guilty gear enjoyer

for starters, let's talk about her direct contributions. the first thing yachi does after being recruited is design a poster for the club after overhearing that they're struggling to gain transport funds. while it may seem simple, this alone helps them receive enough donations to afford a bus for their away games and also leads to people having hope in karasuno's resurgence due to her strategically referencing the little giant, which was a morale booster they definitely benefitted from since this was when they were still trying to regain their former glory as a team. this shows her directly utilizing her strengths the moment she joins the club because she knows that even though volleyball isn't her strong suit, graphic design is

(the glowup is insane but i also lowkey love that kiyoko canonically cannot draw for shit bless her heart LMFAOAO)

after that we see her working hard to learn from kiyoko during matches. she's taking notes, setting up practice games, refilling water bottles and also learning about volleyball terminology in her own time which of course are all things that are expected from a manager. but focusing on the last one, considering she was someone with absolutely no interest or prior experience in sports, the fact that she was pouring so much dedication into learning the technicalities of it shows that her mother's words ("joining passionate people when you aren't going to give it your all is the rudest thing you could do.") definitely influenced her.

now to be fair, her mom is far from the worst anime mom out there, but it can't be denied that she does contribute to alot of the self esteem issues yachi has from her remarks, even if it comes from a good place

so the fact that yachi was able to see past the surface level of her mom's words after hinata's encouragement and actually put it into practice shows her desire to grow and become better. which also probably put kiyoko (and by extent the rest of karasuno) at ease due to them having a promising successor for a manager since there seems to be a recurring struggle in recruiting club managers for some reason lol

on the topic of kiyoko, i also think that yachi's existence directly links to us knowing more about her. both times when kiyoko opens up about her past or expresses personal feelings yachi is there, and (as a few other haikyuu fans have brought up) it's when they are in states of undress

we already see kiyoko act as a mentor figure and express a wider range of emotions when yachi is around (concern, amusement, protectiveness etc) but it's a fact that both times she chooses to open up, yachi is present (whether you ship kiyoyachi or not) which alludes to her feeling more comfortable in divulging about her hardships to another girl. since she's normally only around guys, kiyoko really appreciated having another girl in the volleyball club that she could connect with on a more personal level

to add to that, everytime these moments happen it's always when the two of them are ALONE. NO BOYS. these scenes are also never used as fanservice or conveniently angled for the viewers to ogle at the girls' bodies. its just a private moment between two girls sharing and learning about each other. furthermore, the lack of clothing could LITERALLY symbolize kiyoko revealing more about herself, and yachi being open to receiving that information since they're BOTH in vulnerable states

(sidetracking for a bit: i also do think that it's a very intentional narrative choice that we only learn more about kiyoko quite late into the series. we see furudate do this with tsukki and later kageyama too, because considering her more closed off personality, furudate made it so we have to LITERALLY SPEND ENOUGH TIME WITH HER to get to know more about her, and i think that it's neat.)

and obviously, it would be remiss of me if i didnt mention her contributions to kagehina during the training camp arc. she already went out of her way to tutor them after school hours AND for their retake as seen in the ova

(this is me promoting the failing marks ova bcs it's just 23 mins of pure slice of life shenanigans. if ur like me and love seeing them interact outside vb this is gonna be a treat for you too)

but even more importantly, she also relentlessly helped them practice the new freak quick night after night even after their fight, showing just how much she cared about them and wanted them to succeed. which is why it makes me so happy that right after hinata and kageyama perfect the new freak quick the moment she notices it she's ECSTATIC, since she saw firsthand all the ups and downs it took to get there. and in turn the FIRST person THEY acknowledge is HER, showing that this victory is just as much hers as it is theirs, directly telling the audience that this would not have been possible without her.

i think this moment really solidified yachi as an integral part of the team, which is further proven in the timeskip

(OKAAYY GIRLBOSS look at her training 2 managers im so proud)

anyway, her contributions aside, i'm also very pleased that furudate didn't take the easy way out by slowly making her fade out of existence after 2 eps or making her a potential love interest for one of the boys, which is an unfortunate fate many female characters in male dominated media are subjected to. i think initially most people expected her be hinata's love interest since they have some moments together in the first few eps she's in. but as the series progresses most of their interactions consist of her occasionally cheering for him at games or him thanking her for helping out, which (shipping preferences aside) honestly leans more platonic than romantic. i'm glad that furudate subverted the expectations of a female character NEEDING to fall in love since she's constantly surrounded by male characters because that's simply not how it is irl lmao. healthy platonic male and female friendships exist and should definitely be represented more in media, and yachi being allowed to exist as her own independent character instead of an accessory for one of the guys is SUCH a breath of fresh air

NOW THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN WHERE MY ANALYSIS ENDED, however right as i was debating whether or not to post this on tumblr, i stumbled across this video by artist Airi Pan who talked about bringing back great (not just good) design. the entire video has great points and i highly recommend watching it, but the one that really struck a chord with me was the last one where she says: "great art always gives back." which essentially means that the difference between "good" and "great" art is that great art will inspire others and in turn lead to the birth of even more art in the world

which then got me thinking, isn't that kinda what i'm doing now?

obviously in the video she's talking about character design, but i think this can be applied to just about any form of media out there. furudate didn't HAVE to make yachi such a great and well thought out character, but they DID. and in turn even though she's a minor character, someone out there got inspired by her character and growth and decided to write a tumblr post (which is another form of media) and share it to the internet

am i saying that my singular post is gonna reach millions and change our nation into one that is ruled by hitoka yachi? OF COURSE NOT LMFAO, but my hope is that at least the few people who DO see it find something new to appreciate about her and/or haikyuu and create something else to feed into the endless haikyuu fandom hole. proving the point being made in the video, the most successful character designs are ones that garner the most fanart, cosplays, merch etc etc and the same can be said with the writing for the characters in haikyuu because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM SERVE A PURPOSE. it makes the world feel so lived in and complete, which attributes to why SO MANY people have fallen in love with it and have been inspired by furudate's work regardless if they even like/play volleyball because the lessons and messages being presented can be applied to just about anything in life

and the best part is that it DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO BE COMPLEX. as much as i am a sucker for deeply layered characters filled with intricate lore and complicated pasts that shape their morally gray actions, you also can't beat something that is simple and done well, which in this case arguably benefits to haikyuu more since it's a story that's grounded in reality. while yachi isn't a standout ace on the girl's volleyball team that shoots lasers out of her eyes to avenge her dead parents, NEITHER DOES THE AVERAGE READER OF HAIKYUU.

but i'm sure everyone out there has experienced moments of self doubt, awkwardness, hesitation, excitement, (illogical) fear and more which are all traits that can be found in yachi

yachi refers to herself as "townsperson b" which is a role that is so insignificant it doesn't even have an actual name. showing how feels like she's just someone in the background compared to the "main characters" - something i'm sure lots of people have felt before. which is what makes her more relatable to the viewer and shows that even if you have these traits or feel these feelings, it doesn't mean you can't make a difference or that you should let them stop you from stepping out of your comfort zone. once again showing that (even though it isn't easy) there is merit in putting so much care and love into what you create that even the smallest of characters can be inspiring to others (like how yachi was to me)

SO TLDR: yachi's seemingly small contributions ended up playing a major role in the over arching plot of karasuno's growth which ultimately proves furudate's philosophy of "you don't win alone" because if yachi wasn't here karasuno would still be struggling to gain funds for their away games, without her karsuno wouldn't have another manager, without her we would have never learnt anything about kiyoko, without her kagehina would have failed their midterms and never reached their full potential. without her, karsauno would not be what it is today.