My spoiler diet lasted for all of one week!
Pathetic, I know, but I couldn't help it when I was waiting on the edge of my seat for updates on the last chapter's dire circumstances.
1. Oh my God. They rented an entire goddamn mafia castle just for Tsuna's wedding. I mean inheritance ceremony. MAFIA DON'T DO THINGS HALFWAY.
I like that none of the guardians look like they got absolutely any sleep last night (and Gokudera's face in particular is finally starting to reflect the fact that I'm nearly certain he has not slept AT ALL in the past WEEK). Just a little detail (and maybe even an unintentional one), but it's one of those things I love about this manga, and almost makes up for the fact that the following page is pretty much a waste of space. But never mind that; on to more terrible things.
2. DAMN YOU AMANO IF I WANTED TO READ ABOUT BELOVED CHARACTERS SUSTAINING PERMANENT LIFE-ALTERING INJURIES I WOULD PICK UP FMA AGAIN.
What the fuck is this shit. I feel like I accidentally stumbled upon one of those really sadistic genies, where they still grant you the three wishes but they sneakily toss in an evil twist with each one, so that when you say you want "angst" and "character development for Yamamoto" in the next arc, they go, "OKAY... :D" and the next thing you know, this is happening.
HOWEVER
ON THE PLUS SIDE
LONGCHAMP IS HERE
NAITO YOU BASTARD I'M SO FUCKING HAPPY TO SEE YOU GODDAMN. DO SOMETHING FUNNY.
3. That'll do, pig, that'll do. |D
Things I love: 1) That Gokudera had to announce him because Amano was SO SURE that we'd all forgotten, 2) THAT EVERYBODY IS -CHAN, HEY THERE, SAWADA-CHAN, WHAT'S HAPPENING, GOKU-CHAN~, and 3) that his suit is SO TACKY that it might actually be cool, except that I'm pretty sure it would circle around again from there so that it became tacky AGAIN because it's just that plaid. Also those boots. Haha just look at them.
Anyway, after milking his cameo for all its worth, he conspicuously points out the obvious fact that Yamamoto Good-Chance-He'll-Never-Walk-Again Takeshi is STANDING RIGHT THERE, which I had been meaning to ask about, except not really because I read spoilers.
4. But for everyone who doesn't have the willpower of a crack addict, the basic gist is that Chrome is awesome and Reborn is a man with a plan.
I'm not going to lie, I find this whole affair mildly creepy, BUT WHATEVER. It is a good scheme, and I can get behind any plot circumstance that actually allows Chrome to do something for once. She basically saved the day. You go, Chrome.
5. Continuing our mafia red carpet tour, we are greeted by Dino! HEY THERE, LITTLE D, GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN. Leave some groupies for the Vongola kids, why don't you.
As always, where there is a Dino, a Squalo is sure to follow, and even though TYE!Squalo isn't half as hot as his TYL! counterpart, and even though part of me is SO SAD that we couldn't have the usual accompanying panel of "Squalo! 8D" from our resident queer rain guardian, it's still awesome to see him. Everyone can't help but make incredibly obvious comments on how young they all are now that they're not TEN YEARS OLDER, but don't be too hard on them, they're sleep-deprived.
6. Heh, I expected that Squalo would be able to see through the Yamamoto illusion in two seconds, but I'm a bit surprised that Dino conned on so quickly as well. I underestimated you, Dino. (Also, that side-view panel of you is really hot. I hope you adopt your ridiculously sexy TYL hairstyle soon.)
7. But more importantly, it's time for a shota reunion! Once again, Enma is being picked on, and Tsuna is the one to come to his rescue while the rest of the Shimon family cowers around their fallen boss since they're SO HELPLESS. POOR LITTLE SHIMON FAMILY. :|
Tsuna informs them all that Yamamoto is SURPRISE ALL BETTER!, and the Shimon family proceeds to direct not-at-all suspicious and/or predatory glances at him while Tsuna hits on Enma some more but something is off?? FOR SOME STRANGE REASON, he doesn't seem to be having the same bashful shota reactions to Tsuna's advances as before, and it's almost as if there was some horrendous misunderstanding between the two of them that is now weighing heavily on all of their interactions and giving this conversation tragic and sinister undertones!
D:
8. Then Hibari shows up because his crowd senses were tingling, and says some vaguely 8018ish things before Reborn decides it's time to get a move on with the show. We then proceed to the interior of the castle, where once again, Amano provides us with ample evidence that every single person in the mafia is butt-ugly except for Vongola and Friends. Also they're all old and stuff. I guess the Bovino family is the only one that regularly makes a habit of recruiting five-year-old hitmen.
9. Tsuna, Gokudera, and Ryohei are all "ANY MINUTE NOW...!" and shiftily glancing from side to side in anticipation, and I would just like to take this moment to say that in spite of the many horrible things that have resulted from Yamamoto's being attacked, at least one good thing has come of it as well, and that's that Ryohei has for the time being been bumped up a notch on the main character scale. This is very cool. I am down with this.
10. Unfortunately, before anything exciting can actually happen, Amano abruptly ends the chapter with a cop-out redo of the color page that kicked this arc off. While it is cool that the scene is replicated so exactly and that we finally understand the full context of it, I can't pretend that on a whole this isn't ridiculously lame. NOT FAIR, AMANO. But I suppose it's my fault for being foolish enough to expect to see the inheritance ceremony actually take place in a chapter titled "INHERITANCE CEREMONY." ...
On the plus side, I'm pretty sure Yamamoto is at least 70 percent hotter in this version than in the original. Ryohei too. And also Shitt P, and that's a damn hard thing to accomplish. Yes, indeed.
Guess I'll just have to resign myself to yet another long and drawn-out wait for the next chapter. Inheritance Arc, you are going to be the death of me. XD
Also, I would like to use this opportunity to pass along birthday wishes to mibelle26, lampazo_libre, fuchi_conejo, and viridianphoenix, despite the fact that only one of these wishes is actually on time. Sorry. XD But Happy Birthday, guys! ♥