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Hmmph.
Well, hello there, chapter 246. Nice to see you bothered to show up after all. And I'll have you know I was totally not anxiously anticipating you all weekend at all.1. AHHH HUGGING THE DOG LOVE LOVE YAMA YOU'RE SO ADORABLE asdlkjas!!!1 I love how the girls are like, "D'AWWWW" and Squalo is just like, "GOD, I DON'T KNOW YOU. *FACESMACK*"
And lol, the dog's name is Jirou and the swallow is Kojirou... once again, Yamamoto sticks to his pattern of VERY VERY JAPANESE. XD
2. Holy fucking shit Yama you're such a showoff. Twirling the handle like it's a freaking baton, GEEZ. Somewhere Dera is feeling extra-super-annoyed and he doesn't know why. Hell, even Reborn was all like, "A four sword style..." with the trailing off into ellipses and everything--for Reborn, that's practically the equivalent of, "OOOOOHH, AHHHHHH."
(But serously, HE IS A BEAST. THROWING THE SWORDS LIKE FREAKING BULLETS OR ARROWS OR SOMETHING... YAMAMOTO YOU ARE TERRIFYING. GENKISHI HAVE YOU SOILED YOURSELF YET??!
Incidentally, I love how he holds multiple swords the same way Gokudera holds multiple bombs. TWINNNS.)
3. You know, I am becoming more and more certain that at some point over the past ten years, Squalo secretly usurped Lussuria's title as gayest character in this manga. On page 13 I'm pretty sure Amano just cropped a pic of some guy from a BL manga, inserted it into the top frame, and said, "OKAY, FROM NOW ON THIS IS SQUALO."
4. Okay, hilarity and HOLY SHIIIIT aside, to be serious for a moment: this, right here? Is exactly why I love Yamamoto so much. On the one hand, for the most part he's a very simple, straightforward character, very much the wheee-I-love-life-everything-is-awesome-and-the-mafia-game-is-good-times kid that he appears to be; what you see is what you get. On the other hand, though, it doesn't pay to forget that from the very start, Yama has also had a streak of still-waters-run-deep. This is the kid who tried to commit suicide in the very first chapter he was introduced. He does have a very serious side to him as well.
As we saw way back in that introductory chapter, Yamamoto has a tendency to pick something that is very important to him, and define himself by it. At first, it was baseball; he ended up devoting himself so fully to it that when for a brief moment it seemed like he'd totally destroyed his career, he actually tried to kill himself, saying he had nothing left. And of course, Tsuna saved him and afterward his priorities changed so that his friends were now the most important thing. He now defines himself by his role as a Vongola guardian, and his duty to protect his family.
And I think it's really interesting that in in this chapter when Yamamoto talks things over with Squalo and mentions his failure against Genkishi, his description of feeling regretful and ashamed that he'd let his friends down is almost eerily similar to his response when he broke his arm all those chapters ago. "I found myself overcome with regret that I hadn't taken the blade seriously enough... that I'd brought shame upon the name of my old man's Shigure Souen Ryu... And most of all, that I hadn't done the best I possibly could for the sake of my pals." And he may not be jumping off a building this time around, but he still feels all of this so strongly that afterward, he's willing to give up baseball--the sport he once devoted his entire life to--with no hesitation at all. That's how important this is to him now.
And once he does fully embrace the sword, the level of improvement--in just ten days!--is just ASTOUNDING. Once he gives it his all and doesn't hold anything back, it's just... well, Dino was absolutely right: "This time when you get your training, Yamamoto Takeshi... you'll become something really special."
TL;DR, that whole conversation was just a really powerful reminder of how great a character Yamamoto is; not just a happy, oblivious kid with a sword, but a fully three-dimensional character who understands far more than he lets on, and whose motivations are a lot more complex than we might always see. I'm really glad Amano took the time to explore that a little in this chapter, and finally give him a little more development. While also reminding us that he's a fucking badass.
5. FFF WHAT IS THIS LAST PAGE. HIS SPARROW TURNED INTO A PRETTY FAIRY SWORD AND HE HAS THREE FLAMING SWORDS IN THE OTHER HAND, AND JUST. JUST. GENKISHI, I TRULY AND HONESTLY FEEL SORRY FOR YOU.
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Ahh. Chatting about Yamamoto keeps me sane at 11-30pm while writing an essay~
I wouldn't be surprised!
I would NOT like him as a father though. Imagine if he married Xanxus and you were their child? It would be so awesome until they started to tag-team discipline you. *shudder* ... You know, I bet Hibari is their forbidden love child. Considering his personality and his looks (all inherited from Xanxus - although the bitchiness might have come from Mummy Squalo), I mean. ... Wow, can you imagine what would happen if he was??? He'd inherit THE VARIA.
Yama's totally my new role model. He tackles problems with a smile. <3 He's such a sweetie! How could you not like him ever ever ever?
I want them to get along. It would be SO sweet if they ended up being really good mates or something! I find it quite amusing that Uri is like a reverse Gokudera - she hates one person and likes everybody else, where Gokudera likes one person and hates all the rest of the lot! Lol!