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Template:Character Infobox (Major) Tōru Oikawa (Japanese: 及川徹 Oikawa Tōru ) is a third-year student from Aobajōsai High. He is the captain of Aobajosai's volleyball team and is widely regarded as the ace setter. In the official Shōnen Jump translation, his name is Tohru Oikawa.
Appearance
Oikawa has dark, chocolate-brown hair that is swept outwards, and eyes of corresponding color. Many others find him attractive — to the point where several girls follow him around just to talk to him. Oikawa frequently smiles and grins (although Iwaizumi notes that these expressions are rarely genuine). He tends to make victory signs or large waving gestures, which are often accompanied by broad smiles or a wink. Another trademark expression of his is him sticking out his tongue while smiling and closing one eye.
Oikawa has a fairly decent height for a volleyball player, standing just over six feet. He wears a white brace on his right knee, due to a previous injury. While on the court, Oikawa wears a standard aqua and white Aobajōsai High uniform emblazoned with the number one. He also wears dark gray athletic shoes with blue details. At other times, Oikawa dresses in the Aoba Johsai uniform, which consists of khakis with dark brown detailing, a cream-colored vest, a dark red tie, a lavender button-down shirt, and a white blazer. During a practice match with Karasuno High in Chapter 14, Oikawa dons a green #13 sports bib on top of an aqua t-shirt. It is also shown that he wears glasses in one instance, but it is possible the reason he does not wear them is because that most of the time he wears contacts or simply does not posses such bad eyesight that it would hinder him during his daily routine. [1] He wore glasses again when he watched the game between Karasuno and Shiratorizawa.[2]
Personality
Despite his flirtatious nature (he is quite famous amongst female students, much to Tanaka and Nishinoya's envy) and childishness (as pointed out by his nephew and Iwaizumi), Oikawa is an excellent, well-rounded player and is extremely serious about volleyball. He's known to have a "disgusting personality" amongst both opponents and his own teammates because of his smug attitude. Oikawa also frequently makes cheerful remarks, but follows them up with serious or intimidating afterthoughts. Despite his flirtatious and blasé exterior, Oikawa is extremely intelligent and cunning, to the point of his own teammates stating they wouldn't want to be friends with him because he figures out everyone's weakness (Oikawa indignantly responds by asking why he would do that to his own teammates).
Oikawa holds a grudge against Kageyama, whom he mockingly calls Tobio-chan. This is due to his feelings of inferiority when compared to Kageyama, who has been hailed as a genius setter since their time spent at Kitagawa Daiichi. Kageyama can unintentionally bring out the more childish or rash aspects of Oikawa's personality. It becomes more obvious after Karasuno was defeated by Aobajōsai in the Inter-High Preliminaries, and leading into the rematch at Spring High-Miyagi Prefecture Representative Playoffs.
He works extremely hard; this is evident by his vigorous practices. He has even injured himself by overworking in training before. His own teammates have pointed out his rigorous schedule. In addition, Oikawa spends time watching past games of his rivals, observing their movements ahead of time and strategizing how to defeat them. Despite that, he still takes time off on Mondays for resting. His intelligence and game sense are also unparalleled, as shown when he points out his opponents' weaknesses in a short period of time.
Statistics
| High School Statistics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Power | 5/5 | ||
| Jumping | 3/5 | ||
| Stamina | 4/5 | ||
| Game Sense | 4/5 | ||
| Technique | 5/5 | ||
| Speed | 3/5 | ||
He is most feared for his powerful and accurate jump serves, to which he honed and perfected from a young age. He can maintain a calm and cool composure during any match, no matter how tense it is. Despite not being considered a "genius", Oikawa is a stunning player and one of the best all-around players in the prefecture.
Unlike Kageyama's genius setting technique, Oikawa's talent lies in his natural athletic ability, his skill to make full use of his teammates, finding weaknesses in the opposing teams, sharp aims and powerful serves. Within a short span of time on the court, he was able to point out that Tsukishima and Hinata were weak at receiving, and break Kageyama and Hinata's god-like quick. This, however, is not without years of dedication and practices, which is why his previous girlfriend dumped him. His talent is even acknowledged by Ushijima from Shiratorizawa Academy, who states that Oikawa's talent lies in his ability to draw the full potential out of any team.
Jump-Serve
Oikawa is renowned for his powerful jump-serve, a technique he had seen on television and thought was amazing, so he worked hard since junior high to master the technique. He serves with pinpoint accuracy, often strategically targeting a member of the opposing team, a gap between two players (as seen with Nishinoya and Tanaka, as well as Daichi and Asahi) or using a different scheme to win a service ace. It is difficult to return, but Nishinoya's talent as a libero allowed him to do so skillfully. Because of the strain the jump-serve has on Oikawa's focus, his coach allows him to take time-outs and breaks alone to regain the concentration necessary to successfully execute them by focusing on the aspects that are easy to fumble.
During the Spring High Tournament, it seem Oikawa's jump serve has evolved. According to Sawamura, his serves can become so powerful that it can look like a spike. According to Coach Ukai, he seems to be putting more emphasis on power than control. As such, the rest of the team requested the foods that they want Oikawa to buy if they lose the first point (where Oikawa lost the toss and was sent to serve.)
Observant Perception
Both in-game and in daily life, Oikawa has a good sense of his surroundings and can effortlessly read others' moves and emotions. Because of this, he was able to pick up almost immediately on Kageyama and Hinata's strategy behind their god-like quick.
Natural Talent as a Setter
Oikawa's tosses are made so that they are easiest for his teammates to hit. After each toss, he immediately asks how they can be improved afterward. Oikawa's abilities as a setter are so great that he is said to draw out the maximum potential of whatever team he is on. In particular, it is said that he draws out 100% of the potential of each individual spiker.
Trivia
- Since Oikawa has a nephew (whose family name is also Oikawa), he most likely has an older brother. Though, there's been recent strips of Furudate hinting he has an older sister instead.
- In his free time, he coaches his nephew and other children at Lil Tykes Volleyball Classroom.
- His favorite food is milk bread.
- His current concern: When he tried to talk to Karasuno's manager, Kiyoko, he was utterly ignored. (But she must just have been shy, and it's not like he's all that bothered by it, not even a little bit, not at all - Oikawa said to himself.)
- In official English media, Crunchyroll (anime) has his name written as 'Oikawa Toru' and VIZ Media (manga) has his name written as 'Tohru Oikawa'.
- He had a girlfriend who broke up with him because he was too obsessed with volleyball.
- Oikawa has been nicknamed the "Great King" by Shōyō Hinata and "Assikawa", "Trashykawa",and "Shittykawa" by Iwaizumi.
- The white knee pad on his right knee is in fact not a knee pad, but a knee supporter.
- On Haikyuu's first popularity poll, he was ranked 5th with 5050 votes.
- Oikawa once made his nephew take a photo of Kageyama bowing to him so that he can have "a picture of Tobio indebted to Oikawa-san!", however Takeru (his nephew) was not amused.
- According to Monthly Volleyball, Oikawa's favorite quote is "If you're going to hit it, hit it until it breaks."
- His star sign is Cancer.
- Oikawa's birthday, July 20, is thought to be a reference to Alexander the Great, who shares the same birthday and is also commonly referred to as "the Great King".
- When combined, Iwaizumi and Oikawa's first names (Hajime and Tōru respectively) form "一徹" meaning "obstinate" or "dauntless".
- It has been implied in the Seijou extra that Iwaizumi and Oikawa might be attending different universities, although the phrasing is vague enough it's unclear. Furudate has yet to explicitly state whether they will be attending the same school.
- Nomenclature
- Tōru (徹) - To Go Through
- Oikawa (及川) - Reaching the River