personally I don't think bokuto still has the emo mode in his pro life and I already talked about this before but i'm gonna do a thread explaining it better so y'all can also feel more close to his character and to his development, that in my opinion was and is 𝙖𝙬𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚

[this gonna be a little long]
to start it, we're presented before a character that at first sight was "intimidating" bc he was from a powerful house, but as we start to get to know him better, we realize that he's ur tipical lovingly himbo prototipe and boom, u love him

but, from being someone who teached hinata and tsukki with great knowledge, we face this intriguing character with one of his distinctive characteristics, the emo mode, that can come at any time when he faces fails or lack of attention, or a lot of factors

this seems something common and between his teammates is already normalized as something that at some point will happen and they know how to work with that, cause they also know and trust that bokuto will be fine in the end

so what we have is a character too powerful and lovable for his own good, that is also human and can have his flaws, but is too determinated and stubborn to be let down for much time because of his moods, his will to be the best is 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 than his dejected feelings

many people got used to say that akaashi is the one that can bring bokuto back from the emo mode, but he's actually just a factor that helps, in the end it's up to bokuto to decide if he can came back on himself or not, he's pretty okay with that if ur curious

i wanna clarify that i don't think the emo mode is something bad or not necessary cause it was relevant when it came to bokuto's character, but i don't find it cute or adorable or funny, it took from bokuto a lot of positive oportunities like being a top 3 and that's 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘺

but in the end it was part of him and something he faced in the most random moments in the most important games, it was his own demon that he needed to fight to be on his top form and demostrate others how good he is cause he worked hard for it

having "the emo mode" was bokuto's own fight that he needed to overcome on his own for himself and for no one else, to grow and be able to go forward without a rock in the way to difficult his path towards his dreams (the pro life)

and here is where furudate shocked us. we alredy knew that bokuto enjoyed and never let himself down in matches where their opponent was stronger, and with what are we blessed? fukurodani vs mujinazaka, bokuto vs kiryuu from the top 3 aces

in this match we see bokuto too calm and normal and the one who in the end loses his mind is akaashi, things wasn't going okay for bokuto or fukurodani but bokuto never showed, not even the slightest sign, that the emo mode was gonna show up

bokuto was too observant of everything and when he saw akaashi have a hard time, his own brain decided that he needed to do something about it, he somehow realized that his role was not being the one being helped by his team but be the ace his team needed to rely on

when bokuto said that it was time for him to just be an "ace" it was really dramatic and refreshing, and after that no one could stop him from being a freaking monster on the court, and when fuki hibarida, coach from the japan olympic men's vball team, said this i got CHILLS

if only bokuto could play like that every game.... strong and powerful words indeed. and the implication bokuto changed were powerful too. if bokuto wants to be someone in the future, he needed to train his brain to not be let down by his own emotions and changing moods

and well, every player and many characters in haikyuu fight their own heads, but as I'm only focusing on bokuto here I'm gonna say that if bokuto wants to be a pro, he needs to get rid of the emo mode, which is honesltly what is happening in this match

bokuto wants to win, and its being hinted by furudate many times, akaashi even starts getting worried bc bokuto has been doing great and the emo mode hasn't been a bother since the first day of nationals

he got so used to bokuto having his randoms moods that when bokuto was doing great he found it weird which in my case i find hilarious. in that exact game furudate showed us a development for bokuto worthy for someone who was gonna do great in the future

kiryuu, his rival, someone who bokuto admired and wanted to play against, felt FEAR of bokuto's power and will, he described bokuto in words all of us sometimes use and even gave us more logical analize of how bokuto is seen by other monsters like him and it was 𝘀𝗼 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱

the emo mode was showed as a dificulty for bokuto in games, and in this match he definitely defeated it once and for all. fun fact: the 1st time we see the emo mode is in a ch named "Ace's form" (95) and when it is finally left behind is in a ch named "The Ace's awakening" (331)

I personally think bokuto's emo mode started when his teammates in middle shcool started to ignore him or taking him for someone too serious about vball, he was a kids and he was left alone and that maybe traumatized him, leaving too much pressure on his shoulders

but thanks to that, we can calculate that if the emo mode started then, it ended at the end of this ch, when bokuto is walking, not alone anymore and without the emo mode, with his team and looking ready to go and win nationals

and coming back to the recent events in the manga, yall seriously think that a professional team would put on their first lines a player that can ruin a match for a mood changing personality? if i were a coach in the jackals i would definitely NEVER and thats why i love 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨

and that's mostly why i think that bokuto doesn't have the emo mode anymore, 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵, which was a slow but successful process, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.

and to close this thread, i wanna say that if in any future ch the emo mode for some reason is presented again i would think thats kinda poorly written after such incredible character development, but i'm gonna respect it, i don't think its possible tho, but just wanted to add

i love bokuto koutarou and i hope nothing but the best for him, thanks for reading guys!