if you name your top five favorite series there's a pretty good chance in at least a couple of them there was that side character or even a villain that outshined the main character so that even when the Beloved main characters win you still feel that slight sist sympathy for to defeated it as they had their own Journeys too after all but there was one moment that went beyond just sympathy as much as I loved carasso and could resonate with so many of the characters on such a deep level there was a moment where I realized I was rooting for the man fighting against them a man fighting against his own weaknesses against the unfairness of the world against a reality that seemed to be screaming at him that he was born to L A Man Named oawa [Music] we first introduced to oawa very early on when kesna has their first practice match against Albert josi and he's introduced as this guy who has everything you know he's a top level athlete he's charismatic the girls are all over him and initially that's kind of all he is as a character more of an archetype than anything else and so I'm sure I'm not alone in this that I initially didn't think too much of him but as the show goes on we find out behind his bright Charming exterior he feels the complete opposite way he's filled to the brim with insecurity and envy towards those Seas us being above him specifically ushiwaka the player he could never beat and kagayama the genius overtaking him in his eyes he was born without something and those two have that something and will always beat him as a result it's a feeling we've all experienced because the cold truth is not everyone is born equal it is what it is and I used to hate that but oawa showed me a completely different view on it and I can honestly say that once I finish reading haq and Okawa story it never bothered me again anyway going into the practice match oawa shows up extremely late at the start of set three apparently he got injured beforehand so the coach asked him to warm up more thoroughly than usual but he very coincidentally is ready to play rightwing creser a one point off winning and then actually waits for Alba josai to have the serve again and I can't help but think that part of him was worried he'd see a k that had already caught him and so he wanted to observe and see if that was the case first when he does come on he scores two consecutive service Aces against sukima before carasau changes that lineup and it's immediately clear that he is way above anything carasa faced before Suk kushima manages to receive the third serve and when Hino goes up to hit the ball we see a very interesting reaction from oawa he's shocked so shocked that the ball just flies past him without a response of course we do see throughout the series that no matter how many times people see H from the sidelines the first time to see his attack up close it's a totally different experience but again I think there's more to it I think in hin he once again saw someone given a gift he could never obtain and we do see that iawa hates her whenever hin subed on to the court throughout the series is anyway kesna win the game but when they walk outside oawa is waiting for them challenging kagama and the claring he'll beat them the next time the two teams play kaga doesn't really say anything B and as OA leaves he comments on how they don't have long till the tournament starts and the Rees still need work following this we don't see him again until the tournament where CaRu watches him from the sidelines as he rattles off multiple serers Aces Alber josi win their match and so it's decided the next game will be Alber josi versus carasa the teams prepare themselves for tomorrow and go home later that night we see a single player alone in a very dark room eyes glued to the screen orar is watching carno's match against data looking for any possible Advantage he could get any insight beating kagiyama he could find and as we soon find out he realized something the next day arrives and it's finally time for the big match as the two teams line up oawa tauns kagiyama asking him not to make it too easy to beat him in public because he's been looking forward to this kagayama response we'll win this time too the crowds cheer the coaches give their speeches and the players get ready to most of the spectators it just looks like a normal volleyball match but the players on the court know this one is different no one's going to die on this court and yet it feels as though the players are staking their lives on it the whistle blows and the thir serve is sent over and aawa is as levelheaded as can be getting the first couple points with some very clever Mind Games it very quickly becomes clear this is going to be tough cesno won the previous practice match despite he to crashing into everyone in set one and missing two of their best players in nisho and asah with all those issues fixed this should on paper be a pretty easy win for them but one player alone has turned Alba josa into something else entirely oawa but a reality is no matter how much time you put into practicing something and skilled you've become there's always someone out there who can matture and with a single Play kagayama prer Just Like Okawa asked he is not not going to make this easy ow finds out that nishinoya can receive his serves too cr's Libro later comments on the time out that AA Ser used to go out of bounds most of the time this monster who seems to be filled to the brim with Talent didn't used to be much of a monster he must have practiced like crazy to get to where he is it's during the same time out that kassu realized OA was call to their verbal signs with hin using bring or give depending on the attack they were using kagiyama is starting to panic a bit and the gap between the two teams continues to widen WEA then comments on how in his eyes a good Setter is someone who can get 100% out of all of his hitters which makes perfect sense that this is his play style because we know he has this real inferiority complex where he can't help but see everything he doesn't have whenever he looks at another play player what he hates to see that on the opposing team when it's his teammates they become weapons to use by comparison the overwhelmingly talented kagiyama has a habit of looking at his teammates and not understanding why they don't play the way he wants for example the way he responded to kuni's way of conserving energy or Suk kashima's own unique thought process but right now he's trying to do way too much himself and it's simply isn't working Alber josi have a huge lead it's all going o cow's way all his hard work is paying off and yet when kakiyama and Okawa go for a joust and Okawa finally knocks off the king's crown his expression is not one of joy not at all you can tell he's been waiting for this moment for a long long time but it doesn't look like the face of someone who feels like he's one and there's a reason for that will come back to uken substitutes kagama off to let him calm down a bit Albert josi then go on to win the first set but sugar in Now setting the second set is quite evenly matched for a bit but aawa eventually manages to pull Albert josi ahead and as a much calmer kagayama Subs in we get our first real look at to car was passed it was Zumi is the one narrating it and talks about how from his View oawa is gifted with Talent he's a natural athlete and his skills are way above most Middle School players he even won an award for being the best Setter in the previous tournament they played but as amazing as he is the world is a very big place there was one player he just couldn't beat wakatoshi usaka the super Ace of shirat toala in the three years they played against him they never took even a single set off him despite doing everything he could ushiwaka was a war he simply couldn't break not just that kagiyama showed up shortly afterwards a player 2 years younger than him but it was immediately apparent that his potential one skill was simply unmatched and as we find out later kagiyama has dedicated his whole life to volleyball ever since second grade there's a line by Hino where he says on the days I wanted to play a game or go out with friends hayama was playing volleyball before I even set eyes on a ball he's been playing volleyball every single day but coward didn't know this he just thought kagama was born with something ridiculous but even if he was aware of how hard kagama had worked it likely wouldn't have changed anything all he knew was that this genius was going to catch him one day the Panic sets in he practiced Way Beyond the point of overwork and as such his plays became horrendously unreliable to the point where in his next match he was substituted out for kagiyama it seemed as though aawa despite all his work was simply fated to live in the shadow of these two and yet to everyone else including kagiyama and as we later find out ushiwaka too they all saw him as incredible he was the only one who didn't see it that way later on kagiyama in his ad admiration for iawa and not knowing the awful dark thoughts inside his head innocently asked him for advice oa's desperation and fear explodes in Rage and he almost ends his career very early on iumi asks KAG to leave and then tells oawa he was only subbed off so he'd calm down a bit and that he should have more confidence in himself but iawa bursts into a frenzy rwn about how he's still not good enough to beat chiror out how he can't win how he can't go to Nationals iizumi reminds him that this is a team sport sure they don't have a single player that can match usaka oneon-one but there are six players on the core a single predy can't decide the match on his own it's the six who are stronger that win maawa suddenly feels Invincible to quote hasumi who blacked far more than aawa ever did we are not limited to one way of being great sure he can never play the same way ushiwaka does or kagiyama does or Mia ATU does but he doesn't need to he has a very different talent to get the most out of his teammates if there are those with gifts you don't have find yours or rather discover yours because as we'll come back to Talent is something you can blue following this conversation he goes back to his usual self in fact he's better than ever and with this new look on himself and and volleyball he finally takes a set off ushiwaka although he loses this match he's found a new light at the end of the tunnel a whole new skill set for him to work on and he vows to beat shiratorizawa and kagi Amar in high school going back to the match it's carno's set point and The Spectators comment on how Okawa has surely got to go for a Safe Serve here of how risky his usually are but iizumi tells him to smash it and oawa looks weirdly sad to me it's a reaction of you don't have to tell me that I already knew I don't have the luxury of playing it safe against people like kagayama he not only hits it just as hard but aims right for the corner the guts to do that is noticed by nisho when the chance ball comes back the usual play here would be a quick fit of middle but kagama calculates that despite that when oo's back is against the wall he'll go for the the one he trusts most iizumi with their Block in the right place carasso take the second set and oara realizes that kagama accounted for his trucks and his teammate and not only does that make him a dangerous enemy it gives him a tool to use against kagiyama the following set plays out pretty evenly but ala josi has the slight lead throughout but when they're at match points carasso finally catched them beginning a long juice a gring back and forth with neither team able to break the deadlock and the score ends up at 3131 with both teams exhausted kunami gets a point through and Alba josi are once again at match point but oawa just looks sad with a line that perfectly summarizes what's going on in his head too you've changed so quickly and suddenly someday I just might lose to you but to be honest with the expression on his face I think he's convinced himself that it's certain that there's simply nothing he can do to stop kagayama catching him no matter how hard he works kagayama is eventually going to overtake him but in this final play in the same way kagayama knew oawa would set to iumi at the end of set to oawa knew kagayama would set to hin here kagiyama strongest weapon hin is blocked the the ball falls to the ground and Alba josi win the match aawa beat kagiyama just like he wanted but again he does not have the look of someone who's won instead to him it's more as though he's delayed the inevitable in his mind he'll still lose to kagiyama just not yet regardless with Alba josi's Victory they Advanced to the next round and continue to win until it's finally time for him to face ushiwaka again he's learned and practiced so much he's waited years for the chance to get revenge and he's trained relentlessly to do so and yet once again the scene always gives me a horrible feeling as though the universe fate whatever you want to call it was telling him look at all you're not and cannot be the strength you lack the height you were born without the power you're missing watch it Crush you your tactics your teamwork your strategy nothing will save you you can't beat this guy he did everything he could and usaka beat him once again so just what did he have to do to beat this guy no matter how hard he trains usaka just always seems to be that one step ahead is it even possible to catch him well we don't find this out until the rematch with carasso but it turns out after this match oawa spoke to a mysterious figure for some advice whose identity is revealed much later on in the series but for now I'll just say that this guy seriously knows what he's talking about o went to him claiming he wasn't sure if he wanted to carry on with volleyball evidently he just couldn't see a way to ever make it to the heights he wanted to a way to be usaka but his mentor sees right through him and responds brilliantly with a bit of advice that fills me with courage and inspiration every single time are you really sure you know the limit of your abilities you haven't finished growing physically or mentally you haven't mastered every skill you can you've still got room to grow and it's laughably obvious when it's written down like that but no of course we don't we don't know how good we can become unless there's some professional athlete listening who's been training for 20 to 30 years you as in you listening have not hit the limit of your abilities do you really think you can't get any better at all it all links in beautifully with what ke says later on in the series that we are nothing more than the sum of our habits those people you look at as being more talented than you they very well may be but they also truthfully probably do far more than you they do things you're not even considering at the moment he sums this up by saying what we do in a scale of 1 to 10 they do on a scale of 1 to 20 or even a to zed there's always something you can improve on of course you can only practice so much in a day but it could be figuring out how to use that time more effectively as Kus says a denser or more effective 1 to 10 if you're going to complain that someone born with more Talent than you will always be better than you they will until you've done absolutely everything possible you can't complain about that if you're not going to put in just as much effort as they do you're obviously never going to catch them what I've noted in myself is when I don't feel as d as good at something I subconsciously don't end up putting as much effort in it's an easy trap to fall into as it can be kind of hard to see the mer of really putting in the work when you're convinced it won't work out and that difference in belief often results in a difference in intensity so can I guarantee it'll work out well no because by the same logic other people can do just as well as you I can't promise you at all you'll become number one in the world because if it's possible for you to do it it's possible for other people too as well the only thing I can guarantee you is that if you don't try you never will it could take years it could take decades to try and catch these monsters it is a long tough path much tougher than throwing up your hands and claiming I'm not gifted so it doesn't matter but if you can find the courage and resilience to follow that path regardless that alone makes you just as terrifying as the monsters you're chasing it's it's a completely realistic grounded view on the world and yet feels so optimistic and we see the differences made on aa's mindset in a number of small moments in the rematch and so moving ahead to the next tournament it's finally time both teams make it through to the semifinal and carasso will once again play Alba josi but this time the look on his face is totally different Okawa is here to win his first serve is received by Dai and following this he's quite quiet for a lot of the first set but when he gets his second serve his mentor was right he had not hit the limit of his abilities at all that serve that kesna had a nightmare dealing with last time that was effectively the reason they won that serve had gotten even better this one was out but the power behind it is enough to concern even Dai Alba josi lose the first set following this but oawa is in top form in set two using their new player Mad Dog perfectly hitting his best serves yet and Dai ends up thinking something very relevant to okawa's story in particular what I was talking about a minute ago both teams are here to win both teams have practiced like crazy a truth that is both natural and utterly terrifying Alber Jeri inch closer towards the second set causing ukai to respond with one of my favorite scenes in the series with Yamaguchi being subbed in which I've made a video on I'll link below to watch afterwards but despite his best efforts Ooa servant sets give Albert josi the second set the final set of the last showdown between these two teams plays out fairly evenly and one thing I've really notes about oawa in this set is whenever kagi heina to pull off something crazy it doesn't seem to bother him nearly as much as it would have last time the score ends up at 2322 to Alba josi and his oa's turn to serve and that monstrous serve that went out of bounds last time this time it's in Alber josi are at match point oawa is one serve away from taking out kagam again from carno's point of view there's nothing and no one scarier than oawa is right now kassu tried to calm themselves but iawa goes for the kill dai's years of receiving Ric serves just about allows him to get the ball in the air and carasso Claw back a point it's still match point but hin manages to block Mad Dog to bring them to a deuce and now the pressure seems to be getting to oawa again he thought he'd finally done it he thought he'd finally managed to take down kagiyama and yet in the next rally it starts of sugara serve Alba jsa's Counterattack doesn't make it through and kagiyama has all his best bikers available OA tries stay calm and figure out who it's going to but kagiyama simply tips the ball over for a dump and for a moment everything oawa had built up collapses despite everything he'd learned his change in mindset his practice it's still d tough to see those genuses right in front of you to see that gap between you and them and not feel frustrated would he ever be able to overcome that it's at this point that the show gives us that flashback we spoke about earlier and after reminding himself of that oo has just one answer in the first match he thought even if I win today I'll lose to you eventually whereas now it's simply I won't lose whether that's today the future or both who knows but as aawa says today could be the day to let your talents bloom or tomorrow or next year or maybe once you're 30 but all I know for sure is if you don't believe that day will come it never will and I don't think I'd ever even considered the idea of talents blooming until I saw the scene but is there really any reason your talents can only show up on day one in the same way AA s started off in naturate but once he mastered control over them his talent for serving bloomed the same way he to Talent as a decoy Bloom despite in not immediately being apparent and despite all his disadvantages and so the match resumes Sugar's precise serve drops aizumi to a knee Mad Dog spike is received by Tanaka the ball is set to aahu smashes it down and hanamaki is received goes very wide carasso yellow that is a chance ball but oow sets a fast precise set from outside the court to the opposite end Alber joi's coach silently thinks on how even he' underestimated o cow it seems as though his talent as a player had finally bloomed and the symbolism on this whole play here is fantastic even when forced off the court by his opponents whether that's Carno in this play or shirur are when they beat him he's still going to come back he gets up he's slips he falls and you could argue that's unfair that tables there but he just continues to get up and keep going in spite of that unfairness Not only was his set perfect Izumi knew oawa could do it and was waiting there to spike it D's receive goes wide Tanica digs it out ASA he hits it from the back row the rally just doesn't seem to end it's a Relentless back and forth between the two teams with just about every player on the court hitting the ball at some point but this match was only ever going to end one way the freak attack of carasso against everything OA was built up and in the past he feared kagiyama he even feared Hena at times but now the only F in his head is come at me with your strongest weapon I'll crush it myself as the set goes up he spots the Gap in his own team's block and knowing hin will avoid it he shifts to receive it but in spite of doing everything right he still lost kagiyama seem to have finally caught him carasso erupt in celebration and there's a million things that could have been going through his head at this moment that he'd never get his show on with vaker that kagam would only continue to get better that he simply wouldn't make it when it comes to volleyball and yet the only thing on his mind is soon revealed ala joai thank yous and walk off the court oawa leads his team like a true Captain to the very end and on carasso side Dai hin both reflect on how Oar red hin has moves perfectly at the end without that deflection he probably would have got it there's an uneasy feeling amongst them Albert josi was beaten they would never have to face them and their Captain's nightmare of a serve again and yet it doesn't feel as though a cow has lost yet and as he leaves he runs into the final wall again in one of my favorite scenes of all time ushiwaka warns him that he lost because he chose the wrong path that there was a place where his talents could have shown brighter but instead oawa chose his Petty Pride evidently OA was offered a place at shiratorizawa but turned it down and there two clear reasons for that firstly the whole style of just give the ball to riwaka is the polar opposite of how OAA lik to play and I think it's for the best that he didn't go there because it would have really stifled his growth secondly he wanted to beat usaka to most people something like that would be silly it would be Petty they wouldn't understand the need to try and prove yourself in that way and they probably wouldn't have thought it was doable anyway we'd seen how many times AA had lost him already but evidently he believed he could that belief may have been beaten out of him bruly but it's back and stronger than ever as he tells ushiwaka I've never regretted my choice and I likely never will but above all nothing is over yet nothing not my volleyball career or my Petty Pride never forget that ever usaka came here to warn alawa and aawa warns him back that long tough path his mentor warned him he'd have to take take to beat ushiwaka OA is going to Walker however long it takes not only that his full belief that he will win in the end that even a giant like ushiwaka can be taken down no wall is insurmountable no team is guaranteed to win and so he gives usaka one more warning that his Junior who is nowhere near as good as him which is on its own a great line despite losing that match he no longer thinks kagama is going to catch him but iawa also truly thinks that kagiyama and his team they could be even ushiwaka oo's whole play style of getting the most out of his team has no limits one day it will even be usaka for now he simply walks away you might not have seen this next scene before it's not in the manga or anime instead it's exclusively in the recap film but I think it's worth including here ALU Joi walk home from the defeat or at least they tried to walk home before they realized that they were back at their old training grounds looks like their volleyball careers really weren't over just yet and as they pck up after their final training session oawa thanks his team for the last 3 years but that's not the important part we then see Okawa and aizumi actually walking home this time in silence and you know despite okawa's enthusiasm the facts are still the facts he's never beaten usaka and the Japanese national coach is looking to change the idea that the Japanese team Falls before power and strength and so what place is there for aawa who did exactly that at the moment the team consists of those with that power and height those who'd learn to fight in spite of lacking it and those with simply pure overwhelming skill OA might fit into that last category but our comp Mia ATU kagama and who knows who else is going to be an insanely difficult task he ends his high school career with zero appearances at Nationals and zero interest from the national team so what route would he have to take in order to manage that the magnitude of the journey ahead is surely starting to Dawn on him iumi knows him better than anyone and says you're always going to be that guy chasing volleyball no matter what you win you'll always be chasing high but keep going without a second thought because you're the greatest Setter there is this isn't the last we see ooy cow however the next time we see him those start to go into spoiler territory this won't contain any spoilers from kassos time Nationals as a cow wasn't then but it will contain spoilers for where he hin kagama usaka Etc all end up after graduating and the ending of hu as a whole so it's entirely up to you if you want to keep watching or not if not thank you very much for watching this far got plenty of other highq videos without spoilers if you want to watch more okay so after graduating hin Sho another player who evidently received no invitations to Japan's national training camps moved to Brazil to train in beach volleyball it's a pretty crazy leap of faith from him Tove to a whole other country in order to work his way up to be a pro and it's here that he runs into a player on a very similar journey to him oawa we surely find out that he's a professional player in the Argentinian League which I mean that on his own is pretty incredible it already sounds like all that faith and hard work has paid off I already thought this was a brilliant resolution to his story and was very happy for him but of course it's still not the end of it Kim and he to sit down for dinner they have a chat and a good laugh and then hin asks him why he's in Argentina he then reveals that the shadowy figure in his previous backstory was Jose Blanco Argentina's former National captain and seta and he seems to have a lot in common with OA he watched one of his games when he was younger and Bronco didn't stand out without much but instead got the most of his spikers around him now Ooa 2 is in Argentina following in his footsteps but he declares that the stage he'll play on hasn't changed one bit I.E the Olympics but looking at these two I couldn't help but notice that neither of them would be there without their Idols the Little Giant Vin and Bronco for eawa both of these players showed them that they can do it that is someone in the same situation as them who's come out on the other side just fine of course we know the Little Giant didn't carry on with volleyball but from what we've heard he certainly could have if he wanted to and regardless he need to found another inspiration in the form of hoshiumi anyway as I said earlier the world is a big place you might not have stumbled across them just yet but I would bet for 99.9% of people there's been someone in your exact situation before who's got for it just fine maybe see them at some point the same way hin did but even if hin hadn't seen hoshimi he'd still be that short successful volleyball player he'd still be out there and no doubt there's plenty of others we just never see having someone you look up to like that who's been in your shoes before really does make a difference but even if you can't name anyone that doesn't mean they're not out there somewhere and it goes back to what I was saying early about the difference in belief resulting in a difference in intensity neither of those two would be in Brazil without their idols and yet here they are even without those chance encounters they had when they were younger they had the potential in them to make it here the only thing that would have been missing is that difference in belief you've just got to have that Faith regardless that you'll be all right and as I spoke about one of my previous H Videos things usually do work out fine the Pair play a match of beach volleyball together and in a second match the following day then the two part ways but whil he was friendly towards him and enjoyed playing with hinor OA hasn't forgotten that match before he's every bit is determined to clear his list of people to beat and Hiner is on that list too and so after asking hin if he'll be back in Japan in a couple years he gives him his final declaration a line that makes me grin every time I'm going to beat everyone be ready and yet that was the last we saw of him at least for a long time years later on the other side of the world Hiner and KAG have their final showdown and by the end of the palota chapter 401 we know the whereabouts of just about every character imaginable and to be honest with how incredible those chapters were I kind of forgot about iar's declaration and as I said I already felt pretty satisfied with where he ended up the chapter ends with the 2020 Olympics being announced we see Hino and kagayama together ready to take on whoever their next opponents are opponent were the banner saying we got up against many odds and finally stood her and so chapter 402 arrived the end of everyone's Journeys kyang and usaka were no surprise but hin too made it on Japan's Olympic team and I was so excited and happy to see that little did I know there was an even bigger surprise coming Japan's next opponent is Argentina who apparently been performing fantastically Argentina led by Jose Blanco and who else would their seta be a decade on a decade of hard work of struggle and Persistence of failures and hardship oawa stands on the Olympic Court ready to beat them all and we never see the winner of this match whether the protagonist gets his dream of a gold medal or an antagonist oawa gets his revenge it initially remains unknown it said that Argentina won the last time these two teams played but we don't know if OA was on the team at the time given that the commentator says the biggest topic coming into this game is Argentina's starting Setter and goes into detail about ioa's background it makes me think this is his first appearance cuz it goes into a similar level of detail as he does for H but the following spin-off chapter 40 2.1 very subtly reveals who won that game Karu has the ambition to set up a match full of old high school Rivals which of course includes oawa and usaka Karu and his con man Vibe has to try and convince these stars to join and when he meets oawa he says to him the whole country has been talking about you since the Olympics which on its own isn't a confirmation of anything it kind of hints that AOW one but it's also equally possible that he just played extremely well but still lost although if he plays similarly to Blanco we saw that Blanco didn't get as much talk as he maybe deserved he was just quiet and walked off without Fanfare so it seems unlikely that IO with a similar play style would get that much noticed if be lost right but honestly all of that is irrelevant it's what K says to ushiwaka that my mind leaves no doubt as to who W he tells usaka oawa and HOSA will play for the other a team seemed like a rare opportunity to crush both of them why would usaka need a chance to crush both of them we know he won every game against him in middle school and high school and has only ever played one game against him since the Olympic game that confined of Karu not telling oawa anything along the lines of this is your chance to finally beat ushiwaka or get revenge on kagayama only makes sense under one step circumstances he'd already done it oow be everyone thank you so much if you made it all the way to the end I really hope you enjoyed it because I was slightly different in certainly a lot longer than my usual videos I've got bck to and kma videos planned so be sure to subscribe if you want to see those and I'll see you again soon