Takahiro Hanamaki (Japanese:
As of 2021, he lives in Tokyo and is "between jobs"[1].
Appearance[]
Hanamaki has light brown (at times considered almost pink-brown) short-cropped hair, revealing his forehead. His eyes are slightly beady and his face often has a bored expression. His eyebrows are short and slim. He is considered pretty tall for a high school student, but average among male volleyball players.
Post-timeskip, his appearance has changed very little with the most noticeable difference being that he let his hair grow out.
Personality[]
Hanamaki is usually calm and collected. He is observant and perceptive, able to read the game situation quite well, and doesn't talk much during games. Despite this, he does have a sense of humor, especially with the third-years, and generally gets along pretty well with the other team members. He is shown to be particularly close to Matsukawa. He's seen to flash the peace sign when Oikawa compliments him. However, Oikawa describes him to be a pessimist, even though he did this sarcastically.
Plot[]
Karasuno High Team Formation Arc[]
When Hanamaki serves, Ennoshita easily receives it, which reminds Sugawara about how Aoba Johsai's serves are supposedly strong but assumes that Karasuno is handling them well[2].
Interhigh Arc[]
When Kageyama and Hinata manage a quick set, Hanamaki remarks that blockers would have a hard time comprehensive their attack as it may be seen as a fluke since Aoba Johsai thought the same.
Karasuno vs Aoba Johsai[]
When Aoba Johsai is warming up for the match, Oikawa praises Hanamaki for his hits for warmups, and Hanamaki gives him the peace sign without much care[3]. When Aoba Johsai calls for a timeout and Oikawa explains his speculations for Karasuno to differentiate their quicks, Hanamaki tells Oikawa that it would be useless now as Hinata just rotated into the back row. Not long after Hanamaki, Matsukawa, and Oikawa are all rotated in the front row, which pressures Kageyama and roll with Oikawa's plan. In the next rally, Kageyama serves, and Hanamaki has trouble bumping it. During the timeout to conclude the first set, Iwaizumi headbutts Oikawa due to having insulted him, and Hanamaki is seen catching the towels and water bottles they drop.
Sometime later, it's Oikawa's turn to serve, and both Iwaizumi and Hanamaki in front of him tell him to smash it, to which he answers: "I know".
Spring High Preliminary Arc[]
Unlike most other third-years, Hanamaki and the other Seijoh third-years did not retire from the volleyball team after being defeated by Shiratorizawa in the Interhigh Tournament. They decided to stay on the team for the chance to not only get revenge on Shiratorizawa but also hoped to make it to the Spring Tournament. Along with Matsukawa and Iwaizumi, Hanamaki gets provoked when Kyōtani asks why the third-years are still part of the volleyball club despite losing to Shiratorizawa during the previous tournament due to their "lack of skills".
Aoba Johsai vs Date Tech[]
The first point of the match is seen being scored by Hanamaki doing a tip to overcome an enemy block during the second set. Following this rally, Hanamaki serves, and Obara struggles to receive it. After Oikawa gets frustrated over how irritating Date Tech is to defeat, Hanamaki and Iwaizumi both insult him, and they get a remark from Oikawa. Near the end of the match, Hanamaki serves, and Daichi remarks that Oikawa wasn't the only one whose serving had improved. After Iwaizumi scores past Date Tech's triple block, Hanamaki praises his teammates for being the impressive spike he made.
Aoba Johsai vs Karasuno[]
Hanamaki is present when Oikawa mocks Kageyama and gets into a childish argument with him and Hanamaki comments on how Oikawa is supposed to be a third-year in high school. Hanamaki, along with the other third-years, all announce their faith in their captain before the game starts but don't hesitate to warn him that he will owe them and the team ramen if he is unsuccessful in landing his first serve.
During the second rally, Hanamaki notices that Kageyama's serve would go out of court bounds and doesn't make an effort to attempt going after the ball. Shortly after, Hanamaki sets to Oikawa, and Kageyama is shocked at how Aoba Johsai's setting skills go beyond their setter and libero. After Hanamaki accidentally bumps Kyōtani, Tanaka, right on the other side of the net, thinks to himself about how strange it is seeing Aoba Johsai being somewhat chaotic rather than their usual coordinated selves.
Despite this, Hanamaki would cover for Kyōtani after Sugawara continuously aims his serves and him to limit the number of times he could stop enemy attacks. As he receives, Hanamaki remarks to himself that the reason why Kyōtani is on the court is that he's a great source of firepower, so he would be useless if he failed his shots. During the end of the third set, Hanamaki notices that Sugawara deliberately begins aiming his serves at Iwaizumi, and after he spikes, the ball goes on the tape and Hanamaki hopes it falls on the other side.
During the final set, Hanamaki is desperate to keep the ball up but struggles to dig Asahi's spike. After Aoba Johsai's loss, Iwaizumi blames himself for it but after a slap in the back by each of the third-years, including Hanamaki, he gets back to his senses.
In the Seijoh extra in the manga (3rd movie in the anime), the team go to a ramen shop. Oikawa tells his team that they had the potential to go to nationals, but Hanamaki still thinks that they would've gotten crushed in the first round either way. Nevertheless, that evening, Iwaizumi has a competition with Oikawa to determine who had the more right to be upset over their loss, but Hanamaki and Matsukawa don't react to it much. Shortly after, the club's third-years all play together. As they are about to wrap things up, Hanamaki senses that Oikawa is about to end off with a happy message to conclude their volleyball career and they all break into tears.
Tokyo Nationals Arc[]
Hanamaki makes a brief appearance during the Karasuno and Inarizaki game when Hinata comments to Nishinoya that Matsukawa's blocks are his most hated. Matsukawa is then seen sneezing while on a train and Hanamaki is sitting next to him[4][5].
Final Arc[]
Hanamaki's final appearance is when he is shown watching the Olympic match between Japan and Argentina. He voices his annoyance of when the announcers comment how Oikawa never made it to Nationals in high school. As of the end of the series, he is stated to be in between jobs[1].
Statistics[]
High School Statistics | |||
---|---|---|---|
Power | 4/5 | ||
Jumping | 3/5 | ||
Stamina | 3/5 | ||
Game Sense | 4/5 | ||
Technique | 3/5 | ||
Speed | 2/5 |
Like the rest of his team, Hanamaki is good overall player. He is shown to be efficient in many areas and thus is a valuable player to Seijoh.
Jumping Reach: 327 cm.
Skills[]
- Serving: Upon his introduction, Hanamaki originally performed standing serves[6]. By the time of the Interhigh Preliminaries, he began using jump serves that are shown to be quite powerful although he does get an occasional bad serve.
- Setting: Hanamaki is shown to be quite skilled when it comes to sets. If Oikawa is unable to make a set, Hanamaki is usually the one called upon to make a set to his teammates.
- Receiving: As a wing spiker, Hanamaki is proficient in both under- and overhand receives. He is able to receive powerful spikes from Asahi and jump float serves from Yamaguchi.
- Blocking: Being one of the teams' taller players, Hanamaki assists in blocking. Although he is not shown blocking as much as some of his other teammates, he is still able to assist in getting deflections or occasionally blocking a player.
- Feint: Another of Hanamaki's best methods, he is able to use the feint shot when needed. As he does not use the feint much, he is able to surprise the opposing team and get past the blockers easily when he uses the feint at the right time.
Relationships[]
Aoba Johsai High[]
- Issei Matsukawa: The two are often seen around one another and appear to be close friends. They often join in or enjoy spectating Oikawa's mocking antics towards Iwaizumi, or tease Oikawa as well. Though both are of few words, they appear to be close with the members of their team.
- Tōru Oikawa: Hanamaki appears to have a good friendship with Oikawa. While he often joins Iwaizumi and Matsukawa in teasing the setter, he clearly has great faith in Oikawa's abilities as the team setter and captain. He would continue to support Oikawa after high school and is later seen watching Oikawa play against Japan during the Olympics.
- Hajime Iwaizumi: Hanamaki and Iwaizumi seem close, though the former is concerned about beating the latter in arm wrestling. He seems to wish to surpass Iwaizumi in strength. He likes to watch and at times even join in Oikawa teasing Iwaizumi, or the other way around. Hanamaki also has great trust in Iwaizumi as the team's ace and takes many things he says to inspire the team to heart.
Trivia[]
- Favorite Food: Profiteroles (Japanese:
シュー クリーム Shū Kurīmu).
- Current Concern: No matter how hard he tries, he can't beat Iwaizumi at arm wrestling.
- Star Sign: Aquarius.
- He has a habit of putting his hands inside his shorts while standing or walking.
- It's unknown if he and Matsukawa do this on purpose or it's a mistake done by Furudate, but the two characters are occasionally shown wearing each other's uniform (for example, Chapter 49's cover page).
- In Haikyuu's first popularity poll, Hanamaki ranked 25th with 826 votes.[7] In the second popularity poll, he dropped to 26th with 1,723 votes.[8]
- He is the second youngest third-year on the team after Matsukawa.
- Hanamaki shares his Japanese and English voice actors with other characters.
- He shares his Japanese voice actor with Yukinari Mori.
- He shares his English voice actor with Tomokazu Wajima.
- Nomenclature:
- Takahiro (貴大) – Precious
- Hanamaki (花巻) – Flower Roll