diff --git a/backend/Cargo.lock b/backend/Cargo.lock
index ee26703..abfda4e 100644
--- a/backend/Cargo.lock
+++ b/backend/Cargo.lock
@@ -1517,7 +1517,7 @@ checksum = "c41e0c4fef86961ac6d6f8a82609f55f31b05e4fce149ac5710e439df7619ba4"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "mangalord"
-version = "0.87.13"
+version = "0.87.14"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "argon2",
diff --git a/backend/Cargo.toml b/backend/Cargo.toml
index 6954dc6..3cb524b 100644
--- a/backend/Cargo.toml
+++ b/backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "mangalord"
-version = "0.87.13"
+version = "0.87.14"
 edition = "2021"
 default-run = "mangalord"
 
diff --git a/backend/src/analysis/vision.rs b/backend/src/analysis/vision.rs
index bda7c09..6e5388d 100644
--- a/backend/src/analysis/vision.rs
+++ b/backend/src/analysis/vision.rs
@@ -77,14 +77,33 @@ enum PreparedAnalysis {
 /// JPEG encode. Returns `Ok(Undecodable)` (never `Err`) when the bytes
 /// don't parse, so the caller can fall through to the raw-pass-through
 /// behaviour.
+///
+/// **Diagnosability.** The five fallback paths below all return
+/// `Undecodable`, which the caller treats as "send raw bytes". That's
+/// correct semantically — a server can sometimes salvage a broken
+/// page — but it also makes a silent JPEG-encoder regression
+/// indistinguishable from "the page was just garbage." Emit a `warn`
+/// on each fallback so an operator can grep for "vision prep fell
+/// through" and tell the two apart.
 fn prepare_analysis(image: &[u8], params: SliceParams) -> PreparedAnalysis {
     let Some(img) = image::load_from_memory(image).ok() else {
+        tracing::warn!(
+            bytes = image.len(),
+            "vision prep fell through to Undecodable: image::load_from_memory failed"
+        );
         return PreparedAnalysis::Undecodable;
     };
     match plan_slices(img.width(), img.height(), &params) {
         Plan::Single { .. } => match render_whole(&img, params.max_pixels) {
             Some(jpeg) => PreparedAnalysis::Single { jpeg },
-            None => PreparedAnalysis::Undecodable,
+            None => {
+                tracing::warn!(
+                    width = img.width(),
+                    height = img.height(),
+                    "vision prep fell through to Undecodable: render_whole on Single plan failed"
+                );
+                PreparedAnalysis::Undecodable
+            }
         },
         Plan::Sliced { width, height, bands } => {
             let work = if width == img.width() && height == img.height() {
@@ -98,11 +117,23 @@ fn prepare_analysis(image: &[u8], params: SliceParams) -> PreparedAnalysis {
                     // A failed slice falls back to the undecodable path —
                     // the server then gets one combined call instead of N
                     // broken slice calls.
+                    tracing::warn!(
+                        y0 = *y0,
+                        y1 = *y1,
+                        width,
+                        height,
+                        "vision prep fell through to Undecodable: render_slice failed"
+                    );
                     return PreparedAnalysis::Undecodable;
                 };
                 slices.push((*y0, *y1, jpeg));
             }
             let Some(whole) = render_whole(&img, params.max_pixels) else {
+                tracing::warn!(
+                    width = img.width(),
+                    height = img.height(),
+                    "vision prep fell through to Undecodable: render_whole on Sliced plan failed"
+                );
                 return PreparedAnalysis::Undecodable;
             };
             PreparedAnalysis::Sliced { slices, whole }
@@ -1140,4 +1171,79 @@ mod tests {
             other => panic!("expected Undecodable, got {:?}", std::mem::discriminant(&other)),
         }
     }
+
+    /// Pin the contract that the 0.87.5 fix is about: the heavy image
+    /// work in `analyze()` MUST go through `spawn_blocking` so the tokio
+    /// runtime stays responsive. If a refactor accidentally inlined
+    /// `prepare_analysis` back into the async function, this test would
+    /// catch it.
+    ///
+    /// How we detect it: run `analyze()` on a `current_thread` runtime
+    /// (one worker thread). Schedule a concurrent counter task that
+    /// ticks every 5ms. The image is large enough that `prepare_analysis`
+    /// takes meaningfully longer than the tick interval. If prep is on
+    /// `spawn_blocking`, the worker thread stays free to drive the
+    /// counter and we observe several ticks. If prep is inlined onto
+    /// the runtime, the worker is starved and the counter cannot
+    /// advance during the prep window.
+    ///
+    /// Reqwest's connection refused returns within milliseconds, so the
+    /// HTTP error path doesn't dominate the timing — the prep phase
+    /// owns the wall-clock here.
+    #[tokio::test(flavor = "current_thread", start_paused = false)]
+    async fn analyze_dispatches_image_prep_off_runtime() {
+        use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
+        use std::sync::Arc;
+        use std::time::Duration;
+
+        // VisionClient pointed at a closed local port. Reqwest fails the
+        // POST immediately (connection refused), but the prep work runs
+        // before the POST is even built.
+        let mut cfg = AnalysisConfig::default();
+        cfg.endpoint = "http://127.0.0.1:1/v1/chat/completions".into();
+        cfg.model = "stub".into();
+        cfg.request_timeout = Duration::from_secs(1);
+        // Tune slice geometry to match the test image's shape.
+        cfg.max_pixels = 1_000_000;
+        cfg.min_slice_height = 100;
+        cfg.tall_aspect_threshold = 1.8;
+        let http = reqwest::Client::builder()
+            .timeout(cfg.request_timeout)
+            .no_proxy()
+            .build()
+            .unwrap();
+        let client = VisionClient::new(http, &cfg);
+
+        // ~6 MP image so decode + JPEG encode comfortably exceeds the
+        // 5 ms tick interval on every realistic CI runner.
+        let big = jpeg_of(2000, 3000);
+
+        // Counter that ticks at 5ms. If the runtime is starved, this
+        // task makes no progress.
+        let ticks = Arc::new(AtomicUsize::new(0));
+        let ticks_c = Arc::clone(&ticks);
+        let ticker = tokio::spawn(async move {
+            let mut interval = tokio::time::interval(Duration::from_millis(5));
+            interval.tick().await; // discard immediate first tick
+            loop {
+                interval.tick().await;
+                ticks_c.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
+            }
+        });
+
+        let _ = client.analyze(&big, "image/jpeg").await;
+        ticker.abort();
+        let observed = ticks.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+
+        // A blocked runtime would yield 0 ticks during the prep window;
+        // a free runtime yields many. 2 is a generous floor that
+        // tolerates slow CI hardware without sacrificing the regression
+        // signal.
+        assert!(
+            observed >= 2,
+            "runtime ticked only {observed} times during analyze() — \
+             image prep is likely blocking the runtime instead of using \
+             spawn_blocking"
+        );
+    }
 }
diff --git a/frontend/package.json b/frontend/package.json
index e8445c2..611b815 100644
--- a/frontend/package.json
+++ b/frontend/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "mangalord-frontend",
-  "version": "0.87.13",
+  "version": "0.87.14",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {