Reborn! vol.11

The fight for the Vongola Rings has started!
Members of the Varia show up earlier than expected, even though not everyone from Tsuna's side is prepared. Their attack is stopped, though, by a message from the 9th Vongola boss himself, saying that the conflict will be settled in the form of a tournament. The first two fights are for the Sun Ring and the Lightning Ring.

Usually, I don't like it when a shonen manga introduces a tournament into the plot. It just feels like there's some bit of danger taken out of it by having organized fights, and they end up throwing in a bunch of characters that aren't really important, and sometimes the fights might not involve any of the main characters at all. It feels like a story shortcut; instead of thinking up a plot where this encounter would happen, the author just tosses everyone in an arena to take turns. However, I don't quite mind it as much here for two reasons: 1. This isn't like most shonen tournaments because the fight is only between two groups, meaning only the main characters will be involved. These fights were going to happen anyway. 2. Reborn is bananas. It can get away with just about anything, just by virtue of the fact that the core concept of the series is absolutely ridiculous. The reaction is this:"Geeze a tournament? Flinging the salt from evaporated sweat off your arm like bullets(not kidding) ? Oh wait...this is that series about the talking baby hitman and the Japanese kid trying to become and Italian mob boss. Okay, I buy it. A tournament isn't that farfetched."

While it would've been more interesting for this arc to go like the beginning of the volume, with the Varia chasing after them, these fights were gonna happen anyway, so it doesn't really matter if it's being done tournament style. It doesn't feel like a plot shortcut, because the scenario for everything was already set up before the tournament was even introduced.

As for the fights themselves, we get two of them: Ryohei's and Lambo's. I'm glad Ryohei's came first, because...it's Ryohei. He's the least important of the group, and while his fight was interesting (the salt thing I mentioned), it was the one I was looking forward to least. I was really looking forward to Lambo's, though. He's one of my favorite characters, so I loved him getting the spotlight. It only lasted two chapters (both fights wrapped up relatively quickly), but his fight was very eventful and creative, and just pure fun to read. Electric powers, time travel? Good times.

The art has improved in leaps and bounds from the first few volumes. The art was somewhat awkward and amateurish at first, but Amano has really hit her stride now, and her character designs have become much more stylized. However, a bit of that early awkwardness still remains, especially when she draws her characters at certain angles. It's not very noticeable, but it's there. But like I said, it has improved. Lambo's fight in particular is very well drawn.

This volume was pretty exciting, and I can only imagine it getting better from here. I can't wait to see the rest of this arc. I just wish Viz would release this series faster!