2 Team USA Olympic Libero Reacts to Nishinoya Haikyu! Season 1

Hey guys, welcome back. I'm Eric Shoji, professional volleyball player on Libero for Team USA. I'm here to react to and analyze different volleyball matches from around the world in hopes of inspiring, educating, and having fun with volleyball nerds just like me from all over the world. So if you love volleyball just as much as I do, subscribe to my channel so you can see my videos every week. All right guys, quick update from Russia. We had a game yesterday against Odenburg and we won! Yes, we won 3-0 last night. Three points for Falkovaly which means we're currently in fifth in the Russian Super League. It was a great match, great sweep, so proud of how we played last night. I will link the match in the description box below if you want to take a look. All right guys, today I'm going to be doing something a little bit different and I think you guys are going to be excited about it. I am going to be reacting to the volleyball anime Haikyuu. Now I was first introduced to this anime back in 2019 when I was in Japan for the World Cup and Micah Christensen and I were strolling around the streets and went into a shop with all this memorabilia from Haikyuu and we ended up taking pictures with these cardboard cutouts and posting them on Instagram and Twitter and the comments went off and ever since that day I think Micah's been called Kageyama all the time. I've been referred to as Nishinoya and the Haikyuu fandom is real and it is so cool to see. So today, instead of watching a full episode, I'm actually going to be reacting to Nishinoya's actions from season one. I've seen all of season one and Nishinoya is the libero and I'm so excited to react and comment about all of his digs and passes from the first season. Let's get into it. Alright, let's go. Got this. Okay, with that technique, are you kidding? Look at those shoulders forward. Alright, look at that platform. Like, if only I could get my elbows that straight and that together. Mine don't even come that close but that is such a beautiful platform and I'm so impressed already with how realistic this anime is and how good of a technique he has. They're like, I don't know if I can do that. Great one and up. Pancake. In defense and reception. That's right. Gotta keep the ball up. Pancake. Rolling thunder. Yes. So I get this comment also a lot on my Instagrams and videos that I post and the rolling thunder is kind of just like a dig and then you roll to your right or to your left and a lot of people make fun of rolling in men's volleyball and for me, honestly, I don't care. It's a great move. You can get the ball up and you can get up really quickly so doing a rolling thunder or rolling volleyball is awesome. It's a great technique to use and if you can get the ball up, use it. See, these guys are laughing. Oh, maybe it's because he yelled it out. I yell when I get enough. Almost with that cover. Look at these arm swings. Wow, he got blown back on this block. Pancake. That is a great technique there. You can kind of see that he slid his hand on the ground and then the ball got on his hand. A lot of people try to time the ball with their hand and that just kind of results in like pancakes. The ball just died or it doesn't go anywhere so ideally, you want your hand on the ground sliding and then the ball to hit your hand. Everyone's super surprised. Such a sick up. So, has anyone else noticed that the ball keeps switching? They're using this green and red ball which is actually the molten ball but in some of the episodes, they use the blue and yellow ball which is the Mikasa ball. So, I'm not sure what the contracts here are going on but it's constantly changing. In most international events, we're going to be playing with the Mikasa ball and with a lot of USA Volleyball and Norseka events, we're using a molten ball. So, it's interesting for me to kind of see that change and why they're doing it. Another pancake. Thick. Oh, he has small hands. It doesn't matter. You just got to keep off the floor by any means. Oh, he broke his platform a little bit. Interesting. Maybe he was trying to cushion. Okay, with that full-on dive sprawl. Oh, okay. This is like very very good technique and I'm so impressed with the animators and whoever created this that they could come up with this. This is a right side pass which is pretty challenging in real life but you can see that his arms are out early. There's separation between his arms and his body and his left shoulder is dipped and forward to make an angle to target. That's not easy to do and for these creators to have the presence of mind and knowledge to create that kind of technique is pretty awesome to see. I'm so impressed. See, here's the yellow ball. Nice. Nice. I gotta watch that one again. Let's see. So, he gets that pass on his right side but keeps his shoulders forward and his left shoulders drop and he kind of gets around it at the last second. That's a great pass and really good technique. Also, these arm swings are on point and I could name a number of professional volleyball players that look like these characters. So, I'm just freaking out. I'm so impressed by it. Again, getting in front of it on that left side. That libero is so fast. Oh, he's mad he didn't get to the center. We all do that. Uh-oh. The rolling thundersound. Yes. One arm. Sometimes you gotta go with one arm. Oh, not sure about that like how he got up. There's definitely no way I can do that. Quick attack. Bam. Pushed off that left foot. Calling it out. Nice. Way to be open with your arms. Calling everyone off. Jeez, this is such a good jump serve. See how he went to his left with his left hand? Cover. Oh, I've been working a lot on my cover. That technique, that is like what I aspire to look like on every pass. Where's my notebook? Mental notes. Thank you. Again, with that pass on the left side. That time his right shoulder was dropped. I don't really like how he broke his platform apart, but it happens all the time. It's also a television show. Cover. Oh, no. He missed it. His platform didn't really come together on that ball. Oh, no. No one's on the deep cover. Get it. Yes. Anything to keep the ball up. Another one. Short cover this time. Palms up. I love that the palms are up. His foot, the split ain't happening for me. Any part of the body you can use to get the ball up, you can use it. Oh, my gosh. They're like surprised that he would aim there. Oh, it's curving. Okay, getting that right knee in front of it. Taking that step to the right. All in the scene. Way to read it, Nishinoya. Got blocked again. Oh, he's there for the cover. Nice. Gosh. These are pretty advanced techniques that the creator is putting into this show, and it's so cool to see, because it's giving people that don't necessarily know a lot about volleyball a great impression of what volleyball looks like. So, I'm so happy that this anime exists and that they did so much research and made these characters have such great technique. Down the line. I love that they just yell at him to get the ball. He's going back. An over dig. It's okay. It happens. Wow, he's impressed by how aggressive. A tip. Great up. Great extension with that right arm. Geez, can I learn how to cover like this, please? I don't know what this ball is now. Geez, he's serving hard. Nice. Ideally, I would want him to keep his platform together a little bit more, but I mean, let's give it a little bit of a break. I need to take some covering notes from this anime. Yes. Full extension to the left, platform out, and solid. Wow, guys. I am seriously so impressed with the creators of this show. I think they must have been volleyball players. Were they volleyball players? Anyone? Comment below if you know if they played volleyball, if they were coaches, if they were somehow involved in the sport. Because how they created this anime is so realistic from the ball to the shoes to the techniques to the plays to the gyms and the arenas they're playing in. It is scary realistic. I have been to Japan many times and played in that country and recognize so much of it just from that anime. So, that is so freaking cool. And I hope, I hope that anime lovers, haiku lovers out there that don't really know the sport of volleyball end up finding real volleyball and falling in love with the sport there. So, that's my hope. And I hope you enjoyed this video so much. I know I did. I'm going to keep making them. And I hope you all have a great day. Get out, play some volleyball, have some fun, and I hope to see you all soon. Peace!