To celebrate Yaku the Tiger, a (very long) thread of and on some of the most striking visuals from Karasuno v Nekoma national match.

First and foremost, coolest colour page ever.

This spread moves my soul. The symmetry reminds readers that both are equal, the old generation and the new generation, we and they.

But if, on the rights page, the grandfather relinquishes the meaning of this match to the grandson,

the grandson offers this match to the world in honour of the grandfather, since he knows that his generation wouldn't get there but for the past generation.

The Nekoma's banner "繋げ", lit. means "Connect!", serves as the most tangible symbol for this intergenerational link.

My most favourite of Furudate's techniques: using one ball to connect two panels/perspectives/actions (in this case Kageyama and Noya).

It smoothens the flows of actions, imitates speed, and gives rise to very interesting perspectives (and, sometimes, their disregards).

Furudate-sensei breaches panel borders frequently, but I particularly love it when this technique enhances how the actions are perceived.

In this case, Tsukishima's thumb breaching the border gives this sense of intrusion

that highlights the act of him invading the other side of the court to block.

More about this technique in Maxime's awesome thread: https://twitter.com/justahaikyuufan/status/1273303345986506752?s=20

These 4 dialogue-free panel manage to signify

1. Yamaguchi's character arc
2. and the start of Tsukishima's character arc
3. in conjunction with each other.

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I love love love how the speech bubble announcing Asahi is framed between Yaku's concentration and Kageyama's excitement.

It declares loudly for whom these expressions are for in the simplest of way.

The perspective....

Curvilinear perspective in the right panel stretches out the net to give readers a feel of just how *difficult* it is to raise a block in time.

How the ball falling down from the upper panel to the lower

It amps up the dynamism so much.

How pretty the way the sfx curves along with the perspective.

Peak aesthetic moodboard.

The running commentary exerts enormous pressure, but the visuals we see are deliberate steps of the serve, focusing on small parts rather than the big whole, conveying Asahi's absolute concentration.

There are a lot of "ball-in-your-face" panels/spreads, but this might just be one of the most beautiful.

Hands down the best imagery in the series

The very best

sfx as panel divider to link a sequence of actions

and again.

This helps conveys just how fast the actions depicted in a sequence of 3-4 panels are, by linking them with one single sound.

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The focus is shone on Kenma's limbs to emphasise just how much effort he -Nekoma's spoiled brain who shocks the whole court just by *moving*- is exerting to chase after the balls.

The pair of spreads to end all pairs of spreads.

For the audience, this is an official match wherein one team will be eliminated. It's loud, it's exciting. Tension spills out to sweep the entire arena into the flood of deafening cheers.

But the two teams

hear none of that. For them, this is no different from a practice match. Sound drains away, the arena shrinks down the old familiar gym.

For a very long time, generations long, the much-awaited dumpster battle is meant to play out in a real tournament. Yet when it happens,

it feels just like a practice match.

This is no contradiction. This is a testament to the bond between the two teams, built on a promise between two friends, two rivals. Through such bond flows the familiarity that steeps into each and every of their encounters.

This

is volleyball between rivals that learn from and grow with each other.

This is volleyball between friends.