Not only am I a cosmeholic, I'm also a manga addict :P I know this is supposed to be a beauty blog, but since this review was requested, I decide to just go with the flow and try writing something new. This is the first manga review I've ever written, so please bear with me if you think it sucks.
It was pure chance that I picked up this manga. I saw a Hibari Kiyoya cosplay photo and wow, it was so good! A quick Google search later, I found out that he was a character in Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn! I came across this manga a few times on baka-updates.com but never bothered to read it coz the description sounded too childish for me: "Tsuna comes home one day, only to be greeted by a little baby mafioso who apparently is his new home tutor. His job is to guide Tsuna into his role as the 10th Boss of the Vongola mafia family. With the help of all his new friends and an array of special items such as the "Dying Will Bullet", he might just be able to do it." However, as I'm a sucker for bishounen, I decided to read it anyway :3 Below is the picture taken from the baka-updates page for this manga (can you blame me for thinking it's too childish?):
Although I first picked it up solely because of Hibari-san, this is actually my most favorite manga! The main character is Tsunayoshi Sawada, a klutz who's bad at everything, be it academics or athletics (he kinda resembles Usagi Tsukino in Sailormoon). Suddenly an infant named Reborn appears before him one day and declares that he'll become his home tutor and train him to become a mafia boss!
Reborn and Tsuna's first meeting
Reborn has a special weapon called "the Dying Will Bullet". When Tsuna is shot with this, he'll turn into the Dying Will Mode, which enables him to do things that he can't achieve normally. Along the way, he meets new friends, encounters various enemies and gradually becomes stronger and more mature. Volumes 1-7 are hilarious, quirky and crazy (in a good way), but the story gets darker and becomes more serious from volume 8 (but don't worry, it's nowhere near the dark tone of X-1999). I have to admit that I actually prefer the latter coz though the first seven volumes are fun, they aren't that memorable.
The drawing of this manga is quite good, considering it's a shounen, and it keeps improving volumes after volumes. It's like a more mature version of MÄR by Nobuyuki Anzai. The fighting scenes are beautifully depicted and the weapon designs are cool yet cute at the same time. One thing that I like about this manga is that the fighting styles as well as the weapons actually evolves throughout the series, yet another things that reminds me of Sailormoon.
Natsu - Tsuna's box weapon (he's just so kawaii ><)
My favorite character is also the one who's led me to this manga, Hibari Kyoya ^^ He's cool, brave, gentle to animals and despite his cold personality, his weird way of talking makes me laugh :"> His most famous quote has to be: "I'll bite you to death" :))
This manga is a bishounen heaven. Below are some bonus pics ;)
Rokudo Mukuro
Dino
Hibari and Fon
(On a side note, I really like Fon when he's an Arcobaleno, so cute!!!)
Spoiler alert: As much as I love this manga, it seems that the storyline becomes less interesting after the Future Arc. Furthermore, the ending seems a little bit rushed. I hope Amano-sensei would tell us more about what'll become of the relationships between Tsuna and Kyoko as well as Chrome and Rokudo Mukuro.
Score: 8/10
Would I recommend this manga?: Yes. Although it's a shounen, I think girls will enjoy this as well because it's really funny (even when it becomes more serious), addictive and memorable. And there are a lot of hot guys in this as well :P
