KHR 296!
I kind of wonder what Amano is going to do when number 300 rolls around in just a few more weeks, because frankly the last few chapters have set the bar awfully high.
1. For some reason, Amano starts off this ridiculously awesome chapter with two of the most boring pages I've ever seen in KHR, in which everyone is basically just standing around in suits looking serious while the Ninth takes approximately five years to give Tsuna the freaking bottle of Sin™. I'm sure this is all going to be incredibly tense and dramatic once this scene rolls around in the anime, but until then, I'm about one more bad mafia mustache away from falling asleep at my desk.
2. Fortunately, the third page gets much more interesting as someone has apparently decided to disrupt the ceremony by grinding their nails on a chalkboard! Or at least that is how I interpreted this giant "SCREEEEEECH" panel that made everyone fall down on their knees and dramatically clutch their ears in pain. I mean, what else could it be??
...oh. Well, shit. They're never going to get the deposit back on that house now.
Reasonably, the Vongola decide it's time to spring into action. Did anyone else get to the very last panel and think, "SAVE US, COYOTE NOUGAT!"? Cuz I did. He looks like he's all set to go be a superhero. DO IT, OLD MAN.
3. OH. HELL. YES.
"LET'S PROTECT OUR BOSS BY SURROUNDING HIM AND BEING ON FIRE!" Hoh-lee shit. I think maybe, just maybe, this is the best thing that's ever happened in this manga. I need a little while to think about it to make sure (because for example, there was also that one time with the vegetables, but then again that's since been tainted by Kaoru's black, treacherous heart), but it's got to be a candidate. My mental soundtrack can't seem to decide whether it should be playing the Power Rangers theme or the Powerpuff Girls theme, but either way, this is the stuff of epic.
4. AND THEN, ANOTHER WASTE OF A PAGE. Well, not quite, because this one has Dino and Squalo, and also Mammon floating around in the top center in a way that almost makes it look like it's a natural thing to be doing, but other than that, it's just a page of people observing out loud that the smoke has cleared (THANK YOU, OBVIOUS STATEMENT MAN), and wiping their foreheads and going, "PHEW, THAT WAS TENSE, IS EVERYONE ALL RIGHT?"
In fact, they mostly are, except that the Ninth has a standard shounen-issue cut on his arm and the Sin™ seems to be lying in a broken heap on the ground, but since part of me just wants to say "good riddance" to both these things, yeah, in all I'd answer that question with a solid "more or less."
I gotta say, though, Vongola security really sucks ass. Way to invite all of your mafia friends to your mafia castle to witness your hugely important mafia ceremony only to let it get all blown up, guys.
5. "Not so!" says the Ninth. "Secretly unbeknownst to everyone else, we replaced the real Sin™ with a fake in order to lure out the culprit! The real one is lying safe inside a vault protected by a hilariously elaborate fail-safe!" Tsk, Ninth, so you still don't believe me when I express my skepticism in regard to your security measures? TAKE A LOOK AT PAGE NINE, THEN. STILL GOT ANYTHING MORE TO SAY? I BELIEVE THAT WAS YOUR SHINY VAULT THAT GOT BROKEN INTO, YES? RIGHT. THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT.
6. Ganauche "Don't Fuck With Me" III is so distraught by this news that he whips out a pistol (!!) on the thin pretense of "SOMEONE'S IN THE ROOM!", only to have it pop out of his hand and FUCKING EXPLODE, and please pardon me a moment while I swear copiously and pump my fists in the air. OH MY GOD. NOW THIS IS FUCKING SHOUNEN. I'm pretty sure Amano drew this entire page using pure testosterone rather than ink. You can tell because virtually every statement on the page ends with two exclamation points!!
7. All of a sudden, ice spears or something fly out of nowhere at everyone, and Ganauche, not satisfied with the amount of manliness displayed on the previous page, blocks the attack with what must surely be lightning flames, except that I didn't know it was possible for lightning flames to be THAT COOL. But apparently it is. Anything's possible when you're Thundery Nono and the world is your bitch.
8. And then the smoke clears and THE CULPRITS ARE REVEALED at last. Adelheid's boobs have grown bigger again, I'm pretty sure, and against the dramatic background of suddenly more-awesome-looking-than-ever underlings, Enma looks tinier than ever before. Like, I'm pretty sure I could pick him up with one arm.
However, in spite of these distractions, the real star of this page is Tsuna's horrified right-in-the-feelings "Enma... kun?" face, which I confess to having been really excited to see but suddenly feel horribly guilty about now. SOMEONE GIVE TSUNA A HUG. I DON'T CARE IF IT'S IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE, YOU CAN SPARE A SECOND OR TWO FOR COMFORT. Damn, this is going to be bad, isn't it.
9. Enma's all, "Mine now," and just like that, becomes the single awesomest villain to ever grace the pages of this manga. Sorry, Byakuran. I know you tried really hard and killed people and had firework princess wings, but HAVE YOU SEEN ENMA'S FACE ON THIS PAGE? You can't compete with that. It's game over.
Seriously, I am so excited to have Enma as a villain it's not even funny. THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I WANTED IT TO BE. I AM ONE HUNDRED PERCENT SATISFIED WITH THIS RESULT. I almost feel like I should put the chapter down for a moment and remember to breathe. OKAY. OKAY. CALM DOWN. IT'S OKAY.
lksjdfalksj so epic SO FUCKING EPIC.
10. Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for, when Tsuna finally realizes that the person who attacked his best friend was his other best friend (he has a lot of best friends). Kaoru has a little panel in which I dearly want to punch him, and then Enma admits that yes, they did that (but it's totally justified because YOU DIDN'T READ MY LOVE LETTER!!!).
And then he does this.
And I just. Oh my God. What.
Okay, so. Enma poured the Sin™ on his ring and suddenly an even cooler Sistema C.A.I. popped out and an even more badass dying will flame erupted on his head. Apparently? And then Tsuna went from D:? to >8O in like two seconds flat. HAHAHA. THIS REALLY DOESN'T MAKE MUCH SENSE. Which is to say, I love it.
So this chapter officially makes this arc the arc of angst, character development, and badass, which means I am now 90% sure it is my favorite. Any chapter which inspires this much fangirling and fanboying is completely A+ with me.
I may be back to rant more about all this later, because I can't stop squeeing over EVERYTHING! EVER!, but in the meantime, I think I'm about done with this post. XD