S3E2: The Threat of the Left

"Tsukki, did you get a stinger on your finger?!"

This week, rainbow and em cover season 3, episode 1 "Greetings" and talk about Ushijima's south paw, Tsukishima's blocking trouble, and Noya's excitement over a receiving challenge. 

42:32 Spoiler Zone Begins

Podcast Socials:

tumblr

bluesky

instagram

twitter

Send us an email! flyhqpod@gmail.com

Transcript available on our website, if not included in your podcast app: https://flyhqpod.buzzsprout.com

Resource List Doc

Links for Palestine, Congo, and Sudan:

Daily click on arab.org

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Doctors Without Borders

E-sims

Decolonize Palestine

International Rescue Committee's fund for Congo

Save the Children - Congo

Congo Fundraiser

Muslim Aid for Sudan

IRC fund for Sudan

Save the Children - Sudan

Thanks for listening!!

Transcript

rainbow

00:09

hello everyone and welcome to fly a queer Haikyuu podcast I'm rainbow, they she 

em

00:13

and I'm em, and today we are talking about season three, episode two the threat of the left. Oh, who could that be? This also sounds like a Fox News segment. Actually the threat of the woke left.

rainbow

00:29

It sounds like that's going to be the next executive order that comes out. 

em

We're going to be eliminating the threat of the left.

rainbow

00:36

It's really disturbing how good your Trump is. The other day I was telling Rainbow I had a dream with Trump in it. He was not the main feature. The main feature was my friend was mad about something and I was trying to get him to tell me what and then a Trump, like it felt like an impersonator maybe walked up and it was terrifying.

rainbow

00:52

Anyway, and for you listeners. You know well, I guess last week Em was not here but in real time, in our lived experience, we have not recorded in two weeks because I was out of town.

em

01:05

Yes, Rainbow is back in the studio and it is good to be back in our routine. My autistic self is very happy.

rainbow

01:12

I'm very happy. Our cat's very happy. I think she's throwing a fit. She's unhappy that I was gone for so long, but you know what, I'm back and I'm cuddly that I was gone for so long. But you know what, I'm back and I'm cuddly, and but yeah, I'm back and Folks, I've changed. She's a different person. Something has changed within me. Something is not the same. Before I left to visit my family, I had never watched a full episode of Game of Thrones in my life.

01:42

I'd maybe watched a total of 10 minutes and I was pretty proud of that because it was so big and so hyped and I'm kind of an asshole.

em

01:48

So whatever, you're not special because you don't watch TV. You don't get an award because you watch less TV.

rainbow

01:56

I watch plenty of TV. I just never watched Game of Thrones, but while I was home with my family, we watched TV together. That's how we bond. And after we watched all seasons of ghost us version woot, woot, um, my dad decided to re-watch game of thrones for like the third time, and my mom got super into it, and so I saw the end of season one, most of season two, most of season three, some of season four, basically none of season five, and the very end of season six. I was hooked. I was hooked to the storytelling is really good. The acting. Acting is really good. I knew that M was just like a constant champion for Game of Thrones, like one day we're going to watch it and you're going to love it, and she was right.

em

02:33

Yeah, Rainbow was resistant because of all the sexual assault, which is fair enough. But you know, I told him like, listen, the writing is really good. Well, you'll get there when you get there. We were going to start with House of the Dragon because that's a little bit more up her alley. But yeah, I am very pleased and now we've started from the beginning. We're almost at the end of season one and while Rainbow has jumped around, she has missed some key things and I'm very excited to watch them with her.

rainbow

02:56

Yeah, yeah, I missed most of season one, so there was a lot that I hadn't seen. The Golden Crown episode was fantastic.

em

03:03

She hasn't seen the Red Wedding.

rainbow

03:05

I have not, I know it exists, yes, so I'm very excited about that. We will continue watching that. I think you can guess what our who and High Q scenario will be later. This episode Spoilers, but yeah, so but overall my trip was good. It was really nice getting to see my family. I was in south carolina and that was weird, but you know I made it um, a lot of weird looks if you wear a mask there. But you know I wasn't trying to get sick and, um, I didn't. Folks, I didn't get sick on the way. I didn't get sick while I was there. I didn't get sick on the way back.

em

03:41

It's a miracle a miracle, as several flu strains ravage the country.

rainbow

03:46

You know what? I'll tell you? One pouch of emergency every day leading up to your flight is really going to help you. But that's enough about me. We have a little bit of housekeeping before we get into things. We had an email from one of our lovely listeners, elle, who has emailed with us before. We always love to hear from her, and she wanted to let us know that she was the anonymous listener from our anniversary episode. We had one person who didn't have a name, just had pronouns, and somehow in the Google form, the Elle was missed, and so we just thought it was an anon. But no, it was Elle. So yeah, I just wanted to once again say thank you to Elle and to everyone who participated in that episode. We hope you all liked it as much as we liked recording it. A thousand kisses to each and every one of you. Our lips will be so dry, but it'll be worth it. All right, are you ready for your recap?

em

04:39

let's see if she would stop me out there.

rainbow

04:42

She didn't know. Take your chance. Want me to count you down. Yeah, alrighty, and a three, a two a one.

em

04:51

It's all Karasuno can do to wrangle the mighty eagle in this brutal first set. Ushiwaka is the super ace, scoring point after point as our crows desperately try to adjust to his left-handed attacks. However, our boys have star power of their own, with both NishiNoya and Kageyama locked the fuck in. Hinata and Ushijima are hungry to destroy each other in this amusing episode of Haikyuu.

rainbow

05:14

They really are so hungry to destroy each other, and it just fuels me.

em

05:18

It's getting a little shippy up in here. I can't lie.

rainbow

05:21

This is a very shippy season for these two and we're going to get into it, we're going to talk about it. We pick up exactly where we left off last time, with Noya trying and failing to receive Ushijima's spike.

em

05:35

Yeah, our boys are stiff. Shortly after that, Daichi um calls an out, Tanaka and Asahi freeze up trying to go for the ball at the same time and Kageyama notices like oh okay, they're nervous. And then we get Suga screaming at them. This is really where I feel Suga mama comes out this just ranting at them like what are you nervous about?

rainbow

05:55

tell avi yeah, I love it so much. That's like very much like when the kids are being rowdy in the car and like no, but like they will not calm down, and dad's like don't make me come back there. And then mom turns around and is like, if you don't shut up right now, and then everyone is silent.

em

06:12

Yes, even to the point where the ref glares at him and Daichi is just like okay, thanks, suga, we got it he's like sorry about him.

rainbow

06:20

He like apologizes to the ref and suga's like oh man, that ref is really gonna have it out for me now, which is like I hope not. That feels petty, yeah, really. Um, that does remind me of a scene I will not go into a description of, but it's from music and lyrics the movie with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant, and if you know what I'm talking about, you you know. Please write in, dm us send a smoke signal. Let me know that you know the exact scene that I am talking about. It's a very much a mom takes control kind of scene.

em

06:52

My mom loves that movie, so maybe she'll write in.

rainbow

06:54

Oh my God, Maybe she will. Your mom and I should watch that movie together sometime. I fucking love it too, anyway, yes, so, and while Suga is screaming, we see Hinata trying to like calm him down from the sidelines. And then Takeda makes a comment of like oh, the old trick of you freaking out so everyone else will calm down, which, it's like, does that work? Is that a thing people do?

em

07:15

I yeah, I feel like that is definitely a thing, but I don't think Suga was trying to calm his team down.

rainbow

07:20

I think he was like just frustrated yeah, well, because I think somebody I think it's you, kai somebody says like they're making a lot of rookie mistakes and it's they're very clearly nervous. They're going up against the powerhouse school of the prefecture. It's the final game. It's the final match. This is the match that determines whether or not they go to nationals and can, you know, complete their goal of, you know, hopefully winning nationals, but also the garbage dump battle. I think that's something we have to think about all the time. When they're talking about nationals, they're also kind of talking about playing Nekoma.

em

07:50

There's a lot at stake. They want to beat him and Ushiwaka is just so overwhelming. Yes.

rainbow

07:55

And then, like Kageyama like gives like after Suga has this freakout and everyone calms down. There's just like a moment where we see him like looking back at the team and we don't get any thoughts or anything. What do you think is going on in his head there? Do you think he's thinking like okay, they're probably going to be calm now, or what's going on?

em

08:09

I think it's just him monitoring. He's definitely yeah, I don't know. I think he's just a little wary. He's like, okay, they're nervous and you know, I mean, as the setter he has to monitor their emotions. So he's probably taking all of this into account with his sets, Like all right, if they're going to be stiff and stuff, maybe that changes the way he plays. He's so good, he is Such a good setter. Him and Noya they remind us a lot this episode that they're really the fucking stars of Karasuno. At this point Noya fudges another spike from Ushi and he asks his senpai for three, three of them to get used to it.

rainbow

08:46

I'm like you got it, Noya, whatever you need, yeah, honestly. And then I think this is when we get Saeko figuring out that Ushijima is left-handed and I was kind of impressed by this because she figured she's like oh, usually when my brother approaches, he approaches from the the right which way do you approach?

em

09:02

it's a lot of dense volleyball talk that I cannot break down that minutely, but the way I would never notice no, the way I would have no.

rainbow

09:09

Like that's how she figures it out. It's like no, I have no idea. She like figures it out from. Like the way that Ushijima approaches. He approaches the op from the opposite direction that Tanaka does. Because Tanaka is right-handed and most of the players we see are right-handed, we come across very few lefties, but Ushijima is lefty, so he's going at it from a different angle and that completely changes the spin. And also this finally helped me understand what the opposite hitter position is, why it's called the opposite. They are the opposite of the opposing setter and we'll talk about that a little bit in the spoiler zone.

em

09:40

Yes, we will. No, I'm so glad you also also because I felt a little dumb because we've talked they talk about the opposite a lot more in the latter half of the manga. But yeah, I also finally was like, oh okay, it's opposite of the setter and the way that the opposite plays affects kind of the whole team strategy. One method is to put someone like Daichi, who is solid all around with strong defense Apparently a lot of high schools do that or you put a cannon like Ushijima in there and they don't serve or receive, they're just ready for the attack. And Akitaru tells us that a while back the opposite was called super aces.

rainbow

10:18

Interesting, and it's not. They do serve, I think it's. They don't block or receive. They don't do any defense because he definitely serves.

10:24

I don't, the libro is the only one who doesn't serve, but yeah, so, um, very interesting that he's the the opposite hitter, and again, it is very dense volleyball talk. That was like harder for me to follow. That's this is where I start to be like okay, all right, this is where the sport of the sports, anime comes in. Um, but then, yeah, I think we see, because Karasuno gets a couple points, but I think it's just from Shiratoro Zawa, flubbing serves.

em

10:52

Well, so Tanaka does successfully score the first point.

rainbow

10:56

Okay, so that is the first point.

em

10:58

Yes, Shiratorizawa already is like five at five.

rainbow

11:01

Okay, the spikes just keep coming and we see Tsukishima really struggling with his blocks. We see the random old guy up in the stand like very frustrated with the the inability of karasuno to block these spikes.

em

11:14

He's like bitching about it we flash back to their meeting from the night previous and NishiNoya coolly says they have Ushijima, karasuno has me and we have Hinata and Tanaka fail, fangirling over the statement, and Noya has the confidence that he can back up. And this is when they get into the concept of total defense. For dealing with Ushijima, not only can they be purposeful with their blocks, but they have to do it in a way that they try and direct his spikes so that Noya picks it up. Total defense.

rainbow

11:48

Yeah. So what's happening is, when they can, they have three blockers blocking the cross shot, because I think Ushijima tends to go for a cross shot more than a line shot, and so they block the cross shot. So he's forced to do a line shot, which is right to Noya, and I feel like we've seen this before. I feel like that's happened with Hinata I think Seijo did that to them, and so it does seem like a good strategy. But Noya needs to be able to pick up those left-handed spikes which are harder, because the spin is completely different, and so we get a break.

12:16

They get a like a technical timeout. Yachi explains to Saeko that in five set matches, when a team reaches either 8 or 16 points, they have to take a break. It's like an automatic timeout, and we can kind of see Tsukishima like clearly upset that he's not able to block. Well, like you can see that he's kind of frustrated that he hasn't figured out the blocking timing, which I think was the thing Ukai said was most important. He was like we have to time our blocks perfectly for Ushijima yes.

em

12:45

And then we have yamaguchi flashes back to suki telling him that there's no way he can beat Ushiwaka and this one. We also get the old man commenting that suki needs more fighting spirit, as he's like struggling to get the timing right and whatnot. And then we have Akiteru saying that the more let down suki gets, the calmer he gets. He doesn't trust anything but what his eyes see. And it's funny because Saeko is like how could you say that about your own brother? Because he kind of says he doesn't trust his own sense at all. But that's what makes him kind of wire into the reality before him. He's like well, you see, I traumatized him as a child and now he has trust issues and now he only trusts what he can see with his own four eyes, and so what I think is pretty pivotal here is that Tsukki does get good timing on Ushijima.

13:34

His block is there, but he blows through him anyway on his sheer dumb strength, but also because maybe Tsukki wasn't blocking like he means it.

rainbow

13:43

And I think Tsukki recognizes- that doesn't he?

em

13:46

He will in just a second. So this is where we have Noya telling us that he can tell from what he's picked up that Ushijima isn't even using his full strength yet he's warming up his engine, which is terrifying.

rainbow

13:58

Yes, and then this is where we get my favorite line from the dub, I think for or one of them at least which is Yamaguchi going Tsukki. Did you get a stinger on your finger?

em

14:09

I love the way the dub handled this, because in the original he the way he says Tsukki something, something. It's rhyming, yes, so they had to make that translate and it's very cute. And it's just cute how concerned he is. But this is where we get Tsukki being like did, did I just like not, did I just assumed I would lose, which has been his problem. But now it's actually frustrating him instead of everybody else around him.

rainbow

14:34

Yeah. Now he's pissed at himself and I just love after Yamaguchi says that did you get a stinger on your finger? Tsukishima is like, yes, and how unfortunate that you phrased it that way. I just left those little peeks into their dynamic. Um, yeah, and so we see Inoshita wrapping up Tsukki's finger, and while he's getting his finger wrapped up, that's when he's thinking about him just not going for the block as much, and I think that's we're we're really getting into some Tsukishima stuff here. Y'all it's coming together. Um, yeah, and so then the team goes back on, uh, the court, and we see Takeda animated in like the silliest way, where he's all like fully. He's like how would you describe his? He's like liquidy. Yeah, he's wiggly, he's very wiggly. Perfect wiggly is the perfect word word and he's like telling everybody. He's like okay, everybody, just calm down, just calm down.

em

15:21

And then he like freezes in fear because he realizes it's Ushijima's turn to serve yep, and while he may not have the control that Oikawa does, his power is, you know, nothing to sneeze at. Daichi tries to receive, but it just it's coming in too hot and it bounces off his arms like it's been doing to Noya I. At this point I was like, honestly, put Ushi in college volleyball.

rainbow

15:44

This isn't even fair well they have to play against like college teams and stuff. Like it's really ridiculous. And I think this is where, um, like we get Tsukishima thinking about like wow, I'm glad I don't have to research, I don't have to receive those serves.

em

15:58

He's like there's no way I could take that on pause, stop well, this is what I really love about this scene is yes, suki is thinking calmly and rationally how they'll probably be giving up this first set. And then he looks back and he just sees NishiNoya, who was locked in, just repeating like come on, come on, bring it.

rainbow

16:19

I love it so much because in his head, like you, can hear his thoughts he's going come on, come on, come on it's two different approaches to defense.

em

16:25

I feel there's the like all right, well, we'll probably have to bother that and then there's just like bring it.

rainbow

16:30

Well, I think it's so interesting and I could probably go into this more in the spoiler zone where, like with Noya, like he is playing this team sport, but like because he's the Libra and because his position is so singular, I feel like with him and I think this makes sense for both him and Kageyama where there's a little bit of like they have their own specific challenges and, like I think for Noya, he takes those challenges very personal and so he's like this is like no, no, no, I can't. Like like there's in Noya's mind, there's no way he's gonna go easy on this and like just try again in the next set. He's like no, every single ball that comes, I am going to do my very best to receive it. And he is so locked in and maybe he gets it. He picks it up, he picks that serve right up and it's really cool and everybody cheers, including me.

em

17:17

We go into commercial break and then we come back and they are able to have a successful attack.

rainbow

17:23

Kageyama fakes them out like he's going to just hit the ball over and then he passes to Tanaka and they get it over and we have a nice little tananoia high five here yeah, I love, I love when they do a little kong, a little combo, and then in the dub at least, we have Hinata over on the side saying Kageyama even faked me out with that. And I was like hin Hinata, you know that, you know Kageyama better than anyone. And I was like and part of me was like, well, that could be him just kind of being a little blustery, of like, oh, I normally could tell if Kageyama was going to fake me out, but I really do think he usually knows. I think he like just pays such close attention to Kageyama.

em

18:00

I like to think that.

rainbow

18:01

Me too.

em

18:02

And then we get another, nothing less from Oikawa's junior, from Shirabu, the Shiratorizawa's setter. Part of me kind of it gets annoying how Kageyama's way is so attributed to Oikawa, but I guess I do understand it because he learned a lot, I think, and based a lot of his stuff off of Oikawa.

rainbow

18:22

Yeah, and I think that part of me does feel like I get where you're coming from, um, but I also kind of like I'm sure that it annoys Oikawa so much that Kageyama is a tribute, but also it's like like I kind of want to slap Oikawa upside the back of the head, like a wise of me, and be like hey, asshole, this amazing genius setter that you don't think you're like as good as everyone attributes his strengths to being your kohai. What's wrong with you? What more do you need?

em

18:51

And then this is where we have Kageyama confirms for us that you know, because they're like how are you playing like usual, aren't you freaked out too? And he's like, nothing scares me more than Oikawa-san, like Kageyama has defeated his enemy, the rest is just patty cake.

rainbow

19:07

This is, yeah, this is just. He's breezing on through and we saw that in the first episode, with everyone else being so nervous and he was just excited to be in center court. He is just like nah, man, like I am good to go, I've done everything I need to do, I've climbed my mountain.

em

19:25

And I also think it really, I think he just genuinely believes in the team, that much like he's not worried about Ushijima.

rainbow

19:27

Yeah, he's like. No, it's okay, we can overcome this. And I just have to know that like, because whenever Kageyama says like there's nothing, nobody that scares me more than Oikawa-san we see a flash of Oikawa and I assume that's just the way that Kageyama thinks of him. And he's just standing there. He looks like very slutty. In my mind his waist is snatched, he looks like such a bitch and I'm like this is this would be the way that Kageyama thinks of Oikawa uh Hinata gets back on the court.

19:52

He got rotated out so fast because of Ushijima that he hasn't had a chance to attack, and the boy is hungry to defeat the big boy yes, and we see, we see Tendo on the other side of the net and he's like looking at Hinata and he's like there's really not much to you is there. That's why they put you in the middle. And I was like Tendo, don't talk about my boy like that yeah, you don't talk about Hinata that way um he's gonna find out oh, he really is.

20:18

And then we do get a moment of Ukai like kind of chuckling to himself and he's like, oh, Kageyama and Noya, we can always trust those two to be reliable yeah, in the sub he says the fact that Kageyama and NishiNoya are playing like they normally do is nothing less than amazing.

em

20:32

I tweeted on our fly haikyuu podcast twitter follow us. I tweeted out how karasuno is so dumb. Lucky that Noya just happened to like their uniforms best. Like honestly, you got a genius because he liked the way the uniforms looked.

rainbow

20:47

You literally got a genius because he didn't want to wear a tie. Like that's. Like at least Kageyama wanted to go for the volleyball and that, I think, just speaks to Noe's character and like makes it makes a lot of sense what happens with him in the time skip. That like that's the reason he chose this school. Like he could go to any, probably could have gone to Shiratorizawa if he wanted to. He really is going to the beat of his own drum. Oh god, I like he's so cool. He's so cool for that. Um, yeah, and then, and so then I think we get a Goshiki spike on Shiratorizawa, is that right?

em

21:17

yeah, Goshiki shows off his super straight, but but Ushijima and Leon are too busy talking amongst themselves.

rainbow

21:25

Goshki wants Ushijima's praise. So bad, it's so funny, it's giving little brother.

em

21:36

Even just acknowledgement. But and they'll say this like, I think, in season four but like his senpais are just kind of there Aside from Tendo, who's just a weirdo, the rest of them are pretty like stone faced, I would say.

rainbow

21:45

It's yeah, it's so funny because he's like didn't you see that amazing spike I did Ushijima. And Ushijima is just in the background like telling Reon, like oh, that was a really good receive. You did yeah, yeah. And Leia's just like no, no. And just as a side note, I just really love the UshiReon friendship. I think they're so cute. I think they're very work-husband coded. Yes, yes, absolutely, I think they're, I think they. I could see them sitting on the bus together. I see them rooming together In another life.

em

22:13

They're relieved when they're on the schedule together. Yes, yes.

rainbow

22:17

Yeah, I need like an office worker AU, that's just like just Shiratorizawa working at an office together. I think it would be fun.

em

22:26

And then there's a small moment while they're on the court where Hinata goes, let's go Kageyama.

rainbow

22:31

Let's fucking show them what we're here for, oh yeah, because he's like we're gonna get a, we're gonna do our spike. So we get Hinata getting a rebound in because he's going to be blocked, and he gets his little rebound in and I loved it, and then we get him going for is it the free quick that he does here?

em

22:52

or is it just like a side jump? I think they're going for a quick, but Ushi receives it and then asks for the set and you can tell he wants to crush them. He's like give it to me. I'm going to show them that I'm going to beat them.

rainbow

23:02

Yes, yes, okay. My note here was Mr never receives the ball. Ushijima goes for Hinata's spike and I think Hinata threatens Ushijima's view of the world, and people with privilege always hate that. I think that's what's happening here with Ushijima.

em

23:18

Yes, Slide, in a quick character analysis there, I just had to. No, but I think you're so right and he I mean he really wanted to because he hits it so hard. Porahina's hands are stinging from the block and this is how they lose the first set officially.

rainbow

23:32

Yes. And Tendo notices Ushijima's fixation. He's like, well, well, well, he's like what do we have here? And like. And he's saying he's just like, oh, well, well, he's like what do we have here? And like? And he's saying he's just like oh. And this is where they talk a little bit about like oh, did something happen between you two? Do you know each other? And he's like oh, we ran into each other. And they talk about how Ushijima got scolded for letting some weird some, for some different kid Some I didn't, that's not the right word anyway for letting some kid onto campus. And then Tendo's like oh, wow, you must really like this guy. And Ushijima's like no, he's like I don't like him. And he says I loathe arrogance, with nothing to back it up. Do you think I feel like in this? I feel like Ushijima was probably a little bit impressed by Hinata's speed and jumping that first day that they met.

em

24:16

Yeah, I think he's intrigued. Yeah, absolutely, and I think he's kind of mad about it. Yes, for sure. And I think it's interesting that Tendo first assumed that Ushijima likes Hinata, because I think at first he just notices the way Ushijima is just staring at Hinata. He's like, oh, that must be why you like him. And well, love and hate are two sides of the same coin of obsession, so you're not really that far off.

rainbow

24:39

Yes, oh, I had. I watching the season always makes me think a lot of different fic ideas, but we have. So we have Tendo getting really excited about this.

em

24:49

I really like the way he's. So Tendo is so fucking creepy and that's why I didn't like him at first. He's always like he's very tall but he always is slouching like to the extreme. He's almost like bent halfway over half the time. But, as he kind of says, he has this back and forth with Ushijima and then he says, huh, well, I guess I'll have to play seriously now when he comes up to full height and I think he's gonna eat someone. I don't know, he scares me.

rainbow

25:14

I love him so much. I love how scary he is. I've loved him from the moment I laid eyes on him he should have played, played Nosferatu.

25:21

Oh, my god, he'd make such a good Nosferatu. Step aside, uh, skarsgård, um no. But he said in the W is a great line. He says if Shorty can make the great stoic Ushiwaka have an emotional response like that, it sounds like this could be a lot of fun for me as well. Oh, he's so creepy. And so then we get back into the game and we have Karasuno doing a synchronized attack and I love, did you catch Reon's reaction to it? It's so funny because he's like clearly surprised, but he's just because he himself is kind of stoic. He's like whoa, they're all coming at once. I can't tell who's going to come, who's going to hit it. And it was just so funny to me.

em

26:01

I mean, yeah, it's an unorthodox attack to begin with to have everyone attack at once and no one is there to defend. So I think Shiratorizawa, who plays so simply, is just like whoa, you can do that yeah, well, yeah, I guess for them it really is.

rainbow

26:15

Just like you know, the setter is supposed to give it to whoever's gonna hit it the hardest, and that's usually Ushijima, but sometimes it goes to other players, and so, yeah, they don't like Shiratorizawa because they're so built on this strength. They're the addition, they don't have to do all these different little tricks that Karasuno has to do, and we'll see who comes out on top in the end.

em

26:38

And to speak to that during the break, before they got back into the game, coach Ukai tells them that Ushijima scored 11 of the points in the first set, nearly half of the points. But he also points out that the fact that they're passing to Ushijima so much just means that they're getting to them. Ushijima is human. He will run out of stamina eventually, maybe later than they think he will, but, like, just keep going. And then I like how, because we're getting to the end of the episode, and I like how they set it up for us, because Ukai and Takeda are talking about how they need an anti-Ushijima strategy. First and foremost, they need to keep attacking with a powerful attack after a powerful attack. We also have Suga and Yama Gucci. Um, because Hinata goes off to join the court again and is like oh, Ushijima, I'm gonna get you. And Yamaguchi tells Suga about how Hinata kind of got in trouble with him at Shiratorizawa and Suga is like he's always causing trouble with teammates from other schools.

rainbow

27:29

I love it. Yeah, In the dub he says Hinata says you'll be begging for mercy when I'm through with you, Ushiwaka. And it's just, he's so intense, this game.

em

27:39

And there's all this focus on Ushijima. We have to beat Ushijima, Ushijima, Ushijima. Just for Hinata to go for another quick and he gets blocked by who?

rainbow

27:48

Tendo Satori, did you like that? Uh-huh, and that was because of the nosferatu comment, I think, um, but yeah, he blocks it and I love what he says. He says you're gonna have to go through me if you want to get to Ushiwaka little boyfriends. I just I said to him last night after I finished watching the episode, I was like I love how quickly the show tells you who Ushijima's little boyfriend is. At this point the show's like listen, you know, everyone has a little boyfriend. There's so many different options here on Shiratorizawa could be Reon, could be the Goshiki kid, but no, it's the creepy Tendo. He just like and also probably because I'm watching so much game of thrones, I need like a king Ushijima and like a knight Tendo, or like, yeah, like his personal guard, like he is the hound. Yeah to Ushijima sanza, which doesn't make sense, but it's fine and that is the end of that episode.

em

28:44

We're setting up to spend a little more time with Creepy Tendo in the next one. Okay, so now for manga versus anime. This episode covers chapters 152 to 155. And the first thing that really stuck out to me is that they consistently refer to the left as Southpaw. Yes, do you not understand that? I? I just googled it. I figured it meant it was a term for someone who's left-handed in sports, and that is what it is yeah, I recognize it from boxing um.

29:12

That's where, like where I've heard of of southpaw I also just noticed in the manga they definitely have a little bit more variety about who comments. In the stands. There's like some randos and then more of like show of Shoyo's friends. But a rando says like oh, they have the NishiNoya from chidori ama. And this is where I said karasuno really just got lucky with him. Um. And then we get a bonus story in this episode 153 and a half, which is all about Seijo like digesting the loss. It has the scenes from where Oikawa is like thank you for the last three years, but it's way more in depth. They all go to ramen and you get to really see all the different characters, personalities, Kunimi and Koitani left right away. We have Kindaichi still crying and then just Iwaizumi and Oikawa say even more gay stuff to each other.

rainbow

30:04

Go look it up oh yeah, I want to read that now.

em

30:07

Yeah, I wish you would have um taken screenshots of some of those panels well, I really I was reading the whole thing and I was like what if I just read this on the podcast, but that now I've decided that's too much, so everyone just sort of do some homework yeah, plus it's heard with manga panels.

rainbow

30:20

manga panels, it's like what are you going to do? Stop and, like, explain what their faces look like.

em

30:23

I know I wish I could show you guys, but it's a podcast.

rainbow

30:26

And I do think it's interesting because we've touched on this before that in the manga there tends to be more variety to who is like giving exposition and who's commenting on things. And I just wonder if for the anime that's just a matter of like cost, like you have to, like you don't want to have to animate those, like extra characters, you don't want to have to pay those voice actors and so I wonder if it's just easier to like, keep it, to like a core group of people.

em

30:50

Are we ready for the character?

rainbow

30:50

spotlight we are and today we are going to talk about Ohira Reon and I'm not gonna lie, we picked this character because I was like I don't think he really gets one episode that's like really focuses on him, which I find rude.

em

31:04

Also he looks so handsome in this character sheet, his character sheet, yeah.

rainbow

31:08

I, Reon is, like, secretly, one of my favorite characters. I actually really love him. I noticed that this episode where I was like really paying attention to him and I was like, oh, I like him. I think he's fun, because I do think that Ushijima is very confident, but I think his confidence like turns over into arrogance too often for me and I think Reon just has this steady confidence Like there's also like I think there's like a humbleness to him that I really appreciate. And I of course, have a note from the wiki about his personality Quote.

31:37

Compared to many others on the volleyball team, rayon has a more calm and laid back personality. Because of this, he tends to be the one to help keep certain players calm or from getting too full of themselves. Reon also has shown to be relatively close to Goshki, as he at times helps the first year understand words or phrasings that their coach uses in his instructions or insults. End quote Nice, yeah.

32:04

So moving on to his name, meaning we his family name, rayon, which I think we discussed in the last episode, the l and the r in japanese. Um, there is no letter l in the japanese language, so this could also be leon, which I think makes sense when you look at his name, meaning which is sound of a lion. So I think, I do think there's like you could call, you could say leon, you can say rayon, you can try to actually pronounce it the Japanese way, which I find very difficult, but, yeah, sound of a line which also made me think of Lev. And then we have his given name, which is Ohira, which means big or flat slash, ordinary.

em

32:37

Kind of a read, but kind of true.

rainbow

32:38

Kind of a read. Yeah, I think it makes sense. I think, well, yeah, I think like Reon is just kind of like the normal guy.

em

32:44

Yeah.

rainbow

32:44

I also think I might have just messed up his name. I think his given name is Reon and his family name is Ohira. Oh yes, I didn't even notice you did that. Apologies for that. Yeah, so given name Reon. Sound of big flat or ordinary.

em

33:01

I like the strong, silent types.

rainbow

33:05

I know you do. No, I get it Again. Like I said, I think Rayan's one of my low-key faves from Shiratorizawa. He's fun. I really love when I read a fic with Shiratorizawa and he's just there as the like he's fun. He kind of is aware of everything that's going on but he just like is like he's not, like he minds his own business and he just makes like like simple comments from the side and he's always there to help out his friends. On to his character sheet uh, he goes to Shiratorizawa Academy, of course. He is in class three, four and he is the volleyball club vice captain, which I think you really see that in the Ushijima round dynamic they are giving captain and vice captain. His position is wing spiker. His height is six feet or about 182.88 centimeters. His birthday is October 30th, which means he is a Scorpio. Oh, we know what that means.

em

34:01

OK, what does that that mean?

rainbow

34:03

I don't know things I guess means it's hot. You know what fair um, you know what I really want to read, like a rayon fic. Who do people ship rayon with? Anyway? Ushijima yeah, I guess I could see that. Um, all right, his favorite food is mackerel simmered in miso, which honestly might be delicious.

em

34:26

I don't know if I have eaten a lot of mackerel in my life. I might like it. I like fish.

rainbow

34:30

I'm not sure either. You know what. One day we'll go to Japan and I'm sure we're going to eat lots of different kinds of fish. I'm really excited about the food, me All right. So his current worry, which I relate to he catches himself saying hup or whew, or something similar. Every time he sits down. He makes the dad sitting down noise. Reon is giving dad. He is dad of this team, fully. He's the single parent of this team. Okay, and then moving on to his five-point ability parameters, we have his speed, which is a two, his jumping and stamina are threes, his technique and intelligence are fours and his power is a five. Another five, another five. That's Shiratorizawa for you, man, and I think it makes sense, like that's why he's a starter alongside Ushijima. He's not the ace, but he's a fellow wing spiker and I think you have to have the same power level as Ushijima if you're going to be on that court, if you're going to be his right hand man.

em

35:26

If you're going to be Benkei, exactly, all right. Well, thank you, benkei. Thank you, rainbow. You're welcome. You're welcome. Now it's time for the world's favorite game. It's who, in Haikyuu, are these Game of?

rainbow

35:43

Thrones characters and, like I said, I don't know everything, but I have seen quite a bit. I've seen. I haven't seen any of season seven or eight, but I have seen a lot of like the middle stuff. So let's start. Let's just go with our first two. Hinata Kageyama who do you think they are?

em

36:03

When I my first thought for Hinata was aria, that scrappiness and that wanting to be like recognized as more as just a little girl or you know, a short boy in volleyball.

rainbow

36:09

Yeah, no, I totally see that. Who's Kageyama?

em

36:12

Kageyama I. Why do I want to say I don't? This isn't really accurate, but I almost wanted to say Sansa.

rainbow

36:23

It's hard. It's hard with him.

em

36:25

He's not quite like Jon Snow, he's not I feel like he's got like a Starkness to him, yes, like I think he'd be honorable, but he's not goofy in any way.

rainbow

36:38

He's not like Rob, he's not quite Rob Stark, he's not quite Ned Stark either. I guess he can be sansa. Um well, thinking of them as like a pair, like a shipping pair, who would you put like their?

em

36:55

honestly, Kageyama could be jendry. You don't know that well. You met gendry and I think I missed it when ned goes to visit that one bastard who is um oh, yes, yes, yes, that's gendry that's who aria ends up with spoilers um, but also I totally get that um, and I also didn't realize they introduced him so early.

rainbow

37:16

Yeah, so he's one of robert's bastards no and I kind of thought that when you said Hinata's aria, I was like, oh well, shipping wise, then he must be, and I couldn't remember his name. But I was like that bastard kid who like ends up staying with the brotherhood for a while or something, yeah. So I definitely have met him and I've seen him a little bit and I totally think that makes sense. I love that. Yeah, okay, I'm glad we had this talk. Okay, is Oikawa cersei's?

em

37:39

okay, it's how do I okay, cersei's, how do I listen to me? Cersei, cersei, there you go cersei folks.

rainbow

37:49

Let me tell you the way I struggle with these goddamn game of thrones names. First of all, I am an auditory. I'm not an auditory person, I'm a visual person. I even looked at like a character list last night, but it's still so hard for me to pronounce these names correctly. So Oikawa is Cersei.

em

38:09

Yes, yes, oh my god, yeah, cersei is so cruel, but no, you know, oikiko's fucking, uh, his loris, loris, the gay knight, yeah, the the rosy knight no, I totally see that Aone is the hound.

rainbow

38:32

Oh, I totally see Aone as the hound. Oh, is Futakuchi Gregor shut up? Oh, my god, no, none of them are. Who would be? You know who would be? Little finger that would be futakuchi yeah or um no.

em

38:46

You know who would be is what's his fucking face that hates Nekoma oh, daisho, daisho or something, daisho.

rainbow

38:53

Yeah, daisho is totally little finger um. Who's Ushijima is he the hound? Is he he's hodor?

em

39:06

he's hodor, sorry, hodor, sorry.

rainbow

39:09

Well, I was gonna say, is Ushijima? Is he the like the guard in like season six um, who protects uh cersei after she comes back from staying with the religious people? Do you know who I'm talking?

em

39:23

about the big one. Yeah, that's Gregor. Spoilers you watched this. I didn't know it was gregor I didn't put the pieces together. I think maybe you did know, they were told, they told you.

rainbow

39:36

But okay, yeah, no, I had no idea that was gregor. Okay, wow, all right, um, anyway, moving on. Um, okay, yeah, so I do love if she gm is hodor, but then who's bran would be brand? I can't think of anybody. Bran's such a nothing character. Sometimes I feel bad for him, but it's like he's nobody. Who's Tendo? Um? It's so hard because there's certain characters that I would not like. Ramsay is. I would not put anyone in Haikyuu as Ramsay also. I have we.

em

40:07

I mean, the list of characters from Game of Thrones is like a Cheesecake Factory menu. I have so many names to flip through.

rainbow

40:14

Okay we can move on from Tendo. We can think of other characters. I think Daichi is Jon Snow.

em

40:20

Yeah, who's Daenerys? Oh God, who is?

rainbow

40:23

Daenerys Wait is that Hinata. Okay. So I did actually have a thought. When I was watching Game of Thrones with my family. I was thinking is it Jorah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was thinking daenerys is Hinata and jora is Kageyama I love that and I could just see that who's drogo? That is the question. Is that Ushijima, I did. I did have thoughts with um, specifically with drogo and daenerys. I was like, oh, what if that's like a boko waka situation?

em

40:52

oh, I could see that I could see that there are so many possibilities. Please for this one. We ask every time but write in if you, if there are any other Game of Thrones, slash Haikyuu fans out there listening to this and hate what we're saying, or agree with what we're saying or have more to add. Write in, because we are a dick deep into Game of Thrones right now yeah, like I want to know who's Tyrion, who's Jaime.

rainbow

41:15

I did was going to say, when I said Oikawa is Cersei, I was going to say Iwaizumi is Jaime Yo.

em

41:26

Came into this world together. They belong together.

rainbow

41:28

She said that to Ned Stark. I can't believe that I thought because Im had told me that she said that at Ned Stark. I can't believe that I thought, like because Em had told me that she said that at some point. I thought she said it in a conversation with Jamie and no, no, no. She full on is just like yes, I do Fuck my brother.

em

41:40

We belong together when it comes to twin cest, Cersei is standing on business Like move aside twins from Ouran High School  Club.

rainbow

41:50

Yeah, all right. Well, I feel like I wish we had more. I should have written down a character sheet Like who's Kuro, who's Kenma.

em

41:57

Who's. I almost want to revisit this after we've, because, like, it's been a while since I've watched Game of Thrones 2.

rainbow

42:02

And we'll do another one in. You know six months, when we finished all eight seasons and I'm very angry about the way it ended. Yeah, All right. Well, we have a few things for the spoiler zone.

em

42:17

But before that, do you want to tell everyone where they can find us? You can find us on Twitter, instagram, tumblr and Blue Sky. At FlyHQPod, that's F-L-Y-H-Q-P-O-D. You can also send us an email at FlyHQPod, at gmail dot com F-L-Y-h-q-p-o-d. At gmail dot com. And now you're in the spoiler zone and I want you to picture, uh, a fridge door opening and spoiled food. Oh, is that? Is that what we're doing? I thought of that aesthetic at the top of the episode and we're sticking with it. It actually makes me think of, if anyone remembers back in the day, hbo Crashbox, and there was a segment with the slob. That's the aesthetic I'm going for and I'll show you clips later.

rainbow

43:01

Please do it's actually really upsetting. We didn't have cable growing up. Well, we did have cable, but we didn't have HBO.

em

43:07

So my main thing for the spoiler zone is again this episode talked a lot in depth about the opposite, and Hinata becomes opposite at the end for the Black Jackals, and that just shows how good he is, and I also love the symbolism of him being the literal opposite of Kageyama's position, but equal in strength.

rainbow

43:29

Yes, I love that very much. I also love that he ends up being the same position as Ushijima so like we see usha.

43:35

So in this like fierce fight between them, where Ushijima clearly doesn't think Hinata is good enough and it's like I will destroy you, Hinata eventually grows to be in that same position as Ushijima eat it bitch. And I don't think we talk a lot about the fact that Ushijima is also on the Adlers and so, like Hinata, like in that last game, he's really like facing all of his big rivals, number one, of course, being Kageyama, who he is opposite of um. I also just wanted to note that it's Inoshita who is the one who wraps up Tsukishima's finger after he gets his little stinger, and Inoshita goes on to become a physical therapist oh my god, what a detail to notice I've noticed.

44:13

I've noticed that, like I think I noticed that the first time I re-watched after I'd finished the manga, where I was like oh shit, Ennoshita, he's always the one like I think he's done I think we've seen it before too where he's always the one like checking out people's, like hands and like helping them tape up and stuff interesting.

em

44:28

Oh my god, his calling was there all along.

rainbow

44:30

I just want to see. I bet Thuridate has a notebook full of all of the characters and has it planned out from the beginning before he even started writing the prototype manga. He was like here's the characters, here's what they do when they grow up. And then we see it. There's just so many moments like that. Such a well-written show, all right. Well, speaking of well-written shows, let's go watch more game of thrones all right, guys.

em

44:51

Well, we'll catch you next week and until then, fly high moo damn that was good.