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Akane Yamamoto (Japanese: 山本 (やまもと) あかね Yamamoto Akane) is the younger sister of Taketora Yamamoto. She was a second-year student at Nekoma Junior High.

Post-timeskip, Akane is a college freshman and a publishing company intern.

Appearance[]

She is an average size for her age and has curly, light brown/reddish hair that is tied in pigtails and a cat clip on her right-sided hair part. Her eyes are light brown, and she wears a sailor girl's uniform from her school. With a striking resemblance to her brother, she has thick, dark eyebrows and long lashes.

Personality[]

Akane is energetic and extremely enthusiastic, like her brother. She goes all out on her cheering squad for Nekoma High and is deeply knowledgeable in volleyball. She is also shown to be dedicated to her research of other teams and their playing styles.

Background[]

Akane is Yamamoto's younger sister. She often leads Nekoma's cheering squad with a megaphone, much to her brother's embarrassment.

Plot[]

Spring High Preliminary Arc[]

Nekoma vs Fukurōdani[]

Akane and Alisa OVA 4-4

Nekoma High makes it to the semifinals against Fukurōdani Academy.[1] Leading the cheering squad in the bleachers, Akane makes her presence known to her brother and the team through her loud cheers. Alisa stands next to her and calls Lev by his pet name, intriguing Akane. She asks the older girl about the meaning and gushes over how cute it is.

The game soon starts, and Akane's slightly unnerved by Sarukui's vicious jump serve. Bokuto then spikes a ball all the way up to the bleachers, where a shocked Akane catches it. Nekoma retaliates by having Yaku perfectly receive Bokuto's attack. When Alisa assumes that the ball was sent directly to Yaku, Akane corrects her and remarks that Yaku most likely shifted his position in anticipation of the ball's trajectory.

Throughout the match, Akane cheers on Nekoma while explaining their many tactics to Alisa. When Fukurōdani gains four points ahead of Nekoma, Alisa worries that they'll lose, but Akane explains that Nekoma would always start their games slow and should be processing their attacks now.

Soon, Lev's switched in. Akane excitedly thinks to herself that Lev's the tallest and probably strongest player Nekoma has ever had. However, Lev completely misses the toss, much to Alisa's embarrassment. Akane reassures her that things like that happen all the time.[2] Lev soon makes up for his mistakes with successful spikes, earning Akane's admiration, though that ends when he messes up his serve.

Fukurōdani and Nekoma are keeping up with each other. Akane notes that though Fukurōdani is easily keeping up with them, they've at least managed to stop Bokuto. However, Bokuto quickly makes a comeback and scores consecutively. Akane and Alisa cheer on Nekoma, but in the end, Fukurōdani wins.

Nekoma vs Nohebi[]

Akane and Alisa stay for Nekoma's next match against Nohebi Academy, its last chance for nationals.[3] As the players line up, Akane motivates the squad to cheer as loud as it can. Alisa asks Akane about what kind of team Nohebi is, and Akane replies that she doesn't know much other than that Nohebi is similar to Nekoma, except it would try to induce the opposing team's self-destruction.

Nohebi soon seemingly overwhelms Nekoma. As spectators behind Akane and Alisa comment disappointingly on the match, the two look ahead awkwardly. However, after the referee judges Nohebi in favor of him and a ball gets spiked into Yamamoto's face, Akane starts noticing that the match feels wrong.

Akane and Alisa OVA 5-2

Yaku then gets injured and is switched out for Shibayama, a less experienced libero.[4] Akane worries about Nekoma because she believes Yaku is Nekoma's guardian, a figure as important as the ace, as well as this being Yaku's last year to play with Nekoma. Sensing the younger's distress, Alisa recalls a match where the ace injured himself and had to be switched out, and despite that, his team still dominated the rest of the nationals. Comforted, Akane wipes her tears and continues cheering on Nekoma. In the end, Nekoma wins 2-0. Happily, Alisa and Akane hug each other and begin to cry.[5]

Tokyo Nationals Arc[]

Nekoma vs Sarukawa Tech[]

Group s4-e25-3

Akane leads the cheering section during Nekoma's difficult game against Sarukawa Tech High. She and Alisa happily celebrated when Nekoma was eventually able to win the game in straight sets. Afterwards, Akane is standing outside the stadium when she hears people speaking of how Nekoma might not be able to handle playing against Karasuno in the next round. This angers the young girl, who silently vows that these spectators will soon see Nekoma's true abilities.[6] Later that night, Akane and Alisa run into Saeko and the younger girl feels an instant rivalry with Saeko.

Nekoma vs Karasuno[]

Having encountered Saeko the night before the match and felt an instant rivalry with the older woman, Akane eagerly leads the Nekoma cheering section with the goal of not letting Karasuno's cheer section out-do them. After Hinata scores the first point of the game with the quick attack, she explains to Alisa what a minus tempo is but trails off when she tries to add that speed isn't all to an attack, her demeanor causing Alisa to think that she is trying to hold back her feelings from seeing Lev unable to stop the quick.

When Lev's serve goes into the net, Alisa believes that it was a mistake, but Akane actually points out that Lev did this on purpose. After Kuroo was able to block Tanaka and tie the score, Akane explains that Lev's serves were targeted to go to Hinata to keep him from doing any attacks. When Nekoma is able to win the first set, Akane leads a cheer for the team to try to win the game in straight sets.

When Lev is able to pull off a back attack, Akane celebrates the point with Alisa but then tries to comfort the older girl, who was embarrassed when Lev sent his second serve out-of-bounds. When Asahi is forced to make the first touch, Akane is certain that Tsukishima would be the one to get the set since he was the only attacker in the front row, but she would become annoyed when she watched Daichi get the set.

When Hinata is able to win the second set for Karasuno by receiving Yamamoto's spike, Akane is especially upset by the way that Karasuno was able to win. Alisa would try to keep her in high spirits since there is still another set to play. Nekoma would eventually lose the match, and Akane is seen clapping in support.

After the match, Akane and Alisa go to a restaurant and are seated with Saeko and other Karasuno supporters. Akane is still upset over Nekoma's loss, but Saeko is able to help her overcome it and the two appear to have started a friendship.[7]

Final Arc[]

During the match between the Schweiden Adlers and the MSBY Black Jackals, Akane appears with Fumi Enaga. She has graduated from Nekoma and is currently a college freshmen and an intern for a publishing company[8]. After the match, Akane is seen happily greeting Saeko.

Statistics[]

High School Statistics
Power
 
1/5
Jumping
 
3/5
Stamina
 
2/5
Game Sense
 
3/5
Technique
 
2/5
Speed
 
4/5

She is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about volleyball, but it's unknown if she actually plays the sport. Akane is good at analyzing matches and can discriminate between the diverse types of attacks or serves. She's also well acquainted with the techniques of local teams like Nekoma, Fukurōdani, and Nohebi and has authored a research book on their styles.

Relationships[]

Family/Nekoma High[]

  • Taketora Yamamoto: Akane has a good relationship with her older brother, and she leads Nekoma's cheering squad, though her loud cheers sometimes embarrass him. She thinks of him as Nekoma's ace and believes him to be a strong player. Yamamoto also tells her a lot about his team and each individual player.
  • Nekoma High: Akane is acquainted with most members of the team and admires them for their plays. At the same time, the players are encouraged by Akane's cheers and are grateful to her for leading their cheer squad. Akane seems to know the team's techniques and playing style well, showing that she may attend a lot of its matches or simply hear a lot from her brother.
  • Alisa Haiba: It's unknown how long they've known each other, but they seem to be very close despite the age gap. Alisa and Akane stood next to each other during Nekoma's semifinals and match against Nohebi in the spring high preliminaries. Akane would explain volleyball concepts to Alisa, while the latter comforted her when she needed it. At one point in the match, Alisa followed Akane in cheering on Yamamoto by calling him "oni-chan".

Quotes[]

  • (To Alisa) "Because we have the luxury of such good receives, the 'brain' can work to its peak potential."[9][10]
  • (To Alisa) "Nekoma has no glaring holes in their defense. Or, rather, it's more like they're filling up any holes and constantly readjusting their defense as they go along."[11][10]

Trivia[]

  • Current Concern: "I keep getting carried away when talking about volleyball with my friends."
  • Star Sign: Pisces.
  • Nomenclature:
    • Yamamoto (山本) – Natural Mountain

References[]

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