Katekyo Hitman Reborn: Mukuro vs. Hibari

This is a tough one, I'd probably go with Hibari over Mukuro, just because of how adept he is at battle in general. Mukuro and Hibari are both some of the most powerful guardians under Tsuna. And while I picked Hibari there's not much reason as to why I'd say this, I just think he'd win. One is a master of illusions, the other possesses monstrous power. The big question is, who would win? The cloud or the mist? Mukuro's illusions are stronger than strong, but by the end of the series, Hibari can handle stuff like that.

I wish that Amano didn't have Hibari and Mukuro finally fight in the last arc. Not only would that have been great fanservice, I am such a sucker for stuff like that, it would have finally settled this debate.

Today I wanted to lay out the theory.

But before that you need a little bit of an overview. Otherwise it isn't based on stats, but just on biased feelings, something that is all too present in the community.


The Combatants

Hibari

Kyoya Hibari (雲雀恭弥, Hibari Kyōya) is the leader of the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee, prefects who are in fact a group of delinquents that are all loyal to Hibari.

Hibari's tonfas seem to be his main weapon for combat.

Later it is revealed that they hold hidden compartments. The ends of the tonfas can release flails and the sides contain spikes and hooks.

Hibari himself is a violent delinquent who uses his status to harass other students. As shown several times in the series, he prefers to be alone and cares little for his subordinates.

He loves Namimori more than anything, and will often say "I'll bite you to death," or "kamikorosu," to those that disturb Namimori Middle School.

Hibari is very proud of his school and is apparently the only person who even likes their school's anthem, even using it as his ringtone. In the Kokuyo Arc, he adopts the Kokuyo Assassin Birds' bird. The bird (subsequently nicknamed "Hibird" due to its connection to Hibari) becomes attached to Hibari. Hibird can also sing the school's anthem, taught by Hibari, who loves it.

Reborn piqued Hibari's curiosity in the mafia early on in the series and Hibari considers him a worthy opponent, having a strong urge to fight him.

Mukuro

Mukuro Rokudo (六道 骸, Rokudō Mukuro) is the Kokuyo Arc's primary villain who claims that his body has gone through all six paths to Hades possibly due to the experiments he underwent as a child which were carved into his memories, Mukuro is granted six powerful skills. When using these skills, a Japanese kanji numeral from 1-6:

The numeral will correspond to the realm, appearing in his right eye.

Later on, he becomes Tsuna's Mist Guardian. Portrayed as the series' first primary antagonist, Mukuro Rokudo is introduced as a 15-year-old (former) Mafia criminal and the leader of the Kokuyo Gang, which consists of heinous criminals who have recently escaped from an Italian prison.

However, later on in the series, he takes on a more supportive role for the series' main characters, becoming somewhat of an ally rather than an enemy, though he prefers to not consider himself as one of their allies and avoids any involvement with the Mafia due to his past.


The Battle

In conclusion: Mukuro was the sole opponent that Hibari lost to and that is the very reason I think that Hibari would win.

It's implied in the future arc during Hibari's battle with Genkishi that the reason Hibari is skilled against illusions is solely because of the grudge he's holding against Mukuro. Hibari hates Mukuro with every fiber of his being and has probably thought of a move or two to counter Mukuro, while Mukuro doesn't even see Hibari as worth his time.

This could put the advantage in Hibari's corner and it might even be a deciding factor in this fight.

People (myself included at time) want to give this to Mukuro just because his Vongola Gear is much more powerful than Hibari's. Being able to utilize all six paths of reincarnation at once.

This is an extremely OP ability that I don't think Hibari would be able to counter.

Mukuro also dealt with Dameon Spade in seconds while Hibari lost that fight. On another hand, Hibari has been referred to by Amano many times as the strongest guardian (though it's possible that Chrome is considered the mist guardian by her)

Katekyo Hitman Reborn Varia Arc Rewatch

KHR just keeps getting better. It started off with a fair amount of training, and then lead to some awesome fights. Just as I had hoped, the Varia arc continued the plot and character development that began in the Kokuyo arc. (Not a complaint perse) Making this is my overall favorite arc of the show so this isn't my first rewatch, but I have put somethings down that may improve your first rewatch.

34 The Varia Comes! ヴァリアー来る
35 The 7 Vongola Rings ボンゴレリング7つ
36 Katekyo, Start カテキョー、動く
37 Master and Disciple Combi, Set 師弟コンビ、揃う
38 The Disapperance of the Stubborn Fawn ワガママ子牛の失踪
39 The Unseen Enemy's Motive 見えざる敵の目的は
40 Fight for the Ring Begins! リング争奪戦、開始!
41 Feelings of the Protector 晴の守護者の思い
42 The Power to Rebound Adversity 逆境をはね返す力
43 Thunder Strike of 20 Years Later 20年後の雷撃
44 The Stolen Sky Ring 奪われた大空のリング
45 Storm Brewed by Angry Waves 怒涛の嵐戦
46 Reason to Fight 戦う理由
47 The Strongest Invincible School 最強無敵の流派
48 Namegata's Game 勝負の行方
49 Requiem of the Rain レクイエムの雨

I just love the entire premise of the arc. And I feel like it is the best implamented overall when compared to the Manga. There are some things here that you don't get, or get as much of in other arcs, especially when it comes to different group of people contesting to be the next Vongola X. I mean, really, at this point in the show, which viewer hasn't looked at Tsuna and thought "this kid is gonna be Vongola X?"

Still I am not without complaints, right now there are 2 things in the anime that are bother me, the biggest being that most of the female characters in the show are unbelievably dense. I hope they change or that more interesting and less dense female characters get introduced as the series progresses.

The other one is Tsuna's uniform, which now has wavy edges around the collar and shoulder for no apparent reason. This is a minor complaint, so it hasn't really affected my enjoyment of the show, but I can't excuse lazy animation.

As I have said, the fights, the fights. The fights are amazing. Tsuna saving Lambo at the cost of losing his sky ring! Wow, this showed how his character had developed thus far, which was nice.

Just like Gokudera's fight, Yamamoto vs. Squallo made great use of its surroundings – this time with a flooding destroyed building. Really fitted well with their fighting styles.

Rain

This is my favorite fight of the arc.

It combines action and intellect and has the best setup to the fight. The team now can't afford another loss AND Yamamoto's opponent is Squalo (my favorite member of the Varia from the beginning and someone who's showed that they're a good threat by beating all of the guardians including Yamamoto before) AND there's no "good" outcome to the battle.

I loved Squalo because of his design, VA, and funny personality but there was definitely a sad thought in my head that once Squalo lost the battle, he'd get killed by the Varia. So there's stakes in either outcome of the battle. Yes, you could argue that it's obvious Yamamoto's going to be the winner because we need to see the other battles (also, opening) but this fight is less about "who will win?" but more about "HOW will Yamamoto win?" and this fight completely delivers there.

The end to episode 48 feels so hopeless with Yamamoto being completely outclassed and now knows that Squalo has beaten the invincible style before.

My friend predicted here that there'd be "a secret 9th stance" cause that's what anime does, but KHR did it even better. It made it so there was a reason Squalo didn't know about the 8th stance and a reason for Yamamoto to create his own stance and subvert the style. I also loved how the writers didn't just have Squalo lose because he couldn't recognize the attacks–he still had his artificial hand that could've killed Yamamoto if the 9th stance didn't involve reflection.

It was a great end to an exhilarating battle and Squalo was never more entertaining during it.

I was thinking that the fight would end with Yamamoto winning and then bringing Squalo to the Vongola side and while I never truly believed Squalo was killed by the shark, I still liked the overall direction of his character