Character · Haikyu!!
Toru Oikawa
The most popular setter in the prefecture, adored by his school, and quietly the hardest worker on the court.
In Otakana the clue reads: Popular setter with a wicked jump serve
- Type
- Character
- Series
- Haikyu!!
- Letters
- 6 · Normal
Toru Oikawa captains Aoba Johsai, has a fan club, and plays up the charm until you watch him practise. He has no innate gift on the scale of the prodigies he keeps losing to. What he has is a serve refined well past the point of sense, a habit of finding the weakest receiver on the far side, and the will to aim at that one person all evening.
His relationship with Kageyama, his old junior, is the sharpest thing in the early series. Oikawa knows exactly how good the younger setter is and refuses to concede the point out loud, which produces both his worst behaviour and his best volleyball. Furudate never lets him settle into being simply a villain or simply a tragic figure.
The jump serve is the signature: a full run-up, a toss thrown metres into the air, and a strike that arrives fast enough to turn a routine reception into a coin flip. Receive one badly and the point is gone. Aoba Johsai's whole game plan rests on making the other team survive six of them in a row.
Spelling OIKAWA
OIKAWA is the family name and the one the game asks for, which is a mercy. The given name Toru carries a long vowel that English drops, so Toru and Tooru are both defensible spellings. The surname has no such argument. Six letters opening on two vowels, OI, then a clean ka-wa with the only two A's at the end.