not to be That Guy, but:
I really really hate the idea that Kageyama is ‘like that’ because of his grandfather’s death.
Don’t get me wrong, I do think Kazuyo’s passing away & Miwa’s quitting of volleyball left Tobio probably feeling quite isolated BUT! Furudate clearly showed that even when his grandfather was still alive Kageyama was wholly obsessed with volleyball and had little interest in making friends.
As a kid he didn’t have any video games, time spent not training was either spent watching volleyball matches or discussing volleyball with his grandfather. Even when Kazuyo became ill and Tobio went to go visit him in hospital what did he bring along? Recordings of volleyball matches.
I’m not trying to say that this new stuff we’ve learned about Kageyama isn’t important but rather that his intrinsic nature as a character wasn’t affected by it. He’s always been obsessed with volleyball, always had issues interacting with his peers, always wanted to play as the team’s ‘control tower’, the one who got to touch the ball the most.
Basically, I’m just Really Not On Board with the interpretation that before his grandfather’s death Kageyama was somehow less interested in volleyball, or less isolated from other kids his age, or had less communication issues and that it was specifically Kazuyo’s passing that made him suddenly ‘throw himself into volleyball’ or become more socially stunted.
In my interpriation, he’s always been like that, and it’s just that his grandfather’s death (and Miwa quitting volleyball to a lesser extent) made him even more lonely than usual, which if you ask me, actually adds MORE emotional weight to his backstory since it felt like his grandfather was one of the few people who ‘got’ Kageyama.
