How Azumane Asahi Reforged Himself (Haikyuu!)

to be named the ace is an honor like no other it is a title given to the most fearless relentless monstrous and reliable spikers a title that represents more than just being the best player and one that stands as a symbol of hope however this responsibility comes with a price being the ace means facing the shackles of expectations of isolation of pressure to be the person that everyone looks to in a crisis that everyone looks to for hope is not an easy role to take on when put in a position like that it's easy to lose sight of your surroundings and forget what it is that you fight for it's easy to take on the burdens of others whether that be positive or negative and blame yourself to no end amidst all the chaos all the confusion all the pressure it takes a true champion to realize that the ace doesn't fight alone and there is no greater character that embodies this idea better than the gentle giant of karasuno himself the ace with a heart of gold azumane asahi asahi is one of my favorite characters in iq particularly because of how relatable his personality and his struggles are despite his intimidating appearance and monstrous skills he's a shy dude who is really polite to everyone he comes across his nerves always seem to get the better of him and he struggles with being confident in himself it's such an interesting contrast which works quite well when it comes to his journey after all acai's arc revolves around the idea of fear and shouldering the burdens of others even if it means breaking yourself it all begins after the match against the iron wall of dateco the second and third years had faced a devastating defeat against one of the best blocking teams in the prefecture dateco and what's so crucial to note about this match is not why karasuno lost but how they lost at this point karasuno was actually on the up and up with nishinoya making a name for himself daichi becoming a mature leader sugawara developing his cool head and asahi stepping up and taking on the role of the ace however dateko turned all of that on its head although nishinoya was a great libero he still had much to learn and couldn't follow up against datiko's intense blocking suga's confidence in his setting ability began to dwindle as well as his tosses led to spikes that would immediately get stuffed and finally every single one of asahi's spikes was denied [Music] datiko were precisely and completely shutting out karosuno's ace cleanly blocking his attacks clouding his vision and using his spikes against him to score a point back to make things worse during the game asahi had unconsciously taken on the burdens of his entire team when no one else could get through this unbreakable wall the set would come to asahi and every time he missed something inside of him broke the more it went on the more he panicked the more he spiked the more he shouldered the more he missed and the more he broke [Music] by the end of it asuga readied himself one final time to send the ball to the ace there was no one there asahi was too scared to call for the set he was too scared to be the ace tateko had broken asahi his confidence had been shattered and there was suddenly a massive obstacle an endless wall that stretched over the net every time he looked at it just as the fallen crows seemed to be soaring again the iron wall cut off their wings and left them in pieces in the aftermath of this devastating loss we get one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in haikyuu the fight between asahi and nishinoya as nishinoya is blaming himself to a degree for what happened asahi snaps at him telling him that it was all my fault it doesn't matter if you received the ball it doesn't matter if you cleanly passed it to the setter if i don't make the point if i don't score then it's all meaningless and that pisses nishinoya off and rightly so because asahi is completely missing the point here all hell breaks loose as nishinoya grabs assay by the caller and tries to bring him to his senses nishinoya isn't mad at assay because he messed up or the fact that they lost nishinoya is mad because asahi gave up not just on himself but on the entire team whether he realizes it or not by saying that only his points mattered acai was implying that everyone else's roles were insignificant even if he didn't mean it that way in his rage in his guilt asahi had forgotten the very essence of what it meant to play volleyball what it meant to be the ace asahi had forgotten that the ace doesn't fight alone on the flip side you can't really blame him completely either because his reaction shows how much he cares for these people and how much he doesn't care for himself the role of the ace is no joke and sometimes those with a heart of gold lose themselves in their responsibility and succumb to the shackles of expectations of isolation of pressure the truth is that putting yourself before others is great but it shouldn't be at the cost of your well-being or at the risk of your downfall unfortunately asahi was too far gone he himself is somewhat aware that what he's saying is wrong that he's being impulsive but the iron wall was weighing heavily on his conscience and he just couldn't take it at the end of the day in assahi's eyes he was a complete and utter failure he was the reason that they had lost and he was the exact opposite of what an ace was supposed to stand for so asahi left the team he quit and honestly he needed this not everyone has unrelenting willpower like nishinoya especially at that age knowing asahi's introverted personality his shy nature and his lack of self-belief a setback like this was definitely going to hit him at some point in his life and affect him just as hard as it did today in my eyes it was good that it happened now it was good that he broke after all a sword must first be broken if it is to be reforged anew three months go by as karasuno has neither its ace nor its guardian the former not attending practices and the latter being suspended however this is also when some unexpected arrivals enter the court not only lifting up the somber mood but also bringing with them a new sense of hope kagiyama tobio and hinata shoyo enter the fray along with tsukishima yamaguchi and coach ukai fate was not done with these crows yet particularly those who refuse to fly it begins with a conversation between hinata kagayama and asahi hinata being the naive yet hopeful boy he is reminds asahi of what the view from the top used to look like a view without obstacles without obstructions without an iron wall and although asahi isn't completely convinced he still goes to the gym to see what these new kids are all about on the other hand noya is back on the team but not really his heart doesn't seem like he wants to play a proper game yet though we do find out that he's been relentlessly practicing on his own while he was suspended we can see all kinds of bruises on him and he even tells tanaka that he's been specifically practicing following up against blocks the very thing that he'd lacked against tateko and so both nishinoya and asahi have arrived on the scene of the game but none of them really want to play asahi for obvious reasons and nishinoya because of asahi however coach ukai not knowing any of their pasts forces them to join the game because they're short of players unfortunately asahi is still unsure of himself and is still haunted by the thought of failure as the game commences his shoulders remain slumped his posture hesitant his aura afraid even after all this time the iron wall was seared into his mind and everything above that net scared him what if he messed up again what if he let them down again what if he could never spike again i'm sure these were the thoughts that were racing through his mind as he looked towards the net as he looked towards his friends yet his heart seemed to be saying something entirely different as he steps onto the smooth familiar court as he watches the ball float gently above the net as he watches hinata an aspiring ace pulling off that insane freak quick as his old friend suga tells him let me toss to you again asahi realizes the truth he too wants to spike those beautiful sets he too wants to dig those intense serves he too wants to get better asahi wants to keep playing volleyball but how could he after what happened last time he just couldn't trust himself asahi was no ace he was no symbol he was just the guy that let everyone down as he's having these thoughts in the middle of the game a stray ball comes his way a tenuous receive that veers in his direction at this point there was nothing he could do but hid it yet once again there was a wall in front of him not the iron wall but a wall nonetheless could he actually get past it could he let go of his fears and destroy the shackles that bound him in nishinoya's words you won't know until you try asahi goes for the ball a triumphant jump fitting of the ace but the receive was a bit short the timing was just off and as asahi slams the ball down he's denied again he knew it the moment his hand touched the ball and panic begins erupting within him again he should have never come back it was always going to end like this if he couldn't score the point then who would as the guardian of karasuno keeps the ball alive with his beautiful follow against the block he looks towards asahi with a fire burning in his eyes it's at this very moment that asahi finally remembers what he had forgotten there may be a wall in front of him and he may get denied again but that didn't mean he was alone it didn't mean he was the only one that messed up or that he had to be punished for it asahi wasn't the only one who scored the point although the ball came to him at the end it was everyone that sent it his way it was everyone that scored that one point after all the ace doesn't fight alone [Music] a mighty scream fills the court as karasuno's ace remembers what he fights for remembers his responsibility and after three whole months calls for the decisive toss and this time the view from the summit clears up the wall disappears and asahi slams the ball down with the full force of an ace and just like that azuma asahi had been reforged this brings us to the inter-high tournament where karasuno faces off against the iron wall of dateco the very team that had broken in their ace karasuno quickly scored a few points mostly through hinata and kagayama's freak quick which is something that datiko had never faced before however their blockers adapt quickly and slowly but surely their lead blocker aone seems to be getting the hang of hinata's speed little by little he gets closer and closer to hinata with every spike and the iron wall seems to reform once more as hinata starts getting more and more attention kagiyama perfectly sets it up to him who is ready to spike the ball down with all of his might however aone is right on his tail and this time it feels like hinata is going to get blocked except the ball wasn't going to hinata from the shadows with a triumphant leap emerges the ace completely fooling the datiko defense and as he looks down beneath him at the very obstacle that had stopped him countless times the very obstacle that broke him the iron wall crumbles and the view from the summit finally clears up this play in particular is beautiful because of how poetic of a spike it is it was a play that required not just him and not just the setter but also the other spikers his teammates to work and fool the blockers it was a team effort and the perfect way for asahi to finally get his first clean point against dateko a point that proved that the ace doesn't fight alone the score is 24-22 with karasuno one point away from taking the entire game after an intense rally between the two teams the iron wall jumps at the same time as asahi both of them wrestling jousting for the ball yet he just wasn't powerful enough aone wins the joust and asahi is denied at this crucial stage the ball was just too far for anyone to reach and the point would surely be datejust no one was close enough to make a save except for one man through a beautiful save at the very last moment nishinoya keeps the ball alive just like he'd promised the ball heads towards kageyama and there was only one person who could finish the job asahi thankful for his teammates thankful for his guardian makes one final spike this time not just getting past the iron wall but forcing it open as he smashes the ball right into it in the most literal sense asahi destroys his fears destroys his limits and destroys the iron wall asahi's arc is a wonder to behold and one of the first reasons i got hooked onto haikyuu it's a simple yet poetic journey of a guy who struggled with the burdens of being the best being the ace to see him finally get his well-deserved comeback was beyond satisfying especially when you understand the lesson that drives his arc i love the fact that after the match ends the first thing he says is a line that perfectly embodies his entire journey i may be the ace but you guys are heroes after all the ace doesn't fight alone thank you for watching this video if you enjoyed consider liking subscribing and all that good stuff if you want to be a part of the community consider joining my discord server the rainbase or following me on twitter both links in the description below other than that i guess i'll see you on the next one

Channel: Harsh Reviews

Views: 108,464

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Id: xd3uEr7Rd98

Length: 17min 28sec (1048 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 07 2022