Hi!! First of all, thanks for sharing your experience with us. I really appreciate it! I wanted to know if you could tell us about Kage-chan's interaction with Kousuke on stage? Again, thank you for doing this.
In an attempt to avoid spoilers for those who don’t want them, full reviews are under the Read Mores!
There is actually a part at the beginning where they redo the moment when Karasuno lost against Seijoh at Interhigh (which was a scene I didn’t really expect or strictly want to see live again lol because paiiiiiinnn) as a flashback. Obviously it’s done to reiterate Karasuno and Seijoh’s rivalry, but it was also a nice link for Kage-chan who wasn’t part of the cast for that earlier point in the story.
They gave us what they could, but there’s just not as much of the Kageyama-Oikawa rivalry when they have their Spring High qualifier rematch. Kageyama’s mostly gotten over his trauma, and he and Hinata have much more confidence in themselves and in each other. Whenever there might be a little tension between Kageyama and Oikawa, Hinata just sticks himself in there like HEY WE’RE GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN and he doesn’t really let Kageyama get hung up on it, so to speak.
After Seijoh loses and they have to line up to shake hands, Kageyama is very unsure about it. Almost like he can’t believe that he could’ve won against Oikawa, and with some other mixed feelings to be sure. Oikawa is the one who puts out his hand first, and as Kageyama slowly raises a shaking hand, Oikawa reaches out to grab it. As I recall, they don’t shake hands in the anime/manga. He does tell Kageyama, “With this we’re tied, don’t let it go to your head.” and Kageyama replies firmly, “I won’t.” But compared to the anime (for the same scene) and compared to back when it was Kousuke and Tatsunari, Kage-chan’s Kageyama and Kousuke’s Oikawa don’t have as much animosity. In a way I feel like Kousuke’s Oikawa has better accepted his role as Kageyama’s senpai, for better or worse, and he’s just not as antagonistic as his anime counterpart when it comes to Kageyama.
When he tells Ushijima that he should watch out because “My kouhai is on Karasuno, and in some ways he’s more skilled than I am,” he sounds a little more proud about that. And on-stage, Kageyama and Hinata are listening from the far side, and Kageyama gets to hear Oikawa praise him, and it makes him stand a little straighter.
During the Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa match, because Kousuke and Allen are constantly moving around the stage (and because Engeki doesn’t really like the fourth wall most of the time), there was a moment where Oikawa kind of bumps into Kageyama as he crosses the stage to move to the other viewing stand, and they stare at each other for a long moment. Oikawa’s first to turn away and move on, but Kageyama does keep looking after him, and again, I just didn’t feel the hostility.
With the anime/manga Kageyama-Oikawa relationship, I have a hard time imagining that Oikawa could have ever stepped up to really become Kageyama’s mentor. Even if he’s gotten over his complex over Kageyama, he’s loathe to admit it, and he does very much like to continue to tease and antagonize Kageyama whenever he can. Kousuke’s Oikawa isn’t quite the same, he’s softer around the edges when it comes to Kageyama, he doesn’t tease and goad him as much, and it makes me a little more wistful than the anime/manga ever did about what their relationship could have been.
