SHIMON ARC: Hibari to Tsuna
Recently I've been liveblogging my Shimon arc reread to my friends.
On chapter 323 one of them said they always wondered if the headband being there meant something. And yes, curtains might be blue because it's a nice color. But no. No, curtains being blue is incredibly goddamn important.
HEAR ME OUT
First, to recap what is happening: Shimon arc, pre Adelheid vs Hibari battle they briefly argue about Tsuna and Enma and decide on their pride and the rules of the battle: to seize each other's handband. Adelheid creates an ice prison that is impossible to penetrate from outside and 500 ice clones to fight Hibari. He fights them all, tells Adelheid she is wrong about Enma and small animals (which i will talk about later) and uses minirolls to crush the ice fort from the inside. After this he gets her handband, they talk about Tsuna again and Hibari drops his "it is because of the sky the cloud can float freely" thing.
Before I delve into it, however, I feel like I should take a quick dive in Tsuna-Hibari relationship from Hibari's perspective.
To put it simply, at first Hibari does not give a single fuck about Tsuna personally. Even after this glorious scene happens
All Hibari thinks about that day is that he wants to meet Reborn again. During the course of Daily life arc however Hibari messes with him plenty. Ny the time 43rd chapter (sakura viewing) rolls around, Hibari's opinion on Tsuna is summarized by this:
And this is actually the key. Hibari does not understand Tsuna. To him Tsuna is some weird ass alien creature who does not fit his rigid worldview. At first Hibari tries to make him make sense again by asserting himself over Tsuna and putting him back to the role of herbivore which he does follow every time except when he doesn't?? For some reason?????
Kokuyo arc is the arc that changed the manga tone in general but it's also the arc that changed Hibari himself. He is brutally shown that he as he is does not have the power to do whatever he wants. Something has to change. And Hibari seeks that change in Tsuna, who somehow managed to defeat Mukuro when Hibari himself failed.
chapter 123, cloud battle aftermath
He stops trying to still Tsuna. Instead he wants now to understand what the fuck is up about him and what can he do. The answer is Tsuna can burn a man alive in a fit of rage btw.
BUT THE THING IS. THE THING IS EVENTUALLY HE DOES UNDERSTAND TSUNA. AND THIS LEADS US TO TAKE A LIL BREAK FOR THE PRIDE TALK
Now, the obvious thing: headband symbolizes Hibari's pride.
Here is what he says, when first asked about it:
But also Hibari vs Adelheid battle is the one that finally clears up what the hell does "pride" mean.
The thing is. What Hibari is saying (and what he tried to make Tsuna understand, because the whole battle here his two goals are to win (duh) and to help Tsuna find his conviction again) is that the actual meaning of "What is your pride?" is "What makes you yourself?". You, as a person, should be proud of who you are. And he tells Tsuna, that it is whatever he cannot give up, whatever makes the very core of Tsuna's self is what he should fight for (And then Tsuna tells Enma "You are my pride" which is very juicy but deserves its own post).
Okay, now with this out of the way, let's get to the next thing:
Hibari vs Adelheid (but not the violent edition)
Hibari and Adelheid are not only fighting, they are also talking to each other. And by talking I mean arguing. About Tsuna and Enma and little animals.
Here is important thing to note first: asking around some people who know some people who know japanese gave me information that actually "small animal" is. Not different from herbivore at all. They are apparently used intechangingly based on how much space speechbubble has.
This does affect things: when it is usually thought that Tsuna in Hibari's eyes carves a new category for himself, not worth calling by name nor insulting nickname, nor he can be classified as a simple herbivore, he is just his own thing. Instead it seems like Tsuna changed Hibari's opinion on entire population of herbivores-small animals. (and if those people just got me confused ill die of shame (;-;)b)
ANYWAY, THEIR DEBATE
yes i had to put it all here. it's good. read it.
Do you see it guys? Do you see how far he came from daily life? He now really does understand Tsuna. He cracked the code. And he does now acknowledge that yeah Tsuna (and by extention other ppl like him. Like Enma) has his own way to live life and it does work for him. Tsuna is not weak. Being a herbivore does not automatically mean being weak.
Another interesting thing here is this:
"Why is a man like you with the likes of Sawada Tsunayoshi?"
"I'm not with him"
And I think it's important to remember here that Adelheid does see Tsuna=Vongola boss thing. To Tsuna it's Him and His Friends against Enma and His Friends. To her? It's Vongola vs Shimon
And when she talks to Hibari about Tsuna, she is saying "Why are you with Sawada Tsunayoshi?" but what she means is "Why are you with Vongola?" and this difference does impact Hibari's answer. Case in point:
I DON'T LIKE THE WAY YOU SAID THAT... WELL... TRUE ENOUGH.
BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CLOUD GUARDIAN OF THE VONGOLA'S SKY?
ACCORDING TO WIKI, THIS:
A drifting Cloud, whom cannot be bound. Protecting the famiglia from an independent standpoint.
AND SO
I am sorry, I am very normal about this, promise.
And so Hibari basically admits that he will not be bound to Tsuna, but he will be around, involving himself when he feels like it. They're friends your honor.
BUT THERE IS MORE.
The attribute of the cloud flames is propagation. Why is it relevant?
this is the hype up text at the end of chapter 322.
and this is the last page of chapter 323.
Remember i briefly mentioned Hibari stagnating in daily life arc and realizing that there must be something more during Kokuyo arc? He found it. Tsuna is the one who gave him this opportunity. Just being around Tsuna allowed Hibari to grow. To propaga- Okay, that does sound silly. But I think the point still stands. Tsuna gave Hibari space to grow, and frankly, Hibari is grateful for that.
now we are entering the deranged territory
Hibari watched Tsuna grow all during the course of the manga and at some point Tsuna DID outgrow him. Not psychologically, but powerwise? Def. And Hibari cannot be not aware of that.
You might ask, how is he okay with that, but the thing is, Hibari is actually very chill with not being the strongest person in the room. What he actually needs is people to respect him and his authority as Disciplinary Committee chairman and Namimori protector. Reborn respects it and is stronger than him. Does Hibari want to fight him? Yes. But he is not actually going out of his way to attack him.
Tsuna has a great deal of respect for Hibari, and in turn Hibari does not feel the same hostility to him he does towards Mukuro despite Tsuna being totally able to win against him in a fight. Once again, rip Byakuran.
BUT. HIBARI IS NOT GOING TO STOP GROWING ANYMORE. HE LEARNED HIS LESSON, HE IS NOW ENDLESSLY EVOLVING OR SOME SHIT.
AND
WHAT I AM SAYING IS
HE IS NOT ONLY NOT GOING TO STOP HELPING TSUNA TO BE BETTER BUT HE ALSO IS GOING TO USE TSUNA AS BENCHMARK
NOT AS SOMEONE TO BE LIKE. BUT SOMEONE TO BE BETTER THAN
THE PRIDE AS SYMBOL OF SELF AND AND THE BAND AS SYMBOL OF PRIDE
AND DISCIPLINE BEING THE KEY TO BETTERMENT OF SELF
HE DECLARES TSUNA BOTH HIS FRIEND AND HIS RIVAL THATS WHAT THE BLUE CURTAINS MEAN I REST MY CASE
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Semi minor rambling thoughts about… A few things, mostly relating to Timoteo.
Adults can try to do their best and still fail. It is human. The tragedy of Xanxus’s situation isn’t that he was harmed, it’s that he was harmed despite Timoteo’s best efforts to raise him as his own
He is a man who was presented with a child with a deadly and powerful ability and took that child in. He is a man who is both a father and the leader of an empire. He is a man who has to strike a balance in his own household between loving his family and raising them to take his job
He is a king, and he really doesn’t want to be
In the least charitable reading of his character, he took in a boy and lied to him because he was fearful of his power. This is the way Xanxus looks at what happened to him. Xanxus is an unreliable narrator. We are shown very often that his words and actions are often at odds.
A reading that takes into account both Timoteo’s position and personality is one where he saw Xanxus and realized the safest place for him would be directly under Vongola’s roof, because he is a child and he only has his mother and he is already in possession of something many many people would want, and go to great lengths to get access to
And he was right because we see this happen with Octavio, who simpered and cowered and fed Xanxus’s ego in order to gain power from their association
Timoteo failed to protect Xanxus
But that doesn’t mean he didn’t try
This is in line with Tsuna’s character progression as well, where he never wants power for power’s sake, and when he does start seeking to become stronger, he undergoes a psychological block on his Flames because he is no longer drawing from the well of feeling that allowed him to use them in the first place
He doesn’t want to be strong at all
He just wants to protect what he loves
This is the fundamental difference between him and Xanxus
You can sympathize with Xanxus and his situation without turning your blinders on to the story that is being told
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Reborn beginning to see Tsuna’s power and wondering how it translates to Skull as another Big Three kid
Skull has always excelled in making himself seem smaller than what he is.
It was an odd skill for a stuntman, but a useful one when he didn’t want to deal with the game that followed. He was the master of tamping down his aura of hiding behind whining and bad jokes of letting bigger personalities run over him.
It worked better that way. The smaller he made himself the less attention he got for other things which was useful as a child to the big three.
The closest he got to showing just how powerful he is came just after the curse was put in place, when his scream of anguish echoed with dozens of other voices and bones of things long dead shot out of the ground in towering spears of death, trying to attack something that wasn’t there.
It is easy forgotten when be lets reborn and Colonnello walk all over him. Easily ignored. Just how he likes it.
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