ITP I actually predicted something right for once!
Specifically, that all of my predictions would be proven completely wrong. |D OH YEAH. NAILED IT. For my next trick, I predict that the winner of the World Cup will be... a soccer team.
1. This has got to be the saddest page since Uni died in Gamma's arms. And to add insult to injury, the text almost seems to be gleefully rubbing it in. "OH LOOK, TSUNA NEVER SHOWED UP. AND NOW POOR ENMA IS ALL ALONE. AND SAD. AND ALONE." We readers are invited to ponder what desolate thoughts must be running through his mind. My submission: 'In hindsight, maybe it would have been better if I'd sent him a GODDAMN TEXT instead.'
Also, given the incredibly dismaying events that are about to take place, I just have to say that is the most understated chapter title ever.
2. So a short while later, Adelheid comes strolling up like the oh-so-fine right hand lady that she is and attempts to cheer her shotaboss up by fanning the flames of hatred and despair. At that point, Enma looks up to reveal that he was not, in fact, weeping softly like we had all assumed, but was instead practicing BEING FUCKING TERRIFYING, and OH MY GOD IT'S THE RETURN OF THE CREEPY EYES. FFFFFF I THOUGHT THOSE DAYS WERE BEHIND US.
Seriously, I have never seen someone make such an abrupt and yet unsettlingly seamless transition into being a villain. Well played, Kozato Enma. Also, D:
3. Hmm, interesting. Perhaps the citizens of Namimori are not quite as oblivious as I thought! Of course, given that Gokudera and co. have always been shockingly candid about being in the mafia, the rest of the student body would probably have to be living under a giant rock to not have figured it out by now. XD
4. Oh my God nostalgia. ;_; If I'm not mistaken, this was the very first hiding place Reborn ever used in the manga, back in chapter I'm-gonna-go-with-two. The good old fire cabinet. And let's just hope Namimori Middle never actually catches on fire.
Anyway, blah blah Tsuna you have to make a decision blah blah blah. Nothing they haven't been saying since this arc freaking started, and since Tsuna himself seems to have made up his mind already, we too shall be moving on.
5. To Nametwin, who has apparently finally made real actual face-to-face non-stalker contact with Chrome! PROGRESS. He wastes no time in asking her to come away with him in his white van. He didn't actually mention the van, but I figure there must have been a van, because seriously.
Fortunately, Chrome has self-preservation instincts and leaves before anything else terrible can happen in this chapter. Thanks for that, Chrome. IT WAS ALL IN VAIN, but still.
6. Wow, I gotta say, I am really digging Tsuna's non-acceptance speech. It's the side of Tsuna that I love the most--humble, but thoughtful and mature. Really mature, seriously; it's clear he's put some thought into what he was going to say and how he was going to turn the Ninth down.
Oh, Tsuna, haters gonna hate, but for what it's worth, I love you for this moment. Whether or not it's the right decision, you can't deny the kid has class.
7. Elsewhere, Yamamoto and Kaoru are being entirely too gay, awww. Just look at them. Clearly they are the best of friends and nothing even remotely horrible is just on the horizon.
8. ...Well, granted, that's a little suspicious, but far be it from me to begrudge a man for being a little overprotective of his jewelry!
9. --and okay, this too raises a few eyebrows, but maybe Kaoru was just practicing drawing Vongola crests one day for some reason and got frustrated with the results! DON'T WE ALL HAVE DAYS LIKE THAT? No? But you see, the thing is, if it really does in fact mean "OVERTHROW VONGOLA" like Yamamoto so moronically chose to contemplate out loud (WHY YAMA WHY), then that means terrible things are about to happen and we don't want that, so let's all close our eyes very quickly and click our heels and say there's no place like home, and hopefully this will all just--
10. --FUCK.
GODDAMN YOU AMANO, GOD DAMN YOU. WHEN I SAID I WANTED ANGST THIS WAS NOT WHAT I MEANT AND YOU FUCKING KNOW IT. WE HAD A DEAL AAAAUUUUGH WHYYYYYY.
Some quick observations before I break down into a puddle of shattered hopes and dreams:
- Well, this chapter started out with a gross understatement, so it's only fitting for it to end with one too. I think Yamamoto's "Not... good..." fits the bill pretty nicely, wouldn't you say?
- Christ, Kaoru, way to blow your cover in the absolute least subtle way possible.
- And then he goes and WALKS AWAY and just LEAVES Yamamoto lying there, apparently forgetting that Yamamoto is A MAIN CHARACTER IN SHOUNEN and cannot actually die no matter how many gallons of blood are spewing from his you'd-think-would-be-fatal-but-nope wounds.
- Seriously, he's not gonna die. Nope. Not even gonna consider that outcome, no thanks.
- That does not, however, mean I'm not going to spend the entirety of next week fretting like a fretting thing, OH YAMA MY POOR BABY DON'T DIE, I MEAN I KNOW YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BUT SERIOUSLY, DON'T.
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