Shoyo Hinata
“It's true that I'm not very tall; however, I can fly!”
Photography
Background
A young Hinata passed by an electronics store while riding his bike. He stopped upon hearing the name "Small Giant" from the big screen TV at the storefront.[2] On display was Karasuno High's volleyball match during the Spring Tournament. Like Hinata, the Small Giant lacked height, yet he prevailed against blockers 20 cm taller than him. Hinata was mesmerized by this figure clad in Karasuno's black uniform and is inspired to do the same. He joined the volleyball club upon entering Yukigaoka Junior High but found himself to be the only member. However, Hinata refused to give up and would practice by himself at the corner of the gymnasium, off to one side of the sports ground, or in the hallways.
In his third-year, three first-years joined the volleyball club. Despite having new members, Hinata still lacked enough players to form a team so he asked his friends Izumi and Kōji, who were from the basketball and soccer club respectively, to help out. They joined Hinata's team and soon attended their first volleyball tournament. It turned out that Yukigaoka's first opponent would be Kitagawa Daiichi Junior High, the tournament favorite. While everyone thought that Yukigaoka would lose, Hinata remained convinced otherwise.
Upon seeing their opponent, Hinata grew nervous right before the match and ran to the bathroom. Afterward, he overheard some second-years from Kitagawa Daiichi insulting his team. He defiantly talked back only to be ridiculed for his size. Just then, Tobio Kageyama, Kitagawa's "King of the Court", appeared to berate his teammates for looking down on their opponents. His tirades didn't end there as he turned to Hinata. Kageyama insulted Hinata's lack of height and his foolish determination to win despite it. In response, Hinata proclaimed he can jump and will win every match.
When the match started, Hinata jumped high for a spike but found his spike easily blocked by Kitagawa Daiichi blockers. He remained positive, but it soon became clear that Kitagawa Daiichi was one-sidedly dominating the match. Faced with an impossible situation, Hinata still refused to give up to the point of risking injury just to chase down a ball. When asked about it, he simply said it's because they haven't lost yet. In the following play, Izumi made a missed toss, but Hinata stunned everybody when he still managed to hit it across. The spike unfortunately landed out of bounds and cost them the match. However, Kageyama has noticed Hinata's incredible stamina, jumping power, and pure determination to win. He gained a little more respect for Hinata but, at the same time, was also outright disapproving of Hinata wasting his potentials
Apperance
Upon entering the first-year of high school, Hinata stood at 162.8 cm and grew to 164.2 cm halfway through the school year. He is the second shortest person on the Karasuno volleyball team, next to Nishinoya. He has unruly orange hair and brown eyes. His relatively-thin build and short stature often lead him to be mistaken for a junior high (or, in some cases, even grade school) student. Hinata typically dresses in his Karasuno school uniform with a black jacket and black pants. Beneath his jacket is a beige or tan sweatshirt. In the first episode, he wore the green volleyball uniform from Yukigaoka Junior High.
During matches, Hinata wears his volleyball uniform—a black jersey and corresponding shorts with white and orange stripes on the sides. On the back of his jersey is his position number 10 (coincidentally, the same number that was worn by the Small Giant) and his school's name written in kanji. On the court, he wears kneepads and white volleyball shoes with red accents.
Post-timeskip, Hinata was shown to have grown his hair out a bit during his third year but cut it around the time he went to Brazil. Hinata has undergone intensive training in Brazil. As a result of playing on the beach and following a strict diet and health regimen, Hinata has grown to 172 cm and developed a lean but muscular body.
