OK, I've made a lot of progress in the Vongola Rings arc. The manga's shift was enormous, but I actually really like the direction it's taken.
Here's my thoughts on the fights I've seen so far:
! Sun Guardian:
Ryohei is probably my favorite of Tsuna's famiglia after Hibari, so I did enjoy this fight. It was great to see Ryohei win after being stomped in the Kokuyo arc, but this fight felt severelyā¦ linear. Maybe it's because I knew some of the things that would happen, but yeah, it felt a bit formulaic. Like I didn't necessary expect Kyoko to show up to give her brother that bit of encouragement to finally beat that homo, but it definitely was pretty expected. The way Ryohei broke the lights was awesome, too.
! Thunder Guardian:
OK, this is probably the one that made me the most annoyed. I didn't like Lambo being a huge useless idiot in his base form. I mean yeah, he's Lambo, but it's disappointing to see him always rely on his future forms. 15 and 25 year old Lambo were AWESOME though. But the timer running out was bullshit, and seeing that really stupid looking asshole kick Lambo around was a pain. Not to mention Tsuna losing his ring for interference, while Xanxus techincally interfered as well. This fight does get some points but finally getting the damn weiner to want to fight.
! Storm Guardian:
I'll say it here; I don't like Gokudera that much. Out of Tsuna's famiglia, I'm pretty sure he's my least favorite. Add the fact that I think that PRINCE THE RIPPER is a really lame character and you'll have probably my least favorite ring fight. Still, I do kind of like the smarts Gokudera used in this battle (though the wires on the knives was kind of ridiculous... but I kind of learned to turn my brain off sever since Gokudera's fighting style started to get used seriously). And I agree with RoastBeef wholeheartedly when he said that Gokudera should've lost that match. It fits his role as a character (he's still learning how to be a good family member), and it made perfect sense storywise. Shamal was great at the end.
! Rain Guardian:
I was expecting to not like Yamamoto or his Asian sword-fu, but I actually thought it was really cool. I also really like Squalo's character; he's probably the only redeemable Varia member, to me. The fight felt slow at times, but it was actually a really good one even though most of it was Yamamoto getting punked around. I also really liked the history of the Shigure Souen style, and it gave me a lot more respect for Yamamoto's dad (who I really liked anyway). Yamamoto's using the blunt side of the blade was characteristic of him yet severely dorky.
! Mist Guardian (which I'm just finishing):
I thought that a fight between illusionists was a pretty cool concept especially in the way they explained it. I actually ended up really liking Chrome, which is weird because I normally dislike female main characters. Her past was pretty good, too. I didn't necessarily care for Mukuro during the Kokuyo arc, but I think he was a much better villain than Xanxus and it really was nice to see him again (though the buildup was kin dof pathetic... "I wonder who the 3 guys in the robes are! OooOOooOOo!). And it's really nice to see lame villains get a taste of their own medicine; Mukuro laughing off that lame goth baby's attacks and beating the shit out of him was really satisfying. So yeah, I like Mukuro now.
! The only thing that bugs me is (unless it gets explained later), that Mukuro's "resurrections" haven't been explained enough.
! I haven't read Hibari's fight yet, but I pretty much know how it goes and it doesn't really need any commentary.
As it stands, my preferences:
- Hibari
- Ryohei
- Lambo
- Chrome/Mukuro
- Yamamoto
- Gokudera