Kōshi Sugawara

Sugawara is Karasuno's third-year setter, a steady, encouraging presence on the bench more often than the court once Kageyama arrives. He's warm and quick to laugh, the teammate everyone confides in, but he's also fiercely competitive underneath the kindness, still hungry to play and still working to be ready when his number is called.

Haikyuu!! could easily make the benched upperclassman a footnote, but it gives Sugawara real interiority — the sting of being outpaced by a first-year, the discipline of supporting a teammate anyway. Miyu Irino plays that tension quietly, all soft humor with something tighter underneath, so his rare moments on court land like triumphs.