What?! I'm a Tenth Generation Mafia Boss?!

Welcome, five people on the internet, to the first of what'll hopefully be a lengthy series that seeks to comprehensively review and critique each and every episode of the Japanese animated series "Katekyo Hitman Reborn", a boys' action series about Tsunayoshi Sawada, a middle school loser who discovers he's actually the heir to the Vongola Mafia family!

Needless to say, Godfather this ain't. The series starts out as an absurd, (largely) sexless teen comedy that goes from sitcom to full on supernatural (and sci fi) drama, while always keeping itself in check with plenty of absurdity along the way. Though, as we'll find out, the major appeal of the series (beyond its colorful cast of preschool vagabonds and retards) is its ability to completely embrace itself at every turn, giving the story an interesting development unlike the grand majority of animated, and just general, programming.

So, we have a lot of ground to cover. Let's dive right in.

Episode Title: What?! I'm a Tenth Generation Mafia Boss?!

Episode Number: 1

Important Character Introductions:
-Reborn
-Tsunayoshi Sawada
-Kyoko Sasagawa
-Haru Miura
-Takeshi Yamamoto
-Ryohei Sasagawa
-Hayato Gokudera
-Hibari Kyoya

Rating: 8/10

Summary: Reborn, at the request of Vongola IX, travels to Japan to tutor Tsunayoshi Sawada (or Tsuna, as most call him), a middle school student who is talentless and made of fail and AIDS. In order to prepare him for his training as a mafioso, Reborn unleashes the Deathperation Bullet, a bullet that temporarily kills its victim and then revives him as a new, energized human being...who, for a short period, can use his newfound powers to accomplish his dying will! Unfortunately, when Tsuna attempts to confess his love to Namimori Middle School's most beautiful girl, he finds himself challenged to a battle in the schoolyard by the Kendo team captain!

Review: Ah, here we are. The opening episode. And what an episode it is!

There's a lot to cover in this episode, just because so much happens in one half hour. Many relationships that will last throughout the entire series are subtly established and a grand majority of our central cast is upfront and center without really dominating the story. In fact, it's incredible that we learn so much about the characters despite how little they really do in this story. Just offhand:

We know that Yamamoto is a baseball player.
Ryohei excercises.
And Hibari takes his school...very seriously.

These particular traits, as trivial as they sound, are extremely significant pieces of information that are the focal points of each character. And yet they're all very casually and naturally addressed in this opening story without even being the focal point. It doesn't come off forced because it's all contextualized within what's directly going on with Tsuna. It's Tsuna's superpowered chase through the city to find Kyoko where we learn about Ryohei. It's Tsuna doing crazy batshit things that reveals Yamamoto's a good catcher. And finally, it's Tsuna not being in class due to his Deathperation rampage that Hibari's intense love of his school (and his status as head of the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee) first shows itself. This episode is ultimately Tsuna's story and all of what we learn about anyone else is through the prism of Tsuna's own experiences. A perfect way to open up the story.

Other characters, sadly, aren't quite as distinctive. The three above each have a unique quality about them that you could assign to their names...but our two female side characters (Kyoko and Haru) can only be described by whether or not they're attracted to Tsuna (Kyoko isn't, Haru is). On one level, this makes perfect sense: If we're seeing the characters through the prism of Tsuna's experience, then whether or not they dig him is a logical thing to explore. On the other hand...they literally don't do ANYTHING unless it's related to whether or not they like Tsuna. It's a little disheartening and a little TOO driven by the mind of a fourteen year old boy. For the sake of this single review, I'm going to count this as a minor flaw and give the writing the benefit of the doubt. After all, there's only so much ground to cover in 22 minutes, especially when you have to establish the premise of your entire series! We'll see how these characters grow as the story goes on, but I would've liked a plot important character like Kyoko to get the same characterization as incidental characters like Yamamoto or Ryohei did.

Though, considering Ryohei, it's rather interesting to see how different he is compared to the rest of the series. But we'll get to that when his focus episode comes up soon. But, for now, I'm just planting the seed.

Luckily, other things are smoother. The Deathperation Flame, the catalyst for a lot of Tsuna's actions this early in the game, is described quickly and concisely. Reborn's entire presence is mysterious, but properly so (and by the end of the episode, he explains his mission anyway, leading to a well done denouement). While Gokudera's appearance near the end, wondering about the 10th Vongola and if he's truly worthy, is a tad tacked on, it nonetheless plants the seeds necessary for us to have a continuing story.

So, all and all, this is a decent opener for the mammoth series. We meet a lot of characters in a short amount of time without anything feeling overbearing or TOO sloppy, the tone of the series as a wacky comedy is established VERY quickly, and it's a cute plot that isn't ambitious but does exactly what it needs to do: establish our series. So, all in all, I give "What?! I'm a Tenth Generation Mafia Boss?!" eight Deathperation Bullets out of ten.

Trivia of the Day: Notice, near the beginning, Vongola IX is explicitly referred to as "the Godfather." As far as my recollection goes, this is the ONLY instance in the entire series where he's called that! Every other mention is specifically Vongola IX or "the Ninth"!