Myers-Briggs Types in Haikyuu!!: Tobio Kageyama (ESTJ)

Tobio Kageyama from Haikyuu!! is an example of the ESTJ Myers-Briggs personality type (often referred to as MBTI). Previously, I had identified him as an ENTJ, partially because I didn’t watch far enough into the show to really see the Si. I just saw an overwhelming amount of Te, causing me to quickly label him as an EXTJ. We often see ESTJs mistaken for ISTJs, partly because many display social introversion tendencies. Of course, as a young ESTJ, Kageyama is displaying weak Ne in addition to weak Fi, which causes many to label him as an inferior Ne user (in other words, an ISTJ). However, I believe there is a stronger case for Tobio Kageyama having dominant Te and inferior Fi. Continue reading to find out why!

The Myers-Briggs Personality Type of Tobio Kageyama

Dominant Te:

“The setter is the team’s control tower. Plus, it’s the position that gets the most contact with the ball. It’s the greatest position there is because you get to be the ruler. Without a setter to toss the ball, there wouldn’t be any spikes for you to hit.”

“Only those who win get to stay in the court, only the strongest. So if you want to keep playing, you have to become stronger.”

“This is such a stupid waste of time!”

“I hate your sets because it’s like you’re forcing people to play it your way instead of their own.” – Tsukishima

“Ironically, the most ingenious part about Kageyama, is not his technique, but probably his stupidity. He plunges forward without hesitation when a normal person would hesitate. And he’s going to keep doing it for better or for worse.”

Kageyama prefers the position of a setter, because as he explains, it’s the team’s “control tower”. Of course, that’s his most obvious flaw right from the beginning of the series: his controlling and domineering nature. When dealing with others, he’s extremely harsh and demanding. He makes impossible demands of his teammates, and yells at them for every failure. It’s to such an extreme degree that, in middle school, his team refuses to play with him, and he gets benched in the middle of a game. According to Tsukishima, this occurred because he was a “domineering, power-tripping dictator.” Kageyama earns the nickname “king of the court”, which we later learn is an insult from his own teammates.

Kageyama’s tendencies follow him to high school. He initially struggles incorporating himself into a new team, in spite of his incredible skill as a volleyball player. He sends impossible sets to his teammates, and berates them for failing to perform to his standard. Kageyama tells them that if they ever expect to win anything, they need to learn to adapt to the way he sets. Of course, Kageyama isn’t just confrontational with his teammates. He has no issues calling out strangers, and treats everyone in a manner that seems either cold or angry.

Kageyama fixates on winning, making him extremely competitive. He’s extremely disciplined, willing to do whatever it takes to win. Early on, he constantly yells at his teammates for not taking the game seriously, Later in the series, out of need to assert his superiority, Kageyama is shown calling out enemy players, and returning their own threats back on them. For instance, an enemy player declares their next point would be via setter dump, and then does it. Kageyama immediately makes the same declaration, and then follows through.

While many identify him as an ISTJ, it’s important to note that one of Kageyama’s stated strengths is bull-headed nature, and his ability to make decisions on the fly. He’s good at plunging forward without hesitation, and taking action. These traits all more characteristic of an extraverted dominant, and a Te dominant specifically in regards to the decision-making ability.

Auxiliary Si:

“You just want to stick to the status quo and play it safe. You’re such a coward. But don’t get it twisted. That quick attack isn’t really yours to control. It’s the shorty’s call.” – Oikawa

“Who cares? That’s great and all, but they’re not the same as having experience.”

“You’ve never done combos before, so that’s impossible for you.”

“I haven’t yet. I haven’t gotten to practice that. I’d at least want to do a trial run with Noya before doing it for real.”

“I bet our usual quick attack would have been enough to throw them off, but then he just jumped in there all of a sudden. That was stupid and reckless.”

Kageyama values experience. Early on, this surfaces in his perception of Hinata’s capabilities. He views certain things as impossible for Hinata, because of Hinata’s limited experience. As far as Kageyama is concerned,”nothing ever works out the first time.” Therefore, he emphasizes practicing moves to the point of success, or at least doing a trial run before enacting them in a critical setting. Later on in the series, we see his focus on experience spun more positively, such as when Hinata is bemoaning some other player being more like the tiny giant than him. Kageyama responds with a more objective outlook, saying, “Well, yeah. You’re like one thousand years behind him in experience, you moron!”

However, indicated above, Kageyama can be resistant to trying new things when they’re not his idea. Throughout the series, Kageyama is shown pushing back against just about any incident when a teammate, namely Hinata, is trying to push beyond his typical boundaries. Kageyama asks Oikawa for advice concerning one specific issue, and Oikawa accuses Kageyama of wanting “to stick to the status quo and play it safe”. Fortunately, by this point in the series, Kageyama is objective enough that he eventually yields, allowing the team to get even stronger.

Tertiary Ne:

“You’ve got incredible talent and control over the ball, but most of all, you’re good at analyzing the opponent’s blocking moves, and you make decisions on the fly.” – Koshi Sugawara

“Instead of repeating this attack that we may not be able to do, why can’t we practice blocking or serving or any of the other ten thousand things we need to get better at right now?”

Kageyama demonstrates a lot of signs of low Ne, which makes sense considering that he is young. Of course, low Ne parallels to Si, so there are some similar beats. Namely, Kageyama tends to block out new possibilities in favor of what is familiar or tried and true. He can get overwhelmed by all their current weaknesses, wanting to double down on refining their techniques. As a result, he’ll initially reject the idea of spreading themselves thin by working on something new.

However, as someone who’s not an inferior extraverted perceiver (Ne in this case), Kageyama does not struggle to adapt. Some people suggest that he does, but in reality, Kageyama only struggles to adapt to people, which is more indicative of Te than low Ne. Kageyama is willing to act on his own hunches during games, and as mentioned in the Te section, he’s good at making decisions on the fly. This is in stark contrast to Sugawara, who makes the initial observation about Kageyama’s decision-making ability and then states that he’s lacking in this area.

Inferior Fi:

“What, are you emotionally constipated?” – Tanaka

“Why is it that every single time you talk to me it feels like you’re crushing my soul!” – Hinata

Kageyama demonstrates quite a bit of inferior Fi. Kageyama struggles to treat people in a way that is personable. Initially, he sees people for their utility rather than as actual people, hence his harsh dealings with people when they display even the slightest incompetency. An old teammate even says that anyone Kageyama couldn’t use went straight in the trash. Later on, even when trying to be nice or give friendly advice, Kageyama is still prone to coming across overly critical or harsh, which is why Hinata makes a comment about Kageyama crushing his soul.

However, Kageyama is surprisingly sensitive, hence his extreme reaction to Hinata referring to him as the “king of court”. While those on the outside view that nickname as an indication of his skill, Kageyama only sees it as a reflection of his failure and his team’s rejection of him. His entire focus had been on winning that he had caused his own downfall by essentially trampling his team under his feet.

Kageyama is very uncomfortable with his own emotions. Toward the end of the first season, the team catches him smiling for the first time, and it basically freaks them out. Tanaka sometime later makes a crack about him being emotionally constipated. The day after losing a big game, Kageyama just retreats into his school’s volleyball court and practices setting over and over again, not having shown much emotion by this point. It isn’t until Hinata shows up and then starts running around the room screaming in frustration that Kageyama decides to outlet some of his own emotions.