KHR: Varia

In this arc you are introduced to 2 things that are important to the KHR world.

The Vongola Rings and the fact just how spoileriffic the Openings get with showing Chromein direct connection to Mukuro, in my opinion the Varia Arc is the best arc of the series.

We learned a good bit more about the characters we grew to love during their training for the Ring Battles and the action in this arc was also some of the best during the entire series.

Xanxus was an interesting "villain" with a cool backstory and motivation. His Varia group wasn't any less interesting either.

With Squalo being probably the best of the bunch due to his weird sense of honor that still reflects what Yamamoto lives through very well. It was just kinda dumb how Chromes backstory was literally dropped on us the moment she got into her fight, but she does have a good backstory so I am not too mad.

Belphagor was a good opponent for Gokudera, Lussuria probably the best fight Ryohei ever had. Mammon was a key part later on and obviously the best choice for an opponent that Chrome/Mukuro could face…in general the Varia are just a good foil to Tsuna and his friends which I really liked. I was also very happy to see the Varia return later. Much Later in fact. 10 years later, and we have a segway into the next arc!

The Music of KHR

Hibari's Theme

Not exclusively used by Hibari later on, but it always serves as a reminder of how dangerous he is.

My favorite instance of it is when he's about to beat the shit out of Yamamoto (I think) for doing something suspicious, but is calmed down before he can let loose. So the piano part of his theme plays, but cuts off right before the rest of the orchestra can enter.

Nice story/music integration there.

Holy War

A more intense version of Hibari's Theme that's used a lot in and around the Varia arc. The band nerd in me loves the strong low brass here that adds a sense of urgency and seriousness that wasn't as strong before this arc.

Tsuna Awakens

It's very "Rocky"-esque, but with the orchestral flair that the KHR soundtrack does so well instead of 70s funk.

And the key modulation in the middle really adds to the energy. I just wish the whole thing was longer than like a minute and a half! The far and away best usage of this song was during the Tsuna vs Mukuro battle in Kokuyo, at the first appearance of Hyper Dying Will.

You can tell how pumped I was when I saw that, and the music did a lot of the work.

Smile For You

Okay, this is just a pet one that I like. It's cute, what can I say? Boo on me for not liking most of the OPs and EDs, but anything that captures the essence of Pretty Cure/Hamtaro/similar Japanese cuteness gets an A in my book.

KHR: Kokuyo

A whole lot happens in this arc, and by that I mean a whole lot of nothing till the end.

This is probably my least favorite arc to be honest.

We meet Lancia who is kinda relevant Later…we meet Chikusa who is kinda just there we meet M.M. who will not reappear for like ever until she just hops into the frame at the tail end of the anime and we meet Ken the resident Tsundere who apparently has a thing for the best girl but doesn't wanna admit it.

Oh somewhere before we also met BianchiGokuderas Sister … I didn't really realize that she was there most of the time which is pretty sad.

The only thing that REALLY was relevant in this arc to be honest is that Tsuna finally got his weapon but I woudln't call it a real arc because of that.

KHR: Daily Life

I like this Arc but a few certain things pissed me off. Reborn was the first thing. He was always such a dick for no reason.

The next thing was how quickly Gokudera turned around.

Especially since "Obviously not a bad guy that will turn into an ally. Kyoya Hibari was there as well to fulfill literally the same role just executed differently…

I liked Yamamoto however. In fact he is the only Character that i always liked and still do. He is not my favorite anymore though. This would be someone that you could totally not guess by my flair or anything. But she wouldn't be introduced till WAY later. Instead we get, Lambo …the opposite of Yamamoto. Who by the way is the only character I never liked and never will like, period.

in between we also see Kyoko and Haru somewhere but i don't give a shit about them until the future arc so idc where those two even are at this point.

Bonus Points for those people that know my favorite Fairy Tail Character and assumed because of that that I would like Haru because she is basically a non-combat Juvia … except she lacks all the qualities i see in Juvia so I hate Haru.

Also I-Pin and Dino.

I like the arc, it is fun, and the manga is worth reading if you have only seen the anime. But, outside of that there is not really anything that is worth discussing after that point in Daily Life.

KHR: Future Arc & Final Battle

I will just say it again! Future Arc!

Future Arc

I was not sure how to structure this but i decided to have it be 2 Segments. The Future Arc and the Final Battle arc. The Future Arc will discuss everything up until the end of Choice and the Final Battle Arc will discuss the inheritance Succession Arc and the Future Final Battle Arc.

The Search for the Guardians was generally a waste of time.

It was full of filler content that wasn't needed and could have been much shorter. The Training episodes were drawn out a bit too much too here. But the Powerups are great. So had they shortened the arc a bit.

By for example leaving out the pointless reunion of Hana and Past Kyoko that led to literally just one short moment as well as the I-Pin and Haru Story as well as the Lambo one (Or combined the 3 stories into at most 2 episodes) and not shown as much stuff as they did about everything i would have liked the arc more.

The Invasion Story was probably my favorite part about this segment.

Simply because Characters that needed it got to do shit and we didn't immediately get Past, Ryohei and Hibari so we actually got to see their future Versions fight properly before getting to see the real heroes adapt their abilities. The Reveal that Shoichi was a good guy all along was done pretty well imo and Spanner is a great character as well.

The Arcobaleno Trials Arc that was done better later. But it is still pure and unadulterated character development but executed kinda poorly. Though enjoyable for what it was at least.

We also were introduced to a few cool characters before this arc in the invasion and training but aside from Gamma nobody is worth Mentioning really except for characters I have already discussed. Of course there are a few key characters that are already introduced by now that I didn't talk about but that's because they are more relevant in the Choice Arc so I will talk about them there.

Final Battle

This arc starts with the Inheritance Succession Arc in all fairness is the Arcobaleno Trials in good.

We also see Primo and his Guardians in the arc and just how much they are like Tsuna and his guardians and how they differ from one another. We get Characterization up the ass for Yamamoto, Gokudera and Tsuna (mostly just those because the other Characters don't change much) and we get awesome new powerups!

So let's go there because everything before was discussed.

The Final Battle.

Simply put Tsunas Guardians are not the strongest and this shows that with brilliant arc shows it. The Vongola have to assemble all the forces they can including the Varia just to somehow survive the fight against Byakurans guys. Which they barely do until Ghost shows up and is explained and he is some sort of major let down but I can deal with that since it's the final battle against Byakuran which as it turns out can only be won by Yuni and gamma sacrificing themselves to revive the other Arcobaleno resulting in the saddest scene in the entire Anime. I liked the fight against Byakuran and his Funeral Wreaths a lot.