| “ | ” | |
Template:Character Infobox (Major)Yū Nishinoya (Japanese: 西谷 夕 Nishinoya Yū) is a second year student at Karasuno High School. He serves as the libero for his school's volleyball team, and is regarded by his teammates as "Karasuno's Guardian Deity".
Appearance
Nishinoya is the shortest member on the team, standing at 159.3 cm (now at 160.5 cm as of chapter 207). Despite his shorter stature, he has a fairly muscular build. He regularly styles his wild dark brown hair by ruffling most of it upwards, adding 10 cm to his height; the tiny tuft of hair that falls over his forehead appears to be bleached a dirty blond. His eyes are brown and slanted.
He tends to wear brightly colored shirts that typically have a random phrase printed on either its front or back, such as "One-Man Army" or "Three-Point Headstand".
Personality
Nishinoya is a very energetic and temperamental person. His boisterous nature and crazy shenanigans can attract unwanted attention quite easily, which often goes badly for him. Although he hardly ever worries about the consequences of his actions (and may even revert to violence in order to vent out his anger on certain occasions), he is surprisingly considerate of his friends' feelings and insecurities.
He has a quirky habit of spontaneously coming up with ridiculous names for the moves he executes while practicing receives. He is also unexpectedly shy when it comes to talking to girls he hasn't met before.
Like Tanaka, Noya has a large interest in Kiyoko Shimizu. Together, they try to approach her, but are ultimately ignored. They cause a bit of a ruckus when this happens and are usually scolded by somebody, usually Daichi. When the show officially introduces Noya in the eighth episode, he energetically approaches Kiyoko, which results in an off-screen slap. Noya returns with a red cheek and a smile.
Noya can be extremely impatient, excitable and impulsive. As Tanaka puts it, "he simply gets too fired up for his own good". He doesn't bother to filter his words, and is therefore prone to blurting out whatever he's thinking in a loud and tactless manner. In-game, however, his attitude changes drastically: he becomes incredibly focused and serious, remaining calm and doing everything in his power to provide the support his team needs until the very end. For this reason, everyone in the volleyball club respects him greatly.
Statistics
| High School Statistics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Power | 2/5 | ||
| Jumping | 4/5 | ||
| Stamina | 5/5 | ||
| Game Sense | 4/5 | ||
| Technique | 3/5 | ||
| Speed | 5/5 | ||
Nishinoya's skills in defense are said to be unparalleled. The level of proficiency he demonstrates in his position as a libero has caused his captain to refer to him as a "guardian deity", and his skills were also acknowledged by Nekoma's libero, Yaku. He has supremely fast reflexes, swift feet and flexible arms. He can receive volleys that most teams would usually deem impossible, and keep the ball in play and connected. One of his techniques, "Rolling Thunder", is based on him performing a somersault.
Nishinoya is good at acting on the spur of the moment, adapting to the flow of the game as it is required. This turned out to be a vital asset to Karasuno in their revenge game against the famed "Iron Wall", wherein Noya made the split-second decision of using his foot in order to prevent the ball from hitting the ground, since he knew he could not reach it with his hands in time.[1] That move alone earned him the immediate astonishment and heartfelt praise of the entire stadium, including several volleyball veterans, a number of players from rival teams, and even his normally critical coach.
After Karasuno's second match against Aobajōsai, Nishinoya came to the conclusion that he had to learn skills other than receives if he truly wanted to be of better use to his team, and began practicing throws (also known as "overhand tosses") with Sugawara. He is shown to be having difficulty with them, but nevertheless refuses to give up. As a result of the Summer Camp Training, he is now capable of jumping from behind the attack line and performing a libero toss, which he performed against Aobajōsai in the third match together, setting up Asahi for a spike. He also made one with Sugawara against Shiratorizawa. But this move comes with a major drawback: Given that it is effectively an all-out synchronized attack, there won't be anyone to defend again if it was blocked.
As of mid-November:
- Fingertip Height: 208 cm
- Jumping Reach: 302 cm (spike) / 290 cm (block)
Trivia
- Favorite Food: Gari-Gari Kun! (Soda flavor)
- Current Concern: None!
- He has gotten suspended from school for a week and suspended from school activities for a month.
- He said that he came to Karasuno because of the uniforms (the girls' are cute and the boys' black uniforms look super cool) and the short distance between the school and his home.
- During the team's first training camp, Hinata didn't recognize Nishinoya due to the fact that after bathing, his normally swept-up hair was down instead, and thus decreased his height by 10 cm.
- Nishinoya's hair is 10 cm (4 inches) tall.
- According to Tanaka, the only type of movie Nishinoya will watch is over-the-top action, where he usually yells in excitement in the middle of the film.
- His worst subject is contemporary literature.
- During Ennoshita's flashbacks of his first year, Nishinoya is seen with completely black hair; meaning he dyed his hair sometime after that year's summer vacation, but before the Newcomer's Match against Date Tech. [2]
- Asahi and Nishinoya are foils. Their birthdays are inverse (01/01 and 10/10), as are their heights and personalities (and even their name kanji contrast each other - respectively 'east' and 'west', 'peak' and 'valley', 'morning sun' and 'evening'). They are also the two best-known, talented, and accomplished members of the team other than Kageyama.
- His star sign is Libra.
- Nishinoya's seiyuu, Nobuhiko Okamoto, also voices Takeru Fujiwara from the new 2016 anime: Prince of Stride.
- When asked about Nishinoya's name origin, Furudate said, "The evening sun that sets in the western valley! But I still think the name Yuu doesn’t fit Nishinoya!"[3]
- He is likely ambidextrous.
- He is officially the series' third biggest eater. [4]
- Nomenclature:
- Yū (夕) - Evening
- Nishinoya (西谷) - West Valley