Polygon crush of the week: Haikyu!!’s coach Ukai

One of the best parts of the human experience, if I may say so myself, is having a major crush – the ticking of your heartbeat, the rush of euphoria when you see the object of your affection, the desire to simply shout with joy ! However, at Polygon we are very flexible in how we interpret ‘crush’. After all, brief but intense crushes don’t necessarily have to be with real people (or even people!), and they don’t have to be romantic either. Since I have many (many) crushes, I decided to share the energy of writing their names over and over again with a sparkly gel pen in a journal.

This week’s crush: Coach Ukai van Haikyu!!

Watching Haikyu!! The dumpster battle reminded me what a hottie the coach of the Karasuno boys volleyball team is. There are a lot of good guys (and a few girls!) in the sports anime and manga, which follows an underdog volleyball team on their quest for greatness. But watching the movie confirmed for me that my biggest crush in the series is the man who was initially reluctant to mentor the team, coach Keishin Ukai.

Ukai is a bit irritable, but he has a big heart. He only agreed to serve as the team’s coach for an exhibition match between their historical rival Nekoma (incidentally, the team was playing in The fight against the waste container). But eventually he agrees to stay, reminded of his love for the sport. (And his desire to finally beat Nekoma in a game!) We love good character development! Ukai was once a member of Karasuno High School’s volleyball team and was initially hesitant to return, not wanting to cloud his own nostalgia for his high school days. That’s a nice bit of backstory that allows me to immediately imagine what his high school years were like, and create elaborate stories about what his life has been like in the intervening years.

His gruff personality offsets faculty advisor Ittetsu Takeda, who is polite, courageous about everything, and a bit clueless about volleyball. I just think they have a great atmosphere as colleagues and eventual friends!

At the most superficial level, Ukai is blond – or rather anime blond, in the sense that he has yellow hair. I have a soft spot for blonde, fictional men. One of these days I’ll try to figure out the origins of that answer, but for now I’ll just let it dictate where my heart is. And that’s where Ukai is hot “sexually competent chef on the garbage bag line” way, in the sense that he is a bit gruff but certainly not unkind, has a certain sharp look, and also drinks and smokes, but in a sexy way that shows that he knows how to have fun. To me this is only attractive if the guy isn’t real, but boy, what a hit!

In one episode of the show, a number of players who are struggling with their schoolwork come to Ukai for advice. He lights a cigarette, looks at them with a cocky grin and says, “Is it so Look like I was good at school?” Then I fell for him.

Coach Ukai doesn’t appear much The fight against the waste container – or heck, even on the TV show. But seeing him in the background of the movie still reignited my crush. Sometimes less is more when it comes to sticking with a fictional character.

Or maybe not! Maybe your crush of the week is the main character of your latest TV obsession, or the protagonist of your favorite video game. Or maybe, like me, you’ve decided to really fall in love with a gruff man with a secret, soft side, even if he stays in the background most of the time. Let me know who you have a crush on this week!