Reborn
Genre:
Tsuna is not having a good day. Not only has his lack of both academic and physical prowess earned him the nickname of loser Tsuna and he is making zero progress with the girl he likes but now, all the sudden, he is apparently slated to become the next head of one of the most important crime families in the world and to get him ready for this task, Reborn, one of the world’s most powerful baby hitmen, will personally tutor him by shooting him in the face a lot. Also he runs around in his underwear in front of everyone.
That classic scenario up there goes on for 203 episodes, mafia hitman baby with magical pacifier and all… I’ve watched them all. I would watch more. Katekyō Hitman Reborn is a joyful little ball of nonsense. A silly little shonen based on a silly barely coherent premise that can be summed up as an utterly ridiculous good time.
This show was around for a while, it ran for a good 4 years and as such it had time to go through some changes. The art started out decent but got a very notable boost as the series progressed. By the end it featured a pretty stunning cast of pretty boys that are certain to inspire imaginative shippers. On top of that, the characters – even as they are all mafia members with very dubious morals – tend to be on the congenial side and easy to root for. I enjoyed almost everyone, which is quite a statement since the cast starts getting huge as the seasons pile up. I did find the kids, and Kyoko and Haru (who are written as if they were kids) – a little annoying at times. I could have used less Lambo. Kid Lambo that is, ADULT lambo can call me any time. Also be warned, girls are often pushed to the sidelines, even if they are supposed to be talented fighters, and are openly expected to do the cooking and cleaning…
Like most shonen, the story is in fact a few different arcs strewn together with escalating stakes and powers. My favorites tend to be the ones in which I found the antagonists more interesting, namely the varia and fight for the future arcs. It should be noted that notions of “good” and “bad” are pretty fluid here and many of the early villains end up becoming allies. Although the show manages to keep up the pace pretty well throughout, there are a number of very obvious filler episodes, especially between arcs, and those tend to be terrible. Sadly I don’t remember the exact episode numbers or else I would just tell you which to skip as they have no redeeming value at all.
The final storyline is quite good and starts to weave together a lot of the shows mythology but it ends extremely abruptly. You would figure with that many episodes they could have spared one for a proper send off but nope. Big battle over, and toodles folks. This was a bit of a letdown. No, I’m not going to get drama CDs or read the manga. This show is a jack of all trades, it dabbles a bit in romance, a bit in supernatural kinda some mafia stuff it even tries its hand at science fiction with parallel universe and time travel stories. It does generally stay grounded in action comedy with an emphasis on the later but there’s something for everyone, as long as you’re not looking for too much substance.
If you actually read a few of my “reviews”, you might notice that I will occasionally mention the intros and outros of shows. This is a ME thing, but I really like a good intro or outro and Katekyō Hitman Reborn has had a billion… Ok slight exaggeration. None were perfect, for the most part the animations were just ok – nothing too special but a lot of those songs were bomb!
Favorite character: Hibari all the way baby –honorable mentions to Bel – Flan – Daisy…
What this anime taught me about myself: I have great taste in music
24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case, coincidence? I think not.
Suggested drink: Flaming Lamborghini
- Every time Gokudera says ‘Juudaime’ – take a drink
- Every time Ryohei says ‘extreme’ – take a drink
- Every time Reborn is ‘disguised’ as something – take a drink
- take another if Tsuna can’t understand why no one recognizes him
- Every time Yamamoto plays baseball – take a drink
- Every time Tsuna ignites his deathperation flame – get some water
- Every time Yamamoto is oblivious – take a drink
- Every time Bianchi cooks – take a drink
- if it’s edible – finish your drink
- Every time lambo cries – take a drink
- Every time Hibrid sings – take a drink
- Every time the vongola rigs are mentioned – take a drink
- Every time we see a pacifier – take a breath
- Every time Hibari smiles – wipe your mouth
This along side bleach are the only anime to get quite a few re-watch. I really enjoy this anime. Gokudera and Uri for me. Vongola boss 27.
I should really pick up the manga – I think it’s time I give up on another season
Reborn was something I’ve heard about for a long time, but I’ve never seen it. It certainly is a really long series, so I don’t know how much I’ll time I’ll have to invest in that series, but I may check out a few episodes in the future.
I find that I think back to it quite a bit
That’s good. I believe Reborn came out when I wasn’t watching as much anime, so there’s a huge gap of me knowing about various series from the really late 00s to just a couple of years ago.