This was recommended to me enthusiastically by a friend, so that’s how I got into it. I don’t really watch shouen anime, not my cup of tea, so I acknowledge that I’m not the demographic for this. But I feel that this is still low-tier shouen. Every moment that I watched this, I wanted to scream in agony. Man, I’m so glad I’m done with this.
Story
Everyone says first 20 episodes suck but then it gets better because the first 20 episodes are boring filler. However, I feel like those first 20 episodes were the best moments of the anime (not by much). The Mukuro arc was okay, because it didn’t feel like it lasted 1000000 years. The ring conflict was annoying because it felt like it was dragged on for 30 episodes, and there was a lot of fat that could’ve been trimmed. The future arc.........was complete hell. I think at around ep 160 I started haphazardly skimming episodes because I thought that everything was being drawn out. Plus, the plot was just simultaneously confusing and annoying.
Characters
I hate reborn. His voice is grating, he constantly picks on Tsuna for the sake of bullying, and I feel like his character could’ve been fleshed out more, like with the arcobaleno stuff. I feel like he’s literally there just for exposition and telling, not showing. Tsuna is someone who you think is maturing but then goes back to being a whiny baby. At one of the last episodes, he still is like IM NOT A MAFIOSO, I just want to slap him and say if you didn’t want this you could’ve just kicked reborn in the face instead of whining and acting whipped and going along with it. He reacts to reborn showing up at his school in exactly the same way every time, and never seems to get used to it, it just pisses me off “ReBoRn WhY aRe YoU hErE aT sChOoL????” After reborn’s been at his school 3847 times. Yamamotos pretty forgettable. Gokudera is unlikeable becsuse he hates everyone except for Tsuna and that never really changes. I only kind of like him because he hates Lambo. Speaking of lambo, I’ve never hated an anime character more than I hate Lambo. He is a detriment to everyone, he Only ever thinks about food, and I want to take his voice box and bury it. AWFUL. Why he became a guardian and not I-pin, Bianchi, or anyone else is beyond me.He’s only really useful 20 years later, because he doesn’t have a brain when hes a deformed baby. Hibari is a broken Levi Ackerman type without any personality or layers. He’s a warrior immediately because of his connection to a building, pretty overpowered, and hates everyone. I’d like him if he had some other words to say other than biting people. Haru is funny, but annoying. Kyoko is a Plain Jane, she’s nice I guess. Ryohei is loud jock. That’s his personality. Chrome is delicate China doll Who grunts in a sensual wayALL the time. Bianchi had promise but gets placed on the back burner in the future arc. I-pin seems like a caricature BASICALLY all of these characters are one-dimensional personality types that have very few moments of real humanity. This really disconnected me from feeling any of their tension as they progressed, they just all felt like parodies.
Also, the women in this anime are treated like absolute sh*t. Kyoko and haru slave away in the kitchen the whole future arc, saying the boys are fighting so we have to work our best to make delicious food tee hee hee!! They boycotted by not making food, and the vongola were helpless, which was pathetic. If you’re in the mafia, Idk shouldn’t you know how to fend for yourself?? :(( it really disgusted me. Also, Lal was the only strong female that took part in a lot of action, and then was deemed too weak and sick and stored away for basically the remainder of the show. Chrome is useless in any combat and only breathes heavily, and it sounds very sexual at times :(
Sound
The ost of the show is bad. That song they use after every triumphant moment makes me want to stab my ears. It’s just not that great, and my friend said that’s her favorite song... if anything my one and only song I like is that piano song that is played in the future arc whenever shoichi is with the cervello. I thought it was mysterious and somber and actually fit with the mood. The op/ed are fine actually. Not my cup of tea to constantly listen to, but I think that they have high quality.
Art
The arts bland which lessened my engagement. I also hated the character design, especially arcobaleno designs. That’s it about art.
Enjoyment
As the series progressed, it became primarily fight scenes which in and of itself is fine. But they had such a predictable algorithm in this show, that it just became annoying to watch, making me skip through them eventually. Vongola fights enemy, appears to defeat enemy, enemy looks surprised, then smiles because they have a trick up their sleeve, vongola gasps in shock that they haven’t truly defeated the enemy!?!?! Then, they realize the vongola bond is stronger than any ring or box, and then they defeat the enemy. Repeat this over and over again. It doesn’t help that during the fights, EVERY SINGLE MOVE is explained in full detail by observers. Enemy dodged an attack. Observer, most likely reborn: he used his weight to dodge the attack... LIKE NO DUH. This really killed all Potential enjoyment I could’ve had
Overall 3 not the worst, but you couldn’t make me watch this again if you paid me all the money in the world. That’s not a Life I want to go back to.
