why did this have to be titled the great monster war 2 have we not suffered ENOUGH

[ or: a thread where i make an attempt to break down chapter 400 while i try not to break down :D ]

turns out: hoshiumi flying with the kamomedai banner behind him in 399 was actually a hint about what was to come in 400. this panel signified the closing of his arc; like the banner suggests, the habit of conquering midair battles has long become second nature to him.

and now in ch. 400, we see the rest of the monster generation with their respective high school banners behind them, marking the conclusion of their arcs as well.

first up, sakusa and itachiyama's banner, "effort."

that play was all sakusa, from the receive to that spike—a play reflective of his drive to see things through. as he and komori said in 394, he puts in the effort to finish things with satisfaction, and if the things he said in that rally are anything to go by, he /is/ satisfied

next, we have bokuto and fukurodani's banner, "pour all your soul into each ball."

the play that preceded sakusa's point was a block against bokuto. we all know that the bokuto from before would have been disheartened by that, but that is no longer the case.

to pour all that you have into each ball is to focus only on the play in front of you—that's task focus, and that's exactly what bokuto has learned to apply. he looked past the point he lost and charged ahead, dealt with what the cards he had and outsmarted his opponents.

next, we have ushijima and shiratorizawa's banner, "be strong" [or "overwhelming force"].

ushijima is practically the symbol for strength in hq, but this goes beyond the power of his spikes; notice that in his spike here, he uses the circular arm swing he only perfected recently

these were the ushijima's words in 395 when we first learned that he replaced the arm swing he's mastered. it took him years to understand that true strength is having the courage to discard what you have to be better, but with that last play, he's proven that he truly is strong.

NEXT. here we have atsumu and inarizaki's banner, "who needs memories."

i already made a thread on this banner, so i won't go into much detail, but i have to say: the usage of the banner in this spread has to be my favorite from this chapter.

atsumu's previous perception of their banner was too reckless, but he's grown to understand that memories are etched onto his muscles, so he sets up this play without fear⁠—the same back-minus play that he and hinata have quite a lot of memories with.

[my personal interpretation of the inarizaki banner is detailed here if you want to read it!] https://twitter.com/lqiwaoi/status/1276482811415818241

AND THIS. I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW IM SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH THIS GODDAMN PANEL. WHAT WAS FURUDATE THINKING.

all i could think of when i first saw this is how hinata used to be terrified of kageyama's block in middle school. and now here we are.

at this point i can offer you no analysis. im just. crying. because they really are flying to such great heights to take each other on and i think that's beautiful. i think all of us agree that they embody the karasuno banner perfectly, no questions asked.

i'm just honestly astounded by the elements furudate included in this chapter. the way he used their high school banners and plays to tell us how these characters developed is just CRAZY. don't even get me started on the paneling

i feel like i could have worded this whole thing more concisely but i guess thats it? in conclusion: furudate genius