Tobio Kageyama is a brilliant volleyball player who, despite stumbling along the way, truly learned the value of teamwork and became an effective setter for his team. If he wanted to, he could play any position on the court. However, his heart lies with setting the ball.

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Unfortunately, being a prodigy comes with several downfalls. Though he doesn't have an earth-shatteringly tragic backstory like other anime heroes, Tobio certainly didn't have it easy compared to other characters in Haikyuu! Other players found his skills intimidating, while others thought he was too full of himself and expected too much from teammates.

10 Kageyama Could Have Made It Into Shiratorizawa, But He Flunked The Entrance Exam

Tobio Kageyama from Haikyuu!

Shiratorizawa has the best high school volleyball team in Japan. Led by Ushijima Wakatoshi, the team has earned national acclaim. Kageyama certainly has the volleyball skills and fundamental understanding of the game to thrive on their team. Unfortunately, he's terrible with academics and flunked the entrance exam, so he just enrolled at Karasuno instead.

Kageyama's academic woes continued in Haikyuu!, as fans saw him struggling to read directions and having to sound out the words. He also flunked his final exams, even though Tsukishima and Yachi tutored him. His poor grades are probably a reflection of his preoccupation with volleyball.

9 Kageyama Is A Total Perfectionist

Kageyama focused in Haikyuu!

Kageyama has a bad reputation for hollering at his teammates and criticizing them for not keeping up. He tends to envision things playing out in his head, but when his ideas fail in real life, it's easier to blame others than observe his own behavior.

Luckily, Kageyama's slowly grown out of this and learned how to work with others. Still, he's unnecessarily hard on himself and works himself to the bone trying to master new techniques. Kageyama knows he's a skilled player, but he constantly tries to surpass his limits and become even stronger.

8 Kageyama Lives In Constant Fear Of Being Abandoned By His Teammates Again

The rift between Kageyama and his middle school teammates in Haikyuu!

After Kageyama's middle school team got fed up with his tyrannical behavior on the court, everybody walked away from him. Since nothing was ever good enough for Kageyama, most of them threw in the towel because it was easier than trying to deal with him any longer.

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This traumatized Kageyama, so he's constantly trying not to involuntarily offend someone by bringing back his oppressive "King of the Court" persona. He lost all confidence in himself as a setter because nobody could spike his tosses, so his aggressive tangents at his teammates were to hide his insecurities.

7 Tsukishima & Oikawa Constantly Antagonize Him

Oikawa's humiliating photo Of Kageyama bowing in Haikyuu!

Tsukishima and Oikawa are two of Haikyuu!'s most disliked characters because they have an innate talent for pointing out someone's insecurities and attacking them like pit bulls. Though Tsukishima doesn't mean any harm by it, his snarky comments strike a nerve with Kageyama. He knew calling Kageyama the "King of the Court" would trigger an outburst, so he constantly pokes fun at his past behavior.

Meanwhile, Oikawa basks in the knowledge that Kageyama strives to live up to and eventually surpass him. He's cocky about it and constantly antagonizes him, though he does view him as a threat on the court.

6 Trying To Adapt His Tosses For Each Spiker's Needs Was Challenging For Kageyama

Shoyo Hinata jumps in front of the net in Haikyuu!

Soon after joining Karasuno's team, Kageyama realized he had the wrong mindset about setting. He used to throw wickedly strong tosses with outrageously high trajectories. Hinata was the only one who stood a chance of hitting the ball because of his immense jumping power.

However, what worked for Hinata didn't work for everybody else. Even Hinata couldn't hit his tosses 100% of the time. So, Kageyama had to adapt his tosses for everybody else by experimenting with tempos and tossing with pinpoint accuracy. It was a grueling process of trial and error that led to conflict among the players, but it paid off in the long run.

5 Kageyama Never Fully Lived Down His Reputation As The "King Of The Court"

Kageyama is the King of the Court in Haikyuu!

Kageyama's middle school nickname haunted him. Everywhere he went, people recognized him as the tyrannical "King of the Court," a gifted player with no sense of team spirit whatsoever. He'd yell at teammates and opponents all the same if they failed to meet his high expectations.

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When Kageyama started high school, he took offense to this derogatory nickname. Eventually, however, he reclaimed it and realized it could have an entirely new meaning. It doesn't need to carry a selfish connotation. Instead, he could be recognized as the King because of his skills and ability to bring out the best in his teammates.

4 Other Talented Players Looked Down On Him For A Variety Of Reasons

Tobio Kageyama looking serious in Haikyu!!

Kageyama could stand on a level playing field with some of Haikyuu!'s strongest players, like Sakusa, Bokuto, and even Ushijima. However, many looked down on him for not attending a better school. Sakusa had difficulty believing his team beat Ushijima, while Oikawa constantly pestered him for not enrolling at Aoba Johsai.

Inarizaki High's Atsumu Miya didn't look down on him because of his school choice. Instead, he thought it was strange that Kageyama constantly tailors his tosses for everyone else on the team rather than forcing them to meet his standards. His remarks inadvertently triggered Kageyama to regress back into his "King of the Court" behavior.

3 Kageyama Overanalyzes Every Step He Takes On The Court

Kageyama smiling in Haikyuu!

Kageyama may seem overconfident to some, but he constantly overanalyzes every step he takes on the court. He realizes that one misstep could cost his team the game, but sometimes he gets too stuck in his own head to take any risks.

Sometimes, Kageyama gets so caught up in his own ideas of how the game should go that it angers him when his teammates don't follow suit. However, he realized that expecting others to read his mind just wouldn't work. Still, Kageyama is a perfectionist at heart, and he's harder on himself than anyone else.

2 Kageyama Struggled To Find His Identity On The Court

Shoyo Hinata and Tobio Kageyama at the volleyball net from Haikyuu!!

Kageyama thought he would always be stuck trying to get rid of his old reputation as the "King of the Court." However, that changed after Atsumu called him a "Goody-Two-Shoes" and criticized him for being too accommodating.

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After that, Kageyama struggled to find his identity on the court. Hinata was recognized for his jumps, Shiratorizawa's Tendou is known as the "Guess Monster" because of his jumps, and Kenma is recognized as Nekoma's brain because of his strategizing skills. However, Kageyama had to come into his own and find himself through volleyball. Eventually, he combined his accommodating behavior with his domineering attributes to bring out the best in his teammates while forcing them to improve.

1 Kageyama Struggles With Socializing

Kageyama and Hinata from Haikyuu!!

Kageyama's lack of social skills is central to most of his issues throughout Haikyuu! He struggles with communicating with others, so a significant piece of his character arc was overcoming that. Even off the court, Kageyama has difficulty inserting himself into conversations, resulting in hilarious awkward moments where he stands to the side trying to feel included and mimic his peers.

For example, when Nishinoya, Hinata, and Tanaka were all celebrating getting to eat meat, they threw their hands up in the air and danced around a bit. Kageyama stood off to the side, rigidly dancing with them just to feel included.

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