[sono yami chi no boku ni atarashii yo agete]
Well, like many others before me (purportedly), I've finally succumbed to the multitude of sexy fangirl-squeeing art posts made by the lovely (and enthusiastic O.o;;) runesque, and finally sat down to read Kate(i)kyou(shi) Hitman Reborn!. General opinions, observations, and approximately one metric butt-ton of Gokudera squeeing under the cut.
So, earlier on, when I'm asking around about this series and whatnot trying to decide if it's worth getting into, I made the mistake (of all things) of asking for people's opinions on /a/. I got all kinds of responses, things like "gb2/fag/", "it's so kawaii!!!11 it's all anyone ever talks about on /y/ xD" and some random Youtube/Megaupload link spam to go along with all that. (Don't ever ask for help on /a/.) Still, the general sentiment came across with one of the few serious answers I got: "It's fangirl yaoibait trash. Don't even bother."
So then, I thought, "well, I definitely have to watch it now".
(No, seriously, this was honestly how I thought. Because if /a/ hates it, and mocks it, it means they fear it probably secretly like it. Like Bleach. I enjoyed Bleach immensely, despite how much it's brutalized on /a/.)
Fortunately, thanks to stoptazmo.com and onemanga.com, acquiring scanslations of the series was rather easy. No, I feel no shame about ruthlessly abusing the Internet to fulfill my own selfish desires, by the way. Regardless, I actually starting reading KHR about a week ago, but stopped for a while because of a.) Hot Gimmick, which at the time I had desperately been craving to finish, and b.) the crackfest beginning of KHR, which was sadly rather disappointing and took quite a lot of effort to move past. (Though I still squealed like an idiot whenever Gokudera appeared in a panel, but I'll get to my burning blazing love of him later.)
So, I'm up to the Varia arc now, with the Vongola Half Rings, and...well, it's interesting. Probably my favorite thing to observe thus far in this series is how Amano-sensei gets progressively better at drawing Tsuna. Which, this might sound like a joke, but it's really not. O.o All the other characters' designs have remained pretty consistent up until now, but Tsuna is starting to look less...hmmmm, comedic, I guess, and somewhat cuter. (Especially when he goes into Hyper Dying-Will Mode. Eee, he reminds me of Sora from Kingdom Hearts. Who I adore as though I were dying. /LOL PUN)
Also, well, regardless what you might have thought, Rune, despite the appearance of a whole bunch of interesting and hot male characters Gokudera-kun still remains my favorite. :P My love of him perservered even though hotties like Hibari and Mukuro (WHO I KEPT CONFUSING FOR EACH OTHER FOR A WHILE AT FIRST O.O), and shit, even the king of the pretty boys, Belphegor, who, believe it or not, I actually kind of didn't like at all. But anyway.
So, I positively adore Gokudera, right, but I REALLY WISH THE BOY WOULD WIN ONE OF HIS FIGHTS ONCE IN A WHILE. ;_____; He's held his OWN in all his battles thus far, but hasn't actually legally WON. In his fight with Chikusa, he blew up the wall so Hibari could save him help, and in his fight with Belphegor he let his ring get taken so he wouldn't die in a fire. (lol) I mean, sure, his fight against Bel was impressive in it's own right (and also got, like, more amounts of chapters than anybody else's fight thus far, IIRC), but I really wish Goku-chan had won~~~~ D: *pathetic petty fangirl*
Though when I think about it, I have no idea why I love Gokudera so much. O.o His obsession with loyalty to Tsuna is kind of groundless, when you think about anything other than when they first met and Tsuna saved him from his dynamite. *shrug* Which, I mean, I understand his past and whatnot, with how he kept trying to get into a mafia family, ANY mafia family, and they all kept turning him down because he played piano or was 1/4 Japanese or what-the-hell-ever, but at the same time that entire chapter was weird what with him going from disliking Tsuna one second and then becoming an obsessive creepy happy stalker pledging his undying loyalty to him the next.
(Personally I'd be weirded out if some kid suddenly stripped down his boxers and started putting out dynamite fuses with his bare hands, but that's just me.)
On that tangent, I just realized now that while we've seen a butt-ton of Gokudera's past, why the hell haven't we seen anything about Yamamoto? O.o I like him, too. Though, really, he can't POSSIBLY think all these battles and epic turf wars and stuff are just a giant mafia role-playing game; he CAN'T. @.@ As a matter of fact, I like just about everybody in Tsuna's "family", with maybe the exception of, like...Lambo. (Who isn't technically in the Vongola family, anyway.) I randomly like the way Ryohei puts his all into everything he does. I know the manga-ka means it in a comedic light, but I actually found it endearing. I wish men like that existed in real life.
...I'm also wondering what happens 20 years into the future to make Lambo a suddenly-dependable guy. O.o
Anyway, so, when KHR FINALLY got into the shounen-fighting genre of things, I started liking it quite a bit. Like I said earlier, it's been fun watching Amano-sensei's drawing skills progress, too. It's interesting because, in the beginning, the entire series style had this very blunt, shounen-style of drawing to it but as we're getting into the more serious stuff, it seems like everyone is getting...prettier? I guess that's a weird thing to be complimenting someone on but I actually rather like the fact that this is a shounen manga that is PRETTY.
Observe: pretty. Even prettier. Which, I shouldn't be talking because I can't draw for a shit, but for me it's a pretty big step-up from something like this, which is certainly not CRAP but very, VERY shounen-esque. I mean, in terms of art style. (Plus, like, I can't stand Mukuro in color spreads anyway because of his ridiculous BLUE HAIR. ;___; I hate blue hair. When Azusa in Hot Gimmick dyed his hair blue I about died. Sad truth, but there it is.)
Anyway, I mean, I can kind of understand in that regard why /a/ gives KHR flak because if it's not drawn like Berserk than it's not a shounen manga. Or JoJo, which, okay, everything should be as fabulous as JoJo but when it's not, then it's okay to just be a bunch of pretty guys beating each other up.
So, okay, moving on: villains. (Lots of debate on whether or not Hibari-kun should go in this section, lol.) Anyway, I mean, aside from the random inclusion of lots of ugly, afro-headed seniors in Tsuna's school (WTF), most of the villains in this series are...also pretty. (Decided to count Hibari as a villain on this one.) And the ones who aren't pretty...don't really get a lot of screentime, ahahah. XD;; I'm thinking in particular of Lussuria, (who was defeated by Ryohei pretty quickly, if you ask me). All the guys from the Kokuyo High arc were pretty, too, or at least not terrible-looking if you didn't count Ken as "pretty". I haven't gotten to the future arc yet, so we'll see about that when it happens.
But Mukuro was pretty. REALLY pretty (despite apparently having blue hair ;___;). I'd have to say that out of all the crazy-ass "Mafia" skills I've seen in KHR, Mukuro's were my favorite. I haven't gotten to his fight as the Mist Guardian yet, so I'm talking about the Kokuyo High arc here: I liked all the various paths of reincarnation and whatnot. I liked Ken's animal-teeth imitating thing, too.
BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, this series is awesome because TWICE Amano-sensei has managed to include something that I have a sooper sekrit fetish for. Guys who wear girl's barettes in their hair. (It should be noted that, upon seeing that chapter spread with Gokudera on it, I CAME. :D) Like, I dunno where I got such a fetish from, but for some reason that's one of my big ones. O.o Even in Gemini, my main character, Azazel, wears girl's pants and girl's barettes in his hair. UNF. (But guys with, like, long hair and ribbons in their hair turns me off hardcore. No manga has ever done it that I've noticed, but J-artists do it and it, like, kills me metaphorical boner LIKE THAT. Barettes can be sexy. Ribbons can't. Unless they're being used to tie hot guys up. WHY AM I LIKE THIS??? D:)
So anyway, yeah, now that shit is actually HAPPENING, I'm really enjoying this series. The fact that Hibari is secretly a school pride nerd makes me lol. XD I'll post more about KHR later, after I've caught up on all the manga chapters.
On that note, RUNE!!!! I would really really really really REALLY love nothing more than to request an art from you, but I don't want to be a heel. Since I'm too poor to actually COMMISSION you (arg -__-!), I'm willing to trade: I'll write something for you, instead? (Even though you're perfectly capable of awesome writing yourself... ;___;) Anyway, if you're busy with RL-stuff it's cool, as you've been mentioning lately that you're working on a bunch of giant-o projects and stuff as is. Just figured I'd ask. Drop a comment if you're interested and let me know what you want me to write. Hell, drop a comment ANYWAY, because as a matter of fact I kind of just feel like writing something so leave me a request anyways. Even though I haven't gotten to the future arc, I plan to get there tonight/tomorrow so don't be shy about asking for anything involving that.
Anyway, blah, I'm starving so I'm gonna go buy a bunch of junk food 'cuz I'm stuck at work. (fjadlfjd;fkdas) Feel free to pelt me with questions, discussions, general squee, etc. but refrain from random Megaupload or Youtube links kthx. XD
So, earlier on, when I'm asking around about this series and whatnot trying to decide if it's worth getting into, I made the mistake (of all things) of asking for people's opinions on /a/. I got all kinds of responses, things like "gb2/fag/", "it's so kawaii!!!11 it's all anyone ever talks about on /y/ xD" and some random Youtube/Megaupload link spam to go along with all that. (Don't ever ask for help on /a/.) Still, the general sentiment came across with one of the few serious answers I got: "It's fangirl yaoibait trash. Don't even bother."
So then, I thought, "well, I definitely have to watch it now".
(No, seriously, this was honestly how I thought. Because if /a/ hates it, and mocks it, it means they fear it probably secretly like it. Like Bleach. I enjoyed Bleach immensely, despite how much it's brutalized on /a/.)
Fortunately, thanks to stoptazmo.com and onemanga.com, acquiring scanslations of the series was rather easy. No, I feel no shame about ruthlessly abusing the Internet to fulfill my own selfish desires, by the way. Regardless, I actually starting reading KHR about a week ago, but stopped for a while because of a.) Hot Gimmick, which at the time I had desperately been craving to finish, and b.) the crackfest beginning of KHR, which was sadly rather disappointing and took quite a lot of effort to move past. (Though I still squealed like an idiot whenever Gokudera appeared in a panel, but I'll get to my burning blazing love of him later.)
So, I'm up to the Varia arc now, with the Vongola Half Rings, and...well, it's interesting. Probably my favorite thing to observe thus far in this series is how Amano-sensei gets progressively better at drawing Tsuna. Which, this might sound like a joke, but it's really not. O.o All the other characters' designs have remained pretty consistent up until now, but Tsuna is starting to look less...hmmmm, comedic, I guess, and somewhat cuter. (Especially when he goes into Hyper Dying-Will Mode. Eee, he reminds me of Sora from Kingdom Hearts. Who I adore as though I were dying. /LOL PUN)
Also, well, regardless what you might have thought, Rune, despite the appearance of a whole bunch of interesting and hot male characters Gokudera-kun still remains my favorite. :P My love of him perservered even though hotties like Hibari and Mukuro (WHO I KEPT CONFUSING FOR EACH OTHER FOR A WHILE AT FIRST O.O), and shit, even the king of the pretty boys, Belphegor, who, believe it or not, I actually kind of didn't like at all. But anyway.
So, I positively adore Gokudera, right, but I REALLY WISH THE BOY WOULD WIN ONE OF HIS FIGHTS ONCE IN A WHILE. ;_____; He's held his OWN in all his battles thus far, but hasn't actually legally WON. In his fight with Chikusa, he blew up the wall so Hibari could save him help, and in his fight with Belphegor he let his ring get taken so he wouldn't die in a fire. (lol) I mean, sure, his fight against Bel was impressive in it's own right (and also got, like, more amounts of chapters than anybody else's fight thus far, IIRC), but I really wish Goku-chan had won~~~~ D: *pathetic petty fangirl*
Though when I think about it, I have no idea why I love Gokudera so much. O.o His obsession with loyalty to Tsuna is kind of groundless, when you think about anything other than when they first met and Tsuna saved him from his dynamite. *shrug* Which, I mean, I understand his past and whatnot, with how he kept trying to get into a mafia family, ANY mafia family, and they all kept turning him down because he played piano or was 1/4 Japanese or what-the-hell-ever, but at the same time that entire chapter was weird what with him going from disliking Tsuna one second and then becoming an obsessive creepy happy stalker pledging his undying loyalty to him the next.
(Personally I'd be weirded out if some kid suddenly stripped down his boxers and started putting out dynamite fuses with his bare hands, but that's just me.)
On that tangent, I just realized now that while we've seen a butt-ton of Gokudera's past, why the hell haven't we seen anything about Yamamoto? O.o I like him, too. Though, really, he can't POSSIBLY think all these battles and epic turf wars and stuff are just a giant mafia role-playing game; he CAN'T. @.@ As a matter of fact, I like just about everybody in Tsuna's "family", with maybe the exception of, like...Lambo. (Who isn't technically in the Vongola family, anyway.) I randomly like the way Ryohei puts his all into everything he does. I know the manga-ka means it in a comedic light, but I actually found it endearing. I wish men like that existed in real life.
...I'm also wondering what happens 20 years into the future to make Lambo a suddenly-dependable guy. O.o
Anyway, so, when KHR FINALLY got into the shounen-fighting genre of things, I started liking it quite a bit. Like I said earlier, it's been fun watching Amano-sensei's drawing skills progress, too. It's interesting because, in the beginning, the entire series style had this very blunt, shounen-style of drawing to it but as we're getting into the more serious stuff, it seems like everyone is getting...prettier? I guess that's a weird thing to be complimenting someone on but I actually rather like the fact that this is a shounen manga that is PRETTY.
Observe: pretty. Even prettier. Which, I shouldn't be talking because I can't draw for a shit, but for me it's a pretty big step-up from something like this, which is certainly not CRAP but very, VERY shounen-esque. I mean, in terms of art style. (Plus, like, I can't stand Mukuro in color spreads anyway because of his ridiculous BLUE HAIR. ;___; I hate blue hair. When Azusa in Hot Gimmick dyed his hair blue I about died. Sad truth, but there it is.)
Anyway, I mean, I can kind of understand in that regard why /a/ gives KHR flak because if it's not drawn like Berserk than it's not a shounen manga. Or JoJo, which, okay, everything should be as fabulous as JoJo but when it's not, then it's okay to just be a bunch of pretty guys beating each other up.
So, okay, moving on: villains. (Lots of debate on whether or not Hibari-kun should go in this section, lol.) Anyway, I mean, aside from the random inclusion of lots of ugly, afro-headed seniors in Tsuna's school (WTF), most of the villains in this series are...also pretty. (Decided to count Hibari as a villain on this one.) And the ones who aren't pretty...don't really get a lot of screentime, ahahah. XD;; I'm thinking in particular of Lussuria, (who was defeated by Ryohei pretty quickly, if you ask me). All the guys from the Kokuyo High arc were pretty, too, or at least not terrible-looking if you didn't count Ken as "pretty". I haven't gotten to the future arc yet, so we'll see about that when it happens.
But Mukuro was pretty. REALLY pretty (despite apparently having blue hair ;___;). I'd have to say that out of all the crazy-ass "Mafia" skills I've seen in KHR, Mukuro's were my favorite. I haven't gotten to his fight as the Mist Guardian yet, so I'm talking about the Kokuyo High arc here: I liked all the various paths of reincarnation and whatnot. I liked Ken's animal-teeth imitating thing, too.
BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, this series is awesome because TWICE Amano-sensei has managed to include something that I have a sooper sekrit fetish for. Guys who wear girl's barettes in their hair. (It should be noted that, upon seeing that chapter spread with Gokudera on it, I CAME. :D) Like, I dunno where I got such a fetish from, but for some reason that's one of my big ones. O.o Even in Gemini, my main character, Azazel, wears girl's pants and girl's barettes in his hair. UNF. (But guys with, like, long hair and ribbons in their hair turns me off hardcore. No manga has ever done it that I've noticed, but J-artists do it and it, like, kills me metaphorical boner LIKE THAT. Barettes can be sexy. Ribbons can't. Unless they're being used to tie hot guys up. WHY AM I LIKE THIS??? D:)
So anyway, yeah, now that shit is actually HAPPENING, I'm really enjoying this series. The fact that Hibari is secretly a school pride nerd makes me lol. XD I'll post more about KHR later, after I've caught up on all the manga chapters.
On that note, RUNE!!!! I would really really really really REALLY love nothing more than to request an art from you, but I don't want to be a heel. Since I'm too poor to actually COMMISSION you (arg -__-!), I'm willing to trade: I'll write something for you, instead? (Even though you're perfectly capable of awesome writing yourself... ;___;) Anyway, if you're busy with RL-stuff it's cool, as you've been mentioning lately that you're working on a bunch of giant-o projects and stuff as is. Just figured I'd ask. Drop a comment if you're interested and let me know what you want me to write. Hell, drop a comment ANYWAY, because as a matter of fact I kind of just feel like writing something so leave me a request anyways. Even though I haven't gotten to the future arc, I plan to get there tonight/tomorrow so don't be shy about asking for anything involving that.
Anyway, blah, I'm starving so I'm gonna go buy a bunch of junk food 'cuz I'm stuck at work. (fjadlfjd;fkdas) Feel free to pelt me with questions, discussions, general squee, etc. but refrain from random Megaupload or Youtube links kthx. XD