Yūtarō Kindaichi

“	I didn't really get along with you from the start! And that's why next time, we will definitely win!	”

Yūtarō Kindaichi (Japanese: 金田一 (きんだいち) 勇太郎 (ゆうたろう) , Kindaichi Yūtarō), pre-timeskip, was a first year student at Aobajohsai and one of the team's middle blockers. Currently, he is a college student and a middle blocker for the Tamaden Elephants, a professional volleyball team in Division 2 of Japan's V. League. He is also going to be an electrician in Saitama.

AppearanceEdit

Kindaichi is a young boy who's quite tall for his age, being the tallest member of his current team. He has dark hair that sticks straight up, earning him the nickname "turnip-head" (or, occasionally, "shallot-head") by Hinata who associates his silhouette with a turnip when meeting him again by Aobajohsai's toilets, though it's implied that he himself is unaware of it. His face seems to be set in a scowl most of the time, though it's more of a passive one rather than an intimidating glare like Kageyama's.

PersonalityEdit

He appears to be quite competitive and a bit stubborn. It took him a while before he finally accepted that Kageyama has changed and even when he did, he still didn't accept Kageyama's apology; choosing instead to stay as enemies. He seems to respect and admire the third years of his current team, specifically Oikawa. After being complimented by the setter once, he stumbled over his "thank you" while standing stiffly with both arms by his side.

BackgroundEdit

He, Kunimi, and Kageyama went to Kitagawa Daiichi together and were on the volleyball team. The three are often shown together in the flashbacks. During their third year, he wore the number 5. Kindaichi was the only player that argued with Kageyama whenever the latter became too unreasonable, and he wasn't afraid of expressing his frustration. He and Kunimi pressured their coach into benching Kageyama due to his inability to work as a team player.

PlotEdit

Kindaichi first appears during the junior high volleyball tournament with the Kitagawa Daiichi Junior High boys volleyball team. During the warm-up before their first match, Kindaichi gets scolded by Kageyama for not being quick enough when attempting a quick attack. During the game, Kindaichi is mostly seen attempting to spike Kageyama's sets but finds difficulty in this since he cannot match the speed of the sets and is scolded by Kageyama once more for being too slow. Kindaichi is able to block Hinata a few times and even get a one-touch late in the second set.

Karasuno High Team Formation ArcEdit

Kindaichi plays in the practice match between Aobajohsai and Karasuno as one of the starting middle blockers. When the Karasuno team arrived at Aobajohsai, Kindaichi was being informed of the team by Yahaba and they are both startled when Tanaka appears and warns them about speaking badly of his team. Kindaichi spots Kageyama among the Karasuno players and feels that he hasn't changed since middle school. Before the match, Kindaichi met Hinata. At first they got along when they reveal that they've found difficulty dealing with Kageyama's harsh behavior but they soon differ in opinions when it comes to his sets; Kindaichi having found them extremely difficult while Hinata says that Kageyama's sets are great. Kindaichi then told Hinata that he was just a pawn for Kageyama to use until a time came when Kageyama would be done with him.

His intimidation works on Hinata as he becomes nervous through the first set of the game and even sent his serve directly to the back of Kageyama's head. Kindaichi would tease Hinata about this by asking to be taught how to do it. When Hinata is back to playing like normal, Kindaichi finds himself having trouble keeping up with Hinata's speed and reflexes. Like the rest of his team, he is taken by surprise at seeing the super quick for the first time. After the match, Kageyama would approach Kindaichi but Kindaichi prevented him from trying to apologize for his behavior in middle school and states that he will always see Kageyama as the king of the court he was during middle school and the opponent he wants to beat most.

InterhighEdit

Kindaichi plays in the game against Karasuno. In the first set, he falls for Kageyama's decoy feint that he learned from Kenma. Oikawa seems to fuel Kindaichi's resentment toward Kageyama by saying that Kindaichi had been Kageyama's partner in middle school but was replaced with someone as inexperienced as Hinata who is able to hit Kageyama's sets with ease. When Kindaichi is then given the ball for a center attack, he gives off the illusion that he is able to jump higher than he did during the practice match and was able to spike clear above Hinata's block; of which Oikawa states is Kindaichi's specialty. Kindaichi later uses his serves to target the back row where the setter would move to the front row. Through this, he scored several times because his serves did not have as much power behind them and the Karasuno players were expecting stronger balls to receive. At the end of the match, Kindaichi assists in blocking Hinata's quick attack that wins the game for Aobajohsai.

Spring High Preliminary ArcEdit

Tokyo National ArcEdit

Kindaichi is one of several first years invited to the First Year Training Camp held at Shiratorizawa Academy. Like everyone else, Kindaichi was surprised to see that Hinata had crashed the camp and becomes further surprised at seeing Tsukishima lose his usually cool demeanor to angrily yell at Hinata for his impulsiveness. When it is uncertain if the coaches will allow Hinata to stay, Kindaichi becomes upset at this as he believes Hinata should stay.

After Hinata is allowed to stay, Kindaichi notices the Karasuno middle blocker practicing by himself after the first practice. When Koganegawa is asking for practice partners, Kindaichi volunteers to join him. When Hinata joins the free practice at Tsukishima's request, Kindaichi joins in trying to block him; admitting that he becomes filled with the need to block Hinata anytime he goes to spike. He later asks Hinata why he seems so desperate to prove himself and learns that Hinata not only wishes to become a better player but also wants to one day defeat Kageyama. Kindaichi then tries to assure Hinata that Kageyama is surely having a difficult time at the All-Japan Youth Camp.

After the training camp is over, Kindaichi approaches Hinata to ask how Kageyama has been since he's noticed a change in the setter. Kunimi tells Kindaichi that he is still too concerned about what happened in middle school and should try to put that behind him. Hinata then surprises Kindaichi by saying that it's not a bad thing to have a rivalry with a friend. Before Kunimi completely ushers him away, Kindaichi says a proper good-bye to Hinata.

During the Spring Tournament, Kindaichi watches Karasuno's games with either his team or with Kunimi. Kunimi points out on several occasions how Kindaichi seems to be supporting Hinata more than anyone else.

Final ArcEdit

Kindaichi attends the Adlers and Jackals game with Kunimi. He is a college senior and plays for the Tamaden Elephants, a professional Division 2 team in Japan's V-League. He will be working as an electrician in Saitama after graduating. After the game, Kindaichi and Kunimi agree to Kageyama's request to play a game together when they have free time.

StatisticsEdit

Original Statistics
Power		3/5
Jumping		3/5
Stamina		4/5
Game Sense		2/5
Technique		3/5
Speed		3/5

According to himself, he uses his height to spike past blockers that can't reach him (like Hinata). According to Oikawa, Kindaichi is at his best when the ball toss allows him to jump his highest and with the aid of his height and spike the ball down.

During the Spring High Tournament, it's shown that he can do a broad quick (like Hinata).

Jumping Reach: 332 cm

RelationshipsEdit

Tobio KageyamaEdit

He was Kindaichi's former teammate in Kitagawa Daiichi Junior High. Kindaichi was mentioned by Oikawa to be Kageyama's "partner" back then because the latter tossed to him a lot, almost like Hinata and Kageyama's relationship right now (but not quite). It is unknown whether or not Kindaichi and Kageyama were close during their first and second years, but they are often seen together, along with Kunimi Akira, in the flashbacks. During their third year, Kageyama demanded a lot of his teammates (match his speed, spike his unreasonably high tosses), causing Kindaichi, along with Kunimi, to tell the coach to bench Kageyama. Upon seeing Kageyama with Karasuno, he is shocked by the fact that the former is being a team player.

Akira KunimiEdit

They are current teammates of Aobajohsai High's Volleyball Team and former teammates of Kitagawa Daiichi's

Volleyball Team. They appear to be friends and are shown interacting with each other in the flashbacks often. In Kitagawa Daiichi, they would complain to each other about Kageyama's demands and in the practice match against Karasuno, they both made comments to each other about Kageyama's change in behavior being different from what they remember. After Kindaichi's encounter with Kageyama in the bathroom, Kunimi smacked his arm when he was talking about feeling defeated, showing their close relationship with each other. Kunimi has also tried to get Kindaichi to let go of their past with Kageyama.

Tōru OikawaEdit

He respects Oikawa the most out of all the Seniors. He admires Oikawa's style of playing and always trusts him to give him a nice toss to spike. He was also in the same junior high as Oikawa, Kitagawa Daiichi.

Shōyō HinataEdit

Kindaichi first meets Hinata during the practice match between Karasuno and Aobajohsai. Though at first they seem to

get along when they realize they have common ground concerning Kageyama's difficult personality, they quickly differ on where they stand on his setting; Kindaichi calling Kageyama's sets impossible while Hinata says they are great. Kindaichi initially tried to intimidate Hinata by telling him that he would be useless to Kageyama if he couldn't hit his sets only for Kindaichi to be surprised at how Hinata is able to hit the sets without difficulty, having believed no spiker would be able to hit one of Kageyama's sets. Throughout their encounters, the two seem to form a rivalry. Kindaichi and Hinata interact a bit during the first year training camp where Kindaichi reveals that he becomes filled with a need to block Hinata anytime he goes to spike. Hinata also advised Kindaichi that it's alright to have rivalries with others when Kindaichi asked Hinata how Kageyama has been after noticing his playing style has changed. Kindaichi follows Karasuno's games during nationals along with the rest of his team and many times finds himself supporting Hinata.

TriviaEdit

• Favorite Food: Grilled corn.
• Current Concern: Girls in his class said that "Kindaichi-kun kinda seems more "lanky" than "tall", right?"
• Nicknamed "Turnip-Head" by Ryūnosuke Tanaka, but it's mainly Shōyō Hinata who calls him that now.
  • He shares that nickname with a character from the Ghibli film "Howl's Moving Castle". Ironically, Ghibli's Turnip Head is a scarecrow. It is unknown whether that is intentional or not.
• His star sign is Gemini.
• In Haikyuu's first popularity poll, Kindaichi tied with Yamamoto at 29th with 466 votes.^[1] In the second, he dropped to 32nd with 975 votes.^[2]
• Nomenclature
  • Yutaro(勇太郎) - Brave First Son
  • Kindaichi (金田一) - Golden Field One
• Currently plays on the Tamaden Elephants team with Wataru Onaga.

QuotesEdit

• "I didn't really get along with you from the start! And that's why next time, we will definitely win!" (To Tobio Kageyama, Chapter 15)

ReferencesEdit