Haikyuu!!'s Hinata hailed as better-written than Isagi from Blue Lock

With the first season of Blue Lock set to end this Sunday, March 26, fans of the anime have started comparing the series protagonist to other sports anime protagonists. As it happens, the most popular match-up proves to be Hinata Shoyo from Haikyuu!!

While Hinata has been on the throne of all sports anime for nearly a decade now, Isagi has only recently made his presence known in the industry. With the premiere of the Blue Lock anime, the franchise has definitely gotten popular. However, a major reason behind its increasing popularity was also the subsequent start of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Blue Lock and Haikyuu!! manga.

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Haikyuu!!'s Hinata vs Blue Lock's Isagi: Who is the better-written protagonist?

While Blue Lock's Yoichi Isagi does have the recency bias, it was surprising to see many anime fans backing Hinata Shoyo from Haikyuu!! in a comparison between the two protagonists based on how well their characters were written.

The majority of the fans who supported Isagi were claiming that he was the better character based on the fact that he had enough guts to insult a teammate or opponent to their faces, all the while looking intimidating. Isagi has done this multiple times, with two of the most iconic ones being his insults against Shoei Barou and Michael Kaiser.

However, Isagi's insults weren't enough for him to be declared the better protagonist, as even Blue Lock fans agreed that Hinata had better character development. Unlike Isagi, who got picked as part of a project to create the best player in his sport, Hinata was quite likely part of the worst team in his first tournament during Junior High School.

Some fans on Twitter were thus confused as to why people were mentioning Isagi's achievements at age 17 when the entire argument was based on who the better-written character was. While Isagi certainly has the brains and the guts to go up against the best opponent, Hinata has quite likely the best mentality in all sports anime, given his character development during the Brazil storyline.

Moreover, fans were certain that there is no other character like Hinata Shoyo. One of the reasons being that despite being so short, he is able to intimidate players about twice his size. An example of this was when Hinata was able to stare into a 6'2" tall Wakatoshi Ushijima's eyes and declare his intent to defeat him, only to later defeat him despite the height disadvantage. He said to the Shiratorizawa player:

"I'm Hinata Shoyo, from the concrete. I'm going to beat you and go to nationals."

While Isagi is a good footballer and one of the best within the Bastard Munchen team, he is yet to become a better version of his current self for the top playmakers from the country to play with him. This is exactly the case with Hinata as national and district-level setters like Atsumu Miya and Toru Oikawa wish to play with him.

That's not all. Hinata also has his unhinged bird-eye stare, using which he has sent shivers down everyone watching. The Haikyuu!! protagonist has even made several talented players fear him who wish that they weren't in a match-up with him. Despite the obvious height disadvantage, Hinata was able to spike the ball over all of them. As such, many fans believe he is exactly the kind of player who could give Isagi a breakdown due to his mentality.