Tanaka Ryuunosuke: The Haikyuu Moment That Healed Me

every once in a while i would stumble across an anime that transcended the screen something that resonated with me deeply something that elicited emotions i didn't know i could feel but never did i have a story that affected my life in a significant way something that picked me back up and inspired me to keep going no matter how tough the odds something that healed me until i rewatched season 4 of haikyuu a show filled with themes philosophies hype moments sad moments triumphant moments haikyuu is everything i want in an anime this show somehow encompasses so many emotions i faced before or am currently facing right now its beauty lies in its characters the karasuno volleyball team is a diverse group of individuals each of them having something in them that i could relate to asahi's introvertedness hinata's drive to fulfill his dreams kageyama's road to perfection tsukishima's journey to find passion yamaguchi's desire of self-worth you get where i'm going with this each and every character had something in them that i had felt at some point in my life however there was one character who seemed to be left out of that list a character who in my opinion for the first three seasons was more of an archetype at least when compared to the rest of the cast and the depth that they got of course i'm talking about the energetic baldi tanaka tanaka was never my favorite character but i still loved him he was that fun enthusiastic delinquent-ish guy who was good at volleyball more importantly he always brought everyone's spirits up and always seemed like he was having a good time up until season 4 almost every character on the karasuno team had a significant or epic moment to their name these were moments that had me whooping and cheering or crying and laughing like when yamaguchi finally got his float serving or when nishinoya saved the ball with his leg or when tsuki carried in the match against shiratorizawa and so on and so forth for some reason though tanaka never had that bombastic moment yeah he scored some cool points here and there and he was far from irrelevant but the animation staff never pulled out that crazy budget for him if you know what i'm saying as a player tanaka was never stagnant though he was evolving just not at the same rate as the rest in season 2 almost everyone had their own special move if you will after the tokyo training camp assay had his jump serve nishinoya had his sets tsuki found a sort of purpose tanaka just learned the synchro attack with everyone else but had nothing special to his name there's nothing wrong with that but i found it a little odd we get a glimpse of foreshadowing though in the training camp when tanaka sees bokoto hit that insane cut shot he definitely wanted to try that but we never saw him mastered in time for the tournament so we just kind of forgot it feels like we were almost led to believe that tanaka would always be this unbreakable ever reliable pillar on the karasuna team someone who is always there no matter what right until of course the match against inarizaki after four whole seasons we finally got a tanaka moment in god damn was it a masterpiece this moment happened in the second half of season 4 in episode 3 and it's probably my favorite moment in haikyuu surpassing even tsuki's block against ushiwaka at the time especially when i re-watched this episode out of the blue i was not in the best of places almost nothing seemed to be going my way whether it be my personal life or my plans for the future it seemed that everything was lost with only one way out and i was on the verge of giving up until i witnessed that moment in the episode throughout the entire match with inarizaki until episode 3 tanaka seemed to be doing okay the anime did a really good job of subtly highlighting that the man was definitely off his game this hit much harder because everyone else was bringing their a-game so tanaka's mediocreness really stood out and this honestly makes so much sense realistically not everyone on the team can perform a hundred percent in every game it's not that he didn't care about the match no he cared as much as everyone else but he was just off his game that day in episode 3 tanaka is now constantly seen messing up he keeps hitting the ball into the blockers and the other team pretty much manages to read every single move he makes inarizaki realizes that he's off his game and starts targeting him both in their serves as well as with their blocks time and time again tanaka is denied every block being more overwhelming than the last obviously he's frustrated but he doesn't let it show at least not to his teammates for the first time in iq we get an introspective look into tonica before if he'd mess up he'd just kind of scream encouragement some apologies and put on that smile of his that said bring it on and here he does do that however there's an extra layer added after his usual smile there's now a moment of hesitation a frustration i truly give all the credit to tanika's voice actor yu hayashi who conveys this frustration so subtly but clearly at the same time you can see that tanaka is trying to keep that vibe of the reliable unbreakable guy but you can hear his voice shake you can hear him tremble he fails to receive atsumu's serve causing nishinoya to save him like twice and he fails to get the ball past the blockers and ends up getting outplayed in his offense even by daichi who is primarily a defender tanaka keeps calling for the ball anyway his voice quivering with doubt as he looks to suki desperately for a set to prove himself but the ball doesn't come his way it was a moment that made my heart sink when tsuki decides not to set the ball to tanaka because obviously he was not performing well and of course as sookie sets it to asahi asahi actually makes the point here in the episode we get glimpses into tonic's head as well as some flashbacks when he first joined karasuno although the flashbacks were cool i was so much more invested in tonica's thought process because i could see where it was leading but i couldn't believe it from a character who seemingly i could relate nothing with he suddenly had the dilemma i could relate to the most in his head he self-assesses himself in the slow motion scene as this beautiful new soundtrack kicks in tanaka begins by talking about how he always perceived himself as a genius probably because of the reactions he got out of everyone when he did something cool but over time he realized the truth he knew he was good at the sport and essential for the team but compared to everyone else individually he was just average as tanaka reflects upon himself we see him running up these steps and as he grows more and more doubtful about himself he begins to slow his ascent and eventually comes to a stop lowering his head and slumping into feet a giant wall towers over him a wall that represents his limits hinata and kageyama had their free quick yamaguchi had a serve nishinoyan was the best defender tsuki was the best blocker but tanaka wasn't the best at anything seeing him go through all of this thoroughly in his head was surreal this was completely different from the boisterous ecstatic knucklehead we usually see this was discovering a whole new person and that hit me hard to see the guy who i always thought was this unbreakable beast the source of constant encouragement to see that guy doubting himself made me emotional it almost felt like i took tonica for granted and forgot to think of him as just another guy and man i really appreciated that from this anime it's like when that friend you know who's always happy and cheerful suddenly breaks down or you find out something about them you never expect it to it's sad and it hurts but it makes them feel more human [Music] the music is the heart and soul of the scene it's not a cinematic instrumental filled with epic orchestra or electric guitar or drums it's an emotional melody that is the perfect juxtaposition to the hype and explosive tanaka who is going through this heartbreaking realization it's a slow build up which really gets us immersed in the moment as the soundtrack progresses along with tonica's thoughts we see it evolve with him up until this point the melody is melodramatic with soft instrumentals guiding us through tonic's journey as he admits to himself his mediocrity his lack of skill his failure in the game as this doubt seems to have taken over the music takes a hopeful turn and tanaka lifts his head up [Music] do you really have time to be looking down a simple few lines but that was all i needed to hear that one line hit me harder than any speech or song or book ever could the ball heads towards kagayama and tanaka lets out a bone chill and cry calling for the ball with every ounce of passion he has resulting in my favorite scene in all of [Music] [Music] haikyuu tanaka's resolve to never give up touched me in a way i hadn't expected the idea that because he was average because he was nothing special it was the very reason he couldn't afford to give up rewatching that scene at the time i did was a completely different experience it picked me up and inspired me to keep going and doing things that i believed in things that i thought would be impossible to accomplish because there were others out there who could do it better than me [Music] what seemed like an impossible situation resulted in a beautiful comeback solidifying to us why tonica is the unbreakable pillar an unbreakable pillar who was just as human as anyone else and someone who i could wholeheartedly relate to if you enjoyed the video consider subscribing and all that good stuff if you feel similarly like i do with scenes like this let me know in the comments section i'd love to know other than that i'm done talking i guess i'll see you on the next one

Channel: Harsh Reviews

Views: 617,534

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Id: 92m6O8CPCrA

Length: 10min 39sec (639 seconds)

Published: Sat May 15 2021