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Well… I guess I wasn’t too off being worried about Basil’s power levels. In that vein, I’m more surprised Gokudera and Yamamoto managed to pull off the win here – while it’s good to see they’re not completely useless, it raises other concerns. For one, why couldn’t they have done this without Tsuna’s help? Judging by the progress of this chapter, it doesn’t seem like the Hyper Trio was terribly effective in doing anything at all except providing some inadvertent distraction.
On the up side, the battle ended a lot quicker than I thought, which means things can progress to bigger and better things! This was never meant to be a very long-lasting fight, so it’s to KHR!’s benefit to wrap it up as quickly as possible before any other questionable developments occur. I still think the inclusion of the Hyper Trio was pretty unnecessary here – if Amano intended to let Gokudera and Yamamoto take the kill, it would have been a far better decision to let their group carry the fight to the finish, since they need to prove themselves as well. Chrome and Gokudera in particular need something to seriously test their abilities as they haven’t really been challenged in a way that puts their skills in absolute terms. This is more the case for Chrome than Gokudera, since the latter has actually had chances to fight and showcase his abilities – whether he won or not, however, is a completely different story. Maybe he’s just very unlucky with the opponents he’s had to face – Belphegor and Gamma certainly aren’t walks in the park. Shitt P. isn’t really a good indication of Gokudera’s capabilities, primarily because his encounter with her was less of a battle and more of a game of sorts. It’s not a no-holds situation where he can really fight without abandon and it’s unfortunate that he’s gotten the short end of the stick so far despite being Tsuna’s self-proclaimed right-hand man.
Chrome really needs to start stepping up though. After completely separating her and Mukuro as two different entities, her role in the cast is a little murkier, and her capabilities are still in question. She’s obviously not completely helpless, but she has never actually successfully done anything in a battle – even now, she’s been relegated to being Mukuro’s power booster and in this chapter, she’s relying on Fran to do most of the work. I don’t mean to sound negative, but it’s a pretty legitimate question to ask: what can she do on her own? Chrome has had some moments in past arcs, but in battles, she’s essentially a non-entity; the outcome isn’t influenced by her presence in any way whatsoever so it’s hard to tell why she’s even there, other than to play baby-sitter for Fran.
Random Corner:
- Just in case anyone else was wondering how on Earth ceramic can withstand the force of a direct explosion: who knew?
It’s because all the everyday usages of things that are “ceramic” are synthesized material and whatnot. “Real” or “pure” ceramic is exactly as you linked :).
This is war and war means anything goes for victory. For the Hyper Trio to come, I would think of it as a divide-and-conquer kind of (“spur-of-the-moment”) plan since there were two Vindices to fight. It was great to see Tsuna being assisted by his two best friends and seeing them fight over who’s his right hand man. Well, about Chrome, she has her past battle experiences and I think of her as a student/trainer than a fighter. She wasn’t completely useless; she has her moments to shine too but those were in the other arcs. The story is moving along at a good pace.
I’m more worried about Tsuna’s eye in that image. Is it just me or does it seem glazed or somewhat?
Even in there downgrade, Yamamoto and Gokudera still can pull amazing feats 😀 …..i hope in the next they get a power up they deserve