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Kageyama Tobio: ISTJ
I don't think there's any debate with this since Kageyama sort of fits the ISTJ personality mold; at the same time I don't like attributing to the idea that fitting a mold indicates that the mold is correct. So I'm going to break this down as "proof" to why Kageyama is an ISTJ.
Disclaimer: The last Haikyuu!! chapter I read was probably like 207, so I'm very behind with the manga.
→ Dominant Function: Si (Introverted Sensing)
Kageyama most naturally leads with viewing the world he expects it to be. There's this part where he says, "Why do I have to learn English when I'm Japanese?!" which is a humorous version of expressing this trait (and also not necessarily indicative because it could also be a reflection of Fi rather than Si), but it's still a sort of example of introverted sensing.
More prominently, we can see his Si back in his Kitadai Ichi days - in middle school. When he's setting to Kindaichi and Kunimi, he begins to grow frustrated because why aren't they hitting the ball? His personal calculations and skills are perfect, so why can't they get along with it? He grows angry and emotionally irrational because he's so wrapped up in how he expects the results to be that it leads to him not recognizing reality and others, and thus leading him to be benched.
But even when he's in Karasuno, Kageyama has this element of awareness within himself. He's bad at academics, but he's still excellent in memorizing - we see this when Tsukishima berates him for having shitty grades despite being a genius, and Daichi comes over and tests Kageyama on all the hand signs, which Kageyama answers quickly and precisely. And Kageyama inherently respects his older peers (Oikawa and Sugawara), asking them for advice or even offering to not play as a regular because he knows that third years more often than not are regulars, being third years. Kageyama recognizes, is aware, and respects what has always been - it's what makes him comfortable, because he's familiar with it, he knows it, and he lives in it. This is him at surface level - working with the world that he knows.
→ Auxiliary Function: Te (Extraverted Thinking)
In the second position is Kageyama's ability to execute plans and ideas. He is not a procrastinator on volleyball - what he really values. He practices and excels and does as much as he can, healthily. He works out and knows the things to do to reach his end goal - to become an olympic athlete, to win with his team, whatever.
Kageyama is very confident in his playing - though later he becomes more humbled, his reliance in his abilities never falters. This comes from his first function in understanding the world based on what he knows (Si); then when he does, he usually does just as he expects himself to.
The aux Te also comes with Kageyama when he became irritable and demanding orders from Kindaichi and Kunimi. Fans can collectively agree that Kageyama is not likely to become captain in his third year, due to his personality - we know that he could be an effective leader, but he would not be a sympathetically good one. However, the auxiliary Te indicates people who are perfectly capable of giving orders, but tend to not prefer to due to their introverted dominant, where they live inside themselves first.
He is still an independent and efficient (in volleyball) person, though, which is where the comfortable auxiliary Te sits. He is capable of taking action with usually effective results, when he wants to. Kageyama is perfectly comfortable with doing things that he thinks need to be done.
→ Tertiary Function: Fi (Introverted Feeling)
Although we see Kageyama become more humbled and aware of others, I feel like it comes from the value and importance he places on himself - not in a self-absorbed way, but in a self-acceptance way. It is less about spreading his emotional capability to others, and more to personally understand why considering others is important. This is introverted feeling.
Moreover, I feel like the fact that he puts all his energies in volleyball is of the tert Fi - that with all his capabilities of memorization and taking action, he has to imbue these traits with something that he cares about. More often than not a lot of ISTJs excel in academics because academics and education are heavily valued by our society, and their Si absorbs and learns to value that.
But Kageyama's comes from his love of volleyball - it's more than just a fascination with a sport, but something that he physically and emotionally enjoys, and is good at. When he's on a team, he knows he has to be useful - and he wants to be useful, not just as a player but to his team. Even when he's in middle school he understands this; it's actually why he was so frustrated with the spikers, because he's doing his best here, why can't other people be good enough to let his skills and usefulness actually work? It's a consciousness of his own value to a team, how he can both be good at what he loves, and how he can use it adhering to what he values - that is, his Si knowing that a volleyball team is comprise of a team, and thus his abilities being used in this way.
Kageyama chooses what to value and what to be loyal to based on what he feels is important - but when he does, he sticks to it. His introverted feeling comes less from always wanting to "be himself" (dominant) or place value on reflection of his identity and feelings (auxiliary), but more in that he finds things that are important to him and sticks to them.
→ Inferior Function: Ne (Extraverted Intuition)
We actually really haven't seen Kageyama's inferior Ne (I mean, I haven't, but I'm like a year behind), besides when Hinata tells Kageyama that he wants to spike with his eyes open and Kageyama shuts the idea down immediately. It's an outlandish thought to Kageyama when the way they've been doing things - the uncontrollable quick - has been working perfectly fine, and he doesn't understand why Hinata wants to do things differently.
It's not because it's impossible or hard: it's because it's not comfortable for Kageyama.
Inferior Ne is a world of paranoia when the user is extremely stressed or emotionally unstable. Since Kageyama has a lot of control over his feelings and thoughts, choosing more to work with reality than possibility, that's why we rarely see it.
Still, with the Kitadai Ichi mess - when he absolutely freaks out and grows demanding - and with Hinata wanting to change their effective strategy, we can see that Kageyama has some discomfort, fear, and difficulty with possibilities he views to be senseless, thus reflecting his inferior Ne.
→ Overall
ISTJs are typically labeled as so organized and rational to the point of being cold, distant, and unfriendly - which I don't think is either true or untrue, necessarily. But with Kageyama particularly, the narrative of Haikyuu sees him as this way with dynamic and depth, and eventual growth to him both still being himself, and yet becoming more interpersonally appealing. He is an example of how an ISTJ can grow out of just a world of experiences and order, and learn to understand his own values which can then lead to a friendlier respect for others.
Disclaimer: The last Haikyuu!! chapter I read was probably like 207, so I'm very behind with the manga.
→ Dominant Function: Si (Introverted Sensing)
Kageyama most naturally leads with viewing the world he expects it to be. There's this part where he says, "Why do I have to learn English when I'm Japanese?!" which is a humorous version of expressing this trait (and also not necessarily indicative because it could also be a reflection of Fi rather than Si), but it's still a sort of example of introverted sensing.
More prominently, we can see his Si back in his Kitadai Ichi days - in middle school. When he's setting to Kindaichi and Kunimi, he begins to grow frustrated because why aren't they hitting the ball? His personal calculations and skills are perfect, so why can't they get along with it? He grows angry and emotionally irrational because he's so wrapped up in how he expects the results to be that it leads to him not recognizing reality and others, and thus leading him to be benched.
But even when he's in Karasuno, Kageyama has this element of awareness within himself. He's bad at academics, but he's still excellent in memorizing - we see this when Tsukishima berates him for having shitty grades despite being a genius, and Daichi comes over and tests Kageyama on all the hand signs, which Kageyama answers quickly and precisely. And Kageyama inherently respects his older peers (Oikawa and Sugawara), asking them for advice or even offering to not play as a regular because he knows that third years more often than not are regulars, being third years. Kageyama recognizes, is aware, and respects what has always been - it's what makes him comfortable, because he's familiar with it, he knows it, and he lives in it. This is him at surface level - working with the world that he knows.
→ Auxiliary Function: Te (Extraverted Thinking)
In the second position is Kageyama's ability to execute plans and ideas. He is not a procrastinator on volleyball - what he really values. He practices and excels and does as much as he can, healthily. He works out and knows the things to do to reach his end goal - to become an olympic athlete, to win with his team, whatever.
Kageyama is very confident in his playing - though later he becomes more humbled, his reliance in his abilities never falters. This comes from his first function in understanding the world based on what he knows (Si); then when he does, he usually does just as he expects himself to.
The aux Te also comes with Kageyama when he became irritable and demanding orders from Kindaichi and Kunimi. Fans can collectively agree that Kageyama is not likely to become captain in his third year, due to his personality - we know that he could be an effective leader, but he would not be a sympathetically good one. However, the auxiliary Te indicates people who are perfectly capable of giving orders, but tend to not prefer to due to their introverted dominant, where they live inside themselves first.
He is still an independent and efficient (in volleyball) person, though, which is where the comfortable auxiliary Te sits. He is capable of taking action with usually effective results, when he wants to. Kageyama is perfectly comfortable with doing things that he thinks need to be done.
→ Tertiary Function: Fi (Introverted Feeling)
Although we see Kageyama become more humbled and aware of others, I feel like it comes from the value and importance he places on himself - not in a self-absorbed way, but in a self-acceptance way. It is less about spreading his emotional capability to others, and more to personally understand why considering others is important. This is introverted feeling.
Moreover, I feel like the fact that he puts all his energies in volleyball is of the tert Fi - that with all his capabilities of memorization and taking action, he has to imbue these traits with something that he cares about. More often than not a lot of ISTJs excel in academics because academics and education are heavily valued by our society, and their Si absorbs and learns to value that.
But Kageyama's comes from his love of volleyball - it's more than just a fascination with a sport, but something that he physically and emotionally enjoys, and is good at. When he's on a team, he knows he has to be useful - and he wants to be useful, not just as a player but to his team. Even when he's in middle school he understands this; it's actually why he was so frustrated with the spikers, because he's doing his best here, why can't other people be good enough to let his skills and usefulness actually work? It's a consciousness of his own value to a team, how he can both be good at what he loves, and how he can use it adhering to what he values - that is, his Si knowing that a volleyball team is comprise of a team, and thus his abilities being used in this way.
Kageyama chooses what to value and what to be loyal to based on what he feels is important - but when he does, he sticks to it. His introverted feeling comes less from always wanting to "be himself" (dominant) or place value on reflection of his identity and feelings (auxiliary), but more in that he finds things that are important to him and sticks to them.
→ Inferior Function: Ne (Extraverted Intuition)
We actually really haven't seen Kageyama's inferior Ne (I mean, I haven't, but I'm like a year behind), besides when Hinata tells Kageyama that he wants to spike with his eyes open and Kageyama shuts the idea down immediately. It's an outlandish thought to Kageyama when the way they've been doing things - the uncontrollable quick - has been working perfectly fine, and he doesn't understand why Hinata wants to do things differently.
It's not because it's impossible or hard: it's because it's not comfortable for Kageyama.
Inferior Ne is a world of paranoia when the user is extremely stressed or emotionally unstable. Since Kageyama has a lot of control over his feelings and thoughts, choosing more to work with reality than possibility, that's why we rarely see it.
Still, with the Kitadai Ichi mess - when he absolutely freaks out and grows demanding - and with Hinata wanting to change their effective strategy, we can see that Kageyama has some discomfort, fear, and difficulty with possibilities he views to be senseless, thus reflecting his inferior Ne.
→ Overall
ISTJs are typically labeled as so organized and rational to the point of being cold, distant, and unfriendly - which I don't think is either true or untrue, necessarily. But with Kageyama particularly, the narrative of Haikyuu sees him as this way with dynamic and depth, and eventual growth to him both still being himself, and yet becoming more interpersonally appealing. He is an example of how an ISTJ can grow out of just a world of experiences and order, and learn to understand his own values which can then lead to a friendlier respect for others.