What is the 120% that Bokuto wants from Akaashi anyway?

About that iconic line from Chapter 336.

It's not easy to give your full 100 percent during a game. But, Akaashi? From you... I want your 120 percent.

Yes, it sounds very romantic. But it also connects to some other ideas in the Fukurodani vs. Mujinazaka match.

Bokuto's concept of 120% is introduced all the way back in Chapter 89 when he is talking to Tsukishima about the moment he got hooked on volleyball. It refers not only to putting in more effort, but to surpassing the limits of your own abilities.

So, about the Mujinazaka match... Something I really like is that the biggest panel in Akaashi's Giant Stress & Inadequacy Montage is not any of his rival setters, but Bokuto himself.

Akaashi was under pressure for a lot of reasons in this game: Mujinazaka being a strong opponent; Mujinazaka's setter playing mind games on him; seeing the Nekoma third years reach the end of their high school volleyball careers and not wanting to let that happen to Fukurodani; Bokuto being in top form so that there was nothing left to distract Akaashi from seeing himself as the remaining weak link on the team.

But, Bokuto's own resolution to "win 'em all" would also have been a huge source of pressure for him. Why? Because Akaashi didn't have confidence that they would win every game.

Throughout canon, whenever Bokuto comes up with a new unrealistic goal, Akaashi is usually there to bring him down with a dose of reality. (It's possible that he only does so because he wants to prevent Bokuto getting carried away and ending up in a slump. But even when they were 1st and 2nd years still getting to know each other, he had the same response, so I don't think so.)

In Chapter 292 when Bokuto originally said that line about winning every game of nationals, even though it was freezing cold, you can see Akaashi sweating... probably because he wanted to say "no, we probably won't win every game" XD but he can't say it! He knows that that's not the attitude you need to bring to nationals! I'm sure I don't need to cite my sources when I say that in the world of Haikyuu, the best players must believe, until the very last point of the last set, that they're going to win and make it all the way to the top.

So, Bokuto sure put a lot of pressure on Akaashi with this way of thinking. The pressure that led to him panicking, needing to be benched and even crying about it later.

Still, Bokuto wasn't framed as being in the wrong, and he never took it back or apologised. Even when he noticed that Akaashi was choking early in the game, at this level he simply couldn't say something like (Tsukishima voice) "it's just a club" or "it doesn't matter if we lose" to take the pressure off. Instead he said... "you should already be used to this much pressure!"

Okay... so we know about the conflict between Bokuto and Akaashi's mindsets. And we know that Bokuto isn't going to back down. Let's try and get back to the 120%.

Akaashi was able to regain his composure in the end, but it wasn't by buying into the belief that they could definitely win or that his abilities were definitely good enough. Instead, he went in the opposite direction. He mentally put himself in a position of total insignificance, so that his own view of his abilities didn't matter, and instead resolved to serve his team by playing the same way as he always did.

Bokuto, perceptive as always, seemed to know that this was Akaashi's mindset. That's why he commented about Akaashi giving only "100%" and "this is as far as I go". After calming down, Akaashi was once again consistently doing his best, all the way up to the limits of what he was realistically capable of.

(Of course, Bokuto is showing his admiration here too, because consistency is the motto and spirit of Fukurodani and the one thing Bokuto has been missing as a player.)

However, Bokuto still wasn't satisfied with 100%. Because remember what he said about his love for volleyball...

For example, he could achieve 120% by succeeding at a new, risky, aggressive play at a critical moment...

But he can't do that on his own. He needs a setter.

And what Bokuto inspires in Akaashi is the willingness to take that risk with him: to let go of his realism for a moment and dare to achieve something beyond it.

That's the 120% that Bokuto wants and personally demands from Akaashi.

It's repeatedly stated how Bokuto is the kind of player that inspires his teammates and opponents to play even better, but this might be the first time that Akaashi was caught up in that inspiration too!

We also see Akaashi coming around to Bokuto's ambitious mindset soon after this. After all, they've just succeeded at something risky and proved that they can play at that 120%. Akaashi's previous "I don't matter" mindset helped him to stay consistent, but it also went beyond realism, to putting himself down and limiting himself; thanks to Bokuto, he was able to grow beyond it.

By the way... I love how in that moment, Akaashi's final thought was just "I want to try it".

The dutiful, selfless role he'd put himself into fell away, and suddenly he was following his own impulse.

It's the same kind of small impulse that he probably had when he first saw Bokuto and thought, guess I'll go to Fukurodani.

I guess ultimately my conclusion here is that Bokuto is really cool!!! (We all knew that)

I think it's so fresh how he is a very, very self-centered, even selfish, demanding character, who nevertheless is good to the people around him, lifts them up and benefits them by acting the way he does. Being considerate and giving is not the only way to be a good teammate; he epitomises the other extreme, of inspiring, leading the way, being ambitious and expecting the best of others.

(No wonder that when I hunt for mangacaps of him, I can hardly find any facing to the right...)

• 24 August 2026
• fanworks,
• haikyuu,
• bokuaka,
• meta,