Pirate Prince's Plunder Of The Week: Reborn!
My pick this week is actually a manga this time, so don't fret, my fellow otaku. Have a fascination with the mafia? Like me, are you feeling blue now that The Sopranos is over? Reborn might just be your panacea. Tsuna Sawada, your everyday Japanese student underachiever in all respects, finds himself chosen to be the next mafia lord of the Vongola family, and by a baby assassin named Reborn no less. This is the story of his training for the exalted position, and the crazy folks that populate his life.
Read on for more info!
Akira Amano started Reborn just a couple years ago, and it's come a long way since it's inception. Upon first glance, Reborn! is just another of those boring and stereotypical "school hijinks" manga, with characters that change shape under certain circumstances. And it very much DOES contain those elements. But Reborn!'s fun, great character design, unique style and quality is what makes it rise to the top, helping it to become one of the top five most liked manga in Japan in recent polls. With a popular new anime currently airing and a video game just released a few days ago, Reborn!'s popularity is just starting.
Called Katei Kyōshi Hittoman Reborn! in Japan, the english translation by VIZ has been dubbed just plain ole Reborn! despite the fact that that very clearly describes what the baby Reborn is: a Home Tutor Hitman. He's an expert with weapons, especially guns, and he has a special ability of infusing his victims with "Deathperation," an ability that brings special powers briefly to the forefront after having been shot. This enables the otherwise cowardly Tsuna to perform amazing feats that continually impress his peers as he slowly learns how to protect his family and what it means to be a mafia lord.
There's a lot of playing around in this series, with pretty solid humor and tons of sight gags. The tiny little baby Reborn (who is just as twisted as he is cute) is obviously a hit with the ladies, and in one instance, is stalked by an ex lover that specializes in poisonous cooking. Tsuna obviously becomes a target by the crazed girl and spend the next few chapters avoiding evilly gaseous cakes and snacks. Tsuna is constantly running for his life while his friends engage in one crazy time after the next, and it's humorous seeing him scramble around while everyone else seems calm.
Amano has a good sense of attractiveness, because almost all of his characters are surprisingly sexy in their own way, especially among the male characters. One of my favorites is boxing champ Ryohei Sasagawa, whose gray hair and nose bandage complements his passionate fighting style and is fortunately often shirtless. So if you read manga for crush factor, Reborn! has a lot to offer.
Reborn is pretty much a gag comic for much of it's early chapters, so if you want a more serious manga, it might not be for you. Things do get more serious as time goes on, and when the fights start to get more intense, Amano's drawing style really improves from the early chapters. I myself was a little turned off by Reborn!'s goofiness, but have found a lot to like by sticking with it.
Give it a chance, because who can get sick of teenage kids getting shot for superpowers ??
Pirate Prince
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 5 September 2007
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: akira amano, manga, pirate prince, plunder of the week, reborn!
the show is very awesome. slow in the beginning. but after epi 15 i soo hooked. i feel like i need it like crack sometimes. Very cool. The third ending is pretty sweet as well. Might pic up the manga since you like it.
I am seriously OBSESSED with this series right now and have been pimping its awesome hilarity and sexiness to anyone who'll listen. Yay for Reborn!