I have a bunch of legit crit for Reborn and grumpiness over how it's not delivering as much awesome as it can and think "MAYBE I SHOULD STOP READING THEN :(." -- all until I actually read a chapter and then the characters
simply make cute faces and tape Lambo's mouth shut and turn into hot and terribly underage demon frogmen and there are handcuffs handcuffs handcuffs WHY and I face the fact that i am the target demographic. Take me, baby hitman, I'm yours! Here's to ridiculousness; to hilarious innuendo; most of all, to Amano jovially crowdsurfing into the fourth wall.
However, I reserve the right to haaaaate the cloning of the first gen Vongola in the tenth gen. It should be a parallel, not the same line. Hibari is now the ultra-Japanese boy who looks like a Chinese man who would apparently look Italian if he chopped off his braid and dyed the rest of his hair blond!
It's uninteresting to have them be reincarnations of the first gen, if that's where this is going - it turns the current characters into ghosts of coolness past. And wouldn't it be nonsensical, with Giotto's ghost appearing to Tsuna? Now I'm having Yuugiou flashbacks.
On the other hand ARE HANDCUFFS I'm sorry, I meant to say it was really nice to actually get a bit of insight into Dino. He irritates me tremendously in how lacking his characterisation is - since Varia arc he basically shows up to smirk, grab petite Vongola tush out of the fire, and talk a lot. But this chapter shows a little of how he fights and this
casual almost-cruel delight in it, ooooo. I'm starting to think Yamamoto's going to grow to be like Dino, rather than Tsuna, never mind the two-students-of-Reborn thing - though TYL Tsuna is also something of a bastard (♥ blossoming Machavellian dickery ♥), hmm. And Dino's mental shout-out to Squalo is way heartwarming.
Hibari's hedgehog is called "Roll", and that makes both of them excellent.
Re:cover
Tsuna's cat is ugly and that Reborn image looks like it's been used before, but hello Tsuna. Helloooooo.
Character spread:
- Lancia appears for the first time in a billionty chapters and his face is vanishing and his clothes are dedicated to being boring. waaah
- Yamamoto, WHY DID YOU MUG THE EIGHTIES? GET OUT OF THAT VEST it is hideous and why do you look more like Xanxus than Xanxus does, who seems to be 12 and a teenybopper, I cannot handle.
- Huh, 'Viper', not 'Mammon'. Also Lussuria rather than Lissuria is canon again, hurrah.
- Tsuna looks like he was drawn by BBP. I would object to how he's cutified, except that he's been so successfully cutified that my little heart melts. So weak
- Kyoko's skirt! So cute and sparkly--KYOKO'S SHOES! Now that's how you mug the Eighties successfully. Amano Akira, Kubo Tite, however much your manga may frustrate at times, I would buy your fashion design lines with my own blood. (Gokudera's hoodie is also an important factor in this.)
- Bianchi looks so sweetly carefree ♥.
- LAL IN EVENING DRESS oh m-my. Be still my heart.
- Oh, Genny, farewell, as the only dead guy in the semi-main cast. (Well, and Timoteo. Sorry, Timoteo.)
- Zakuro really does appear to be the resident man-child, Kikyo is still a man :(, and Bluebell's got frightening shoes.
I'm quite behind on the flist, but planning to catch up. Be prepared for possible random comments on age-old posts. On the other hand, I'm going into a semi-new job - different position at the same place - so I might be kept busy sobbing into my teacakes over my own incompetence for a while. As one does. Or just tired and vaguely disturbed. There are a lot of badly-written autobiographical manuscripts about molestation out there, people. That repression-filled Calvinistic culture was a really terrible idea.
Also, I've finally found a Neil Gaiman book I don't detest. The way people like his books, it felt like it had to happen sometime. Coraline is creepy and a lot of fun, and the illustrations match the story perfectly. Even the talking cat is rather endearing for how it's a little tool, as opposed to being simply the sarcastic, more-clever-than-thou familiar.
I've heard there's a new Discworld book out! It'll take ages before it reaches South Africa, but knowing it exists leaves me gleeful. Pratchett has the work ethic of a machine.
And I keep running into detective noir-styled stories, books and movies. There's a genre that's brutal to women. *wince* The books I've found are pretty good about addressing the stacks of sexism in the genre, happily, 'cos there are only so many variations on killed/raped/prostitute I can take. And, as a bonus, the books include fantasy and sci-fi that don't suck. Truly, this is my time of wonders. in genre fiction terms.
Peace. o/