ITP: Plot.

[makeste]

Yes, this arc of awesome daily life and vegetables and Shitt P actually has a plot! I'm excited. Are you excited? I HOPE SO.


1. I just have to say, IMO this week's SJ cover is by far the best color illustration Amano's ever done. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS SEXY AND ATTRACTIVE AND SEXY, UNF. IT'S SO MAFIA-Y and Hibari looks good and Ryohei looks good and Lambo looks good and Gokudera looks good, and if Yamamoto ever looked at me like that I might jump him right on the spot, and possibly Chrome too, and Tsuna. Oh my, Tsuna. He just looks so calm and confident and he's NOT in Hyper Mode for once in his life (I always preferred normal Tsuna; idk if that makes me weird), and would you just look at him sitting on that chair that probably costs more than my house looking every inch the young mafioso? No wonder Reborn looks so content chilling out there in his pimp suit. He's done his job well.

I honest to God could spend an hour just basking in the awesomeness of this page, and fully intend to come back to it later and drool over it some more, but in the meantime we're just getting started, because SIX YEARS OF KHR, EVERYONE. CELEBRATE!

And that means that we have yet another color page, a double-spread in fact! And you can so tell that not even half the effort went into this one as the cover, or at least such is my assumption because EVERYONE LOOKS WEIRD but I don't care because OH MY GOD IT'S BYAKURAN. AND TYL!SHOU! Neither of which I ever expected to see again, and yet here they are in color page form. IT'S A GOOD FUCKING DAY.

And I guess "Shimon" really is supposed to be romanized as "Simon", but hell if I'm going to make the change now when I'm already set in my ways. If only they had mentioned this on the last color page. I guess we should just be grateful that Large got romanized in time before Raruji or whatever actually became the fandom standard.


2. ...and now I start to wonder if that cover image was in fact so good that all of the other pages are going to suffer from it, because man is that one awkward shot of Gokudera on the bottom right. XD Though I suppose it's understandable, given that he just found out that HIS HEROES the Giegue family got their asses handed to them. Quite possibly literally, given Reborn's extremely unsettling comment on the following page. 8|

And gosh, Adelheid, that's not a suspicious reaction at ALL. Nope. Not in the slightest.


3. Fortunately, Tsuna's loyal batch of minions is determined not to let anything interfere with the ceremony! So don't you even worry about it, boss, they've got everything covered! WHAT'S THAT, YOU SAY? YOU DON'T ACTUALLY WANT TO GO THROUGH WITH THE CEREMONY? PSHAW, THAT'S JUST CRAZY TALK. YOU'RE SO CRAZY, TSUNA.

So everyone runs off to partake in Gokudera's new favorite hobby, PATROLING FOR SUSPICIOUS PEOPLE. Even Tsuna's new boyfriend, though he takes a moment first to bid farewell to his true love Nuts. And then Reborn's all like, "GEE TSUNA WHAT'S WRONG" as if he doesn't fucking know already, but you gotta love that awesome shit-eating grin on his face.


4. Anyway, Tsuna finally flips out (though actually, that was sooner than I expected) and screams that he's not going to the ceremony and YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!, and Reborn's all "well, that's not my problem, go complain to my boss and his host club of sexy old men." And because life is good, said posse of attractive old people pulls up right outside Tsuna's house THAT VERY MOMENT, and Tsuna catches his first glimpse of Ganauche III and has his third heart attack of the chapter, which no one can blame him for.


5. I wonder if anyone raised any eyebrows when this group of rich, well-dressed senior citizens apparently kidnapped a young teenage boy and took him to a hotel. >_> Well, either way, this is like the single most mafiaish thing that has ever happened in the entire manga up to this point, and I am kind of excited as hell.

--Oh my God the Ninth is Linderman from Heroes. Tell me I'm not the only one who sees this. XD


6. Not that I'm saying he's a supervillain or anything. Actually, he's so damn smiley that he's kinda creeping me out just a little bit! But I just got that "I may seem like a harmless old man, but don't believe for a second that I'm not still serious business" vibe. Look at the way he anticipated the fact that Tsuna is still reluctant about becoming the Tenth, and, rather than waiting for Tsuna to bring it up, beat him to the punch and then started passive-aggressively guilt-tripping him over it. Bringing up Uni to add insult to injury, and then basically saying that Tsuna is the mafia's only hope for GOODNESS AND LOVE. Ninth, you sly dog.


7. Ooh, but this is nice; we finally get some insight into the whole "you understand my will" thing. It's true, Primo's been all in favor of Tsuna's "FUCK YOU VONGOLA" attitude from the beginning. So I guess Tsuna is the only one who can bring balance to the Force and turn Vongola into the fluffy mafia Giotto always meant it to be.


8. And now the timing of the ceremony is starting to make a lot more sense. When I first read the spoilers for this chapter it all seemed insane, because why the hell would Timoteo schedule the Inheritance Ceremony on such short notice knowing full well that Tsuna didn't want to go through with it? But it's all part of his master scheme. If he really did see Tsuna's battle with Byakuran, then he understands that even though Tsuna is dead-set against the whole mafia thing, he's still the type who will accept that role under very specific circumstances; namely, if it's to protect people. So Nono's plan is to guilt him with the whole "YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN RESTORE THE VONGOLA FROM ITS CORRUPT STATE AND END THE CYCLE OF MURDER AND HATRED" thing and then only give him one fucking day to think about it, and because Tsuna is just a kid and prone to totally crumpling under pressure he almost has no choice but to say yes under those circumstances.

I seem to recall Reborn saying at some point or other that the Ninth's power lay in his charisma--"he's the type of person people are willing to lay down their lives for", or something like that--and man, you can really see that here. The guy knows how to manipulate. But I can't help but think this is really kind of a dick move on his part.


9. And you see, it's working! Already Tsuna is being a doubty mcdoubter and having second thoughts and struggling because he doesn't want to but now he feels like he might have a responsibility to do it, and WELL-PLAYED, NINTH. WELL-PLAYED. Who can possibly put a stop to this cycle of events now?

KOZATO ENMA, THAT'S WHO. Well, moment of truth now, Enma my boy. Don't let me down, or I will look like a total chump with all of my foolish theories. XD


10. Sob they actually confirmed that the Ninth was being a manipulative bastard. OH, NINTH. You said all those pretty things and then you want Tsuna to drink this creepy bottle of FUCKING SIN. Oh my God they want to corrupt this pure and innocent child and this is by far the most disturbing turn of events that have ever happened in this manga and I toss that term around like every other week but SERIOUSLY. AND REBORN IS IN ON IT TOO? REBORN?!

Holy shit.


This arc just got totally hardcore.