#i thought i had seen muns in fanart mostly in katakana but in canon it's always hiragana (with a katakana tsu). what does this mean?nothing

[eyedelater]

every time tsukishima says "mun" (むんッ)

i noticed that mun had become tsukishima's associated sound / almost a catchphrase in japanese fanart, so when reading the manga in japanese, i decided to keep an eye out and make a note of every time he says it.

volume 8, chapter 78 — he says むんッ while kicking the shit out of ogata. it isn't a word; it's an effort noise. EH scans translated this one as "HAHH!"

(50 chapters later, still nothing…)

(100 chapters later, still nothing...)

(almost 150 chapters later, still nothing, but usami says むんッ when he kicks tomoharu's neck in, chapter 226. EH scans translated it as "HRNGH!!" i think no one else said it in the mean time.)

(more than 150 chapters later, still nothing, even when tsukishima directs two big kicks toward tanigaki in chapter 229 and totally could have said mun.)

volume 25, chapter 244 — tsukishima finally says むんッ again... while playing menko with koito (and winning). i have a feeling noda-sensei gave us this one as a joke because he knew people were waiting for it. EH scans translated this one as "HRNH!"

(for another 50+ chapters, tsukishima does plenty of nice kicks and other forceful actions during which he could have said mun, but he doesn't.)

volume 31, chapter 303 — he says むんッ one last time while throwing an entire bayonetted rifle at ushiyama. it was worth the wait. EH scans translated it as "HRNGH!"

conclusion: i was expecting more muns than that, given its ubiquity in fanart. i guess everyone just really, really liked it the first time and latched on forever. maybe part of the joke is that the "tsuki" in "tsukishima" means "moon," and "mu-n" (ムーン) is the way to transliterate the english word "moon," so it's like moon guy says something like "moon" while he kicks the shit out of you and that's lovable.