Katekyo Hitman Reborn is one of those manga series that really should get more attention. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago, and was almost immediately pulled into it. the characters are all likable, even the villains. The story's original and very well thought out. though it takes a while to get going, the first chapters are crucial to character introduction and without them, you would sympathize with the characters a lot less. This series is one of those rare gems of manga that can find favor within all ages and genders.
The Reborn! story revolves around a boy named Tsunayoshi "Tsuna" Sawada, who is chosen to become the Vongola mafia family's boss due to him being the great-great-great grandson of the first Vongola boss, who had moved to Japan from Italy during his time. Also, the other candidates for the position of the head of the Vongola Family died. For these reasons, Tsuna is the only remaining heir. As such, Timoteo a.k.a. "Vongola IX," the current head of the family, sends Reborn, an infant hitman from Italy, to train Tsuna. Tsuna then unwillingly undergoes training from Reborn. Reborn's main method of teaching Tsuna is the "Dying Will Bullet", which will make the person be "reborn" with a stronger self intent on fulfilling his dying will. Through his experiences, Tsuna unconsciously becomes stronger and more confident, which ultimately makes him better suited as the Vongola Family's boss despite continuing to reject his Mafia inheritance.
Characters:Tsuna Sawada
Tsuna is a junior-high student and the Vongola Family's mob boss-in-training. Since Tsuna is the great-great-great grandson of the first Vongola boss, who had moved to Japan a long time ago, he is recruited as the next boss (All other candidates for the position of the head of the Vongola Family had died). His nickname is "No-Good Tsuna" because of his severely low self-esteem and horrible talent in school, but due to the results of various conflicts involving himself and his "Family," his own power matures over the course of the series.
(First appearance chapter 1)
Gokudera Hayato
A transfer student that was placed in Tsuna's class. Gokudera, who had previously studied in Italy, is a dynamite expert nicknamed "Smoking Bomb Hayato". He keeps various explosives hidden on his person and uses those explosives liberally by lighting them with a cigarette (or several) held in his mouth. A hot-headed and short-tempered youth, he continuously gets into fights with Lambo but devotes himself to Tsuna, having sworn to become his right-hand man after Tsuna defeated him in a battle shortly after his introduction.
(First appearance chapter 3)
Takeshi Yamamoto
Yamamoto is a seventh-grader and is the popular baseball star of Tsuna's school. He becomes friends with Tsuna, and Reborn tries to recruit him into the Vongola Famiglia. Carefree and upbeat, he hardly takes anything seriously, and is often "tricked" by Reborn because he thinks that "It's a game". However, he later becomes a dedicated and valuable member of Tsuna's Family, growing to become a fighter who excels at kendo.
(First appearance chapter 5)
Ryohei Sasagawa
Ryohei is one year older than Tsuna, and is a passionate member of the boxing club at his school, which he repeatedly asks Tsuna to join after seeing the latter in Dying Will Mode. In response, Reborn wants to recruit him into Tsuna's family. Every time he sees Tsuna and his family doing something strange, he gets fired up and always wants to be a part of it. Like Takeshi, he doesn't understand the full extent of Tsuna's connection with the Mafia due to his own energetic character, but still does everything that he can to protect him and fights with as much spirit and confidence as the other Family members.
(First appearance chapter 14)
Kyoya Hibari
Hibari is the leader of the Discipline Committee, or Prefects, whose members happen to be a group of delinquents loyal to him. Though he mostly speaks in a calm tone, Hibari is an excellent but violent fighter himself. Hibari uses his status to harass others and cares little for his subordinates, but has great pride in his school and has a soft side towards birds. He prefers to be alone and uses a pair of tonfa as his main weapons.
(First appearance chapter 16)
Lambo Bovino
Lambo is a cow suit-clad 5-year-old assassin from Italy affiliated with the Bovino ("Bovino" means "cow" in Italian) Famiglia. Despite being a hitman, he lacks the emotional maturity and discipline that Reborn has and is also very conceited as well as being a crybaby. His main choice of weapons are hand grenades, and his future dream is to rule the world. Lambo has a huge Afro (which he stores a variety of objects in, such as snacks to weapons) with horns on the sides of his head which gives him the appearance of a bison. He comes to Japan to kill Reborn, so he can prove that he is worthy of becoming his own family's boss, though naturally, he is no match to the Vongola hitman.
(First appearance chapter 7)
Chrome Dokuro
A 13-year-old girl born in Japan on December 5, and wears a Kokuyo school uniform. From what her parents talked about in a flashback, she was a girl known as Nagi and lived a non-social life. After rescuing a cat, she was badly injured in a car accident which lead to the loss of her right eye and some of her organs. The only way to save her life would be to have someone with the same blood type to transfer their organs to her. She did not care whether she lived or not and her parents refused the offer anyway. However, Mukuro Rokudo allowed her to live by creating illusionary organs for her. Chrome has been shown using two of Mukuro's six skills.
(First appearance chapter 113)
Hmm, I like this manga a lot. I find Tsuna very likeable and real, as well as the other characters. So far, there have been 215 chapters, 195 of which have been assembled into tankubon format. The anime series has 114 episodes so far. You know, a whole lot of manga are really good, and the only reason they aren't as big as Naruto or Bleach is that they're not as heavily advertised. I mean, you see Naruto and Bleach stuff everywhere, and look how popular they are! I'm sure that if KHR advertised a bit more, then it would be as, if not more popular than those two other manga. But perhaps it's a good thing that KHR isn't as popular. If it was popular, then it would get licensed and dubbed, and that wouldn't be good. I rate this manga 5 out of 5 stars.
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