Oikawa Tooru.

description.

Tōru Oikawa (Japanese: 及川 おいかわ 徹 とうろ, Oikawa Tōru), also known as Tooru Oikawa in the English translation, was a third-year student at Aoba Johsai High for most of the series, serving as the captain and setter for the school's volleyball team. He is the main antagonist of the Interhigh and Spring High Preliminary Arcs.

appearance.

Oikawa has dark brown hair that is swept outwards and eyes of the corresponding color. Many people find him attractive, to the point where several girls follow him around. Oikawa frequently smiles or 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 sticking out his tongue while smiling and winking. Oikawa is of decent height for a volleyball player, standing just over six feet. While on the court, Oikawa wears the standard aqua and white Aoba Johsai High uniform emblazoned with the number one. He also wears dark gray athletic shoes with blue details. He wears a white kneepad on his right leg, contrasting with the black one worn on his left and by the other players in the series. 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 practices, he wears an aqua shirt and white shorts. During the finals match between Karasuno and Shiratorizawa, Oikawa is shown to wear glasses but it's unknown if he truly needs them or not.

personality.

Despite his flirtatious nature (which makes him famous among female students, much to Tanaka and Nishinoya's envy) and childishness, 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 and outwardly flippant attitude. Oikawa also frequently makes cheerful remarks but follows up with serious or intimidating afterthoughts. He is extremely intelligent and cunning and easily figures out both his teammates' and opponents' weaknesses. However, on more than one occasion, Oikawa has been very attentive and caring towards others, but this is mostly seen with his teammates or people like Hinata while in Brazil. Oikawa is ambitious and one-track-minded, but it's shown that he also has feelings of inferiority towards those he deems as naturally better than him, such as Ushijima and Kageyama. This is one of the main reasons he is known to push himself so hard. Oikawa also holds a grudge against Kageyama, whom he mockingly calls Tobio-chan. This is due to his feelings of inferiority surfacing when compared to Kageyama, who has been hailed as a genius setter since their time spent at Kitagawa Daiichi. Kageyama and Ushijima can also unintentionally bring out the more childish or rash aspects of Oikawa's personality. To match his ambition, Oikawa works extremely hard and often endures vigorous solo practices after his normal practices with the team. In addition, Oikawa spends time at home watching past games of his rivals in order to observe their movements and patterns ahead of time and strategizing how to defeat them. Despite that, he still takes time off on Mondays for rest

background.

Since early childhood, Oikawa is shown to have been heavily involved in volleyball. He was occasionally shown watching matches on television or playing the sport with Iwaizumi when they were still kids. When he was a little older, Oikawa and Iwaizumi attended a match between Japan and Argentina where Oikawa would become inspired to become a setter after seeing how the Argentina setter, Jose Blanco, was able to help the ace player get back on his game when he had started struggling during the match[2]. After this interaction, Oikawa is seen investing himself more into volleyball and appears to have been trying to jump serves since he was young. Because of the time he put into his abilities, Oikawa was said to have been a highly skilled player by the time he began attending Kitagawa Daiichi. However, Oikawa began to struggle when his team began playing against Shiratorizawa Junior High and it was in particular playing against Ushijima that caused Oikawa distress and the start of his rivalry with the Shiratorizawa ace. This only became worse when Tobio Kageyama began attending Kitagawa Daiichi and almost instantly started to gain more attention than Oikawa thanks to his higher skill set, natural athletic abilities, and being labeled as a prodigy at such a young age. Aware that Kageyama could potentially surpass him, Oikawa began behaving poorly toward the younger setter and constantly refused to teach him any new skills. After nearly striking Kageyama in a blind rage, Oikawa was able to get back on track thanks to help from Iwaizumi. This led to him being able to better focus his plays to bring out the best of each of his teammates and was eventually able to help Kitagawa Daiichi place second in the middle school tournament after Shiratorizawa. At the same time, Oikawa received the Best Setter Award and soon after would join Aoba Johsai.

skills.

He is most feared for his powerful and accurate jump serve, which he has honored 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" by mainly his coach and himself, Oikawa is a stunning player and one of the best all-around players in the prefecture. 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. His talent is widely recognized and 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. Jumping Reach: 335 cm.

relationships with aoba johsai ( 1 / 2 )

Hajime Iwaizumi: Iwaizumi, often called "Iwa/Iwa-chan" by Oikawa, is the latter's childhood best friend as well as the vice-captain of his current team. The two have been playing volleyball together since childhood and are extremely close and therefore know each other very well. Oikawa often makes small jokes towards Iwaizumi but is always quick to retract many of them when the ace appears like he will hit him; although it's notable that Iwaizumi threatens to hurt Oikawa more than he actually does. While still in middle school, it would be through Iwaizumi's intervention that Oikawa would fully understand that he needed to rely on his team as a whole in order to beat stronger opponents like Ushijima. While in a game, Oikawa has full faith in Iwaizumi's position as the ace and will depend on him when the team is in a tough situation. From knowing each other for so long, they work in perfect synchronization and make a powerful duo. After Seijoh's loss to Karasuno during the Spring High Representative Playoffs, Oikawa comforted Iwaizumi by patting his back after the former began to question his abilities as an ace. During the Seijoh Extra, Iwaizumi nonchalantly stated that he believed Oikawa would probably not be happy because he's so hard to satisfy, but that Oikawa would keep moving on without hesitation. Iwaizumi states how Oikawa is a partner he can boast about, as well as an amazing setter, but that if they ever face each other, he will not hold back. They are shown to have kept in contact over the years but Oikawa's nervousness at Iwaizumi's intimidation is still clear in A Party Reignited when the former ace had to keep Oikawa and Atsumu from trying to scare each other off.

relationships with aoba johsai (2 / 2)

Takahiro Hanamaki: Oikawa usually refers to Hanamaki as Maki. Although the setter is usually teased by the wing spiker for things he does or says, Oikawa still relies on Hanamaki during matches and most notably does not hesitate to call on Hanamaki to make a set when needed Kentarō Kyōtani: Although Oikawa is shown to not have the same level of control and respect from the second-year that Iwaizumi does, Oikawa is still aware of Kyōtani's skills and went so far as to personally ask him to return to the team in time for the Spring High Preliminaries. Even knowing how aggressive and stubborn Kyōtani can be, Oikawa will still entrust him with sets and his unwilling effectiveness as a decoy. Most likely because of either Kyōtani's behavior or name, Oikawa has nicknamed him "Mad Dog

relationships with karasuno (1 / 2)

Tobio Kageyama: Kageyama is a former underclassman and teammate of Oikawa, both having attended Kitagawa Daiichi Junior High and playing on the volleyball team. When Kageyama became part of the volleyball team and his natural talent began to garner attention, Oikawa began to resent Kageyama and seemed to be aware that the younger setter could possibly surpass him. As a result, Oikawa would start treating Kageyama poorly and would refuse to help him learn any new skills; both as a form of resentment and to not help someone he saw as a rival. Despite his animosity toward Kageyama, Oikawa still recognizes his abilities as a setter and the changes he has gone through since deciding to attend Karasuno and pairing with Hinata. Oikawa still knows Kageyama very well and is able to agitate Kageyama to throw his state of mind off-balance and be able to correctly predict what he will attempt at different points of a match. While they still view each other as rivals, Oikawa was still at one point able to help Kageyama understand that spikers are the one who have control of attacks and not the setter and to deny the spiker the set they need will only mean he was still trying to keep control of things.

relationships with karasuno (2 / 2)

Shōyō Hinata: From the moment they first met, Hinata proved to be someone Oikawa would need to be cautious of. Oikawa sees Hinata as a great decoy capable of being a great threat to opposing teams but still sees Hinata's inexperience as a player that he would at times use to his advantage. Years later, Oikawa would run into Hinata in Rio where their relationship would strengthen into a good friendship. Hinata would learn several tips from Oikawa as well as how Oikawa became interested in volleyball when he was young. When Oikawa left Brazil, he addressed Hinata by his first name and promised that he would defeat him if they ever faced each other in an official game. When they met again at the 2021 Olympics, they were seen embracing one another.

relationships with others

Wakatoshi Ushijima: Oikawa is known to have great disdain towards Ushijima that stems from viewing the ace as a rival since middle school. Since their teams often faced each other, Oikawa had attempted to defeat Ushijima numerous times but was never able to do so and came to see him as one of his greatest rivals. Even into high school, Oikawa would try to find a way to beat Ushijima and the two were known to clash if they ever ran into each other. Even though Oikawa is acknowledged by Ushijima as being a setter who can bring out the best of his team, he is stated by the ace to have allowed his pride to be his downfall and that choosing not to attend Shiratorizawa was a waste since it would have allowed him to be a team whose strength was unmatched. Oikawa, however, states that Ushijima is the one blinded by his own pride and has stated numerous times that he looks forward to the day that Ushijima is defeated. Jose Blanco: Blanco was Oikawa's source of inspiration to becoming a setter after having seen him play during his childhood. As Oikawa got older, he was able to seek guidance from Blanco by claiming he was not sure if he wanted to continue playing but Blanco was able to figure out that he just wanted to meet with him again. Despite this, Blanco still provided Oikawa with the help he needed to not compare his own talent to that of others while he was still developing his skills. Oikawa now plays on the Argentina Olympic team with Blanco as his coach. Takeru Oikawa: Takeru is Tōru's nephew and student at Lil' Tykes Volleyball Classroom. Oikawa tries to portray himself in a popular manner to his nephew, but Takeru doesn't seem to buy into his attempts and will bluntly state when he thinks Oikawa is being 'lame'. Although they bicker, Oikawa is attentive and caring of Takeru as evidenced by the many photos of his nephew on his phone.