- ↑ Volume 24 Chapter 214
- ↑ Volume 24 Chapter 215
- ↑ Volume 25 Chapter 219
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Volume 26 Chapter 231
- ↑ Volume 28 Chapter 250
- ↑ Volume 43 Chapter 380
