Yūdai Hyakuzawa (Japanese: 百沢雄大,Hyakuzawa Yūdai) was a first-year at Kakugawa High. He played as a wing spiker and was the ace for the Boys' Volleyball Team.
Towering over 200 centimeters (6'7"), Hyakuzawa is said to be an extremely imposing figure. He is usually seen wearing a neutral expression until he gets fired up while playing volleyball. Hyakuzawa has short, black hair in a partial buzz cut near the bottom half of his scalp.
Post-timeskip, Hyakuzawa has remained mostly the same and has kept the same hair style but has let his hair grow a little longer and now keeps it styled upwards.
Personality[]
In contrast to his intimidating appearance, Hyakuzawa is very soft-spoken and kind. He also seems to be a serious and mild-mannered person, which can be seen from his respectful demeanor to his seniors. He doesn't react much other than a simple acknowledgement that he's listening even when his seniors openly praise and brag about him being an asset to the team.
Before his match with Karasuno, Hyakuzawa mistakenly believed that his natural height and power was enough to beat Karasuno, thinking volleyball was simple. Later, when Hinata proves him wrong, Hyakuzawa takes the initiative to seek out his senior to recant his words after being humbled.
Hyakuzawa also appears to have a strong sense of responsibility. He is aware of his own limitations and lack of skills, and it's due to this that he doesn't want to be a burden to his team. He is willing to do everything in his power to contribute.[1] Once he began to feel true competition when playing against Karasuno, Hyakuzawa can be seen getting more into the game and becoming more fired-up.
Background[]
Hyakuzawa is relatively new to volleyball. By the time of the Miyagi Prefecture's First Spring High Preliminary, he is stated to have only been playing volleyball for half a year.
Plot[]
Spring High Preliminary Arc[]
Hyakuzawa and his team, Kakugawa, face off against Karasuno in the second match of the First Spring High Preliminary. When he walks past Karasuno, his presence alone is intimidating enough to fluster his opponents, especially Hinata. Kakugawa is fully intending on using Hyakuzawa's overwhelming height as an ultimate weapon. His seniors instruct him to focus on spiking and taking points from Karasuno.
The minute the match starts, Hyakuzawa spikes over three blockers to score the first point of the match. Later when Hinata attempts a feint, he easily stops it and pushes it back down toward Karasuno's side. Hyakuzawa continues to dominate the battle near the net, pushing Kakugawa's score to 3-0.
"Volleyball is pretty simple."
Karasuno is eventually forced to call a timeout as they failed to deal with Hyakuzawa. During the timeout, Hyakuzawa listens to his seniors discuss their plan of keeping the ball in play so they can make the best use of him. He then looks back at Hinata and admits that he feels bad for Hinata since Hinata's jumping with so much effort and yet is unable to do much. One of his teammate assures Hyakuzawa that his height is the ultimate advantage. In response, Hyakuzawa expresses his opinion that volleyball is pretty simple.[2]
Once the match resumes, Hyakuzawa finds his spikes being received after Karasuno purposely adjusted their receive formation. Later, he tries to read block but is taken completely by surprise by Karasuno's minus-tempo quick. Hyakuzawa soon realizes just how wrong he is when Hinata continues to spike before Hyakuzawa can even reach to block. When Karasuno takes the first set, Hyakuzawa shows no sign of being discouraged. He is determined more than ever to take back points for his team. His intensity continues to grow even when Karasuno is at match point. He goes on the offense and is surprised to find Karasuno using a soft block to hinder his spike. For the last point, he faces Hinata in a head-to-head battle. Hyakuzawa is certain that he would win now that Hinata can't use his speed to his advantage. However, he is once again proven wrong when Hinata hits a block-out targeting his fingertips, winning the match in the process. Afterwards, Hyakuzawa calls out to his teammate to take back what he said about volleyball being simple.
Tokyo Nationals Arc[]
Hyakuzawa is one of the first-year players selected to attend the First Year Intensive Training Camp at Shiratorizawa Academy. Hyakuzawa, being the most inexperienced of the bunch, quickly finds himself lagging behind the others. The other players have compared his skills to that of a middle school player and dreaded being paired with him during 2-on-2 matches. As he grows more insecure and depressed, he accidentally blurts out to Hinata that he should have been the one invited to the camp instead. Hyakuzawa quickly realizes his mistake and mentally berates himself for saying such careless words. Hinata doesn't take any offense, and instead assures Hyakuzawa that he deserves to be at the camp for having the "ultimate talent" that is his two-meter height.[3] After further encouragement, Hyakuzawa is seemingly inspired by Hinata's words and agrees to test something out for Hinata when asked.
He takes Hinata's suggestion of his gameplay to heart and uses it in the next 2-on-2 match. When the pace becomes increasingly fast, Hyakuzawa lands a first touch that returns the ball high into the air, buying time for himself and his teammate to regroup. Once they do so, Hyakuzawa spikes the ball above Kunimi's block. Afterwards, Hyakuzawa shares a high-five with Hinata, signifying a developing camaraderie between the two. For the rest of the training camp, Hyakuzawa is performing much better and beginning to find his own rhythm to keep up with the rest.
He is later seen watching Karasuno's game against Inarizaki and watches as Hinata performs the high toss that he taught Hyakuzawa during the First Year Training Camp. Hyakuzawa continues to watch Karasuno's matches and is seen until Hinata collapses from his fever.
Final Arc[]
Hyakuzawa currently plays for the Japan Railway Warriors, a Division 1 team in the V.League as a middle blocker. He later is seen playing on the Japan National team to play at the 2021 Olympics and seems to be somewhat acquainted with Hakuba and Hoshiumi.
Statistics[]
High School Statistics
Power
4/5
Jumping
3/5
Stamina
4/5
Game Sense
2/5
Technique
1/5
Speed
2/5
Hyakuzawa is very new to volleyball and is not too familiar with many things. Although he has height, his lack of technique means he can only score points through spikes and return serves. So far, he has only been shown to be able to spike crosses.
Blocking: Thanks to his great height and long arms, Hyakuzawa is a formidable blocker and is seen easily blocking members of Karasuno. Because of his long arms, Hyakuzawa is able to stop attacks such as feints with little to no effort. He is also shown to easily beat others when in a joust, with Tendō being the only one to beat him thanks to being more experienced.
Spikes: At the time of his introduction, Hyakuzawa uses the cross spike for the majority of his attacks. Although his form gives away that he will be using the cross, his spikes are still quite powerful, and even Nishinoya sometimes has trouble receiving them. During the match against Karasuno, Hyakuzawa began attempting straight shots.
Receives: Because he is still so new to volleyball, Hyakuzawa struggles the most when it comes to receives. Similar to how Shiratorizawa would attempt to keep Ushijima from participating in receives to always be ready to attack, Kakugawa would also attempt to keep Hyakuzawa from making receives. During the First Year Training camp, Hyakuzawa would show improvement, thanks in part to help from Hinata.
Yuzuru Komaki: Komaki is Hyakuzawa's senior and the captain of the team. Hyakuzawa is very respectful toward Komaki and follows his instructions without any complaints. When Komaki seems to be shaken by Karasuno's strength, Hyakuzawa assures him that he will do whatever he can to take points back.
Shōyō Hinata: Hyakuzawa respects Hinata and sees him as a rival and a friend. He acknowledges Hinata's ability when he was training with the area's best first-years. In fact, Hyakuzawa thinks that Hinata should have been the one invited to the training camp, not him. Hyakuzawa sparks a friendship and even deeper rivalry with Hinata when Hinata gives him advice and words of encouragement to improve his gameplay. When he asks Hinata why he helped him, he feels that spark when Hinata explains that he wanted to take Hyakuzawa down at his very best.[3]
Quotes[]
(To his teammates) "You know, passing is hard and all, but volleyball is... pretty simple."[2]
In an officially released chart from Monthly Volleyball 2020 August Issue, he is listed as 206 cm and 100 kg in July 2020. However, the final guidebook and the official illustration book both list him as 204 cm and 96 kg, indicating the statistic in the chart is an error.
During the Spring Tournament Qualifiers, Hyakuzawa is shown to not wear kneepads when he plays. During the First Year Training Camp, he is shown wearing them.
He is the only first-year on Kakugawa's lineup, with the rest being second-years.
