▪	RELEASED BY:		VIZ MEDIA
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		AKIRA AMANO
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANENSE / B&W
		▪	PAGES:		177
		▪	RATING:		OT
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		07/03/2006
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		12/09/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		SCOTT CAMPBELL

As the story of Reborn goes, junior high student Tsuna is a failure at school, sports and socializing. He doesn’t have too many friends, nor is he popular – really his life is going no where. But when toddler assassin Reborn arrives to groom Tsuna for his future as a Mafia boss, Tsuna may have found the “magic bullet” he needs to turn his life around.
Reborn is a fine addition to Shonen Jump’s Advanced line up of weird and wacky manga. Reborn has a fun balance of humour, story, odd characters and quirky art. The “goings on” of this manga can be anywhere from “completely off the wall weird” to “very believable, and yet funny.” The world these characters live in is not much unlike our own, but the ways that they interact and all the wackiness that’s thrown in to the mix makes it a very humorous and entertaining romp.

In volume four, Reborn becomes an all out family reunion of sorts – Mafia style of course! Dino, the tenth-generation boss of the Chiavorone family and Beborn’s former student, brings his squad of goons to pay Tsuna a visit. The insane little Lambo decides to liven things up a bit by tossing several grenades at them – always a good time! Things quickly escalate as Dino springs into action in a battle of whips versus grenades. The end result can only be disastrous – if not also explosive.

The art style is still very “Shonen Jump,” so if you’ve liked any other titles released under the same label, it’s likely you’ll find something you like about Reborn. It’s very detailed, but doesn’t fail to get weird and super deformed when it is required to. There’s certainly a lot going on with each turn of the pages – you’ll want to scan back after reading each page just to catch all the little details you may have missed the first time through.

As for extras, there’s actually an address in the back of the manga for fans to send their artwork to – hopefully resulting in it being printed in the next volume of the manga. That’s a great idea in relation to getting readers to be further involved in the series, allowing them to show their work to other readers. Not too many manga offer a chance like this – it’s a really innovative idea. There’s also a few pages of four-panel comics that relate to the series and poke a bit of fun at different characters. The comics are a fun idea too – extras like these really flesh out a product and make the book all that more enjoyable to read. Just to top it off, there’s a little preview at the very back, letting you know what will be happening in the next volume: “A master statistician comes seeking Tsuna’s protection and proceeds to reveal some remarkable facts about Tsuna and his friends. This, however, is only the opening gun in Tsuna’s latest round of headaches. He also has to deal with a dojo in danger from raiders, a snowball fight between mafia families, potentially deadly candy-making, and romantic mix-ups that culminate in a “zoo date” with Kyoko!” Sounds like fun – at least for the readers that is! This series has a bright future ahead of it – it’s a comedic romp that will satisfy many manga fans in search of their next laugh.

IN SUMMARY:
Quite a crazy little manga – the visuals may sometimes remind you of Excel Saga in a way, but only if it were made to merge with One Piece, in all it’s odd glory. It’s an oddity – a hilarious oddity not to be missed.