“Hidden in an illusion is the real illusion. From one illusion will sprout another illusion. Hidden in truths lie lies, hidden in lies hides the truth.” – Rokudo Mukuro
Katekyo Hitman Reborn is an action, comedy, super power, and shounen anime. It was originally released in October 2006 by Artland with 203 episodes. It does not have a continuing series, but does have an OVA and a special.
General Rating: 8.3/10
My Rating: 10/10
First thing first, do not let the first arc of this anime fool you. Reborn kicks off with one of the worst arcs in anime history, the daily life arc. It takes up a lot of episodes that is basically filler, but is still relevant to the series and necessary to watch for understanding of the rest of the anime. However, if you are able to pull through the daily life arc, you will be rewarded with one of the greatest shounen animes. Reborn is a great zero to hero anime following middle school Tsuna and his friends as they train to succeed a mafia boss. It's a pretty interesting concept and Reborn does it well for the most part. It's got the epic fights, huge power ups, and an interesting cast of characters every shounen anime should have. After barely making it through the daily life arc alive, I marathoned the rest of the anime in less than a week. It was fully amazing and enjoyable all around. Reborn hovers around my top 10-20 anime of all time, so that says a lot considering how awful the anime began. But I can not stress enough how important it is to power through it to get to the good stuff.
Tsunayoshi, aka Tsuna, is known around his school as "no good Tsuna" because of his excessive clumsiness, talentlessness, and the fact he is in love with the school idol Kyouko. Tsuna's boring life of a failure takes an extraordinary turn when he encounters a mysterious baby calling himself Reborn, who happens to be a hitman sent by the Italian mafia. Reborn is assigned to prepare middle school Tsuna to succeed the ninth boss of the notorious Vongola family of whom he is somehow related to. Tsuna, with the help of his new criminal affiliates, aka his friends from school, and Reborn, begins striving for greatness. Tsuna and his friends encounter a various cast of characters, some of whom they aren't too sure how much they can truly count on. And along with new allies, they are constantly meeting new enemies they must take down.
Story: Reborn's slow start is deceiving to how the rest of the anime is. In the same way that most long (or semi-long in Reborn's case) shounen animes function in arcs, Reborn is no different. After the crap first arc, Reborn's arcs progress steadily to greatness, each arc building upon Tsuna and his friends' strengths. If you are a fan of the zero to hero troupe, you will greatly enjoy this about Reborn. After the anime kicks into full gear, it becomes a fast paced progression of gaining new skills, facing new foes, and unavailing the plot against the Vongola family. The mafia theme is taken fairly lightheartedly in the anime, which suits it well, but don't be expecting dark seinen mafia.
Characters: Just as how a mafia boss would have certain associates fit for a specific role, Tsuna does as well in his friend group - or rather the friends that are training alongside him to become the next Vongola family. While I loved most the characters in Reborn and thought they were well developed and served their purpose in the anime, there were a few exceptions. These would include the girls, Haru and Kyouko, that tagged along with the group during their journey to succeed the Vongola boss. The girls seemed to barely serve a purpose besides as love interests, until they were a bit more developed much later in the anime. Especially Kyouko who was supposedly smart, it also seemed highly unrealistic that these girls stayed in the dark as long as they did. It did not have a huge effect on the anime, but it was a flaw in character. I also just hated Lambo for being plain annoying. There were a few other minor character flaws too, but all in all, the rest of the characters were well done and had really cool designs and powers. I love it when a shounen has unique powers and abilities given to its opponents, and I definitely saw this in Reborn's characters.
Soundtrack: Let's just say Reborn's soundtrack is not it's selling point. Think of a typical shounen battle soundtrack that gets you hyped for battle, and you got Reborn. Not that it's bad, because its not - it served its purpose - but it is not anything to brag about in my opinion. I did really enjoy the openings and endings however.
Art: Reborn's got some great art and character design. I am loving its 2006 style as always. I am a big fan of distinguishable traits among character design, especially with a shounen anime that has lots of characters. Reborn has for sure got this covered. The art is very enjoyable, clearly a 2000s masterpiece. Fans of modern anime art may disagree, but I still stand that mid to late 2000s animation (and early 2010s) was by far the best animation anime has seen. Reborn is no exception, especially with its character designs that I love so much.
At the end of the day, Reborn is what I like to call a masterpiece. It has flaws, sure, but by the end of the anime, I almost had forgotten they existed. The anime was well made and enjoyable. Reborn is a typical zero to hero troupe anime, so for those of you who are fans of this (I am one too), I believe you will definitely enjoy this anime - as long as you can manage to sit through the first arc (30 episodes or so). Fans of animes like Fairy Tail, Kenichi: History's Strongest Disciple, One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, Bleach, Yuu Yuu Haakusho, Assassination Classroom, Kaze no Stigma, Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist, Vampire Knight, Black Cat, or Naruto I feel will especially love this anime and should give it a watch!
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